One City and Myriad Cultures: Translating Cultural Livability of the Walled City of Delhi Biswas Olivia PhD Scholar, Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi E-mail: olivia_biswas81@yahoo.com Online published on 2 July, 2019. Abstract The Walled City of Delhi, baptized as Shahjahanabad, now addressed as PuraniDilli/Old Delhi, doesn't boast of being a ‘smart city ’rather it jubilates being the ‘heart city ’. The connotation, ‘heart city ’stands true in essence as, every kucha, functions as an arterial vein, carrier of interweaved cultural flow. Its livability is found in its measurable existence based on human analogy, accessorized by, streets as arteries, fort as head, Jama Masjid as heart, mohallas as organs, Chandni Chowk as its spine and the wall as its skin (Dettmann, 1969). Old Delhi is about cohesive socio-cultural structures, with unique spatial blends, allowing for composite expressions at neighborhood levels. An amalgam of above mentioned elements continue to make the Walled City a living space, translating and dissolving boundaries over time. Immensely opulent in cultural heritage and composite in religious diversity, Old Delhi with its assorted religious establishments, mansions, maze of lanes continues to be a living city, in its own kind. The paper is conceived with a view, to underscore the prominence and sustenance of having a heart city in times, when the spotlight pitches towards smart cities. The paper attempts to reflect on the cultural livability which has translated and has been a strengthening source for the emergence of the socio-cultural connections and interdependence in the Walled City with an accentuation on composite existence, despite being surrounded by plagued social environs. The paper is divided into four sections. Section 1 briefly puts forward the prologue. Section 2 delves into the cityscape of Old Delhi, talking about the physiosocial spaces within this analysis. Section 3 approaches the idea of cultural livabilityand hybridity and its translation and section 4 draws a conclusive portrait of the discussion. Top Keywords Cultural livability, translation, cityscape, socio-cultural milieu, heart city, Old Delhi. Top |