REDEVELOPMENT AND LINKAGE OF URBAN PUBLIC MARKETS: THE CASE OF SILCHAR TOWN, INDIA.

Public markets have had a socio-cultural significance in addition to serving the day-to-day shopping needs of the urban population. Most often their number and expanse increase whenever cities expand in terms of population or territory, but their growth rarely follows an organized pattern. This results in a lack of appropriate linkages between different public markets and erodes spatial qualities. The unplanned market expansion also leads to inadequate infrastructure and dents the image of the city. An appropriate public market hierarchy that responds to contextual needs and offers adequate infrastructure and amenities is necessary for every city's sustenance. This paper discusses various aspects of urban public markets. Next, it suggests interventions for establishing an efficient linkage between major public markets located in Silchar, a town in the state of Assam in the Eastern part of India followed by a proposal for the redevelopment of the existing market area of Fatak Bazaar, Silchar. This paper uses both primary and secondary data for achieving the outlined aim and adopts a mixed methodology of data analysis. The design proposals recommended here will find wide-scale applicability in the case of towns with similar contextual realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]