Our subject is the inner city settlements, the historical quarters which still are densely populated in Asia. Our concern is not the palaces, but the settlements forming the urban fabric, and the real context of the city. The urban structure, in particular among the architects and planners is normally interpreted in its physical dimensions. What about the socio-economic dimension? We know that the urban social distribution in the historic cities was highly stratified ( Benevolo 1973, Barnow 1990 ). The highest government officials were living in the closest vicinity of the palace. The urban untouchable castes, doing essential services as toilet cleaning, lived outside the city walls, disintegrated. Today we are striving towards a society with equal opportunities and income. We should work towards the principle of equity - e.g. in terms of right to secure shelter, quality of housing, living environment and access to services through our efforts to conserve, develop and upgrade the inner-cities/or living purposes.
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