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This volume emphasises the sociological view that cities are primarily about people, not places or buildings, and explores the social dynamics of urban space in globalising India. Distinguishing between 'locale' and 'milieu' and the community-cosmopolitanism dialectic in urban areas, it elucidates the thematic for urban sociology today.
The chapters explore the various perspectives and processes in understanding the urban predicament in India today. The contributors specifically ask: What are the characteristics of the fastest growing cities in India? What are the forces shaping their forms and processes? Who benefits from what type of livelihood options cities offer? How have city administrations been dealing with mounting demands for housing, energy, and water resources, and problems of mass transportation? What implications do these have for the ecology of the city and the surrounding areas? Given the heterogeneity of urban populations, what social processes are at work and how they affect cit[y]zenship and identity? What aspirations and tensions are expressed among different groups, and what implications do these have for inter-group relations? What challenges do inter-group relations pose for urban planning and administration? The contributors include renowned scholars as also young researchers. They go beyond their disciplinary moorings of economics, history, political science, social work, and sociology, and their trans-disciplinary dialogues carry inputs from policy makers, administrators, and grassroots activists working in urban areas.
List of contents
Chapter 1. Introduction: Towards Understanding the Social Dynamics of the Urban N. Jayaram.- Chapter 2. Revisiting the City: The Relevance of Urban Sociology Today N. Jayaram.- Chapter 3. Global Flows or Rural-Urban Connections? Temporality, Public Spaces and Heterotopias in Globalising Mumbai D. Parthasarathy.- Chapter 4. Globalisation, Group Autonomy, and Political Space: Negotiating Globalised Interests in an Indian City Narendar Pani.- Chapter 5. Directed Decentralisation: Analysing the Experience of Decentralisation via JNNURM in Maharashtra Amita Bhide.- Chapter 6. Crime in Calcutta: From Childhood in a Colonial Metropolis to Adulthood in a Globalised Megalopolis Sumanta Banerjee.- Chapter 7. Underworld and the Police in Mumbai Abdul Shaban.- Chapter 8. 'Jab Babri Masjid Shaheed huyi': Memories ofViolence and its Spatial Remnants in a Muslim Neighbourhood in Mumbai Qudsiya Contractor.- Chapter 9. From Client to Citizens: Learning from Brazil's Bolsa Familia Provides an Opportunity to Delhi Manisha Priyam.- Chapter 10. Child Rearing in Urban Nucleated Families Suparna Chattarji.-Chapter 11. Slums and Planning in Urban India: A Case Study of Amritsar City Ranvinder Singh Sandhu and B. S. Sekhon.- Chapter 12. Mounting Pressures Crumbling Queen: Dynamics of Urbanization in the Mountains Satish K. Sharma.- Chapter 13. Crosscurrents: State-Level Politicians' Conflicted Views of Urban India James Manor.
About the author
N. Jayaram is former Professor of Sociology at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and former National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies. He is Visiting Professor at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru and Ambedkar University Delhi, and Visiting Research Mentor at Christ University, Bengaluru. Dr Jayaram is a member of the Association of Third World Studies, International Network on the Role of Universities in Developing Areas, Indian Sociological Society, and Comparative Education Society of India. He is an Associate Editor of the
Journal of Comparative Family Studies, a Member of the Editorial Board of
The Indian Journal of Social Work, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, and
Rajagiri Journal of Social Development. He was the Managing Editor of
Sociological Bulletin (Journal of the Indian Sociological Society), the Editor of
ICSSR Journal of Reviews and Abstracts: Sociology and Social Anthropology and was on the Editorial Board of the
Caribbean Journal of Criminology and Social Psychology (Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago). He is the recipient of the Dr Paduru Gururaja Bhat Annual Award (2012) and
ET Now Education Leadership Award (2013).
Summary
This volume emphasises the sociological view that cities are primarily about people, not places or buildings, and explores the social dynamics of urban space in globalising India. Distinguishing between ‘locale’ and ‘milieu’ and the community–cosmopolitanism dialectic in urban areas, it elucidates the thematic for urban sociology today.
The chapters explore the various perspectives and processes in understanding the urban predicament in India today. The contributors specifically ask: What are the characteristics of the fastest growing cities in India? What are the forces shaping their forms and processes? Who benefits from what type of livelihood options cities offer? How have city administrations been dealing with mounting demands for housing, energy, and water resources, and problems of mass transportation? What implications do these have for the ecology of the city and the surrounding areas? Given the heterogeneity of urban populations, what social processes are at work and how they affect cit[y]zenship and identity? What aspirations and tensions are expressed among different groups, and what implications do these have for inter-group relations? What challenges do inter-group relations pose for urban planning and administration? The contributors include renowned scholars as also young researchers. They go beyond their disciplinary moorings of economics, history, political science, social work, and sociology, and their trans-disciplinary dialogues carry inputs from policy makers, administrators, and grassroots activists working in urban areas.
