Urban villages: co-productive urban design in China and India

Abstract

An urban village is an erstwhile rural village that is enveloped by the formal city while retaining distinct social and morphological characteristics. Through extensive mapping and comparison of twelve urban villages in Beijing, Guangzhou, Delhi and Bangalore, this research articulates the development of urban villages through multiple scales, agents and increments over time. The thesis shows that the current narrative that urban villages are overrun or absorbed by the formal city and displaced from their land is incomplete. Villagers are engaged in a co-production process with the state – at once formal and informal – as villagers extend, densify and diversify the village. This involves the..