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100			_aDas, Diganta et al _956404
245			_aVaranasi: The making of a smart heritage city
260			_aEnvironment and Urbanization ASIA
300			_a15(1),Mar, 2024: p.141-155
520			_aOne of the oldest cities in the world, Varanasi is home to more than one religion. It is an acclaimed centre of spirituality for Hindus and Buddhists while being equally sacred for Jains and Sikhs. The city is located along the river Ganga, which many believe is a celestial incarnation to grant salvation. Varanasi is a million-plus-population city; an increasingly important provincial metropolitan centre enshrined with the values of commerce, religion, ritual and tradition; and caught between the confluence and contestations of traditions and modernity. Since 2016, Varanasi has been incorporated under India’s Smart Cities Mission (SCM) to develop the city into a smart city with a strong focus on heritage and tourism. The present article is an attempt to trace the journey of the city that has developed as a palimpsest over centuries; it deliberates the contemporary urban landscape and maps out recent urban and infrastructure developments of the city and its concerns. This article also argues that Varanasi has focused on locally specific everyday urbanisms with heritage and culture and pivoted to making itself a Smart Heritage City.-Reproduced https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/09754253241230588
650			_aVaranasi, Smart Cities Mission, Urban heritage, Spirituality, River Ganga, Religious pluralism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Urban transformation, Cultural palimpsest, Heritage tourism, Everyday urbanism, Infrastructure development, Tradition and modernity, Sacred geography, Urban planning, Smart Heritage City, Urban landscape, Historical continuity _956405
773			_aEnvironment and Urbanization ASIA
906			_aURBAN DEVELOPMENT
942			_cAR