Urban villages in China and India: parallels and differences in the village extension process

ABSTRACT

Urbanizing villages are erstwhile rural villages that are spatially enveloped and are characterized by their dual relation to the state, which expresses itself as an issue of citizenship; of land ownership; of governance; and building regulations. This paper transcends the current focus on villages in Southern China, by comparing village urbanization between China and India through four narratives of village extensions. Four parallel readings are offered, namely that urban villages are characterized by; shared tenure rooted in their rural past; inherited administrative boundaries that are re-imbued with new legal designations; emulation of traditional practices; and sustained modes of self-governance.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban village
• China
• India
• informality
• urban governance
• comparative studies

Disclosure statement

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors only and do not reflect those of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.

Notes

1. To distinguish local terms and their translations they are printed cursive throughout this paper.

2. Notable exceptions exist, such as in Tianjin’s Binhai New Area development.

3. Such a reading relies on Bhan’s (2017) insight that policies in the Indian context attempt to ‘create their own objects’ through introducing new urban grammar.

4. The epithet being ‘Jiangxia’s Deng Xiaoping’.

5. Chinese unit of measurement used to issue regulation.

6. Issued through notices by the Delhi Municipal Corporation in 1957 and 1963.

7. Mahipalpur’ extension was further accelerated due to its proximity to Delhi’s international airport.

8. The 1964 Karnataka Land Revenue Act and the 1961 Karnataka Land Reforms Act.

9. Indian unit of measurement used to issue regulation.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.