URBAN LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT AND REVITALIZATION PROJECT OF HAZRATGANJ PRECINCT

Hazratganj is one of the most important commercial hubs of the city of Lucknow. It has been the popular image of both the historic and contemporary Lucknow. This street is a heritage precinct with 200 year old legacy. Its foundation was laid by Nawab Saadat Ali Khan (1786-1814) 200 year ago. He moved away from the congested old city & developed whole new stretch along Gomti River called Hazratganj. It was formally developed as shopping street by Nawab Amjad Ali Shah whose mausoleum (a nationaf Protected monument) is located on same street. Most of the Hazratganj area was destroyed during the First War of Independence 1857.Most of the buildings which we see today are of the British era after 1857. By the Independence in 1947, Hazratganj became an elite market with exclusive entertainment facilities. Semi-circular arches, jack-arches, I-girders, Metric bricks & metal railings characterize British construction Our mandate was to Restore and Revitalize Hazratganj Main Street: the high street of city of Lucknow.

hazratganj : A Brie Histo
I. Founded by Nawab Saadat Ali Khan in 1798, completed in 1810 and named after Hazrat Ali
2. Inspired by Calcutta’s Chowringhee.
3. Hazratganj remained LucknoWs main connector road in Robert Napier Plan
4. Facade makeover started in 1858 and the removal of thatched roofs commenced
5. By 1871, Hazratganj acquired a colonial British look
6. Used to be the Queen’s Way the jugular vein of the British
7. British believed that those who controlled Hazratganj controlled the city
8. Originally conceived to extend from Kothi Noor Baksh to Dilkusha
9. Remained the main route for British soldier marches, nawabi carriages and Muharram processions
10. Two impressive gateways at both ends of Hazratganj were later demolished
11. An old Catholic church demolished as late as in 1970’s
12. Ganjing is a term used to describe roaming around in the wide lanes of Hazratganj
13. Hazratganj today is Lucknow’s city centre and the premier and posh marketplace
14. Rejuvenation undertaken in 2010 to mark its 200 years’ in a partnership between State Government and ‘Hazratganj Traders Association’.

The  dynamics and problems of Heritage precinct like Hazatgani
Hazratganj is Lucknow’s primary commercial hub. Such heritage precinct has had several tenants typically a ground-floor retailer and, frequently, several upper-floor offices or apartments; together, these tenants provided enough rent for property owners to keep their buildings in good condition. The presence of the cinema halls, library, banks and local government offices added to the steady flow of people to this area. Not only was Hazratganj the centre of the Lucknowites commercial life, it was also an important part of its social life; people thronged the street on Saturday and Sundays nights to meet friends, see a movie and window-shop.

In the past 20 years Hazratganj has changed drastically. The rapid urbanisation in past decade has resulted in growth of suburban centres with shopping malls and multiplexes occurring outside traditional areas. Improved transportation routes people find it easier to travel to these suburban malls and new commercial hubs. The sprawl with its Gomti Nagar style architecture that that reflected neither a sense of place nor a sense of pride, and became an issue that most communities contend with today  The business in Hazratganj were low forcing traders to shift or extend their activity to malls, dwindling the property values and also sinking the spirit of the street under its own apathy. Neglected buildings, dangling hoardings , masked shops fronts hiding beautiful architectural facade, trash strewn street gradually had reinforces the public perception that Hazratganj is not a happening place.

People have forgotten how important their Hazratganj is and its historic commerciai buildings were reflecting their community’s unique heritage.

Some of the property owners, tried to halt this spiral of decline by imitating their competition — the shopping mall. Their attempts to modernize Hazratganj take the forms of pedestrian malls, covering or changing traditional building facades with aluminium claddings, and attaching huge, oversized signs on their buildings to attract attention. These well-meaning but usually ineffective methods did not stabilize Hazratganj’s decline, mostly because they did not address the fundamental problem.

Present movement has however assessed the root cause and carefully understands the importance of saving heritage and one’s own identity as a process to restore both tangible and intangible aspects of Hazratganj explained before.

Issues before intervention:

There are some key issues which have been considered in Redevelopment of the Hazratganj Area.
Lack of pedestrian facility
Lack of public amenities
Large scale hoardings, signage and banners
Indiscriminate parking and traffic chaos
Collapse of infrastructure services.
Lack of organized open public spaces
Need for green spaces/ ecological environment
Encroachment
Haphazard overhead electrical wiring
Lack of architectural control

Concept: Clean, Safe, and Green Hazratganj.

We have tried to Revitalise not only the tangible aspect, such as street facade and street elements, but also conserve intangible aspect of Hazratganj i.e. the Experience of Ganjing. Thus concentrating on bringing back the glory and celebrate the spirit of Ganjing.

Conservation approach is a community-driven, Government supported comprehensive strategy. Probably for the first time in Indian history we saw such consensus and likeminded approach towards preservation for our heritage and identity.

To highlight and emphasize the pedestrian nature of Ganjing, we have actually introduced  continued stretch of path way for entire Hazratganj street (scooping out from painted road) as main feature of present program. These are the areas of public interaction. The footpaths are not just walkways; they have all elements of an urban space. The footpaths are designed with barrier free access to differentiy abie persons. They have post-op lanterns, benches and dustbins all designed in sympathetic architectural style.

Views and vistas into and out of these streets add to the important streetscape qualities of Street have been considered while designing. The seats, trees, lamps and other street furniture will help make Hazratganj Street a very pleasant environment for people.

Proposal:

Major highlight of the project include:
Restoring character of the street
Improvement of Views and vistas
Development of activity nodes and piazzas for general public
Restoration of architectural features
Development of Open Spaces
Concept of active living: our design encourages people to walk and enjoy the carefully
designed meeting places and piazzas
Introduction of softscape in the area
Improvement of infrastructural facilities (like underground wiring and data cables, water supply, storm water drainage system)

Materials used

Specially designed street furniture has been embroidered along the main axis to strengthen the main character of this zone. To recreate the romance of the past Victorian Lamp posts, Benches, Railings and other Street Furniture like telephone and police booth were integrated into the design. All street furniture were purposefully designed and executed in cast iron. Mild steel was other material used in combination for some of the furniture.

For Pathways Cast in place M-30 reinforced Stamp concrete has been used. The technology developed in California can give any heritage look finish to the surface by using color hardeners and stamp frames. Cobble stone finished in Chunarstone matching brown color was used in this case. The execution is 10 time faster than normal stone.

About 30% Of the area has been converted into green. All architectural features are in Victorian style celebrating the colonial architecture of the precinct. Any incompatible element or structure (hanging wires, encroachment in original profile of the building or hoarding covering fagade of structures) were removed and services were made underground enhancing the aesthetics of the site.

Architectural features of the facade have been restored through a complex procedure. Our Team had documented the architectural features of the street and luckily we have plenty of them in place and which gave us enough information to restore them. The area in general is characterized by an assortment of colonial facades, some properly adorned with decoration, others bare. The individual facades are generally narrow. When the facades are wide they are subdivided into a series of bays, thus providing continuity to the rhythm of the streetscape. The precinct as a whole is both historic and of architectural merit. Our effort was to fill in the gaps obscured due to passage of time.

After revitalization project the rentals have increased by 100% in the area while property prices also have taken steep rise. The footfall to the area is now almost four fold. The revitalization is a continuous process. Once on move, it will start the spiral effect bringing people to the area and thereby increasing economic viability of the area. If we respect our identity and our heritage I have no doubt that it wifi sustain. involvement of alf stakeholders in decision making, makes the process more sustainable as it gives sense of ownership to all.