Relevance of fort in urban fabric

Abstract

Forts are such built masses that give us the consciousness of the past. One can never go out of the way while exploring history and heritage in each section of art, architecture, military, social, religious, economic. In search of the history there is always a clue of cultural, social, political, regional significance to the place and to the old built mass. People were so skilled without any source of technology. India had a long history that gave it a cultural and heritage value and forts are an important part of it. For more than 300 years many ruling powers have fought for it. But nowadays, in the Urban Fabric these forts have been neglected, lapsed, and absorbed by the intensifying urban sprawl. The significance of the forts keeps changing on the larger level but in the smaller context people still value their belongingness to such built masses. Adding to that in an interview it was quoted that Mahim fort is no longer a fort but a place for slum settlement. There would be many other forts surviving in the chaos of cities and town, as there would be some cultural, social, historical importance of the fort which might been neglected. It is important to investigate and understand the relation of such built mass in the urban city context surviving in the present condition. And to enhance and enrich the significance of fort for the betterment of the user living in and around the context of the urban area. Architecture critic Paul Goldberger writes in an article: “Architecture is all around us and what is all around us has to affect us. Architecture provides us continuity with the past and connects us.” The conclusions are based on study done in Chakan Pune, after studying and understanding forts and urban historical context. The current condition of Chakan and Sangramdurg was studied and determined using Mapping SWOT analysis. The results show the importance of providing an approach towards the Fort existing in the urban pressure.