Growing fast, innovating slowly. Informal Ahmedabad between past and future

Abstract

The fast urban development in India is making evident many social, cultural, and economic complexities reproduced in the city's planning and design. The drive for modernization is becoming the central topic in the national and political debate and becomes more urgent every day. Among these contexts, urban fabrics in-between developing cities, heritage roots, "smart city" missions and "kinetic" cities constitute a framework for research on morphological, functional, social and environmental perspectives. This paper investigates contested locations in Ahmedabad, where informality finds space between heritage structures and recent beautification projects, such as the Sabarmati riverfront. The paper understands how a holistic approach is essential in rethinking and upgrading the spatial and urban conditions of informal settlements in the city and therefore highlights the relevance of adequate lenses to understand these complexities. Like many other cities in India, living in slums or informal settlements is a common phenomenon in Ahmedabad, as they provide affordable housing close to job opportunities. In 2009, AMC (Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation) identified 834 slums, sheltering 23 per cent of the total population of the city. Several conditions and features characterize these settlements since their communities are often from the same region, class, caste, or religion. This paper will analyze case studies in Ahmedabad, where the friction between informality, preservation of heritage structures and new smart city developments is evident. The paper will question various assumptions regarding the informal environment and analyze their cultural and architectural identities, the domestication of heritage structures, and vulnerability within the idea of a smart and globalized Ahmedabad.