Ancient Temple Towns of India, spread across the length and breadth of the country, are the narratives of the cultural and spiritual diversity of India, attracting millions of tourists from all over the world. As all other major cities in the country are witnessing rapid urbanization, these temple towns are also not left untouched. Apart from the general urbanization challenges, these towns are also facing decline in quality of life, degenerating built heritage stock, uncontrolled mass tourism and poor governance leading to considerable environmental impact on these towns. Vrindavan in the Braj Region is one such town that derives its significance from the association with lord Krishna and showcases the events of his life through magnificent Natural and Built Heritage, intricately woven in sacred landscape.
The Research focuses on the historic core of Vrindavan, its origin, evolution, challenges and remedial/ redevelopment proposition. More than 5000 Temples and approximately13 Million tourists visiting Vrindavan annually. This huge influx of pilgrim population is adversely affecting the essence of Vrindavan's evolution. The city is at the verge of losing out its distinctive traits and cultural ethos although becoming more vibrant but sadly less livable with each passing day. The thesis tries to explore the possible approaches of urban revitalization of historic core of Vrindavan and for similar cases in India.
