The Architectural Heritage of Private Non-Monumental Structures: Diu Town
type: CreativeWork
description: The Portuguese colonial empire spanned nearly 600 years spreading across the southern hemisphere of the globe from South America to South East Asia resulting in a string of littoral settlements. Within the realms of comparative urban and architectural studies on Indo-Portuguese settlements, there is little academic work conducted specifically on the native’s and their specific urban and architectural environments, the current heritage value and the physical condition of structures. Today, these settlements exist as post-colonial cultural neighbourhoods within quickly urbanising culturally complex urban environments. Due to neglect and demolition of heritage structures in cultural neighbourhoods by their private owners, cities face a future disconnected to their past where structures of heritage value are being replaced by homogenous new builds. This research utilises the researcher’s connection to a former Portuguese colony, Diu Town located on Diu Island, off the south-west coast of Gujarat, India as the primary case study. The main aim of this research takes on an architectural perspective to document, analyse and establish the urban architectural heritage values of privately-owned architectural structures of Diu Town. This is so that private owners become aware of the globally shared composite nature of the urban and architectural values of their structures. The methodology, research methods and data collection techniques are heavily moulded by the researcher’s heritage linked to the island, the cultural contextual backdrop of the former colonial Diu Town, and availability and access to Diu Town and its structures in today’s contemporary contextual environment. Through a sequence of onsite urban mappings and building surveys, this research documents and analyses the urban fabric of Diu Town consolidating the composite nature of the socio-cultural, historical, and globally shared urban and architectural heritage values of Diu Town. The research also presents a dis…
abstract: The Portuguese colonial empire spanned nearly 600 years spreading across the southern hemisphere of the globe from South America to South East Asia resulting in a string of littoral settlements. Within the realms of comparative urban and architectural studies on Indo-Portuguese settlements, there is little academic work conducted specifically on the native’s and their specific urban and architectural environments, the current heritage value and the physical condition of structures. Today, these settlements exist as post-colonial cultural neighbourhoods within quickly urbanising culturally complex urban environments. Due to neglect and demolition of heritage structures in cultural neighbourhoods by their private owners, cities face a future disconnected to their past where structures of heritage value are being replaced by homogenous new builds. This research utilises the researcher’s connection to a former Portuguese colony, Diu Town located on Diu Island, off the south-west coast of Gujarat, India as the primary case study. The main aim of this research takes on an architectural perspective to document, analyse and establish the urban architectural heritage values of privately-owned architectural structures of Diu Town. This is so that private owners become aware of the globally shared composite nature of the urban and architectural values of their structures. The methodology, research methods and data collection techniques are heavily moulded by the researcher’s heritage linked to the island, the cultural contextual backdrop of the former colonial Diu Town, and availability and access to Diu Town and its structures in today’s contemporary contextual environment. Through a sequence of onsite urban mappings and building surveys, this research documents and analyses the urban fabric of Diu Town consolidating the composite nature of the socio-cultural, historical, and globally shared urban and architectural heritage values of Diu Town. The research also presents a dis…
author: Meggi, Anisha
license: https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/e4027d07-428d-4a5b-b65b-0638b250abad/download
date published: 2021-06
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:18:44Z
provider: De Montfort University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: De Montfort University