Modes of Engagement in Urbanising India and Indonesia from the Vantage Point of Peripheral Settlements and Local Communities

Panel Convenor(s)

• LK

  Loraine Kennedy

  École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), France
• RP

  Rita Padawangi

  Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore

Panel Chair(s)

• LK

  Loraine Kennedy

  École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), France

Presenter(s)

• RN

  Rohit Negi

  Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi, India
• AD

  Aditi Dey

  The New School, New York, United States
• AN

  Anton Novenanto

  Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia
• AF

  Awang Firmansyah

  Surabaya State University, Indonesia

Co-Presenter(s)

• IR

  Ikhsan Rosyid Mujahidul Anwari

  Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia
• MR

  Muhamad Rohman Obet

  Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia

Presenter(s)

• .H

  . Herlily

  Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia

Peripheries of metropolitan cities in the global South have emerged as key sites of investigation in urban studies in recent years, giving rise to innovative conceptualisations such as peripheral urbanization (Caldeira 2017), subaltern urbanization (Mukhopadhyay et al 2020), agrarian urbanism (Gururani 2020) and extended urbanization (Schmid et al. 2018). It is in such spaces that the most rapid spatial and social transformations are taking place as various stakeholders —new arrivals, long-term residents, fly-by-night speculators— seek to claim or maintain a stake in constantly shifting landscapes. This panel will explore processes playing out in these spaces in India and Indonesia from the specific vantage point of villages and neighbourhoods on the urban frontier. The panel participants are interested in examining various ‘modes of engagement’ with the opportunities and constraints that underpin urbanisation processes and comparing them across different social and political contexts. Their shared objective is to reframe the analytical perspective from the conventional viewpoint of “how are local communities affected” to that of “how do local communities engage”, while recognizing that stakeholders possess differentiated sets of knowledge, capacity and power to influence outcomes on the ground. Indeed, these locally-grounded power relations are a key focus of research, as are governance arrangements more generally, which involve an array of public and private actors situated at various spatial scales. It is understood that peri-urban dynamics are nested within the political economies of other scales, and exploring the nature of these multiscale connections is a necessary dimension of the research. This is especially relevant as we undertake to learn “from elsewhere” (Robinson 2016) through comparative urban research, as a means to create “new conversations” (McFarlane, 2010). Our panel takes inspiration from recent scholarship which has moved from a positivist stance i.e., universal laws to explain, to more flexible, relational and diverse methods of comparison (Wood 2019).
The panel participants will present material generated from field-based research on selected cases from a variety of perspectives, ranging from the analysis of discursive objects (eg, rumours of land transactions) or top-down decisions (eg infrastructure projects) that compel local communities to act, to studies of how local leaders seek compromise with corporate groups and property developers to obtain personal or collective benefits. We will compare the types of strategies deployed to manage problems, seize opportunities, mitigate risks but also seek to apprehend the arrangements for collective problem-solving and the calculations and motives that are brought to bear.

Presentations:

• 09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)

  The City as Rumour: Aspirations and Strategizing in Delhi's Rural Belt
  

  Presenter: Rohit Negi – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi
• 09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)

  Assembling the Peripheries: Workers Turned Entrepreneurs in the Urban Villages of Bangalore, 1970s to the present
  

  Presenter: Aditi Dey – The New School, New York

  Co-Author: Shriya Anand – Indian Institute for Human Settlements
• 09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)

  The Illusion of Autonomy: Urbanization in a Post-Authoritarian Indonesia
  

  Presenter: Anton Novenanto – Universitas Brawijaya
• 09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)

  The House, the Mosque, and the Kampung: Autoconstruction in the Spatial Production of Heritage in Kampung Peneleh, Surabaya
  

  Presenter: Awang Firmansyah – Surabaya State University

  Co-Presenter: Ikhsan Rosyid Mujahidul Anwari – Universitas Airlangga

  Co-Presenter: Muhamad Rohman Obet – Universitas Airlangga
• 09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)

  Fighting for Tiny Land: Secure Tenure and Collective Ownership for Urban Poor in Jakarta
  

  Presenter: . Herlily – Universitas Indonesia