Interior view of an architectural structure with multiple arches, windows lining the sides, and sunlight streaming in through the windows, showing an aged, slightly worn appearance.

Residents of Gulbarga Fort

Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology

2018

Community Design

Participatory Research

Objective

Design a participatory toolkit that brings together three stakeholders with opposing interests around a heritage conflict, giving each an equal platform to reframe the conversation through empathy rather than hostility.

Outcome

A six-activity, colour-coded interactive toolkit designed for facilitated use across three stakeholder groups. Built but not deployed due to funding and translation constraints.

Board game with colorful cards, illustrated map, and rulebook on a carpeted floor. The cards have images and labels for different house functions, family, friends, and activities.
A historic building with arched windows and domed roofs, surrounded by an open courtyard.
An old stone fort with domed structures and small windows under a clear blue sky.

The conflict

Over 200 families have lived inside the walls of Gulbarga Fort for more than three generations. When the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) took control of the Fort, these families were officially labelled as encroachers. Eviction plans followed. Media coverage turned public sentiment against the residents, and the locals of Gulbarga began to side with the authorities. The conversation became hostile, one-sided, and politically charged.

The problem had been viewed through social, religious, and political lenses. It had never been viewed through a human one.

A rural street scene with whitewashed houses, some under construction, in a village. The road is unpaved with construction debris, and there are motorcycles and bicycles parked along the street. Utility poles and wires extend across the scene, and there is a pile of bags on the right side.
A small village with modest houses, some with clothes hanging outside, surrounded by dry land and sparse trees, under a clear blue sky.
A collage of five outdoor scenes in an Indian neighborhood shows various people: a woman selling something on the street with another woman standing in front, two children walking past, a young boy sitting by a dirt road, and a woman looking at two boys talking near a cemetery

The research

Two field visits to Gulbarga, 625km from Bangalore. Conversations with Fort residents (men, women, children), locals who live outside the walls, and community figures. Visits to the Fort interior, Jamia Masjid, surrounding heritage sites.

The research surfaced a few things:

  • Residents had deep generational ties to the Fort and saw it as home, not as a monument they were occupying.

  • Some residents acknowledged damage to the structure and wanted better lives for their children elsewhere.

  • The locals' hostility was shaped by media framing, not firsthand understanding.

  • ASI's preservation goals were not without merit.

No stakeholder had the full picture. No platform existed for them to hear each other.

As a designer and outsider, I had no standing to take sides. What I could do was initiate a dialogue built on empathy rather than anger, and provide a platform where everyone gets an equal voice.

A wall with rows of multicolored sticky notes organized into five categories: Social, Cultural, Political, Economic, and Environment. The notes contain handwritten information related to each category.
A screenshot of news headlines from Karnataka. The headlines discuss encroachments inside Gulbarga Fort, which are requested to be cleared, and the emergence of buildings around protected historical monuments in Kalaburagi.
Line drawing of a man with facial hair and a serious expression, accompanied by a quote about living in a fort and destroying a piece of Gulbarga's history, attributed to Gulbarga Local, age 62.
Line drawing of a man with a mustache and wearing a cap, accompanied by a quote about the disrespect of changing mosque prayer times and questions about reading the namaz. The quote is signed by a resident of the Fort, aged 47.
A line drawing of a person wearing a headscarf, accompanied by a quote about their home being a mosque, living there for three generations, and being a resident of the fort at age 66.
A black and white sketch of a young boy with curly hair wearing a striped shirt. Next to the drawing is a quote from him about playing in the garden and near the fort, signed as a 13-year-old resident of the fort.
A collage of laminated and paper notes about the archaeological and historic preservation efforts at Gulbarga Fort, with headlines like 'ASI,' 'Further Plans,' 'Govt. Bodies,' and 'Attempts,' featuring highlighted texts on issues like encroachments, government regulations, and development proposals.
A large poster titled "Living Heritage" with various notes, diagrams, and colorful sticky notes related to cultural heritage preservation, stakeholders, practices, issues, and possible outcomes. It includes references to Gulbarga Fort, space development, and the importance of historical sites.

The toolkit

Board game setup on a carpet featuring colorful illustrated tiles and a game book. The tiles represent various home and neighborhood elements, such as family, friends, playground, and specific rooms like kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom, organized around a central map. Some tiles are stacked or scattered around, with leafy plant pieces on the carpet.

An interactive, visually driven toolkit that brings all three stakeholder groups into the same room. Each group is colour-coded: Fort residents in blue, ASI in red, locals of Gulbarga in green. A neutral facilitator guides the session using a dedicated booklet with rules, guidelines, and prompts.

What does home mean to the residents of the Fort? Can it be quantified in objects, or does it include feelings toward the Fort, the masjid, the community? Is this idea different for the other two groups?

Home

The residents' families have been here for three generations. How can their memories highlight aspects of attachment that become relatable to the other stakeholders? How do the others remember the Fort? Is their current view shaped by media and politics?

Memories

The residents know the Fort intimately. Can the other stakeholders see their knowledge and understanding of the space in a new way?

Place

What does each group want for the future of the Fort? Where do visions overlap? Can this start a different conversation about what comes next?

Aspirations

Which parts of the monument need urgent intervention? Do residents and ASI see this differently? Could there be potential for collaboration, with residents as caretakers?

Attention

How do Gulbarga's locals perceive other significant monuments in the city? What draws them to each one? Can different monuments hold different identities?

Monument

A map of a historic site with labeled places, a booklet titled "Activity 3: Places" with writing and five colored highlighters resting on it, and a small carton of milk or juice on a sandy surface.
A board game about a house with activity and instruction sheets, along with various cards and game pieces, is laid out on a textured surface.
Activity book titled 'Monuments' with printed pages, a green pen, and sketch cards of different monuments on a carpet.
Colorful 'aspirations' and 'dreams' cards scattered on sandy ground with small white flowers and a green plant nearby.

Some tasks are done individually by each stakeholder group. Others are done together. The structure moves from personal reflection to shared dialogue.

Status

The toolkit was designed but never deployed. Taking it forward required funding for production and translation into Hindi, Urdu, and Kannada. The project remains a concept.

Two men are in conversation in a restaurant or cafe with a checkered floor and a Coca-Cola advertisement on the wall. One man is tall, wearing glasses and a dark shirt, while the other is shorter, wearing glasses and a white shirt. Two other people are in the background, a woman in glasses and a yellow dress, and a man in a green shirt. There are sinks and tables in the background.
A man is teaching chess to four people in a room with a checkered floor and stacked red chairs.
Two men sit on a brick and stone bench, one young with dark hair and a beard holding a phone, and one older with gray hair and a cap, next to large jars, in an outdoor setting with a brown door behind them.

Collaborators

Executed from Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology in collaboration with UNESCO Chair in Culture, Habitat, and Sustainable Development India, Deccan Studies, Team YUVAA, and Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

Logos of UNESCO, UNI TWIN, SRI SHTI, and Aga Khan Trust for Culture, along with text indicating their association with cultural, educational, and sustainable development initiatives in India.

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