The Speculative Frontier: Real Estate, Governance and Occupancy on the Metropolitan Periphery

What is urban about the peri-urban? This paper explores the speculative frontier of volatile real estate investments and exceptional and transitional forms of local government that characterize this peri-urban terrain. By definition lying outside the municipal norm of the metropolitan core, the peri...

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Main Author: Ashima Sood
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud 2021-03-01
Series:South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/7204
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author Ashima Sood
author_facet Ashima Sood
author_sort Ashima Sood
collection DOAJ
description What is urban about the peri-urban? This paper explores the speculative frontier of volatile real estate investments and exceptional and transitional forms of local government that characterize this peri-urban terrain. By definition lying outside the municipal norm of the metropolitan core, the peri-urban frontier that is outlined in this analysis through a novel database of large-scale investments in residential and commercial capacity across India represents an arena where the statutory definition of the urban, i.e., elected municipal governance, is politically contested. Drawing on case studies of Greater Hyderabad and Noida in the Delhi National Capital Region, this paper traces the divergent modalities of peri-urban government. In Greater Hyderabad, the trajectory leads to institutional fragmentation. In Noida, it results in the concentration of powers in non-representative agencies. In either scenario, I argue that the speculative frontier remains hostile to claim-making by poor groups through the channels of occupancy, even as it empowers propertied classes.
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spelling doaj-art-e4cf993aac19439399975fe25bfca0ff2025-08-20T02:37:52ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602021-03-012610.4000/samaj.7204The Speculative Frontier: Real Estate, Governance and Occupancy on the Metropolitan PeripheryAshima SoodWhat is urban about the peri-urban? This paper explores the speculative frontier of volatile real estate investments and exceptional and transitional forms of local government that characterize this peri-urban terrain. By definition lying outside the municipal norm of the metropolitan core, the peri-urban frontier that is outlined in this analysis through a novel database of large-scale investments in residential and commercial capacity across India represents an arena where the statutory definition of the urban, i.e., elected municipal governance, is politically contested. Drawing on case studies of Greater Hyderabad and Noida in the Delhi National Capital Region, this paper traces the divergent modalities of peri-urban government. In Greater Hyderabad, the trajectory leads to institutional fragmentation. In Noida, it results in the concentration of powers in non-representative agencies. In either scenario, I argue that the speculative frontier remains hostile to claim-making by poor groups through the channels of occupancy, even as it empowers propertied classes.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/7204urban governancereal estateperi-urbanurban local bodiescensus townsNoida
spellingShingle Ashima Sood
The Speculative Frontier: Real Estate, Governance and Occupancy on the Metropolitan Periphery
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
urban governance
real estate
peri-urban
urban local bodies
census towns
Noida
title The Speculative Frontier: Real Estate, Governance and Occupancy on the Metropolitan Periphery
title_full The Speculative Frontier: Real Estate, Governance and Occupancy on the Metropolitan Periphery
title_fullStr The Speculative Frontier: Real Estate, Governance and Occupancy on the Metropolitan Periphery
title_full_unstemmed The Speculative Frontier: Real Estate, Governance and Occupancy on the Metropolitan Periphery
title_short The Speculative Frontier: Real Estate, Governance and Occupancy on the Metropolitan Periphery
title_sort speculative frontier real estate governance and occupancy on the metropolitan periphery
topic urban governance
real estate
peri-urban
urban local bodies
census towns
Noida
url https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/7204
work_keys_str_mv AT ashimasood thespeculativefrontierrealestategovernanceandoccupancyonthemetropolitanperiphery
AT ashimasood speculativefrontierrealestategovernanceandoccupancyonthemetropolitanperiphery