This book emphasises the need to empower marginalised communities to contribute to decision-making processes within policy realms. It contributes to ongoing debates in the social sciences about infrastructure rights and citizenship, and it throws insight on human–infrastructure interactions in the informal neighbourhoods of the global South.
The book delves into the complexities of caste, gender, class, and political identities and affiliations associated with the multiple factors of inclusion and exclusion particularly in the case of access to infrastructure in informal settlements in urban areas with an added productive function. This book is about how this historic inner-city, situated, religious idol-crafting community is transforming due to factors including access to physical and social infrastructure, local governance policies, sociopolitical hierarchies, and complexities of informal tenure. Drawing on sociocultural norms, and values of idol-crafting practices, it documents, analyses, and presents the networks and relations of the neighbourhood through a spatial and material lens. Findings contribute to understanding how traditional practices of a crafting community are adapting, appropriating, producing, and reshaping informal spaces in Kumartuli.
The book is aimed at academic audiences across the world researching creative industries, Kolkata’s regeneration agenda, and cultural tourism. It will be of interest to the wide disciplines of Urban Studies, Development Studies, Architecture and Planning, and Culture and Tourism Studies.
Chapter 1 Durga Puja, Kumartuli, and Kolkata Festival, religion, culture, and politics Colonial Calcutta’s Durga Puja Barowari brought inclusivity Cultural heritage, informality, and idol-crafting practice Structure of the book Chapter 2 Crafts and practitioners Idol-crafting practice and sustainability Kumbhakar caste relates to pottery The caste-based potters’ para Interwoven communities of practice Emerging actors and shifts Chapter 3 The spaces of production The neighbourhood Streetscapes, alleys, riverfront The conventional workshop-residence The ‘factory-shed’ workshop Chapter 4 Seasonal adaptations and everyday negotiation The preparation phase Adaptation, accommodations, and negotiations Infrastructural disrepair and hopelessness Social cohesion, coordination, and competition Will Kumartuli continue to thrive? Chapter 5 Complexities The redevelopment plan Reaction and resistance to the KMDA plan Tenure and ownership: realities Informality in the heritage Chapter 6 The emerging and diverging spaces of production Kumartuli on a regular day Changing spaces: repurposed workshop Agency and new typologies Appropriation and socio-spatial relations Spatial flexibility and reparation in a Kolkata basti Chapter 7 Kumartuli’s future? Kumartuli’s present Reparations and public services Contributions and implications of this research Recommendations Personal reflections Methodological appendix: research strategies Glossary of Bengali words
Debapriya Chakrabarti is a researcher in the field of urban studies at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research and teaches at the Manchester School of Architecture. She is trained as an architect and urban planner. Her research interests lie at the intersection of urban regeneration, cultural industries, and place-based development policies.
