Véronique D.N. Dupont

• PhD
• Senior Researcher at French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD)

Covid-19 responses of displaced slum dwellers in Delhi Whom to trust and to rely on in times of sanitary and economic crisis? In India, hunger was the first Covid-19 related risk for most urban slum dwellers and workers without social protection as the strict lockdown blocked their access to livelihoods. This chapter considers one such particularl...

Slum redevelopment, differentiated resettlement and transit camp The Kathputli Colony rehabilitation project in Delhi Véronique Dupont and Shankare Gowda The chapter focuses on the resettlement in a transit camp of evicted slum dwellers in Delhi as part of in-situ rehabilitation —the Kathputli Colony project— conducted by the Delhi Development A...

Drawing on over a decade of research on the Kathputli Colony in Delhi, this two-part series focuses on the complex processes involved in the in-situ rehabilitation of squatter settlements. This first part explains the differentiated nature of the resettlement processes. This involves exclusions caused by stringent eligibility requirements, opaque e...

Drawing on over a decade of research on the Kathputli Colony in Delhi, this two-part series focuses on the complex processes involved in the in-situ rehabilitation of squatter settlements. While the first part focused on the differentiated nature of the resettlement processes, this second piece focuses on the transit camp, examining the multidimens...

L’urbanisation à l’échelle planétaire et la conscience croissante des problèmes écologiques font de l’« urbain » un objet privilégié pour l’action publique et la recherche. C’est en effet grâce à la perspective urbaine que nous parvenons aujourd’hui à une meilleure compréhension des sociétés contemporaines et des milieux de vie. En articulant les d...

Chapter 8 investigates issues faced by the people living in a precarious settlement located along a river canal in the southern periphery of Chennai, India. This case study shows how living on the urban margins can be understood as a condition that results primarily from economic deprivation and entails cumulative effects. The lack of economic reso...

This article (in French) analyses the emergence of the slum category in colonial India and its deployment, initially in a hygienist perspective to measure overcrowding and poor housing, and later as a means to measure the phenomenon. Two contrasting cases –the metropolises of Delhi and Madras/Chennai– are used to illustrate this evolution. After In...

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 c...

From Squatter Settlements to Urban Cleansing: Processes and Issues in the Categorisations around the “Slum” in Delhi Abstract. – Based on research conducted in Delhi, this article offers insights and thoughts on the different designations of the illegal precarious settlements — the “slums” — and the interventions-evictions targeting them. The perc...

This chapter is an edited version of the following article:DUPONT V., The dream of Delhi as a global city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol 35.3, May 2011, pp. 533-554

Indian cities are faced with an acute shortage in decent housing, which points to the double challenge of squatter settlement and slums, and forced evictions. The main strategies regarding squatter settlements, which comprise the provision of basic services, upgrading of housing conditions, relocation on alternative sites, and rehousing, addressed...

Les villes indiennes sont confrontées à une grave pénurie de logements décents, qui renvoie à un double défi : celui de l'ampleur des bidonvilles et taudis, et celui des évictions forcées. Les principales interventions des pouvoirs publics envers les bidonvilles-fourniture de services de base, amélioration des conditions d'habitat, relocalisation s...

Les villes indiennes sont confrontées à une grave pénurie de logements décents, qui renvoie à un double défi : celui de l'ampleur des bidonvilles et taudis, et celui des évictions forcées. Les principales interventions des pouvoirs publics envers les bidonvilles – fourniture de services de base, amélioration des conditions d'habitat, relocalisation...

On the occasion of the United Nations Habitat III Conference on cities, to take place in Quito (Ecuador) in October 2016, this research publication proposes an innovative reflection on precar­ ious neighborhoods-whose populations are set to double over the next twenty years. Building on extensive field research across all continents, the different...

Seeing urban politics from the perspective of those who reside in slums offers an important dimension to the study of urbanism in the global South. Many people living in sub-standard conditions do not have their rights as urban citizens recognised and realise that they cannot rely on formal democratic channels or governance structures. Through in-d...

