Brokered borders : relational infrastructures of water access in segregated Ahmedabad, India
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Mawani, Vrushti
issued: 2022-05-31T07:00:00Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This dissertation examines the role of religious difference in shaping planning for water access in urban India. Uneven water access is widely linked with discriminatory urban planning practices. However, these broad associations preclude the role of other actors (builders, politicians, NGO workers, community leaders, etc.) in mediating technical plans and influencing water access. Equally, simplistic assumptions of religious discrimination obscure the nuanced understanding required for re-imagining planning approaches to improve water access. This challenge is amplified in divided cities, where uneven water access materially reproduces and emphasizes exclusion. I investigate how the interests and experiences of diverse actors across scales (re)produce uneven water access in segregated Muslim areas of Ahmedabad. Employing an ethnographic approach, I: (a) illustrate how religious difference mediates access to water in Ahmedabad’s Muslim areas; (b) locate the role of planning in how religious difference acquires infrastructural form; (c) make visible the everyday water struggles of Ahmedabad’s Muslim residents; and, (d) illuminate what makes it possible for certain actors to broker water access water in these contested sites. I shed light on the relational infrastructures of water access, i.e., the multi-scalar social, political, economic, technical, and emotional networks that influence water access. Uneven water access in Ahmedabad’s Muslim areas is bound up with practices of planning, but in ways not reducible to discriminatory ideas, intentions, or actions of planners. Instead, actors influencing planning and water governance from multiple institutional and spatial scales enlist discourses of ‘difference’ and ‘(il)legality’ to suit their own political and economic interests. These actors are located across state/non-state, formal/informal, legal/illegal, and most importantly, Hindu/Muslim boundaries. Equally, uneven water access is experienced as everyday emotiona…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/78404
note: Brokered Borders Relational Infrastructures of Water Access in Segregated Ahmedabad, India by Vrushti Mawani A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Planning) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) May 2021 © Vrushti Mawani, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Brokered Borders: Relational Infrastructures of Water Access in Segregated Ahmedabad, India submitted by Vrushti Mawani in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Planning Examining Committee: Jordi Honey-Roses, Associate Professor, School of Community and Regional Planning, UBC Supervisor Leila Harris, Professor, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Lisa Björkman, Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Public Affairs, University of Louisville Supervisory Committee Member Leonie Sandercock, Professor, School of Community and Regional Planning, UBC University Examiner Hisham Zerriffi, Associate Professor, Faculty of Forest Resources Management, UBC University Examiner iii Abstract This dissertation examines the role of religious difference in shaping planning for water access in urban India. Uneven water access is widely linked with discriminatory urban planning practices. However, these broad associations preclude the role of other actors (builders, politicians, NGO workers, community leaders, etc.) in mediating technical plans and influencing water access. Equally, simplistic assumptions of religious discrimination obscure the nuanced understanding required for re-imagining planning approaches to improve water access. This challenge is amplified in divided cities, where uneven water access materially reproduces and emphasizes exclusion. I investigate how th…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0398113
language: eng
degree discipline: Planning
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Honey-Rosés, Jordi
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/78404