Investigating the Role of American Culture and American Agencies in Shaping South Asian Cities: Delhi’s Modern Planning (1947-2010 CE)

In the aftermath of the end of British colonial rule and emergence of postcolonial states in  South Asia in the late 1940s, the postcolonial regimes were keen to lay the foundations of “modern” states. This was also the time when Cold-War politics was gaining ground across the globe. In the context of the postcolonial Republic of India, although democracy was established, its first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, announced the development model of the state based on the USSR’s five-year plan model. Less well known, however, is the significant engagement of American agencies like the Ford Foundation from the 1950s onwards in the new state’s policy making, described as “help from one democracy to another democracy.”

 

I am interested in investigating the role of American agencies and figures like Albert Mayer in shaping modern South Asian cities. The postcolonial state adopted Western notions of planning and formulated its first ‘modern planning’ apparatus in 1962 with the help of the Ford Foundation. I investigate the role of American agencies and the influence of American culture in developing the first modern planning document for postcolonial Delhi city. This first ‘modern’ Master Plan was to serve as a role model for the redevelopment and modernization of the rest of the South Asian cities. In addition, I investigate what were the implications of this modern planning on the social fabric of the existing city, especially for socio-economically marginalized communities. Using diverse methodologies and critically analyzing archival sources, I will provide historical insights into the role of American agencies in the making of South Asian cities and in defining the urban experiences of their residents.

 

 

Speaker bio:

 

Jatin (he/him) is an international third year PhD candidate at the Department of History, with a collaborative specialisation in South Asian Studies. Currently, Jatin is a Graduate Research Award holder at the CSUS. He has been an Urban Research Fellow at the Centre for Urban Environments, and a Graduate Fellow in Training at the School of Cities, University of Toronto. As a scholar of urban history, Jatin’s research interests cut across urbanization, housing, modern planning, migration, law, environment, caste, colonial and postcolonial South Asia, and their global interconnections. Through his doctoral research, Jatin hopes to contribute towards inclusive urban theory on/from South Asia.