Changing Times, Transforming Neighbourhoods

Rooted in the idea of site-based learning and research, this study has primarily been shaped by our engagement with the field. From the beginning, our approach was to listen to the story the site told us through our observations and conversations with several stakeholders in Shivajinagar. 

 

In the process of making observations and speaking to stakeholders across the assigned site boundary, we noticed several upcoming mega infrastructure projects knitted carefully into the urban fabric of the site. This led us to study different areas surrounding infrastructure projects, such as the three metro construction sites within our delineated area, the railway expansion project and the Tender S.U.R.E. projects. The Pottery Town Metro station sparked our interest due to its strong historical relevance and identity the place holds.

 

Through our interactions with the people and spaces in the close vicinity of the Pottery Town Metro construction site, we noticed that this under-construction project on the site acts as one of the prominent harbingers of transformation in the residential locality - one which we eventually found has itself been transforming, in general, over the past few decades. 

 

This transformation that we noticed takes place in the vicinity of the Pottery Town Station at multiple scales captured our interest and nudged us to investigate how this transformation impacts the nearby neighbourhoods and the people experiencing it on a day-to-day basis. 

 

For this study and given the limited time and resources available to us, we tried to focus on the residents inhabiting the spaces within a 250m radius of the construction site. With this scope being set out, we conducted in-depth and open-ended interviews that sought to open up the different narratives of transformation and histories within the neighbourhood, the household and at the individual level. Using the patterns emerging from our interviews, we bring to you the story of change in the areas surrounding the under construction Pottery Town Metro Station.