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ABSTRACT
A significant part of urbanisation in India is happening through unregulated or partly regulated trajectories that are either informal or semi-formal in nature, and regulatory authorities have come to terms with them on a piecemeal basis over a period of time. This article contends that what is considered unplanned by regulatory agencies is actually planned by people and facilitated by the normativity surrounding both formal and informal institutions of urbanisation in society. The study looks at the processes through which such a housing settlement comes into being and negotiates legitimacy, authorisation, as well as basic civic services.
Une partie considérable de l'urbanisation en Inde a lieu en empruntant des voies non réglementées ou partiellement réglementées, soit informelles soit semi-formelles, et les autorités chargées de la réglementation les ont acceptées de façon décousue sur une certaine période. Cet article soutient que ce qui est considéré comme non planifié par les agences de réglementation est de fait planifié par les gens et facilité par la normativité qui entoure les institutions formelles et informelles chargées de l'urbanisation dans la société. Cette étude se penche sur les processus à travers lesquels un tel accord sur le logement prend forme et négocie la légitimité, l'autorisation, ainsi que les services civiques de base.
En India, una parte significativa de la urbanización se realiza a través de mecanismos no regulados o parcialmente regulados, de carácter informal o semiformal, los cuales, con el paso del tiempo, han sido gradualmente aceptados por las autoridades reguladoras. El presente artículo sostiene que un proceso catalogado como no planificado por las oficinas reguladoras pudo haber sido planificado por los habitantes y facilitado por la normatividad existente en las instituciones sociales de urbanización formales y/o informales. En este sentido examina los procesos mediante los cuales se establece una urbanización de viviendas, negociando su legitimidad, su autorización y luego la instalación de servicios cívicos básicos.
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge gratitude to IDRC for giving me an opportunity to undertake this study. I am most grateful to community members in Raghopur and Vikas Nagar who were extremely kind in sharing information. I am grateful to Sukhnidhan Singh (my research assistant), property dealers, government officials, and lawyers who contributed to the making of the article. Shubhangi and Pratima were a great help, though in indirect ways, towards completion of the paper. Last but not the least, the Centre for Rural-Urban Dynamics at IRMA, Anand is a great source of inspiration and strength.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Mukul Kumar is a Faculty Member at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), India. He is a practitioner turned academic and has vast practical experience on issues of poverty and livelihoods affecting rural communities. His research interests are poverty, public action, livelihoods, rural-urban linkage, rural transformation, urbanisation, and social theory.
Notes
1. Statutory towns are municipal towns recognised by the government.
2. These do not have urban civic status but meet demographic and economic criteria.
3. This is the number given to plots of land on the revenue map of a village.
4. Sub-district revenue administration unit.
5. The habitation part of the revenue village.
6. Gaon samaj is a body of all adults in a village. All lands, cultivable or wasteland, except private holdings, groves, or forests, are vested in the gaon samaj.
7. Entrepreneurs who develop housing settlements by developing plots of land or construct houses and earn profit in the bargain.
8. Legal process of the change of ownership of land in revenue records.
9. This is a local unit for measuring land.
10. Plot number on the revenue map.
11. Officer who records sales and purchases of property.
12. Tax paid for using a road or a bridge for transporting goods to the city.
13. Kanpur Jal Sansthan and Kanpur Electricity Supply Company are not discussed in this article.
14. Purcell (Citation2003) extends Lefebvre’s original idea of right to the city. He talks about rights other than those claimed as part of the working class. He talks about rights to the city as also linked to race, gender, and sexuality.