PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We are extremely grateful to the people and organizations for whom successful completion of the fieldwork would not have been possible. Without their constant support and motivation, the whole process would not have been achievable in such a limited time. We express immense gratitude to Professor N. Sridharan, Director of the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal and other SPA Bhopal faculty and staff for sharing their knowledge with us and for hospitably hosting us during our stay in Bhopal. Additionally, we would like to thank the students of Master of Urban Design SPA Delhi, KRVIA Mumbai, and Master of Design SPA Bhopal for sharing their thoughts and methodologies during collaborative studio workshops. Their collaboration provided us with language assistance, cultural context, and methodology support. We are especially grateful to our professors, Professor Dr. Peter Andreas Gotsch, Director of Urban Environmental Program, Professor Rolee Aranya, Vice Dean for Education, Brita Fladvad Nielsen and Hanne Vrebos from NTNU, Trondheim for their guidance and assistance throughout the fieldwork. Without their support and passion, we would have never made it to India or acquired so many Post-It notes. Thanks is also due to Lau Ying Tung (Crystal) for bringing light, laughter, and new perspectives to our group in the first weeks. Last but not the least, we are enormously thankful to the people in Roshanpura, especially the formal and informal representatives and local translators for taking an interest and participating in the activities, being available to answer our queries and show us around, and enrich us with vast amount of information. And to all the residents of Roshanpura, thank you for opening your home and community to us. We are forever grateful.

As low income countries strive to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, the persistent problem of poverty and its solutions repeatedly surface amongst reports of human rights abuses towards the poor and marginalized. Slums represent a physical manifestation of poverty, and, of the low income countries, India is particularly notorious for its slum populations. In 2015, with its announcement of the Smart Cities Mission, the Government of India set out to eradicate slums through its Slum Free Cities initiative. However, this usually results in slum inhabitants being forced out onto increasingly marginalized land. The current research asks whether urban planning can be used as a tool to address poverty? A group of Masters in Urban Ecological Planning students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) set out to answer this question during a three month fieldwork exercise in Bhopal, the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. A group of six students worked in Roshanpura slum, dividing the area along the main street the slum developed out of. Both groups employed participatory methods to study the area through the lens of the Livelihoods Framework and informality. The aim of the fieldwork was to develop strategic interventions that facilitate the residents of Roshanpura to engage with each other, institutions, and available resources to improve their livelihoods. The two proposals offered at the end of the fieldwork sought to build on what the residents already had, respectively, cultural heritage and the women’s marketable skills. While purely educational, the research serves as a case study for urban planners working with slum dwellers.

ABSTRACT