India, Nov. 7 -- Long before Delhi's southern neighbourhoods became the focus of urban expansion, the area north of the Walled City had emerged as an important centre of British life and administration. Today, Civil Lines is known for its wide roads, green spaces and colonial-era buildings. But its name offers a clue to a time when the British were shaping a separate residential and administrative landscape outside Shahjahanabad.

The term 'Civil Lines' has its roots in the British administrative system in India. It referred to residential areas associated with civilian officials, distinguishing them from military lines and cantonments. Delhi's Civil Lines developed as part of the British settlement beyond the northern walls of Shahjahana...