"Contextualism"and its relevance to present urban Sri Lankan society : a survey on the appraisal features of Colombo

Abstract

"The physical environment of man, especially in the built environment, has not been, is still not, and controlled by the designer. This environment is the result of vernacular (or folk or popular) architecture; and it has been largely not been clearly discussed in history of architecture". (Rapport 1969 p i). With the emergence of a 'society', which one can define as a gathering of human beings, to fulfill their needs in terms of survival, the space became a part of the human life. The interaction between man-man, man-space, and spaces, evolved a formal society. The utilization of space, with various built forms of man, such as residential-commercial-industrial, the surrounding of the human environment created the context. Context and the human behaviour had a clear relationship between them. This relationship determined the behaviour of human in a very dramatic as well as unique way. The principles and guidelines which relate to the context or what is generated by the context, is the broader expression of the Contextualism. Society in general has been confronted with numerous challenges from the environment through out the history of mankind. Village or an agricultural society is the significant earliest settlement. Human evolution states that from the earlier small community set-up of village to modern day's complex and outsized society, various unstable and unsteady situations had taken place through out the world, which swept through the entire human raise. As a result, the economic and the administrative centers, where power and authority concentrated, formed cities and capitals. With the industrialization of the world, these centers became more and more important in terms of the society, and this situation led to separate the society, in to Urban and rural. Whether it is urban or rural, society has a direct inter-relationship with the built form as well as the natural environment. Although the level of interaction vary according to country, culture, location and many more factors, the behaviour of man reflected by the physical built forms of man. With the intense built set-up, urban built form has much closer interaction / relevance to the behaviour of the society. Since Sri Lanka could not escape the global scenario of the social and physical changes occurred, we experience the same reactions and trends in our society, which were evident in the global set up. Present Sri Lankan urban society is a progression of the entire global phenomenon. Therefore the contemporary urban Sri Lankan society is relevant and responsive to its urban context directly.