Periurban Cartographies: Kolkata's ecologies and settled ruralities

Abstract

Periurban Cartographies looks through the prism of the “almost urban” to reconsider what a “city” is or could be, challenging prevailing assumptions and reevaluating design practices. Authored by Dr. Victoria Jane Marshall, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, this book presents a nuanced understanding of the incremental modes of political empowerment and the futures they create in periurban regions.

This research-rich book delves into the thick descriptions of everyday life and diffuse power in the periurban areas of Gangetic West Bengal/Kolkata. It enriches our understanding of how incremental political empowerment shapes urban futures and rethinks the mechanisms of change. This work contributes significantly to urban theory-building from perspectives outside the Global North, particularly Asia.

The book’s approach to urban political ecology offers a way to move past enduring tensions around the conceptualizations of region, socio-natures and agency, and practice. With extensive photographs, line drawings, and maps, it vividly portrays the incrementally changing context and the fragmented processes where urban and rural land uses and livelihoods intertwine.