Version française disponible:http://www.afd.fr/webdav/site/afd/shared/PUBLICATIONS/RECHERCHE/Scientifiques/Etudes-AFD/13-VF-etudes-afd.pdf

CSH Occasional Paper SUMMARY: Specific forms of urbanisation are evolving on the peripheries of the large developing metropolises. These processes of peri-urbanisation result in the formation of “mixed spaces”, midway between urban centres and rural spaces - transitional spaces subject to rapid and multiple transformations: physical, morphological...

This paper examines the development of secured residential enclaves in India, especially in Delhi. It expounds the conditions of their emergence and success: although gated communities are a market driven development boosted by economic liberalisation reforms, they are also embedded in indigenous traditions of residential segregation and enclosure...

This paper examines Delhi’s first slum in situ redevelopment project under public-private partnership undertaken by the Delhi Development Authority in Kathputli Colony. At a time where the principle of community participation is recognised in policy documents, this research focuses on its implementation in this project, at the ground level, highlig...

Chennai is the largest metropolitan city in South India (8.7 million in 2011) and the provincial capital of the large state of Tamil Nadu (population 72 million in 2011). Before that, under British rule, the city was the capital of the Madras Presidency, and was known as Madras until 1996, when the name was officially changed to Chennai. Located on...

Publication en ligne, City report series (Chance2Sustain)

Cet ouvrage propose une réflexion comparative sur les dynamiques urbaines et les processus d’exclusion dans les mégapoles d’Inde et du Brésil. A travers l’étude des bidonvilles, l’analyse des politiques urbaines et des questions de logement d’une part, celles de l’environnement d’autre part dans des villes où la présence de la « forêt urbaine » est...

The socio-spatial restructuring of Delhi was accompanied by large-scale slum demolitions that increased homelessness. This paper focuses on the people made homeless, and their struggle to assert their place in the city. First, it expounds the context of homelessness in Delhi and analyses the mechanisms behind its aggravation. Then, it examines a de...

Document intégral en accès libre: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002146/214602e.pdf

The ambition to develop Delhi as a global city is rooted in the liberalization reforms of the 1990s. Parts of the city region were integrated with the global economy, providing international firms with investment opportunities and outsourced services, while the metropolitan area emerged as a significant agglomeration of Export Processing Zones. The...

The document is in open access here: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002146/214602e.pdf

Véronique Dupont – Creation of Urban Nomads and Impoverishment. Impact of Slum Clearance Policy in Delhi Slum clearance policy in Delhi excludes many families from the resettlement programmes. This contribution identifies diverse mechanisms of exclusion, assesses the extent of the affected population and the consequences of forced eviction on its l...

This comparative article focuses on public policies regarding slums in the two largest Indian metropolises, Delhi, the political capital, and Mumbai, the foremost economic hub, which face different geomorphologic constraints. It highlights the similar trends and the divergences in slum polices implemented since the 1950's: environmental improvement...

The redevelopment and beautification of the capital for the making of a "world-class city" have entailed a heavy cost in terms of slum demolitions. A survey documenting the change of land use that has taken place on the sites of demolished slum clusters highlights the emerging processes and trends. Some of its findings question the stated principle...

Specific forms of urbanisation are evolving on the peripheries of the large developing metropolises. These processes of peri-urbanisation result in the formation of “mixed spaces”, midway between urban centres and rural spaces – transitory spaces subject to rapid and multiple transformations. Our initial hypothesis in order to understand these proc...

Selected case studies of peri-urban dynamics are detailed, drawing from the experiences of Chennai (Pushpa Arabindoo), Hyderabad (Eric Leclerc and Camille Bourguignon) and Mumbai (Himanshu Burte and Malini Krishnankutty). The broader context of metropolitan growth and the case studies are further introduced by N. Sridharan [Occassional Paper N 17/2...

Le volume traite des grandes villes d'Asie du Sud au travers d'aspects essentiellement contemporains. Des contrepoints introduisent des comparaisons avec d'autres situations urbaines dans le monde

Specific forms of urbanisation are evolving on the peripheries of the large developing metropolises. These processes of peri-urbanisation result in the formation of “mixed spaces”, midway between urban centres and rural spaces - transitional spaces subject to rapid and multiple transformations: physical, morphological, socio-demographic, cultural,...