In the Public's Interest

Evictions, Citizenship, and Inequality in Contemporary Delhi

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Politics, City Planning & Urban Development, Social Science, Human Geography, History, Asian, India
Cover of the book In the Public's Interest by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi, University of Georgia Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi ISBN: 9780820350080
Publisher: University of Georgia Press Publication: November 15, 2016
Imprint: University of Georgia Press Language: English
Author: Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
ISBN: 9780820350080
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Publication: November 15, 2016
Imprint: University of Georgia Press
Language: English

This book studies the recent legacy of basti “evictions” in Delhi—mass clearings of some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods—as a way to understand how the urban poor are disenfranchised in the name of “public interest” and, in the case of Delhi, by the very courts meant to empower and protect them. Studying bastes, says Gautam Bhan, provokes six clear lines of inquiry applicable to studies of urbanism across the global south.

The first is the long-standing debate over urban informality and illegality: the debate’s impact on conceptions and practices of urban planning, the production of space, and the regulation of value. The second is a set of debates on “good governance,” read through their intersections with ideas of “planned development” within rapidly transforming cities. The third is the political field of urban citizenship and the possibilities of substantive rights and belonging in the city. The fourth is resistance and the ability of a city’s subaltern residents to struggle against exclusion. The two remaining inquiries both cut across and unify the first four. One of these is the role of the judiciary and the relationships between law and urbanism in cities of the global south. The other is the relationship between democracy and inequality in the city.

What emerges about Delhi in particular are a set of new modes for the reproduction of inequality. When rights are lost, citizenship is unequal and differentiated, the promise of development is refused, and poverty and inequality are reproduced and deepened. The task at hand, says Bhan, is not just to explain evictions but also to listen to what they are telling us about “the city that is as well as the city that can be.”

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This book studies the recent legacy of basti “evictions” in Delhi—mass clearings of some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods—as a way to understand how the urban poor are disenfranchised in the name of “public interest” and, in the case of Delhi, by the very courts meant to empower and protect them. Studying bastes, says Gautam Bhan, provokes six clear lines of inquiry applicable to studies of urbanism across the global south.

The first is the long-standing debate over urban informality and illegality: the debate’s impact on conceptions and practices of urban planning, the production of space, and the regulation of value. The second is a set of debates on “good governance,” read through their intersections with ideas of “planned development” within rapidly transforming cities. The third is the political field of urban citizenship and the possibilities of substantive rights and belonging in the city. The fourth is resistance and the ability of a city’s subaltern residents to struggle against exclusion. The two remaining inquiries both cut across and unify the first four. One of these is the role of the judiciary and the relationships between law and urbanism in cities of the global south. The other is the relationship between democracy and inequality in the city.

What emerges about Delhi in particular are a set of new modes for the reproduction of inequality. When rights are lost, citizenship is unequal and differentiated, the promise of development is refused, and poverty and inequality are reproduced and deepened. The task at hand, says Bhan, is not just to explain evictions but also to listen to what they are telling us about “the city that is as well as the city that can be.”

More books from University of Georgia Press

Cover of the book The Problem South by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book Love and Narrative Form in Toni Morrison’s Later Novels by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book Lens of War by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book Slavery in the Caribbean Francophone World by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book An Uncommon Faith by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book A Lillian Smith Reader by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book The Geography of the Everyday by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book Breaking Ground by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book The Billfish Story by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book The Future of Just War by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book Silent Retreats by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book Shadows of a Sunbelt City by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book The Philosopher King by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book The Theory of Light and Matter by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
Cover of the book Subaltern Geographies by Gautam Bhan, Nik Heynen, Mathew Coleman, Associate Professor Sapana Doshi
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy