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This paper draws together issues of urban development-induced displacement and resettlement and the quality of life of the affected population over the longer term. It reviews settlement strategies related to the Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project, exploring residents’ recollection of the relocation process and comparing and contrasting the situation over time of two groups of low-income households: those who refused a resettlement package and chose to continue to reside in their canalside huts; and those who accepted the package and moved into new flats provided by the government. The paper highlights issues of livelihoods, social cohesion and sanitation among both sets of households to find out whether those who were resettled experienced improvement in these aspects of their lives. Findings point to resettled households’ overall satisfaction with sanitation despite periodic lapses in functioning, and a modicum of social support, but significant livelihood problems among the poorest households, and dissatisfaction with the small size of units.

The objective of this article is to reassess the new town building movement in India from 1947 to 1965 through a re-examination of the making of Chandigarh, to show how nationalism, modernism, and local regional influences affected the design and building of new towns. Chandigarh emerged as part of the post-Partition need for a new capital for the Punjab, and involved the efforts of several people and levels of government. The context of newly achieved nationhood became important in the way it shaped the ideals of both national and local political leaders, who wanted architects to transfer these into built form. How successful the architects were in this enterprise was shaped by their professional ideologies and understanding (or lack of it) of the local. Much scholarship exists on issues such as early decisions about Chandigarh's establishment, the Mayer and Le Corbusier plans for the city, and the buildings comprising the Capitol complex that were designed by Le Corbusier. Much less attention has been given to the residential areas of Chandigarh and all that lay beyond the Capitol complex and constitutes the actual town. How did the ideas of modernism, the requirements of the nationalist state, and concern for the local shape the built environment? Was a Western urban design simply replicated here or were there modifications to suit locality and culture?

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Since independence (1947), foremost among the issues related to the growth of Bombay has been the decision to build New Bombay, a new city on the mainland across from Bombay island. In this paper, I examine first, the emergence of the idea of New Bombay and the interest groups who influenced the planning process. Secondly, I examine the actual achievements of the New Bombay project and the disjuncture between planning and reality. The New Bombay case shows clearly the way the political environment can influence the planning process. Confronted with the demands of different interest groups, the state in its urban planning opted for a solution which would accommodate all of them. In the process, many of the original objectives of building the new city have remained unfulfilled.