Paper short abstract:

Tracking the development of a city from scratch allows the exploration of diverse forms of urban ‘scripting’ that reveal the priorities of state and private sector actors as well as denizens and workers. Building on radical conceptions of ‘space’, this paper develops a complex analytical framework.

Paper long abstract:

Mahindra World City in Chennai (MWCC) embodies the diverse dimensions that typically constitute cities from scratch in postcolonial regions, combining public-private partnerships, complex governance structures, special economic zones, and the urban-rural palimpsest. Such developments almost invariably require repurposing land, often agricultural land that supports local cultural economies. While extant research quite rightly emphasises ‘appropriation’ and ‘dispossession’ as critical concepts to explore the power dynamics that underlie such processes, this paper argues for a more complex analytical framework. Developments such as MWCC offer the opportunity to study multiple forms of ‘scripting’ (Fincher, et al 2002), from urbanisation and its impact on rural lives, to state policies, urban design, ‘zoning’, and transnational flows of capital. Drawing from the radical reconceptualisations of space such as Harvey’s (2006) tripartite classification of absolute, relative and relational space and Massey’s (1992) notion of power geometry, this paper explores ways to enrich existing critical frames.