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ABSTRACT
This article focuses on a relatively overlooked dimension of urban development in India: the nature of community-making in new urban spaces. Using concepts from sociological and geographical literature on community formation, it examines the relationship between specific forms of urbanisation in contemporary (neo-liberal) India and community-making processes. The study is situated in the city of Noida within the national capital region in northern India. Examining two habitational forms, that of urban middle-class enclaves and urban villages, we suggest that a model of urbanisation involving eminent domain (the state’s power to acquire private property and convert it into public use) to produce gentrified urban spaces may promote conditions for rival forms of exclusivist community-making, including nativist ‘othering’.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on the initial drafts of the paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Only 2021 and 2031 versions are publicly available.
2 The scale of some of these projects are noteworthy. Golf City, an upcoming residential enclave in sectors 71–72, is spread over 150 acres with a 50-acre central park and a shopping mall covering 37,000 sq m.
3 Greater Noida is an adjacent city developed as an extension to Noida.
4 http://www.forbesindia.com/printcontent/25662; accessed on 30th August 2019.
5 ‘List of 105 Projects: Details of Group Housing Plots for Sanction and Completion’ (unpublished), received from Noida Authority in June 2019.
6 https://www.hindustantimes.com/Noida/like-greater-Noida-s-shahberi-many-Noida-villages-are-hub-of-unauthorized-buildings/story-d4nWvbXqVW4erZab2MsghI.html; accessed on 10th September 2019.
7 https://www.hindustantimes.com/Noida/densely-populated-urban-villages-of-Noida-may-affect-civic-facilities/story-zPTVnFZ8nqVPeV6SIb3phN.html, accessed on 9th September 2019.
8 The rapid growth in high-density high-rise group housing projects.
9 Located in Sector 78 of Noida, Mahagun Moderne spreads over 25 acres with 16 25-storied towers, accommodating 2650 flats.
10 Interview with authors, 22nd June 2019, Sector 78.
11 Interview with authors, 5th January 2020, Sector 93A.
12 Interview with authors, 3rd July 2019, Sector 31.
13 In most cases entire village communities were given adjacent plots in the sector. This allowed for pre-existing communities/networks to replicate in the city.
14 Blocks are usually demarcated as A, B, C and so on. A single block can have a handful to a few hundred houses depending on the sector’s size.
15 Interview with authors, 29th December 2019, Sector 48.
16 Interview with authors, 30th December 2019, Sector 70.
17 Interview with authors, 2nd January 2020, Sector 122.
18 Interview with authors, 22nd June 2019, Sector 132.
19 Interview with authors, 13 June 2019, Sarfabad.
20 https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/now-farmers-plan-to-target-projects-in-city/story-aiw8ZuOPwbETMYINx1p5LM.html; accessed on 8th January 2021.
21 Interview with authors, 13 June 2019, Barola.
22 1 lakh = 0.1 million.
23 Authors’ participation in BKU (Bhanu) dharna at Barola Village, 19–25 June 2019.
24 In 2018–2019, theft was the most registered crime in the area, followed by fraud and snatching. Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/noida/in-2019-gb-nagar-saw-uptick-in-major-crimes/story-WG5n1UUBK8SnXqiwYUzbwI.html#:~:text=The%20district%20witnessed%20a%20minor,against%20131%20cases%20in%202018; accessed on 26th February 2022.
25 Sectors very close to villages, or having porous boundaries with villages tend to have 25%–30% lower property prices than those that do not.
26 Interview with authors, 25 June 2019, Wazidpur.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ritanjan Das
Ritanjan Das is a Senior Lecturer in the University of Portsmouth, UK. His current research focuses on the political economy of development in the global South, exploring the role of local actors, networks and agencies from an anthropological perspective. He received a PhD in Development Studies from the London School of Economics for his study on the politics of policy transition in the state of West Bengal. His book Neoliberalism and the Transforming Left in India: A Contradictory Manifesto was published by Routledge in 2018. His second book Illiberal Spaces, Illiberal Cities (co-authored with Dr. Kumar) is forthcoming in 2023.
Nilotpal Kumar
Nilotpal Kumar is an Associate Professor at School of Development, Azim Premji University (Bangalore). His current research explores the interaction between horticultural restructuring in semi-arid regions of Andhra Pradesh and emerging forms of local authority and cultural identity. He received a PhD in Development Studies from the London School of Economics for his ethnographic study of the phenomenon of farmers’ suicides in post-reform India. His book Unravelling Farmer Suicides in India: Egoism and Masculinity in Peasant Life was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. His second book Illiberal Spaces, Illiberal Cities’ (co-authored with Dr. Das) is forthcoming in 2023.