Creation of the other in urban spaces in india with special reference to kochi kerala

Abstract

With the emergence of cities as engines of growth a new age urban economics that bypass the fruits of the city centric growth have become immanent in urban spaces. An urban condition that other certain groups based on economic, social, political and cultural dimensions have translated urban spaces for worse today. Economic dimension of the very creation of the other in urban space can be largely seen through the angle of urban spaces getting more deprived. Many in urban spaces lack access to basic services such as education, healthcare and living standards. Social dimension can be noticed from the angle of how place-making of the city along with how identities have been embedded onto people in a city. Both economic and social dimensions in a way feed each other resulting in the creation of a new age urban politics that rests in the very personification of the metropolitan capital that translates certain households, communities or individuals as the other of an urban space. Taking the India Human Development Survey 2011-12 the study constructs an urban deprivation index and accounts for the various factors that matter in an urban space in order to reduce deprivation. Deprivation is considered as a form as well as an outcome of othering through this study. The various independent factors that we consider such as state benefits, education level, membership with organizations (to list a few) shows how important all of them are for urban spaces to be less deprived. To further conceptualize othering better, the study takes the case of Kochi city the largest urban agglomeration in Kerala. The deviant place-making strategies along with the very formation of identities in terms with the place-making strategies are analyzed through gathering narratives based on a set of stipulated questions, followed by informal conversations. This helped in understanding the very process of othering in the city better.