Keswani, Kiran and Bhagavatula, Suresh
(2020)
The ordinary city and the extraordinary city : the challenges of planning for the everyday.
Working Paper.
Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.
Abstract
Recent work on informal urbanism argues that ‘informality’ is a strong force in
determining and shaping how cities in the global south grow, and hence needs to be a part of
emergent urban theory. This paper uses this argument as a starting point, drawing upon the
work of scholars who suggest that urban informality may have an organizing logic, a system of
norms that emerge from the economic conditions and the social needs of people.
Specifically, this paper examines informality in the urban space as an outcome of spatial and
economic changes in a market precinct in Bangalore. It finds that activities in the street are
temporal in nature. In this paper, the ordinary city encapsulates how people use urban spaces
on an everyday basis and the extraordinary city reflects how urban spaces are transformed
during a periodic, religious and cultural festival.
The paper makes two key contributions, one, to show through an in-depth spatial ethnographic
study how the ‘ordinary–extraordinary’ might help us understand informal urbanism and two,
to propose that it may be useful to have intermediate levels of planning that incorporate the
conditions of the ‘ordinary’ city as well as the ‘extraordinary’ city, thereby contributing to both
theory and practice.
| Item Type: |
Monograph
(Working Paper)
|
| Authors: |
Keswani, Kiran and Bhagavatula, Suresh |
| Document Language: |
|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Informal urbanism, Urban informality, Urban space, Spatial ethnography, Everyday practices |
| Subjects: |
Natural Sciences > Life sciences; biology > Ecology |
| Divisions: |
Azim Premji University - Bengaluru > University Publications > Working Paper |
| Full Text Status: |
Public |
| Related URLs: |
|
| Note: |
The working paper series aims at reflecting the range of work done across the Azim Premji Foundation, including the Field Institutes and the University, and disseminating this work to a broader audience. University faculty, members of Field Institutes of the Foundation as well as students graduating from the University may contribute to the series. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in these papers are entirely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Azim Premji University. |
| URI: |
http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/2275 |
| Publisher URL: |
https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/pdf/... |
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