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The spatial organization of a south Indian city : Coimbatore

University of British Columbia

The spatial organization of a traditional Indian city clearly reflected certain central social values. At the heart of India's oldest cities lay all the administrative, commercial and ritually significant spaces, as well as the residences of certain high ranking castes. At the peripheries were the residences of the lower castes and beyond the city limits altogether were the untouchable settlements. The question raised by this thesis is whether the physical layout of a modern industrial city reflects these traditional social values, or perhaps, new ones. Has the introduction of modern business and industry in Coimbatore brought about a clear-cut deliniation of commercial and residential space? Has it likewise necessitated the separation of administrative and ritual areas? This analysis of the spatial organization of the modern, industrial Coimbatore concludes that the original spatial layout of this South Indian city has not been totally replaced by a new one. Instead, this vast urban complex has simply incorporated certain modern areas within its growing limits. Coimbatore city, then provides a blend of old and new principles in its physical layout. This blend can be seen as a result of a slow historical process, in which the city grew by small acretions. The new areas added by its nineteenth century colonial residents became structured according to foreign principles, while some of the city's older areas remained relatively unchanged. The data on which this analysis rests include information on the caste identity of every household on every street for major areas of the city as of 1972, street maps of the city from 1871, 1939 and 1974 bearing locale names that help identify the social identity of particular areas, and also maps of the locations of telephones and important businesses (also for 1972). Copies of all maps are provided with the thesis and could be used in making a further longitudinal study of the city's social characteristics in the future. In sum, the combined responses of the city of Coimbatore to various external forces over time, some social, some military, and some economic, best explain the blend of traditional and modern elements in its spatial layout today.

Text

2010-02-01

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/19483

Anthropology

University of British Columbia

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