A study on the relationships among Natami, city functions and built environment with special reference to Pettah, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Wholesale and retail trades play a vital role in a city’s economy. From the early days of the evolution of cities, a group of labor specialized in loading, unloading and carrying goods emerged to cater to the need of moving goods within the city. During the Colonial era, in order to cater to the demand for economic means of delivering goods within the city in increasing wholesale and retail businesses, the British rulers brought in Indian Coolies to Sri Lanka and to many of their colonies to provide manual labor. Today, they are identified as Natamis and work in wholesale trading areas such as Pettah in Colombo and many other urban areas in Sri Lanka. With the advancement of technology many of the tasks of these goods carriers got replaced by motorized modes such as forklifts, trucks, lorries, cranes etc, but this occupation is not totally disappeared from the wholesale trading areas in Asian cities. It is observed that the character of the built environment and the prevailing city functions, especially the mode of local transactions of goods between traders, support the extended existence of Natami in Pettah; City of Colombo. This research explores the relationships between the Natami community, the city functions and the built environment of the City of Colombo using network analysis. Through the understanding derived from the analysis, this paper calls for the due attention of the policy makers and planners in planning and designing the city environments to identify the hidden but vital role played by these communities in making cities more effective and vibrant.