Applying frame analysis and reframing for integrated conservation and development: example from Mumbai

ABSTRACT

The way we frame a given problem structures the content that is brought into focus and thus the kinds of practical steps seen as necessary to alleviate it. This article interrogates two competing partial framings implicated in ongoing controversy over mangrove destruction in Vikhroli East, Mumbai, which have precluded integrated conservation and development. The article analyses the content of each particular framing, identifies their respective “blind spots”, and evaluates the validity of various frame components. It concludes with an exemplary alternative reframing arguably more conducive to social justice and sustainability in Vikhroli East and beyond.

La manière dont nous cernons un problème donné structure le contenu qui est mis en évidence, et par conséquent, les types d'étapes pratiques considérées comme nécessaires à l'atténuation de ce problème. Cet article remet en question deux approches partielles, concurrentielles et impliquées dans la controverse continuelle sur la destruction de la mangrove dans le Vikhroli-East, à Mumbai, qui ont entravé la conservation et le développement intégrés. L'article analyse le contenu de chacune de ces approches, identifie leurs « angles morts » respectifs et évalue la validité de plusieurs de leurs composantes. Il s'achève avec un modèle de reformulation alternative, vraisemblablement plus favorable à la justice et à la durabilité sociales dans le Vikhroli-East et au-delà.

La forma de enmarcar cierto problema termina estructurando el contenido analizado y determinando los pasos prácticos necesarios para resolverlo. El presente artículo examina dos encuadres parciales implicados en la controversia que actualmente tiene lugar en torno a la destrucción de manglares en el Este de Vikhroli, Mumbai. Dichos encuadres han descartado la conservación y el desarrollo integrales. El artículo analiza el contenido de cada encuadre, identificando sus respectivos “puntos ciegos” y evaluando la validez de varios de los componentes de cada marco, para concluir proponiendo un ejemplar replanteamiento alternativo que posiblemente promueva mayor justicia social y sostenibilidad, tanto en el Este de Vikhroli como en otros ámbitos.

KEYWORDS:

• Environment (built and natural)
• Governance and public policy
• Labour and livelihoods – Poverty reduction
• Methods
• South Asia

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the funding provided by LUCID and the Swedish Research Council FORMAS. Also, a special thanks to all the participants at TISS (Mumbai) and LUCSUS (Lund) who were part of organising and attending the Critical Urban Theory course from which the idea for this article developed. Further thanks to Anne Jerneck and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Chad Stephen Boda is a PhD candidate in sustainability science at the Lund University Center of Excellence for Integration of the Social and Natural Dimensions of Sustainability (LUCID) and the Lund University Center for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Lund University, Sweden.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas: [Grant Number 259-2008-1718].