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ENGAGING THE STATE Urban Citizenship Practices at the Frontier of Urban Renewal and Nagar Raj in Suburban Mumbai by Benita Maria Menezes Bachelor of Architecture, The University of Mumbai, 2001 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN PLANNING in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Planning) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2013 © Benita Maria Menezes, 2013 Abstract What are the political practices of engaging the state at the intersection of urban renewal and decentralization of governance (Nagar Raj) in millennial Mumbai? At stake in this question is the need to intervene in existing scholarship, which, until now, has been framed predominantly through macro-narratives of the structural dimensions of urban change. With regard to urban renewal, it has framed debates through the tropes of gentrification and dispossession and, with regard to urban governmentality, through binary constructs of civil and political society, or the overarching notion of civic governmentality. Although these conceptualizations have been useful, what is missing is a grounded reading of the micro-politics of everyday citizen practices that point to a dynamic and contentious public sphere. This thesis explores the micro-politics of spatial and institutional restructuring in a suburban neighborhood in Mumbai. Drawing on research across the themes of urban decentralization, renewal and citizenship, the research renders more complex the binary constructs of civil/political society as well as the homogeneous categories of urban poor and community by focusing on a case study of neighborhood-led micro-urban renewal. The research locates the evolving political consciousness and agency of neighborhood actors through their actual practices that overlap with and transgress siloed conceptualizations. In developing this argument on the new politics of neighborhoods, four ways of engaging the state in suburban Mumbai are identified: a politics of (1) difference, (2) silence, (3) civility, and (4) compensation. ii Preface This research study required the approval of University of British Columbia’s Behavioral Research and Ethics Board, Certificate Number H10-00832. iii Table of Contents Abstract…… .................................................................................................................................. ii Preface……. .................................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. viii List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................................x Glossary…… ................................................................................................................................ xi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. xviii Chapter 1: The Struggles to Belong : The Expansion and Erosion of Urban Citizenship Claims in Suburban Mumbai ..................................................................................................1 1.1 The Frontier of Urban Renewal and Governmentality in a Suburban Mumbai Neighborhood ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 A Historical Overview of Decentralization of Urban Governance and Urban Renewal in India ............................................................................................................................ 5 1.3 The Planning Puzzle ..................................................................................................... 19 1.4 Defining Key Concepts in the Thesis ........................................................................... 20 1.5 Rationale for Selecting Juhu as the Case Study Area ................................................... 25 1.6 Situating Juhu in K West, Mumbai ............................................................................... 28 Chapter 2: Research Design: Situating the Theorectical and Methodological Frameworks .....36 2.1 Summarizing the Existing Literature on Urban Governance and Urban Renewal ....... 36 2.1.1 Millennial Development through Decentralization in the Global South. ................. 36 2.1.2 Urban India’s 21st Century Millennial Development Paradigm. ............................. 37 2.2 Decentralization of Urban Governance in Indian Cities ............................................... 38 2.2.1 Emergence of “Middle-Class” Actors ...................................................................... 38 2.2.2 Itineraries of Recognition ......................................................................................... 40 2.3 Urban Socio-Spatial Re-Structuring in Indian Cities .................................................... 41 2.4 Research Design and “Methods of Inquiry” ................................................................. 45 2.5 Synergizing Analytical Frameworks ............................................................................. 50 iv 2.6 Ethnographic Methods .................................................................................................. 54 2.7 Generating the Narrative ............................................................................................... 55 Chapter 3: “No Man’s Lands”? The Micro-Politics of Nagar Raj and Local Area Development Planning in Juhu .................................................................................56 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 56 3.2 Tracing Histories of Urban Development: The Micro Politics of Nagar Raj and Local Area Development Planning in Juhu ............................................................................ 59 3.2.1 Late 19th – Mid 20th Century: Juhu as ‘Oriental Venice’ of a Colonial Industrial City: ......................................................................................................................... 60 3.2.2 Mid 20th- Late 20th Century: Juhu as Planned Suburb of an Emerging Metropolitan City .......................................................................................................................... 64 3.2.3 Late 20th Century Onwards: Revisiting Visions for ‘Oriental Venice’ in an Aspiring World-Class City ..................................................................................................... 70 3.2.3.1 Nascent Evolution of New Community Based Organizations in Juhu: Solid Waste Management as a Framing Device for Advanced Locality Management .......................................................................................................................... 70 3.2.3.2 Coalitions of New Community Based Organizations in Juhu: From Ad-Hoc Collective Action Towards Mobilizing Effectively for Representational Democracy via the Vote Juhu Campaign: ........................................................ 72 3.2.3.3 Popularizing Bourgeois Environmentalism through Master Planning Juhu: Revisiting Visions of ‘Oriental Venice’ ........................................................... 82 3.2.3.4 Place-Breaking Tendencies Along the Irla Nallah Enabled by Nagar Raj, Bourgeois Environmentalism and Micro-Urban Renewal ............................... 86 3.3 Key Observations .......................................................................................................... 93 Chapter 4: Engaging the State: The Ensuing Politics of Urban Citizenship Practices ...........101 4.1 The Expansion and Erosion of Urban Citizenship Claims in Suburban Mumbai ...... 101 4.2 How Neighborhood Actors Engage the State in Millennial Mumbai ......................... 104 4.2.1 Citizenship Practices at the Juncture of “Community-Driven”/ State-Led Urban Renewal and “Participatory” Governance in the Urban Village ........................... 104 4.2.1.1 Claim-Making Practices of Kolis: A Politics of Difference ........................... 108 v 4.2.1.2 Claim-Making Practices of Vasti Residents I: A Politics of Silence .............. 115 4.2.2 Citizenship Practices at the Juncture of “Community-Driven”/ State-Led Urban Renewal and “Participatory” Governance in the Vasti: ......................................... 120 4.2.2.1 Claim-Making Practices of Vasti Residents II: A Politics of Civility ............ 120 4.2.2.2 Claim-Making Practices of Vasti Residents III: A Politics of Compensation 125 4.2.2.3 Observations on the Social and Political Practices of Neighborhood Actors . 128 Chapter 5: Concluding Thoughts ............................................................................................131 Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................137 Appendix…. ................................................................................................................................147 vi List of Tables Table 3-1 “Place-breaking” tendencies of JNNURM-funded