Knowledge and Power Contestation in Transforming Urban Spaces in India

Regular Session

Knowledge and power contestation in transforming urban spaces in India

The current form of urbanisation in India is shaped by advanced attributes of neoliberalism, expert knowledge (of planners & policymakers), and ‘technocratic nationalism’ of the state. ‘Smart’ capital intensive technical solutions are the outcome of this process to overcome the challenges posed by urbanisation in the country. Besides this dominant vision, there has also been an alternative imagination of an urban space marked by continuous contestations and practices for everyday living by the common citizens and micro discourses of researchers, civil society groups, and urban social movements. There is heterogeneity in the perspective of the alternative vision emerging from diverse collectives including coalition of NGOs, civil society groups, workers unions, etc. There are also differences in the mechanism of how urban spaces can be transformed which varies from linking bottom-up approaches with decision-making processes to the complete overhauling of the structures of decision making. In other words, there exists an ongoing contestation within the alternative vision as well. Recognising how knowledge, power, and politics play an important role at multiple scales in the formation and disintegration of urban agendas, the proposed session aims to focus on the characteristics of knowledge exchange interactions between common citizens, researchers, civil society, and urban social movements that can lead to the formation of a sustainable and just city.

We invite papers with case studies of campaigns, micro discourses, co-production of knowledge on alternative vision of urban transformation in the Indian context.