Urbanizing the fringe : armatures for reterritorialization of rurban ecologies

25 years after India initiated its landmark reforms for economic liberalization, it continues to be challenged in balancing rapid economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability. As the world seeks ways to curtail emissions ahead of a critical juncture in climate change, India's choice - representing 17.5% of humanity, of a growth-propelled, market-led development pathway has the potential to offset global efforts with irreversible consequences. Kalinganagar, located in the resource rich northeastern peninsular belt, is a paradigmatic case of neoliberal industrial urbanism. Here, the demand for commodities and resources from a burgeoning, globalized, aspiring middle class subordinates communities depending on natural environments within their localities for livelihood security and most material needs. Habitats of its indigenous populations, once marginalized rural hinterlands, are now sites of multilateral contestations as neoliberal policies and governance enable their transformation into geographies of extraction. The ensuing severance of linkages between communities and their landscape results in the loss of a critical interest group in the preservation of natural ecologies. In an impasse between fallacious optimism and cynical pessimism, the thesis explores the synergetic prospects of grassroots governance and liberal capitalism, for a rurban model of regional development. Keywords: neoliberalism, deterritorialization, fringe, armatures, industrial urbanism, rurbanization, new village

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Ojha, Mayank

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Miho Mazereeuw.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107314

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/107314