Case Study Living in Transition: an Exploratory Case on the Impacts of Resettlement on the Livelihood of the Dwellers of Cmc Colony
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B IN U COM Building Inclusive Urban Communities CASE STUDY LIVING IN TRANSITION: AN EXPLORATORY CASE ON THE IMPACTS OF RESETTLEMENT ON THE LIVELIHOOD OF THE DWELLERS OF CMC COLONY Hiranmayi Shankavaram/Jay Choksi (Assistent) – 2018 B IN U COM Building Inclusive Urban Communities CASE STUDY LIVING IN TRANSITION: AN EXPLORATORY CASE ON THE IMPActS OF ReSettleMENT ON THE LIVelIHOOD OF THE DWelleRS OF CMC COLONY Hiranmayi Shankavaram/Jay Choksi (Assistent) – 2018 Language Editor: Nalini Ramachandran Funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of its content. The Commission cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made, of the information contained herein. The authors are solely responsible for the views expressed in this work and the accuracy of its findings. The work does not necessarily represent the views of or confer liability on the Department of Architecture, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education (KAHE). © Department of Architecture, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education (KAHE). This work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Contact: Department of Architecture, KAHE - Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, India Email: [email protected] Website: www.kahedu.edu.in 2 CASE STUDY LivinG in TRANSITION: An EXPLORATORY CASE ON THE IMPACTS OF RESETTLEMENT ON THE LivElihOOD OF THE DwEllERS OF CMC COLONY ABSTRAct The approach to slum-free cities included slum rede- The dynamics of the occupancy of slums, divisive velopment through mass slum clearances, demolition party politics within slum communities, and the of poor-quality houses, and the provision of newer, gentrification of TNSCB tenements tarnished the improved buildings. This expensive and tedious unity essential for the success of such schemes/ process involved relocation of slum dwellers to the initiatives. The case under study—Vellalore, one fringes. Where most people were content with the of the largest resettlement colonies in the city of quality of services, the experts criticised the social Coimbatore—is researched to address the archaic implications of the idea. To tackle this, the World traits of resettlement and the presumptive reper- Bank proposed two standpoints: one, completely cussions on the livelihood of those displaced. The refusing the idea of displacement; and the other, tack- colony, which houses 24 different slums that have ling the methodological aspects of easing the negative been displaced mostly from the centre of the city, impacts, irrespective of overcoming complexities. puts forth the immediate challenges of the munici- pal workers (CMC Colony), specifically in terms of The weaving of the World Bank’s strategies with the access to infrastructure, added financial burdens, Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board’s (TNSCB) visions and social implications, which are delimiting the in the 1970s, particularly in the housing sector, current transitional period post resettlement. ◆ restructured the TNSCB to limit political shadows and the degree of dependence on state capital. With in-situ developments and upgradation in its initial years, the TNSCB, in the 1990s, shifted back to weak trails as a testimony to a struggle-oriented action against evictions and as a response to relocation. “ The case under study is researched to address the archaic traits of resettlement and the presumptive repercussions on the livelihood of those displaced.” 3 LivinG in TRANSITION: An EXPLORATORY CASE ON THE IMPACTS OF RESETTLEMENT ON THE LivElihOOD OF THE DwEllERS OF CMC COLONY ABBREVIATIONS ABBREVIATIONS NGO Non-governmental Organisation CBO Community-based Organisation GDP Gross Domestic Product RAY Rajiv Awas Yojana PMAY Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana JNNURM Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission BSUP Basic Services to Urban Poor NSDP National Slum Development Programme TNSCB Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board CDW Community Development Wing ADB Asian Development Bank MUTP Mumbai Urban Transport Project TDR Transferable Development Rights SLA Sustainable Livelihoods Approach SLF Sustainable Livelihoods Framework PPA Participatory Poverty Assessment PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal 4 CASE STUDY LivinG in TRANSITION: An EXPLORATORY CASE ON THE IMPACTS OF RESETTLEMENT ON THE LivElihOOD OF THE DwEllERS OF CMC COLONY CONteNTS Abstract 3 Abbreviations 4 PART 1 – Introduction 6 The Big Picture: Housing Shortage and Redevelopment Policies in India 7 Interventions of the World Bank 8 Slum-free City in the Context of Tamil Nadu 9 PART 2 – Pre-study: Literature Review 11 Introduction to the Resettlement Theory: Voluntary and Involuntary Typologies 11 Stages, Transitions, and Implications of Resettlement 12 Resettlement: A Pretext for Gentrification? 