Public spaces in Indian cities are not just an agglomeration of buildings but are entwined with complex social processes. The spatial compositions embody different aspirations, needs of people and actions that override what might be the permissible use of space to a more everyday or desired use of space. This ensemble of needs and collectively shaped areas is often read as civic disobedience, violation, and informality and it is opposed even if it contributes to vitality, activation, active frontages or safety. To comprehend this extremely heterogeneous and contested territory the methodology employs observing, listening and cartographying the space and its historic layers from an ethnographic viewpoint. It develops a particular language of visualisation that builds sensitivity while recording the unseen processes. The design deliberations react to the context and values instead of being resistant to it and begin to represent processes; relations’ people hold to the site as fundamental organising principles. This research aims to create contemporary and practical propositions to offer alternatives to contentious heritage sites, manage marginal productivities or ways to reuse neglected buildings through an emancipatory and pertinent research approach.
