6th International Conference on Interpretive Policy Analysis

Dr. Vishal Narain presented his paper “Narratives, discourses and power: the appropriation of land and water at the periphery of global cities” at the 6^th International Conference on Interpretive Policy Analysis at Cardiff, .UK. from June 23 to 25, 2011. His paper was presented in the session “Whose city is it anyway? Planning, politics and exclusion at the periphery”.  Drawing on fieldwork in Budheda and Sadhrana villages in Gurgaon, in his paper he focused on how the so-called millennium cities expanded by engulfing the land and water resources of their peripheral villages and how certain narratives about the glory of millennium cities provided a justification for such expansion. These narratives in turn are located in neo-liberal discourses and discourses surrounding globalization, even as there is a debate among scholars of globalization and urbanization on the relative roles of local and global forces in shaping these processes. These ideas were echoed in another presentation by Timothy from the STEPS Center who focused on urban expansion on the other side of Delhi- into Ghaziabad. Discussions focused on how we need to frame counter- narratives and how new and alternative narratives about the pockets of deprivation engendered by these processes can inform urbanization policies that are more equitable.