Slums pose a persistent challenge for fast growing urban areas in the global South, despite several decades of policy intervention. While Chennai has adopted several strategies ranging from upgrading to reconstruction, the city has been unable to deliver its target of 'clearing' slum settlements. Through an analysis of four enumeration reports and a look at the evolving political contexts and subsequent practices, we illustrate the evolution of slum policy approaches in Chennai since the 1970s. The analysis shows slum practices in Chennai continue to be characterized by an underlying continuity, with relocation as the dominant mode of operation since the nineties. However, approaches to slums have also evolved from paternalistic socialism with in-situ development in the seventies, to approaches characterized by affordability and cost recovery in the eighties, to the aesthetics of global cities in the nineties, to the technology driven, to slum-free 'smart city' discourse currently in vogue.

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.

Managerialist logic has become dominant in development policy and practice. However, in recent years, the Dutch government is seeking to adopt social transformation approaches to development interventions. The implementation of social transformation ideas takes place in an environment dominated by managerialism. However, our understanding of how the logic of social transformation and managerialism collide or come into conflict and the pathways through which the managerialist principles dominate the social transformation principles is limited. Drawing on qualitative data from the Strategic Partnerships (SP) and Accountability Fund (AF) policy instruments for civil society organisations in Kenya, we find that in practice, the social transformation principles underpinning the SP and AF ‘vaporise’ or get lost during implementation due to the wider aid system within which they are embedded. We highlight the implications of the broader aid system on attempts by donor agencies to shift from managerialism towards a social transformation perspective on development.

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