Dilemmas and Directions: Heritage Conservation in India

Conservation expert and academic Jigna Desai (CEPT University, Ahmedabad) will present from her recent book Equity in Heritage Conservation: the case of Ahmedabad, India (Routledge. 2019) discussing a practice that has been influential and has emerged as a vital urban phenomenon in the last few decades. In the book, through three case studies of recent changes one examines processes of identifying heritage of ‘outstanding universal value’.

How does the process negotiate day to day relationships of the inhabitants? Whose history gets valorised? What heritage gets conserved? Who are the typical agents of change? And what would be a process that would enable a more equitable understanding of heritage values?