SHIFTING LIFE FORMS OF SPITI:
A Changing Landscape
Abstract:
The spatial narrative of change due to the shift in economic activities of a remote village and community in a tourist driven Valley of Himalayas brings new configuration or transformation in their ecosystem as well as the built-form of the village. Changing occupations change the spatial configuration of the houses as well as the associated landscape of the village. This study offers an empirical entry point to understand how the above shift, narrates the spatiality of landscape, built environment and households in the face of change.Despite significant globalizing forces impacting remote communities, there remains a gap in understanding how these sociocultural (referring to the social and cultural values, norms, and structures of a community) and economic transformations (changes in the primary ways a community generates income and sustains itself) are manifested in the spatially in various categories. This is particularly evident as the rapidly growing tourism sector drives a construction and economic boom through conversion of homes into guesthouses accommodating the travellers.
Thus the everyday impact of these shifts appears in how space is reorganized. To address this I take the case of Mane village in the upper valleys of Himachal called Spiti. It's a high-altitude landscape known for its stark terrain, Buddhist heritage, and remote monasteries. For generations, its villages, including Mane, functioned through tight-knit agro-pastoral systems shaped by extreme climate and geographical isolation.
However, over the past two decades, tourism has become a growing economic presence in the region, drawn by Spiti’s terrain, monasteries and cultural distinctiveness.The methodology follows the study of the field in various spatial categories which are defined by their scales and thus inferring on the transformations. To do so. I make observations of the everyday routines of the villagers and then intervene into three households of the village to draw upon the present changes in their domain of the house.The study of these three households through their routines in the summer months allows me to connect all these further into the changing spatiality of the landscape.
RESEARCH QUESTION:
How have sociocultural and economic shifts produced spatial transformations in Mane village, Spiti Valley?
RESEARCH AIM:
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Examining how shifts in family structure, livelihoods, religious practices, agriculture, education, and engagement with external economies have affected the layout of homes, public and religious spaces, and land use over time.
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This can be done by employing local narratives, oral histories, and mapping techniques trying to understand how the community negotiates adaptation, and how these processes are expressed in the built environment and village landscape.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:
To document and analyze how sociocultural and economic shifts in Mane village, Spiti Valley, shaped by its unique geography, climate, isolation, and transport routes, are reflected in changes in settlement patterns, architecture, and land use using local narratives and stories as a tool.
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Spatial Cycles and how they are changing
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Residue of economic routes
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Shift in life forms through narratives & stories
CONCEPTUAL KEYWORDS :
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Sociocultural Shifts: These refer to changes in the social and cultural values, norms, and structures of a community over time. In the case of Mane, this includes evolving family structures, religious practices (i.e., prioritizing secular education over monastic life), and educational aspirations.
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Economic Shifts: These denote changes in the primary ways a community generates income and sustains itself. For Mane, this involves a significant transition from traditional subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry to the cultivation of cash crops like green peas , and the burgeoning tourism sector.
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Spatial Cycles: This concept explores recurring patterns or stages in the evolution of settlements, such as formation, development, stability, decline, and revitalization. In mountain communities like Mane, these cycles are often tied to distinct seasonal rhythms that dictate daily life, agricultural practices, and even internal home layouts (e.g., seasonal migration within homes).
INTRODUCTION TO SPITI VALLEY :
Geographic Overview :
● Located in Himachal Pradesh’s upper-Himalayan belt ● Characterized by extreme elevation, cold-arid climate ● Sparse vegetation and seasonal isolation define settlement rhythms ● Villages follow agro-pastoral systems based on glacial irrigation
Pre-Tourism Landscape:
● Landscape perceived as both productive and sacred ● Terraced fields organized communally; land held collectively ● Trade was minimal; reliance on barter economy and ritual networks ● Religious geography shaped village routes and hierarchy
Tourism Emergence:
● Post-1950s modernization brought roads, cash crops, education ● Tourism expanded with adventure travel and heritage valorization ● Traditional homes adapted into guesthouses; sacred sites commodified
● New spatial meanings emerged from economic-exchange logic
Hypothesis
● Shift from agrarian to service-based economy altered village form ● Extended families fragmented; visual heritage rebranded for tourism ● New material aspirations redefined spatial routines and domestic roles
ELEVATION PROFILE MAP OF TERRAIN :
CONTOUR MAP OF TERRAIN :
Routines Map for obseving the life and activirties of the village.
It traces the routes of the villagers daily routines (white dashed line), which further helps elaborate the cases selected for study.
FIELD PLAN AND METHODS :
The methodology follows an approach of walking through the village as a way to observe and engage in the daily routines of the villagers. To trace the socio-spatial transformations in Mane village, this method of walking and dwelling, moving through the terrain is a way to understand how routines, economies, and spaces intersect. The three selected cases emerged through this embodied engagement, chosen not for their representativeness but for the distinct shifts they manifest.
Spatial Categories:
● Landscape: Farms, Water/Food (resources), Land use
● Settlement: Evolution of morphology, Cluster logic, Plot reconstruction
● Infrastructure: Road networks, Economic routes
● Commons: Life-spaces, Social spaces
● Household: Family structure, Change in house layout, Routines & rituals
The domestic architecture of the Spiti Valley reveals a typology that is deeply attuned to its cold, arid, and high-altitude environment. With villages located at elevations reaching 4,200–4,800 meters above sea level, building forms reflect the necessity of seasonal adaptability, resource conservation, and communal living. Homes are often built on south-facing slopes to maximize exposure to sunlight and shelter against dominant northern winds. These orientations are crucial in mitigating one of the most severe high-altitude climates in the world, where winter lasts up to six months and temperatures drop dramatically at night.
Spiti houses, like their counterparts across the Tibetan plateau, follow a vertical logic. Typically constructed in two or three stories, homes are terraced into sloped terrain, with storage or cattle sheds occupying the lowest level, summer living quarters and kitchens on the middle level, and winter rooms or roof terraces on the uppermost floor. This stacking of uses follows not just spatial economy but thermal strategy: the lowest rooms are cooler and suited for storage, while upper floors, closer to the sun and insulated with earthen materials, retain heat and serve as warm winter cores. In many households, grain is stored in a “pot room” or wooden loft, while flat roofs double as open-air courtyards for drying produce in summer and stacking wood along the perimeter.
