Narratives of historial urban lakefront regenerations

Abstract

Lakefront in the densely populated area is a place of relish, where people can enjoy and relax. As these kinds of areas are famous in urban context to provide ample visual and physical public access to water and land. The immediate alliance between settlement and water is inherent since decades, as many urban areas in the world located near to the waterfront. All these areas are directly or indirectly dependent on water for their day to day survival. Since last two decades development strategies are shifting from agriculture to industrial, these bring extensive changes in lakefront development. In precise, lakefront has become less significant for human life. This paper discusses the extensive phenomenon of lakefront development in Thane city, which is known as the "City of Lakes", because of manifold lakes found over there. At present most of the lakes present in city are at the verge of disappearance due to reckless development. Therefore it is necessary to emphasize at historical and social aspect of lakes taking into account the overall picture and presenting the opportunities to integrate and emphasize multidisciplinary approach with social and cultural life of people.