Eighth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

An urban slum is a result of unaccounted population growth, resultant poverty, and planning failure in a city. The administrative view of slums in India is that of encroachment of public land. Its settlers are attributed to increasing crime rates and pollution in the city by the better-off population. Until recently, Delhi’s urban development practices have historically aimed at clearing up slums, evicting settlers, and giving them plots in the outskirts of the city. The whole process has been arbitrary and abrupt, without the consent of the slum residents. This paper traces the first attempts to change this pattern by Delhi’s administration by way of In Situ Slum Rehabilitation of Kathputli Colony, a first of its kind under public-private partnership. It aims at locating the role of consent in the process of slum rehabilitation and its implications on inclusive urban development practices.