We rubbed our eyes in disbelief when we chanced upon it the first time, brushing it off as a mistaken observation from our end, especially since our kaali-peeli sped past it rather quickly on the Eastern Express Highway. The second time, we were a tad more vigilant, and caught the words boldly printed on the mega hoarding — 'Mumbai's Urban Heritage'. It was by one of the city's most prominent builders, promoting their upcoming properties in Powai.

The first thing that we did was to jog our memory to the umpteen instances where we've come across the words 'urban heritage' in various dossiers, books and presentations about the city's heritage movement, either in context with restoration or in focus for their historicity. In fact, Mumbai (then, Bombay) was the first city in India to put urban heritage regulations into place in 1995. Prior to this, there was no protection of built heritage like its landmarks and historic sites, including its Art Deco buildings, Victorian Gothic precincts in and around Fort, the temples of Banganga and Mahalaxmi, as well as villages of Bandra and Khotachiwadi, among other important buildings. With this protection, such urban heritage sites were classified into Grades I, II and III as per their significance and vintage. Soon, other cities like Delhi and Kolkata followed these principles. That was also our introduction to the term.