Leveraging the Tangible and Intangible: Urban Conservation Led Quality of Life Improvements in Nizamuddin, Delhi

As kings and paupers both desired to be buried in the sacred landscape around the mausoleum of the fourteenth-century Sufi saint, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the Nizamuddin area, including the World Heritage Site of Humayun’s Tomb, saw the building of great mausoleums from the fourteenth–nineteenth century. The Saint’s shrine was thus the epicentre of this urban heritage zone stretching to over 500 acres with the river forming the southern and western edge. Not only one of the densest ensembles of medieval monuments, this area is today also one of the most densely populated areas in the national capital of Delhi. From 2007 onwards, (AKTC) has undertaken a major urban renewal project with significant conservation, environmental, and socio-economic development initiatives. In the Humayun’s Tomb—Sunder Nursery—Nizamuddin Basti area of Delhi, this has coupled the conservation of the built heritage and ecological restoration with both a revival of intangible heritage and multiple initiatives aimed at improving the Quality of Life for residents—through building urban infrastructure and providing socio-economic development opportunities. In the process, the project has been able to comprehensively address 15 Sustainable Development Goals. With the project objectives achieved through 25 years of effort, the chapter discusses the work and the present shift of focus to ensuring the sustainability of the project.