L'Espace Politique (Dec 2016)
Anticipation foncière et planification urbaine à Chennai en Inde : quand le temps devient une stratégie
Abstract
In 15 years, the peripheral areas of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu State in India, have turned into corridors: widened roads which cover more than 40 km each with commercial and residential buildings as well as industrial and information technologies parks. This article examines the temporal strategies of inhabitants involved in land transactions and conversions to highlight the flexibility of urban planning and construction phases of real estate projects. It identifies a variety of stakeholders and a multiplicity of level of action in order to reveals local existing powers and their arrangements in time. In contrast with current research, the demonstration concludes on the capability of inhabitants to act and anticipate regarding these projects. This analysis goes in depth on historic and economic contexts in Tamil Nadu to point out private stakes and appropriations of public policies. Land is an instrument to negotiate and it is connected to social processes that should be studied in detail to explain the location and production of those projects.
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