Paper short abstract

This paper reflects on the socio-spatial experience of being a middle-class woman from three vantage points, namely 1. City Roads and Middle-Class Woman; 2. Middle Class Neighbourhood and Middle Class Woman; and 3. Domestic Space and Middle Class Woman.

Paper long abstract

Gurugram , National Capital Territory of Delhi, India has seen rapid changes to the city-space during 1990-2010. The almost "steroidal" urbanisation of the region is conspicuous for its roots in politically endorsed exemptions and mobilisation of legal and extra-legal strategies (Donthi, 2014; Gururani, 2013). The urbanisation process of Gurugram represents the characteristic post-liberalisation urbanisation that is not leading to expansion of existing major cities but urbanisation at peri-urban fringes (Ghertner, 2013; Gururani, 2013; Searle, 2016; Subramaniam, 2011) through relaxation of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) restrictions for the real estate and construction sectors (Ghertner, 2014).

The outcome of this peri-urban urbanisation through integration into global circuits of capital results in the neo-urban context. The neo urban is marked by islands of globality alongside peri-urban rural socio-spatial dynamics. Neo-urban spaces therefore are increasingly becoming the common phenomena and therefore critical to the understanding of urbanisation in Indian context. This paper reflects on the socio-spatial experience of being a middle-class woman from three vantage points, namely 1. City Roads and Middle-Class Woman; 2. Middle Class Neighbourhood and Middle Class Woman; and 3. Domestic Space and Middle Class Woman.

The paper builds upon field diaries, anecdotes from the field, and interactions with respondents to develop insights about gender in the neo-urban context. It uses incidents as a way of reflecting on implicit norms and unspoken assumptions about being a middle class woman in Gurugram within the broader framework of spatialising gender and feminist geography.