The urbanization process in India has undergone a rapid change after the neoliberal reforms of 1991. It led to the growth of peri-urban areas that serve as sources of land and water for urban expansion. There is a mixture of planned and unplanned activities that result in pollution, changing ecologies and land use. Natural resources especially common property resources are declining due to development of infrastructure, residential areas, recreational parks, and shopping centres. This research is located in Najafgarh area of southwest Delhi where common land has been acquired by the state government to construct bus depot, schools, sports facilities, community centres and plantation. Recently, the Delhi government proposed a state university on common land in study area. The urbanization process has also changed the customary use of common resources. For instance, village ponds that were earlier used for community bathing and livestock drinking are now converted into wastewater disposal sites and encroached by private builders for real estate development. Similarly, pasture lands have been acquired or encroached on by state authorities and private land developers. The conversion of common land has affected the livelihood of local villagers’ especially landless communities and smaller farmers since they were dependent on these lands for fuel and fodder. The study will use the political ecology framework to understand the local level changes in terms of use, access to common resources and its effects on local villagers. It will consider these impacts as differentiated, and foreground locals’ struggles for autonomy and agency over resources.

TITLE: PERI-URBAN TRANSITIONS AND SHRINKING COMMONS IN DELHI’S VILLAGES
ABSTRACT: The urbanization process in India has undergone a rapid change after the neoliberal reforms of 1991. It led to the growth of peri-urban areas that serve as sources of land and water for urban expansion. There is a mixture of planned and unplanned activities that result in pollution, changing ecologies and land use. Natural resources especially common property resources are declining due to development of infrastructure, residential areas, recreational parks, and shopping centres. This research is located in Najafgarh area of southwest Delhi where common land has been acquired by the state government to construct bus depot, schools, sports facilities, community centres and plantation. Recently, the Delhi government proposed a state university on common land in study area. The urbanization process has also changed the customary use of common resources. For instance, village ponds that were earlier used for community bathing and livestock drinking are now converted into wastewater disposal sites and encroached by private builders for real estate development. Similarly, pasture lands have been acquired or encroached on by state authorities and private land developers. The conversion of common land has affected the livelihood of local villagers’ especially landless communities and smaller farmers since they were dependent on these lands for fuel and fodder. The study will use the political ecology framework to understand the local level changes in terms of use, access to common resources and its effects on local villagers. It will consider these impacts as differentiated, and foreground locals’ struggles for autonomy and agency over resources.
KEYWORDS: Peri-urban areas, Common Property Resources, Political Ecology, Urbanisation, Delhi.

Individual Presentation Submission

TITLE

RE-CONCEPTUALIZING GENTRIFICATION IN COASTAL CITIES: A CASE STUDY OF PORT DEVELOPMENT IN VIZHINJAM, KERALA

ABSTRACT

In recent years, port cities across the globe have undergone massive transformation by development and redevelopment projects. Economic, technological advancements and infrastructural development have substantially transformed the images and representations of the place and space of port cities. In the global north, the word gentrification is often used to characterize urban regeneration and dispossession, but its usage in the global south to depict transformation and spatial injustice is being questioned. This paper argues for a new form of gentrification different from the global north and criticizes the dominant theorization of contemporary gentrification. It aims to broaden the definition of gentrification by embracing emerging and new spatial expressions of gentrification in the global south. This study examines the growing number of large-scale port development projects actively promoted by the government that result in the displacement and dispossession of coastal communities through the appropriation of coastal space, including sea and land, by interests outside the community. The case study of Vizhinjam port in Kerala attempts to relate how urban dispossession has been carried out through large-scale projects throughout the Indian subcontinent's port cities through the prism of gentrification.
KEYWORDS
Gentrification, coastal communities, spatial injustice

Individual presentation submission

TITLE

Contesting territoriality in the context of a “shrinking” civic space: Insights into the Land Access Movement of South Africa’s Land claims advocacy in Rural South Africa.

ABSTRACT

Using the case of LAMOSA, a land rights movement working in rural South Africa, the paper examines the interaction of race and land rights activism within the context of South Africa’s “shrinking” civic space. It utilises data gathered from interviews with key informants and court rulings to discuss how LAMOSA’s land claims advocacy shapes the discourse of “territoriality” in South Africa, a nation still confronted by unequal access to land that follows racial and gender fault lines. Further, the paper seeks to understand how the movement’s advocacy to reclaim territoriality has been reconstituted, reimagined and impacted by the narrowing space for civil society. The preliminary findings indicate that the despondency of civil society due repression, maladministration of court rulings, depleting of donor funding and recently the onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic has diminished LAMOSA’s capacity and urgency to mobilise dispossessed communities to regain access to their ancestral land.

KEYWORDS
Territoriality, land, South Africa, race, advocacy

Individual Presentation Submission

TITLE
GENDER, GREEN SPACES AND DAILY PRACTICES: COMPARING WOMEN’S ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE ENVIRONMENT IN GLENMORE AND UMLAZI, ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY

ABSTRACT
Women have strong connections to the environment which is manifested in the ways in which they utilise green spaces and participate in environmentally sustainable practices (Brace et al., 2021; Ramstetter and Habbersack, 2019, Gorman-Murray and Lane, 2012). In the context of South Africa, apartheid socio-spatial continuities remain entrenched. Against this background, this paper compares women’s engagements with the environment, green spaces and daily practices in Glenmore (a historically white, advantaged residential area) and Umlazi (a historically black, disadvantaged township) in the eThekwini Municipality. It was evident from this study that women from both areas had positive attitudes and demonstrated care for, as well as a sense of responsibility towards the environment. Notwithstanding socio-economic disparities, similarities were observed in women’s daily practices in both areas, such as reducing water and electricity usage. However, women from Glenmore exhibited higher engagements with green spaces compared to women from Umlazi. This could be attributed to the differentiated access to safe and well-maintained green spaces by women from Glenmore compared to Umlazi, thus reflecting the persistence of apartheid socio-spatial legacies on the urban fabric.

KEYWORDS
gender, environment, daily practices