Page 45 - JCAU-6-1

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A study on the block pattern and spatial

characteristics of gara in Surat, India

Chong Zhao , Lu Zhang *, Kui Zhao , and Guoqianzhen Gan 1
1
1
2
1 Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Urban-Rural Planning, Fuzhou University,
Fuzhou, Fujian, China
2 Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Urban-Rural Planning, Huazhong University
of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Conservation and Utilization of Rural Heritage in the
Context of Rural Revitalization)

Abstract
Surat is a major port and trading city in the northwestern state of Gujarat, India,
boasting a rich multicultural background where colonial, religious, and commercial
cultures coexist. Field research conducted on the historical districts of Surat indicates
that the traditional residential buildings in Surat are not havelis; rather, their planar
features bear a remarkable similarity to shophouses in Southeast Asia. The urban
formation, spatial pattern of historical blocks, and architectural characteristics of Surat
were thoroughly analyzed at three levels: macro, meso, and micro, using methods
*Corresponding author:
Lu Zhang such as the examination of historical maps, reading historical literature, gathering
(zhanglu345@outlook.com) oral histories, and conducting field investigations. The analysis of the political culture
of Asian port cities reveals that Surat has been involved in cross-cultural exchanges
Citation: Zhao, C., Zhang, L.,
Zhao, K. & Gan, G. (2024). A in Asia. Through document analysis, the study delves into the formation process of
study on the block pattern and Surat City and the spatial pattern of its historical blocks. To gain a comprehensive
spatial characteristics of gara in understanding, an exploration of the types of planes and profiles of the existing gara
Surat, India. Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism, 6(1), cases was carried out, along with a study of the spatial characteristics and evolution
1979. of gara. Finally, a comparative analysis between gara and the local architecture haveli
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1979 was conducted, examining the factors for gara formation from multiple aspects, such
Received: October 7, 2023 as politics, religion, and policy. It can be concluded that the formation of Surat’s city
Accepted: December 1, 2023 and architecture was not only influenced by the spread of Asian culture at that time
but also integrated with local traditional characteristics.
Published Online: January 19,
2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). Keywords: Surat; Historical blocks; Grid type block; Non-grid block; Gara
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-
Non-Commercial 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all 1. Introduction
non-commercial use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, With the emergence of the “Maritime Silk Road” (Zhao et al., 2021), the maritime
provided the original work is landscape in Asia has expanded beyond its initial confines within Asian countries to
properly cited. include Eastern and Western nations. The evolution of port cities in Asia can be divided
Publisher’s Note: AccScience into four stages: (i) Emerging Period: This phase witnesses the rise of early port cities,
Publishing remains neutral with resulting from overseas trade, often situated between the two ancient civilizations, China
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional and India; (ii) Early Colonial Period: During this phase, international trade flourished,
affiliations. attracting European explorers and merchants who not only profited from commerce but

Volume 6 Issue 1 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1979