Local is Global: Exploring Urban Sustainability through Spirit of Place and Culture

Places have a distinct identity that we associate it with, making each of them different from other places that we frequent. The spirit of any place helps read and interpret the “memory” of a territory, its environmental knowledge, growth rules and system of relationships. Unchecked development, growth and regulations are changing places beyond recognition, diluting its identity and making them all too similar in different ways. Homogenisation of urban centres is becoming a growing global concern. It becomes more relevant considering the identity crises that cities face growing in a world that is grappling with climate change. While the discussion mostly revolves around larger cities with attempts to resurrect a unique identity to make them distinctive and attractive from other urban centres across the world, small to mid-sized cities are the most dynamic in this change now, grappling with the present pattern of urbanisation, compounded by globalisation and broad brushed developmental frameworks. This paper aims to sustainably rethink the transformations in these towns, considering local layers of history, ecology and culture to root its future identity and growth.

Ponnani is a coastal town in Kerala, undergoing transformation into a new urban centre with a character detached from its local spirit, much like many other growing rurban towns of Kerala. Its old precinct which gave Ponnani, a very strong identity rooted in its historical presence as an important trading port town (Tyndis) and a cultural landscape, is slowly deteriorating. The methodology involves a comparative study of the old and new towns in terms of its morphological systems, interfaces and associations. This gives us an insight into the transformations in spirit, aspirations and voids in planning frameworks that shape the new developments. A sustainable regeneration framework is then envisioned to renew its identity and rebuild the image of the place.