Arpita Dayal and Leon Morenas
Tekton
Tekton: Volume 11, Issue 1, July 2024
pp. 08 – 21
Arpita Dayal is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi. She is a double gold medallist and holds a Master’s degree in Urban Design from SPA, and is currently pursuing doctoral studies from the department. With a teaching experience of more than 15 years, she has published papers in prestigious international and national journals; collaborated on research projects with Oxford Brookes University (UK), NIUA and DUAC (India). Her research interests include Urban spaces, Liminality and Protests in the urban environment.
arpita.dayal@spa.ac.in
Leon Morenas is Professor and Principal of Goa College of Architecture (GCA). Before joining GCA, he was an Associate Professor of Architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi (2013-2024). He has been a Fellow (2016-18) at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla where he worked on a project entitled “Mohallas and Smart Cities: Post-Colonial Development in Delhi.” He was also a World Social Sciences Fellow in Sustainable Urbanization (2014) and Programme Coordinator of the Masters in Social Design at Ambedkar University, Delhi (2013
leon.a.morenas@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This paper identifies liminality as an important urban phenomenon that deconstructs patriarchal orders and hegemonic practices to establish an alternative middle ground that is dialectical and exploratory. It is crucial to recognize the liminality emerging in between time and space in order to understand the city as a transitional and transforming entity, constantly in flux between established structures and norms. The purpose of the study is to therefore, position liminality as a central concept in urban design. Using discourse analysis and case study methods to study a historical maidaan in Hauz Rani in Delhi, the study examines how the place went through a process of desacralization in the interim stages of its development into a sports complex, initiated by the state. The study further establishes that it was the liminality of the interim stages of development that led to significant social formations, that were unconventional though temporary. Analyzing the case study using historical and phenomenological analysis, findings reveal that it was the openness and incompleteness of the emergent liminal space that facilitated such formations in that duration of time, and were lost to formal planning later. A theoretical framework is thus developed to establish a liminal perspective towards urban space analyses, with an implication on urban design and practices.
KEY WORDS:
liminality, urban space, maidaan, openness, formal planning