17 Introduction to Livelihood Theory and Approaches 17 Conclusion 21 PART 3 – Research Objective, Research Question(s) and Methodology 22 Research Objective 22 Research Aim 22 Research Question(s) 22 Scope of Study 22 Limitations 22 Process and Data-collection Methodology 23 PART 4 – Context 25 Introduction 25 The City 26 The Research Case 26 PART 5 – Data Collection and Data Analysis 35 Participatory Exercise 35 Stakeholder and Impact Map 44 Household Surveys 45 PART 6 – Key Findings and Conclusion 52 Key Findings 52 Conclusion 54 References 56 Acknowledgements 57 Author Bio 57 Suggested Reference: Shankavaram, Hiranmayi (2018) Explorations into the Well-being and the Prevalent Environmental (Physical and Social) Impacts on the Health of the Dwellers of Ukkadam CMC Colony. Report prepared for the Building Inclusive Urban Communities (BInUCom) project, funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union: http://moodle.donau-uni.ac.at/binucom. 5 LivinG in TRANSITION: An EXPLORATORY CASE ON THE IMPACTS OF RESETTLEMENT ON THE LivElihOOD OF THE DwEllERS OF CMC COLONY PART 1 – INTRODuctION PART 1 INTRODuctION For long, the constructs of informality have been survival and self-respect. In line with the context combative in both ontological and topographical under study, the city of Chennai – which is the senses. Economist Hernando De Soto interpreted capital of Tamil Nadu – defines its slums as a way ‘informality’ as ‘people’s spontaneous response to of life, a distinct character with its own set of norms the state’s failure in satisfying the basic needs of and values perceived in poor sanitation, health the vulnerable’. The dichotomy that reigns over the values and practices, social isolation, and deviant formal and the informal are, today, sheer games of behaviours (Hochart, 2014). class power and their control on legitimacy, infra- structure, and services. Informality is often argued The fissures that have been a part of city dynamics to be a product of the state since the definitions of are often interceded by the state’s counteractive sys- what is formal or informal, legal or illegal, licit or tems that, every so often, create obtrusive complexi- illicit, and authorised or unauthorised lie under its ties. Dispossession of the poor and inequalities are purview to further determine which one will thrive observed as responses to the re-envisioning of city against the other. The state’s administration is now landscapes. Furthermore, the populist approaches an indicator to define urban informality and reckon by the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) the reason for the formation of slums (Roy 2011). and community-based organisations (CBOs) that embark upon civility often project a simultaneous Roy (2011) thus concludes, “urban informality is a compliance and resistance to top-down approaches, heuristic device that serves to deconstruct the very creating a politics of inclusion wherein the urban basis of state legitimacy and its various instruments: agents are “simultaneously empowered and self- maps, surveys, property, zoning and, most impor- disciplined, civil and mobilized, displaced and tantly, the law.” (Roy 2011, 233). compensated” (Desai 2012, 50) in the name of urban renewal. The notion of informal settlements as ‘ille- ties in India are engraved with paradoxical contours gal’ overshadows the legitimate claims of the citi- that reveal enclave geographies (Roy 2009) ter- zens, hence rendering a top-down approach where ritorialised by urban identities through contrasting social justice remains questioned (Desai 2012). fissures ranging from social demonstrations and rights-based mobilisations to contemporary cities The course of redevelopment as one of such remedial marked by exclusion, inequality, mass displacement, actions has been accused to have utilised a class and segregation (Ayyar 2013). One such territory perspective, shadowed by capitalist processes with can be termed a slum, which represents a concentra- the redevelopment processes and components por- tion of population(s) creating enclaves in its own traying neglect towards the social life of displaced sense, with a defensive culture to protect itself from populations – the victims in the case of India being the rest of the world. This distinct culture termed the marginalised groups, the Scheduled Castes, and as a culture of poverty has become a means of both Scheduled Tribes (Ayyar 2013). 6 LivinG in TRANSITION: An EXPLORATORY CASE ON THE IMPACTS OF RESETTLEMENT ON THE LivElihOOD OF THE DwEllERS OF CMC COLONY PART 1 – INTRODuctION The Big Picture: Housing Shortage The demand side of housing illustrates a shortage of and Redevelopment Policies