Infrastructures of Inclusion and Exclusion: Examining Power, Access, and Contestation in Amritsar’s Social Housing Projects

This paper investigates the role of urban infrastructures in shaping access, exclusion, and contestation within two social housing projects in Amritsar, India. Infrastructures—such as roads, water pipelines, electricity grids, and governance mechanisms—are often framed as facilitators of social inclusion and poverty reduction in urban planning. However, this study reflects on how the same infrastructures can also become tools for reinforcing marginalization and inequality, particularly in low-income housing contexts. Drawing on field research and access theory, the study explores how infrastructures mediate relationships between residents, government bodies, and urban resources. In the first case study, a resettlement project aimed at improving living conditions for marginalized migrant communities, the infrastructural layout and services provided by the municipality purposely do not meet the needs of residents, leading to further social exclusion. Here the analysis of everyday practices shows how infrastructural disconnects contribute to the marginaliazation of these communities. In the second case, an income-based social mix housing project, infrastructures designed to integrate diverse residents have instead generated conflicts over resource allocation and access to basic services. The case illustrates how urban infrastructures are instrumentalized by different actors with contested interests, each pursuing divergent objectives within the housing project. Drawing on these cases, the paper argues that infrastructures in social housing not only enable or constrain access to resources but also shape social relations and power structures. By focusing on the infrastructural dynamics in these two housing estates, the paper underscores the need to critically examine the role of infrastructure in urban planning and social inclusion, offering new perspectives on the relationship between the built environment and marginalized urban communities