Heritage and Communities – 1  

Heritage conservation is not about putting relics in glass boxes but about bringing communities together. Marrying new building technologies to the inheritance of the past and presenting it to future generations is the approach of Placemaking India’s Heritage Ambassador, Kiran Kalamdani, co-founder of Chinchwad-based Kimaya Architects, winner of UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific Award of Merit.

Engaging communities in the restoration of heritage public spaces such as temples like Nira Narsingpur and forts like Pune’s Shaniwar Wada, has been a strong suit of the husband-wife team of Kiran and Anjali Kalamdani.

In conservation, the past should interact with people’s daily lives. Heritage conservation brings alive history and thought embedded in our villages and monuments. It also serves the purpose of uniting people in documenting their heritage, re-affirming their identity and equipping them with the intelligence and capacity to become net exporters rather than importers from their geographies. Leveraging heritage to stimulate economic regeneration is an important consideration in the post-pandemic scenario in India.

Kiran addressed these issues at TEDxVIIT in December 2020.