Gentrification and Post-industrial Spatial Restructuring in Calcutta, India

Abstract

This chapter brings out the complexities of brownfield urban regeneration in a developing country context, by looking through the prism of post-industrial spatial restructuring and urban transformation in Calcutta Metropolitan Region. It provides a counter-narrative to the processes of gentrification of cities of the Global North. A leading port and prime industrial cluster of Asia between the 1850s and 1950s, Calcutta’s economy declined sharply between the 1960s and 1990s and then started to recover partially through the development of trading and knowledge-oriented services. Land conflict resulting out economic and spatial restructuring are analyzed to understand the roles of actors and agencies of gentrification and its discontents. The research shows two contrasting faces of gentrification. On the one hand, a top-down state-led, organized-sector urban renewal is producing high-value real estate to meet the lifestyle demands of the globalized elite. On the other hand, a bottom-up, gentrification is also occurring through informal petty politician-builder networks and local adjustments to meet the shelter and consumption demands of the lower middle class. It draws upon field observations through ethnographic studies, interviews with municipal officials, informed citizens, property developers, and local political activists.