Overview

This book explores the spatial characteristics of the city of Kolkata in India in terms of the physical, economic, social, political, and environmental aspects of urban geography, and focuses upon the inherent processes that impact its transformation. It discusses different facets of urban geography and highlights the contemporary challenges of a major primate city in South Asia, which represents the conflicts between the traditional and the modern, the rich and the poor, the skyscrapers and the shanties. With its detailed empirical research and mapping exercises based on real-time remote sensing data, the book offers an understanding of a range of contemporary urban issues. It examines the spatial consequences of urban sprawl, land-use changes, ecological crisis, climate change, critical disasters, dynamics of the peri-urban interface, neighborhood restructuring, debates around heritage conservation, housing poverty, gray spaces, governance and the political landscape of the city. This book will be useful to students, teachers, and researchers of geography, especially human geography and urban geography, urban studies, urban development and planning, regional planning, social geography, governance, ecology, economics, and South Asian studies. It will also benefit urban planners, development professionals, and those interested in the study of the city of Kolkata and its transformations.

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9781032072203

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Reviews

‘In today's climate-risked and uncertain world, the past and present of the city must be understood. This learning will determine the practice of sustainability and liveability in our habitats. This book is that story of transition, of one of the greatest cities of our world. It needs to be read so that we can know the why and what of Kolkata and how it must evolve in the future.’ Sunita Narain, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, India ‘In capturing the dynamics of Kolkata through history, spatial fragmentation, architectural transformation, waves of migration, displacements, environmental challenges, development deficits and deprivation, employing deductive and inductive tools of analysis, the volume does not lose emotion, passion and cultural context. It talks of the past not just to reminiscence its glory but to contextualize the present and underline the need to transcend a few features to strengthen the human face of the city.’ Amitabh Kundu, Distinguished Fellow, Research Information System for Developing Countries; Senior Fellow, Sustainable Cities and Transport program, WRI Indi; and former Professor and Dean, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Author Information

Sumana Bandyopadhyay is Professor of Geography at University of Calcutta and President of Regional Science Association, India. Her research interests are in human geography and urban geography. She has co-edited five volumes under the Contemporary South Asian Studies Series in association with South Asian Democratic Federation, an EU think tank, and an independent volume on Housing Accessibility in South Asia. She has undertaken several research projects including UGC-DRS, World Bank short-term consultancy and collaborative research with UKERI (Newton Fund), Deakin University, Habitat University, and has been invited to join the InteRAI Fellows Network towards modification of InteRAI MH tools for the Indian context. As RSA President, she organises international events, creating platforms for young researchers to build research networks and pursue collaborative learning. She worked as Member, Council at Large of the RSA International and presently is member of the Council of Pacific Regional Science Organisation (PRSCO). She is on the Editorial Boards of Regional Science Policy and Practice, Asian Journal of Regional Science and the Geographical Review of India, and is Life Fellow of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics, Regional Science Association India, Institute of Indian Geographers, and Member of The Regional Science Academy.

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