110.3
New Townships in India: Inclusion, Exclusion and Governance
Anchal Kumari[1]
The process of economic reforms is changing the urban structure of India. The power of globalising processes can be seen on the city spaces and lives of people. The development of privatised new townships in India is the contemporary example of the changing urban forms. Many of the new townships are exclusionary and made for upper classes or global players.
Pune is the second largest city after Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra. In the last couple of decades Pune has emerged as a national and regional hub for Information Technology. The growth of Pune has led to an increased demand for housing and office spaces; this resulted in the creation of new townships such as Magarpatta and Amanora with the world class infrastructure and services.
State, civil society and local communities are playing an active role in the creation of new townships in Pune. The traditional communities are transferring their rural socio economic advantages to urban advantages. The strategy of land acquisition involved in the formation of these new townships are minimising the possibility of resistances from the local land holding communities.
The narratives from the people who are directly or indirectly related with these townships help to understand how the production of private urban spaces contributes towards the socio-spatial transformations and socio-spatial inequalities within the cities. This paper analyses the nature of urban governance and the forms of inclusion and exclusion in these private townships. The subjective experiences of locals help to critically examine the relevance of right to the city in these new townships.
Keywords:New Townships, Private Urban Spaces, urban governance, Socio-Spatial Transformations, Inclusion and exclusion.
[1]PhD. Scholar, School of Social Sciences, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 400 088.
Email Address: anchalk18@gmail.com