Sem 04 / Settlement Studies
Culture and Type Studies in Kolhapur

Rupali Gupte 

The settlement studies in Sem 4 2026 undertook an intense spatial ethnographic study of the village of Utre in Kolhapur. The focus was on understanding relationships between culture and builtform and the subsequent relationships between its type, spatial configuration and behaviour.

The research methods involved sensing the site, observing, drawing using orthographic methods, photographing, and interviewing inhabitants. Students attempted to decipher how the scale, proportion, temperature and light in the region creates phenomenological experiences that in turn shape behavior.

Through interviews and conversations with the residents the students understood how everyday relationships are shaped by the type and vice versa. They mapped more than human occupations along with human interactions and saw how the house type responded to these. They paid attention to how the house type transformed through shifts in economic relationships and material practices.

The students studied one section of the settlement in detail while understanding how the patterns worked at the settlement scale with respect to settlement patterns, house orientations, circulation, public nodes and community patterns.

The study is archived here. It is an important intervention in understanding the settlement patterns in Maharashtra, reflecting on their transformations and future trajectories.