sumedha jain

The city of Delhi has traversed from being the imperial capital to a democratic city and during this course, has undergone recognizable transformations in terms of urban form and who can claim access to it. In imperial times land control in Delhi was about the attitude of imposition and with India becoming independent, the intention was to create an unbiased state. But has it been so? Amidst the changing ideological perspective, the narrative of contestations over land control presents a point of analysis. Instances of imbalance stem from the political, legislative and market driven action that enriches some and impoverishes others. The city has witnessed the non-power groups claiming the right to the city by an increasing juxta-positioning of the various typologies for example the unregulated, unauthorized colonies, urban villages, and slums. The nature of the interaction between land control and claiming the right to the city by has been considered as a criterion to analyze the changing attitudes. This phenomenon has been compared to the three distinct historical periods through analysis of land classification systems, survey methods, ownerships, the composition of control groups and changing territorial definitions. The paper provides an analytical perspective of land control and ownership, between changing power groups to establish the city as a contested and a layered space. It also raises a question that land administration's system should be viewed through the lens of evolution and the historical perspective. It establishes that decision making has to be structured around the understanding of cultural and social perspectives of the various stakeholders.

Delhi notified its first land pooling policy in 2013. The policy brought about a paradigm shift in land policy by requiring private landowners to pool their land together for development versus the previously adopted, state-driven model of land acquisition. However, despite due deliberations and revisions, the policy is yet to make a pronounced impact on existing ground conditions.

Delhi notified its first land pooling policy in 2013. The policy brought about a paradigm shift in land policy by requiring private landowners to pool their land together for development versus the previously adopted, state-driven model of land acquisition. However, despite due deliberations and revisions, the policy is yet to make a pronounced impact on existing ground conditions.

The city of Delhi has traversed from being the imperial capital to a democratic city and during this course, has undergone recognizable transformations in terms of urban form. In imperial times land control in Delhi was about attitude of imposition and with India becoming independent, the intention was to create an unbiased state. But has it been so? In the post independence period there was an upsurge of socialistic goals and a need for establishment of a framework of legality and control to envision the future of the city was required. Amidst the changing ideological perspective, the narrative about control over natural resources presents an interesting point of analysis to the dynamics of growth.A city of many cities, the space in contemporary Delhi is populated with multiple entities. The city has witnessed an increasing juxtapositioning of the new emerging typologies like the unregulated, unauthorized colonies and slums, which haven't been adequately addressed by existing jurisdiction but occupy fundamentally significant space in terms of economic productivity. The study of larger question of, " Whose city is Delhi? " and who can claim its resources is a multifaceted aspect inclusive of understanding individual needs and requirements. The city form is the direct outcome of assembled forces of legal decisions taken, their enforcement and its interpretation by different stakeholders. The nature of interaction between land control and claiming rights to habitation is considered as a criterion to analyze the changing attitudes and struggles of various stakeholders.The paper provides an analytical perspective of the tools of legality in terms of land control to establish city as a contested space between various social groups and define transformation as a process of harmonizing this contestation. It argues towards the dynamics of control over natural resources can be crucial factor in transforming cities and city form. Introduction : Delhi like other cities of India has a borrowed image of modernity to define itself, with the past prior to Britishers been wiped out as negligent. However recent research by Jyoti Hosagrahar and Narayani Gupta have established viewpoints that differ in perspectives. While Jyoti Hosagrahar describes the transformation of Indian modernity as adaptable, Narayani Gupta documents a detailed inquiry into history of Old Delhi (Hosagrahar, 2005). Both of these point towards a process of transformation between the old and new and a marked seperation in systems of control and settlement.Post independence,in the process of change from the Imperial colonial structure to the independent democratic state many equations of the society changed. Various tools of discipline were introduced to control the new situations. The tools to control the varying situations varied as per the changing intention of control. Land was one of the crucial resources. This paper analyzes land as a planning resource in the following three aspects: The process of land legislation and the politics involved in land management, understanding of land as a multi layered entity i.e as a need of different collectives and Land occupation models. The third aspect explores the connection between the needs of the people and the deliverance of the governance systems. The paper compares the above through three different time frames-pre british times, during Delhi being the imperial capital and post independence time (1970s).

This paper critically analyses the multiple facets of urban ecology i.e the built settlements, streets networks, open spaces, greens and water systems and focuses on the potential of city's natural systems to act as physical connector in terms of creating pedestrian accessibility. This scenario is faced by innumerable cities in India, this paper interrogates into the case of Delhi and provides new perspectives to explore natural networks. Rapid unplanned urbanization has taken over the right of the people to walk, the city and its streets have been taken over by vehicles. Due to traffic loads the pedestrians suffer frequent road fatalities. Delhi pedestrians constituted 455 of total 1,820 road accidents (Delhi Police, 2009). The paper explores the city's open space structure to define alternate movement domains. It demonstrates how existing natural and man-made constructs can be organized together to create a 'movement corridor'. These connections allow pedestrians and cyclists the right to move without being compromised by vehicles in the road space. Movement Corridors within the city have the potential to create interconnected zonal and local system trails that make Delhi a pedestrian friendly city. The plan includes the utilization of the city green lungs (city greens), linking forests and parks to the city and spatial corridors around precincts to allow for movement of people and non-motorized vehicles. This provides for safe and convenient connections to parks, natural systems and recreational facilities and links with residential areas, civic institutions and business. The paper concludes in purview of improved accessibility that influences standards of social justice and equity. It also results in an increase in the city's land value. It also provide a means to thread diverse city patterns together.

Delhi has a significant history and housing has been a critical aspect that has defined the city form through time. Housing of the masses is now among the foremost issues that city has been grappling. The rapid pace of evolution of this typology of housing suggests a favorable demand trend of this kind of housing. This housing texture of this housing type is synonymous with a characters of built environment like 'organic growth' ,high density, narrow lanes, small plots, high ground coverage and structures of about 3-4 floors height, mixed land use and a general deficiency of infrastructure. Often outside the ambit of the planned and perceived as chaotic, these locations are then categorized as the " informal, unregulated and unplanned " which are deficient in services and unfit for habitation. The city administration and growth regulators from time to time attempted to find formal solutions like redevelopment for such reorganizing these housing chunks. The Delhi master plan 2021 encourages redevelopment as a developmental policy and details an entire chapter on the possible clauses that could be adopted for a redevelopment exercise. Our investigations into the nature of these settlements reveal existence of evolved and established social and economic networks and an equilibrium between life styles and aspirations of the people. We through our paper wish to critically evaluate the suitability of redevelopment as a process in such a scenario. The essential question that we intend to pose is – Is redevelopment the right solution for organic Delhi? Our paper would attempt to understand redevelopment through study of Vinod Nagar (a combination of unauthorized, unauthorized regularized and an urban village) located in East Delhi. Some of the questions that we wish to explore are: • Understanding the context of Vinod Nagar (social and economic profile) and Its connection to the city. • Understanding of the policy of redevelopment in context of Delhi. • Imagining redevelopment against the context of Vinod Nagar and critical analysis of the outcome.