Spaces & Flows: Ninth International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies

Abstract

As a rapidly growing metropolitan region in India, the city of Ahmedabad is increasingly drawing capital investment for various urban renewal projects. One such transformative project is the construction of a green belt along the Sabarmati river. Most studies of this riverfront development have examined its aesthetic components, or injustices associated with removal of slum dwellers residing along the river, which has led to limited attention being paid to the wider context of environmental and social inequalities. For Ahmedabad, this wider context includes polluted landscapes that are associated with the city’s industrial development. This paper examines and compares the socio-demographic characteristics of neighborhoods located near industries releasing hazardous chemicals and those proximate to the Sabarmati riverfront project in Ahmedabad to analyze how new urban greenscapes link to existing industrial pollution. Spatial statistical analysis of census data, and textual analysis of newspaper articles and governmental plans are used to: (1) evaluate social inequities in the distribution of hazardous industries and riverfront development; and (2) link these to broader legacies of industrial and real estate growth in the city. By juxtaposing the characteristics of social groups residing near hazardous industries and around the riverfront, this paper draws attention to the persistent presence of urban pollution and questions the transformative capacity of new urban planning initiatives.