I grew up in India and never really stayed away from home. After getting done with my undergrad in Architecture I wanted to explore my options. For Masters I chose Urban Design because when in Architecture we design a building our focus is only on the building, you don't really think about the streetscape and the changes it’ll bring about in the lives of other people, who are not going to use this particular building. So, to study how the streetscape and the urban fabric change and get affected I decided on pursuing Maters in Urban design. My work is available on this link https://issuu.com/latikaambekar​ (Resume and Portfolio)
I decided on doing my thesis based on India as I am highly intrigued by the concept of Shared Streets and how it lets everything and everyone coexist. Also, I have always had a hunch for historic and heritage structures, so I decided on studying the impact of urban sprawl and the cramping up of the Old City in Pune, India as the new city was developed. The old city being the heritage district has been a trade district too since the 17th Century. Due to the failure and lack of maintenance the structures began to fall apart, as the fort is the sole structure on the heritage monuments list, the other ancient structures just have gotten ignored in all these years.
My thesis concentrates on how the built fabric has changed through the years, how it has affected old core in a way that it can never go back to the way it was and how I could stop it from growing (stopping old getting replaced with the new). My proposal focuses on a heritage trail that will walk the tourists or locals through the bylanes and streets of Pune (proposed redesigned streets – prototypes for the entire heritage walk) raising an awareness amongst people and the government that the structures on the heritage trail too deserve to be on the heritage structures list for Pune so that they can be conserved too and Old Pune can function as a historic district.