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Politics of Urban Space: Rethinking Urban Inclusion and the Right to the City

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Women, Urbanization and Sustainability

Part of the book series: Gender, Development and Social Change ((GDSC))

Abstract

Urbanization and an increasing urban population have directly resulted in the shrinkage of urban spaces across cities, which compel us to look at space not from a demographic but social and political perspective and how it has affected the lives of the urban poor and urban livelihoods in the informal settlements of cities. This paper examines how urban space has become very contentious in the cities of Mumbai and Chennai and highlights how inequalities are produced, reproduced and contested through urban space. The primary focus is upon the manner in which space in Kurla, Mumbai, and Kannagi Nagar, Chennai, is created and contested. The paper argues that central to the understanding of space is the need to shift attention from the needs of the poor to the rights of the citizens, through the right to the city discourse and practice as this provides the foundation for the evolving discourse of an inclusive and just urban citizenship.

The researcher conducted random, unstructured, personal interviews with scholars, activists and slum dwellers in Chennai and Mumbai between December 2012 and June 2013. This chapter is an abridged, modified, updated and unpublished version of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) project research that was undertaken by the author from October 2012 to November 2013.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India

    Sudha Mohan

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  1. Sudha Mohan
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Politics and International Relations, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Anita Lacey

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Mohan, S. (2017). Politics of Urban Space: Rethinking Urban Inclusion and the Right to the City. In: Lacey, A. (eds) Women, Urbanization and Sustainability. Gender, Development and Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95182-6_7

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