Date: 6 November 2020
Name of Speaker: Sobia Ahsan
Designation: Assistant Professor
Title of Proposition: Whose City is it? Idea of Spatial Inclusivity in the realm of Migration in India
Migration is a fundamental phenomenon in human history. People move between countries or even within a country for a variety of reasons. Resettling across the globe, migrants have taken along their faith and practices and adapted them to living in their host societies, thus creating new communities, constructing new homelands, reshaping the city physically, economically and culturally.
The insubstantial scholarship in the domain of migration and built environment makes it a vital area of research to understand the present and the future of cities better which are products of the connections and movements of people. The proposition explores the history of migration in the Indian context and looks at the valuable interventions over the period of time including flow of cultural notions, value systems and power struggles.
Taking Delhi as the case study, it looks at the multiple migrant communities to better understand the capacity and challenges to express their identity in the built environment and their processes of transcultural exchanges.
The proposition puts forth an argument that, not just are the migrants’ adjustments to their identity essential but also their right to produce space is equally important to bring inclusiveness in the city. It concludes by identifying the gaps and raising critical questions on the space and migration syntax.
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HKs0jJgh0Y&t=2625s
