ABSTRACT
Bhadra Maidan forms a foreground to Bhadra Fort, where the city of Ahmedabad originated and housed the seat of the king and residences of the nobles. Maidan is a characteristic open space in most of the mediaeval cities in this geo-political region. Etymologically, the word maidan, having a Persian origin, meant ‘expansive open space in or near the city or a town’. It did not have a specific function but was a large-scale space used for various acts that required that scale. The maidan, that was a site of many city level activities, fell into public disuse and was taken over for parking and vending activities after Ahmedabad ceased to be the capital city of the state in 1960. With the intention of reviving the historic glory of the place, Bhadra Plaza Redevelopment Project was executed between 2010 and 2015. This chapter traces the historic layers of the maidan to identify what and who informs the heritage meanings of the Plaza. It then goes on to study the recent process of change due to the Bhadra Plaza Redevelopment Project in order to arrive at an understanding of continuity and change in the place. The study and the analysis of the project objectives and processes reveal that on the ground, the practices of defining history, identifying heritage and conserving it, becomes informed by the classical processes of recognising well defined historic periods. Cultural layers, public histories (of glory and of contestations) and living relationships (social and economic) are rarely acknowledged and their relationships to citizens and inhabitants is not recognised. The objectives and the processes clearly privilege the personality of the place to be experienced by the visitors and as it will be viewed for posterity. Most of the complex layers get recognised and included through legal contestations during the process.
