Varanasi Morphological Evolution in Layers

As Assistant Professor at Yale University, Acciavatti conducts research in the fields of architecture, geography, and technology. In his book, Ganges Water Machine: Designing New India’s Ancient River, his fieldwork and research provide a comprehensive visual recording of the territory through layering data on population density, monsoon patterns, infrastructure and agriculture.

The diagram is included in Acciavatti’s book. He displays the evolution of Varanasi by splitting up the development into 5 categories across the page: railways, settlement, streets, tanks and lakes, tubewells, and a combination of them on the right. Down the page, he depicts these features in chronological stages ranging between 1822 and 1985.

Based off previous mapping by scholars James Prinsep and R. L. Singh, the culmination shows the rapid growth of the city westward as it is bounded by the Assi River south, the Varuna River north, and the Ganges River south. This diagram of the development of Varanasi is part of Acciavatti’s research to show how human activity affects the river and the landscape.