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Assessing Accessibility in Residential Neighbourhoods of Colonial Towns: Case of Little Europe, West Bengal, India

Ruchira Das, Sanjib Nag, Keya Mitra

Abstract


Bengal has a strong connection with the history of colonization in the Indian subcontinent. It was witness to commercial forays by East India Companies (EIC) set up by a number of European powers. The four colonial towns of Serampore, Chandernagore, Chinsurah and Bandel set up by the Dutch, French, Danes and Portuguese EICs have recently been designated as “Little Europe” by the Government of West Bengal. These towns, representing the imprint of European urban patterns on pre-existing settlements in Bengal, flourished during the 15th to the 19th centuries. While the colonial history of Kolkata (former Calcutta) has been investigated through multi-disciplinary lenses, the same cannot be assumed for the towns of Little Europe. This paper introduces Neighbourhood Vitality Index (NVI), developed by the authors for the evaluation of urban vitality in residential neighbourhoods of colonial towns, and presents an overview of the Accessibility component of the NVI, conceptualized as Accessibility Index (AI). This can serve as a useful evaluation tool for investigating degree of accessibility in residential areas of medium sized towns.

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References


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