Slum-free city planning versus durable slums. Insights from Delhi, India

We bring a challenging perspective to slum studies in Delhi, India, by contrasting the attempts at 'slum-free city planning' (referring to housing programmes for the urban poor) with the 'durability' of certain slum settlements. We examine national and local factors that temper the impact of macro-forces of neoliberalism and globalisation on slum clearance in Delhi, including institutional fragmentation, political networks, and social mobilisation. Based on two settlements selected by the Delhi Development Authority to implement its strategy of slum redevelopment under public-private partnership, we show how space-specific configurations and the interplay of actors may contribute instead to the entrenchment of slums. At the settlement level however, 'durable' does not mean permanent. Yet, at the city level, slum rehabilitation in partnership with private developers presents serious limits, questioning the emphasis put on this strategy to provide sustainable housing for the urban poor.