Gentrification is a shift in an urban community toward wealthier residents
and/or businesses and increasing property values. Gentrification is typically the result
of investment in a community by local government, community activists, or
business groups, and can often spur economic development, attract business,
lower crime rates, and have other benefits to a community. The process of Gentrification could be of up most significance
if studied wisely and in a regional inter-dependent context. There are a number of urban villages
in the national capital of India which by community interests and participation
could be made economically viable spaces on one hand and could also raise the
quality of life standards of the inhabitants of urban villages.
Hauz Khas is a tiny suburb of New Delhi often compared to New
York City’s Soho or Greenwich Village. The gentrification of this 12th-century
village began in 1980 when a famous Indian clothing designer opened her
showroom here. Later all followed, and today the area covers chic restaurants
and sophisticated boutiques.
Today, Hauz Khas Village is almost a wishing room of urban
fantasies, a place where the chic bohemian can live out a Soho-esque adventure
with ease. Quaint, meandering gullies lead to tiny art galleries, restaurants
where the owner might step out from the kitchen to have a beer with you,
designers' studios, enchanting little shops; there is undeniably a particular
energy here, a vortex of creativity you can't help but be drawn into. It is
this interplay between history, culture, creativity and modernity that Hauz
Khas seems to thrive on. Ayesha Sood, a filmmaker quoted this 'initially, the
concept of Hauz Khas Village seemed like a fairy tale, because it was firmly
against the gated-colony syndrome'. While the community has tried to retain its cultural
character, the generational bullfight cannot be overlooked. The cultural
disparities in these villages are much more manifest today. While the older
generation is bound to its own ways, the youngsters are hopelessly pampered and
the generation sandwiched between the two has emerged as a new business middle
class.
Urban Villages has experienced a horrendous growth in terms
of planned development of the city with being the location of prime interest of
the migrants for their living due to low rentals and affordable market.
Migration can’t be stopped but it can be directed and so as in this case by
showing it a guiding lamp of certain initiatives and policies. Mixed use on
certain village streets has been provisioned in MPD-21 in order to create local
marketplaces and boost up the economic status of the communities. These kind of
steps and policies reverse back when they aren’t looked at regular intervals.
The concept of Gentrification should be raised at diverse
platforms and its awareness among the communities should be spread to not let
these so called urban villages lag way behind from the overall human
development of the city. However, in this process of Gentrification - the plan
should be formulated according to the various factors in integration and predictions
have to be made far more visionary. The process has some merits and demerits as
well. There can’t be any prototype design for it – it has rather to be studied
and carefully looked in depending on factors like its history, the culture it
has nourished, the emerging needs, the social structure, economic viability, etc,..
Any misguided step in the process may lead to haphazard development of the area
and hence the complexity of the gentrification process and the structural behavior
of the urban ecosystem should be well understood before any such attempts of
gentrifying an area/region/village/space are made. The process of Gentrification might upgrade or degrade the affected lives. Therefore it's very crucial to be visionary and studying the aspects of human settlement could play a big role in the entire process.
Image from tushky.com
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