Dynamiques urbaines

Objectives

The characteristics of urban India are contradictory. India is still a rural country with 70% of its population living in villages, but India is also a rich urban civilization with ancient urban elites and with an urban population larger than the total US population. India counts 35 cities of more than one million inhabitants (2001 Census). These metropolises play a key role in the organization of Indian Territory.

Under globalization process, these cities and towns concentrate the main processes of development. The understanding of urban dynamics becomes a major challenge for the study of social and economic changes in India.

The objective of this project focuses on development processes of cities and towns. It aims to better understand :

• The configurations and changes of cities and towns networks organizing the Indian Territory ;
• The social and economic dynamics underlying the change processes in urban places of different sizes : big metropolises, secondary cities, medium and small towns ;
• The positions of actors and the adjustment of norms in the urbanization processes

Materials and Methods

The project is conducted with an integrative approach between different level of scales and with a comparative approach between diverse urban places that are characterized by heterogeneous socio-economic contexts.

It gives great importance to modeling and automatic mapping. For mapping, it uses official statistics, databases built from various sources (companies, chambers of commerce, professional organisms), as well as the results of specific enquiries.

A large part of information is also collected by interviews with local actors. They focus on both economic and social themes.

Research topics

The "Urban dynamics in India" project, welcomes presently four sub-projects :

• Urban development and integration processes of the Indian territory

• Globalization, Urban Development and Adjustment of Law : Comparative Study in India and Middle-East (CITADAIN)

• Periurban dynamics : mobility and development in Chennai fringes

• Urban Configurations, Regional Growth and Global Networks : the case of Tiruchengodu, Tamil Nadu

Team

Project leader

• Prof. Philippe Cadene, geography (IFP / SEDET / University of Paris 7)

Research scholars involved in the projects

• Prof. Mohamed Abdul Razak, urban planner (School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, Chennai)
• Prof. Mohamed Kalam, anthropology (University of Madras)
• Dr. Kamala Marius-Gnanou, geography (IFP / ADES / University of. Bordeaux 3)
• Dr. Isabelle Milbert, Law sciences (IFP / Institut Universitaire d’Etudes sur de Développement, Genève)
• Prof. N. Sridharan, urban planner (Delhi School of Planning and Architecture)

PhD Students

Download research abstracts (.pdf)

• Linda Bouifrou, geography (IFP / CSH / SEDET / University of Paris 7)
• Rajaji Somassoundirom, geography (IFP / SEDET / University of Paris 7)

Research Assistant

• Venkatasubramanian, Research Assistant (IFP)

Partners

• ADES TEMPOS, University of Bordeaux 3 - CNRS
• CEIAS (Centre for South Asian Studies), EHESS-CNRS, Paris
• SEDET (Centre for Development Studies), University Paris 7 - CNRS, Paris
• IUED (Institut Universitaire d’Etudes sur le Développement), Genève
• IFPO (Institut Français du Proche Orient)

Funding

• French Institute of Pondicherry
• SEDET, University Paris 7 - CNRS, Paris
• ADES TEMPOS, University of Bordeaux 3 – CNRS
• Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)

Main Outputs

See the linked pages