Abstract In this research, I have explored Boulevard town, the historic area of Pondicherry by studying the current impacts of tourism and commercial developments through demographic analysis, building use mapping, resident’s perception survey, tourist’s perception survey and heritage perception survey. Following the brief discussion with various local experts ranging from smart city officials to real estate developers, this study examines the current projects in the heritage area and its impacts. Thereby, producing a sustainable strategy to mitigate the issues in the historic core and preserve the urban heritage area for the future generations. The strategy proposes a heritage area that is safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable for the all the stakeholders which is one of the key aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals. To achieve these, three main goals are proposed: 1. Understand, preserve and protect, 2. Promote, expand and celebrate, 3. Collaborate, fund and manage. The study also proposes a Heritage Cell and Heritage Tourism Committee within the Puducherry municipality and has defined the roles and responsibilities of the existing but inactive State Level Heritage Conservation and Advisory Committee, the Heritage Cell and Heritage Tourism Committee based on the Historic Urban Landscape Approach suggested by UNESCO and the sustainable development goals. The strategy of this study is a place-based approach but is replicable and can be explored in other similar cities to achieve sustainable touristic heritage areas. Acknowledgements This research would not have been possible without the financial support of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. I am extremely thankful to Ar. Navin Piplani and all the INTACH Heritage Academy staff for their continuous support throughout the research. I am extremely grateful to INTACH Pondicherry, especially Ar. Arul for his continuous support and encouragement. I thank all the INTACH Pondicherry interns particularly Achuthan, Pooja Srinivasan and Sharan Pillai and Sharda University architecture students for helping me with field surveys and mapping. I am extremely grateful to Architect and Urban Designer Devangi Ramakrishnan for guiding me throughout the research. I am also thankful to Nicolas Bautes, Senior Research fellow of French Institute of Pondicherry for his valuable insight and Prof. Venkata Rao of the Department of Tourism studies of Pondicherry University for providing all support and access to the library. Finally, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my family for being extremely supportive throughout the research. Window in the French town. Image credit: Rajesh, edited by: Author Contents Chapter 1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 1 Urban Heritage and its significance ……………………………………… 1 Mass tourism, gentrification and its impacts……………………………... 3 Sustainable Development Goals for historic environments ……………… 6 UNESCO’s Historic Urban Landscape approach ………………………... 7 Chapter 2 Pondicherry – An Historic Urban Environment ………………………… 9 Transformation of the historic town ……………………………………... 14 Chapter 3 Demographic analysis and building use survey …………………………. 16 Gentrification in Boulevard town ………………………………………. 20 Existing Building Use pattern ………………………………………….. 24 Chapter 4 Residents perception……………………………………………………... 39 Tourists perception ……………………………………………………… 51 Heritage building owner’s perception …………………………………… 57 Chapter 5 Pondicherry – A Smart City ……………………………………………... 63 Draft Comprehensive development plan 2036 ………………………….. 66 Heritage regulations 2018………………………………………………... 68 Draft tourism policy of Pondicherry……………………………………… 69 Chapter 6 Sustainable Heritage Tourism Strategy………………………………… 71 Pondicherry Heritage Cell ………………………………………………. 75 Pondicherry Heritage Tourism Committee……………………………… 79 State Level Heritage Conservation and Advisory Committee……………. 84 Conclusions …………………………………………………………………… 86 Appendices……………………………………………………………………… 89 References………………………………………………………………………. 103 Urban Heritage, Mass Tourism, Gentrification and Sustainability in the Boulevard town of Pondicherry Chapter 1 lead to the degrading quality of life for the local community resulting in gentrification. Introduction Despite their synergistic potential, heritage and tourism is often portrayed as a dipole of Historic urban environments are the conflict and uncompromising values, epitome of place and culture. While some resulting in negative socio-cultural impacts, represent indigenous cultures, others are the such as degradation of historic sites, impact of colonial era activity, resulting in undesirable cultural transformations, diverse forms and patterns of use. Architect excessive commodification and a trade-off Aldo Rossi has referred the city as ‘the between conservation principles and locus of collective memory (Rossi, 1982), economic profits (Aas et al., 2005; Austin, the historical accretion of human action and 2002; McLean & Straede, 2003; Nyaupane a dynamic living environment whose past et al., 2006).1 influences not only the present but also the future where the cultural heritage has In historic cities such as Venice and provided dynamics to exchange, challenge, Barcelona where tourism is the main economy for several decades, the debate innovate & evolve’. (UNESCO, 2016, has been taken to streets where the residents pg.19) are hostile because of the negative impacts Such cities attract visitors due to their of tourism. relevance in terms of heritage, but the recent growth of tourist’s flow and Based on the UNESCO’s Historic Urban developmental pressures constitute a threat Landscape approach to manage the heritage to the conservation of their values. The areas and Sustainable Development goal 11 global scale of tourism is increasingly which is to ‘make cities and human evident with the spread of hotels, settlements safe, inclusive, resilient and restaurants, retail chains and the soaring sustainable’, this study sets out to explore hospitality establishments such as AirBnB sustainable strategies for the heritage area and Trivago. In the verge of development of Pondicherry, to mitigate the negative pressures, the heritage places are impacts of tourism and commercialisation responding to commercialisation and balance the needs of the different compromising the heritage and cultural stakeholders. values. Here economy plays a major role, Urban heritage and its significance especially in the developing countries, where people want to make the most out of The United Nations Educational, Scientific their properties. Also, economy decides the and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) morphology of the historic district creating defines heritage as: heritage is our legacy an imbalance in the urban heritage areas. from the past, what we live with today and The focus on economic gain pushing what we pass on to the future generations. behind the social and environmental values In some cities with long histories, the historical city centre served as the centre of 1 Dragouni, M. (2019). Sustainable heritage tourism: Towards a community-led approach. Phd. University College London 1 Urban Heritage, Mass Tourism, Gentrification and Sustainability in the Boulevard town of Pondicherry trade, living and entertainment for infrastructure”, it represents the past of the centuries. It was described as a ‘vibrant, city and has the cultural significance closely interlinked component of its new, concealed in the buildings and places by enlarged form, performing an essential and shape, size and locality form. Furthermore, distinctive socio-economic role in daily life urban heritage areas relate to layers of of its citizens (Giovannani,1998). memories between generations where the Urban heritage plays a fundamental role in lifestyle and friendly living environment of enhancing cities identities and in providing the residents cannot be separated from its a platform for social and economic buildings and places. development. The modern world has taken a long time to recognise the critical The rapid development in historical city centres due to industrialization, importance of preserving the historic areas modernization and globalization has as an asset for the development of the urban demanded new spaces around the old centre community and as the core of its identity. because of urbanization. Most of the Although Europe was the first region where networks in historical centres are compact urban heritage was included in collective and designed to fit in with pedestrian and conservation efforts, the idea started limited use of vehicles; therefore, the lively spreading to other parts of the world and narrow streets cannot accommodate the now has been widely accepted. Globally the need of new infrastructures. The inhabitants role of cultural institutions has been key to change in transport options from walking to fostering urban value and image. In the driving leads to traffic problems (Lu,2012, past, city centres were occupied by the p. 8). Therefore, it is important to note that symbols of power and religion. Today, city the pace of rapid development in historic centres are also defined by cultural centres should be accompanied by the institutes: museums, galleries, theatres, provision of suitable infrastructure academics and memorials. balancing the social, economic and environmental impacts of the development. This global transformation illustrates the Inherit (2007, p 15) highlights the potential importance of culture in urban development of heritage as a means of securing at all levels,