ABSTRACT

This research assesses the differentiated impacts of urbanisation on communities of Bengaluru, who earlier inhabited agrarian and rural commons landscapes. Drawing on empirical observations from residents of peri-urban erstwhile villages of Bengaluru located next to lakes, we examine changes in their social-ecological practices, linked to the urban transformation of these landscapes. Urbanisation has transformed once-rural landscapes into fast growing urban areas at peripheries of Bengaluru. We show that impacts of urban transition are not homogenous or representative of uniform trends, but diverse, shaped by differing power relationships that manifest themselves within the Indian caste hierarchy. Urban transitions, while undoubtedly bringing about disconnects with the social-ecological landscape, have been disenfranchising in some aspects but emancipatory in other ways, liberating underprivileged castes from the worst practices of exploitation. We argue that urbanisation experiences vary, depending on the past and opens up prospects for challenging the received understanding of urbanisation, through individual experiences.

摘要

这项研究评估了城市化对班加罗尔社区的不同影响，班加罗尔先前居住在农业和农村公地景观中。借鉴班加罗尔附近沿城郊的远古村庄居民的经验观察，我们研究了其社会生态实践的变化，这些变化与这些景观的城市转化有关。都市化已将曾经的农村景观转变为班加罗尔周边的快速发展的城市地区。我们表明，城市转型的影响不是同质的或不代表统一趋势，而是多样化的，受印度种姓等级制度中体现出来的不同权力关系的影响。城市转型无疑会带来与社会生态格局的脱节，在某些方面被剥夺了选举权，但在其他方面却获得了解放，使处于不利地位的种姓摆脱了最恶劣的剥削做法。我们认为，城市化经验会因过去而异，并通过个人经验为挑战挑战，以挑战人们对城市化的理解。