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India is an abode of several ancient heritage and sacred cities. However, limited heritage sites have been appropriately documented to date. Hence, limited information is available on the historical development, existing settings and challenges of ancient heritage cities. Puri, a prime sacred and heritage city, is selected to demonstrate the historical and spatial development and current issues of ancient Indian heritage cities.

Site visits, documentation of the existing settings and interviews with stakeholders and historians were conducted to understand this city's evolution and existing issues. Also, content analysis is administered to rank the stakeholders’ perceptions of the current challenges in the town.

The results reveal that the scarcity of resources, encroachment of public spaces, insufficient infrastructure and lack of maintenance of heritage structures are the major challenges for Puri. Also, the absence of collaboration between the involved agencies and heritage site-specific guidelines hinders the city’s redevelopment.

This research discusses the development phases and current issues of a prime heritage city in India. This knowledge will help urban planners and policymakers formulate policies for Puri's holistic development.

This is the first comprehensive research on historical development, current issues, and the reasons for any heritage city in Odisha state of India. This paper will help the academic literature to understand the chronological growth pattern in ancient, medieval, colonial, and post-colonial periods, as well as current issues and changing heritage imageability of Indian heritage sites of a similar nature.