Assessment of Indicators for Heritage Based Urban Development in India A Stakeholder’s Analysis Centric Approach

Abstract

The research envisages a mixed method multi stakeholder study to ascertain and validate measurable indicators of heritage based urban management for integration into contemporary urban policy in India. Structured questionnaire encompassing Likert scale parameters were administered for four stakeholder’s groups namely visitors, residents, artisans/heritage-based craftsmen and expert groups across three geographically and typologically distinct Indian cities: Varanasi, Nagpur and Hubballi-Dharwad. Exploratory factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Structural equation modelling (SEM) were incorporated to identify the latent constructs and test causal pathways. Based on the study five validated indicators were proposed namely heritage value assessment (HVA), socio-cultural impact (SCI), economic rejuvenation potential (ERP), maintenance of heritage infrastructure (MHI) and positive environmental impact (PEI). Cross-city analysis enunciates a systematic governance deficit in heritage infrastructure maintenance across all three cities. Limitations of the study includes modest KMO values (0.50), low cumulative variance explained ((11.8–15.3%) and a non-significant Bartlett result for the expert data-set are acknowledged and methodological improvements are recommended for future studies..