Workshop on Heritage Resource Management Plans (HRMP) for Odisha

Done in association with the Indian Heritage Cities Network Foundation (IHCNF) when I was working with Integrated Design, this was a four-day training module run between January 28-31, 2019 for the town planners and officers of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Government of Odisha. The intention of the workshop was to to deliver to the participants the technical, institutional or legal frameworks of preparing Heritage Resource Management Plan (HRMPs) taking into reference those established under the HRIDAY scheme. It was designed to apply and examine real heritage resources and resource management plans and efforts in the cities of Odisha.

The participants were planners and city managers from 11 municipal corporations, municipalities and notified area councils (NACs) in the state of Odisha. In addition to planners and managers from development authorities and urban local bodies from the above cities, participants included representatives of the Archaeological Survey of India, the Odisha State Archaeology Department, the Tourism Department, Government of Odisha, faculty from the planning departments of well-known educational institutions in Odisha as well as private consultant organisations working on several initiatives in Odisha.

Part of the core intention of the workshop was to present a broader perspective of heritage than the one that is commonly understood – to include not just monuments but also their associated cultural and natural heritage, which are owned by the local communities. Heritage is an asset, but it is a misconception that the value of heritage can be leveraged only through tourism, as is commonly understood. The workshop sought to point out that intangible heritage in the form of festivals, rituals, cultural practices, traditional livelihoods, forests, hills, tanks, ponds, rivers, vegetation, cuisine, crafts, performing arts have intrinsic value, and economic and social development can be brought about by providing for them.

The open discussions which followed each session offered an on-ground understanding of how these schemes are being implemented in Odisha. The workshop was meant to familiarise participants to site-specific challenges, constraints and opportunities which would shape the essence of HRMP for each city in Odisha.