Delhi has always received particular attention from governments and town planners. More recently, urban renewal and major infrastructure works got a boost from the preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The implementation of these projects, including the construction of the athletes’ village, was associated with large-scale slum demolitions. Within this context, the paper attempts to analyze further the role of land reclamation and real estate development in slum eradication. It investigates the extent to which the land cleared from slums has been used for infrastructure projects and the types of urban projects “in the larger public interest” that have justified slum demolitions. The paper is based partly on a follow-up survey in 2011 of a survey conducted in 2007 on sites of slums demolished since 1990. As against the destructive impact and threat, for the slum dwellers, of land-market pressure and real estate interests, the paper also analyzes the potential role of private builders in the slum rehabilitation policy initiated recently in Delhi that provides for re-housing in blocks of flats built under public-private partnership, a model already implemented in Mumbai since 1990, which may become mainstream within the framework of the new national strategy for Slum-Free City Planning. Particular attention will be given to the inherent exclusionary effects of this strategy.
Veronique Dupont is a senior research fellow in demography at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD), Research Unit “Development and Societies” (Paris) and an associated member of the Centre for Indian and South Asian Studies (Paris). Her main research themes are the interrelations between the transformations of metropolitan territories, population mobility and urban policies, including slum policies and the processes of socio-spatial exclusion, with a focus on Delhi. Her recent publications include: La ville en Asie du Sud [Cities in South Asia], edited with J.G. Heuzé, Purushartha 26, EHESS, Paris, 2007. Dr. Dupont has a PhD in political economy from The Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).
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This is the twenty firest in a series of Urban Workshops planned by the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), New Delhi and Centre for Policy Research (CPR). These workshops seek to provoke public discussion on issues relating to the development of the city and try to address all its facets including its administration, culture, economy, society, and politics. For further information, please contact: Marie-Hélène Zerah at marie-helene.zerah@ird.fr or Partha Mukhopadhyay at partha@cprindia.org
