Managing Urban Transformations of Refugee Settlements in West Delhi from Camps to Nagars: The Story of Moti Nagar and Kirti Nagar

Abstract

Migration has become a common phenomenon in the contemporary world. In the Post World War II period, due to social and political unrest between conflicting and dividing nations, many countries across the globe saw migrations at different scales. The pressure created by the inflow and outflow of a huge population, within a comparatively short span of time, created various urban dynamics that have been reflected in the urban fabric of cities through largescale creation of camps, refugee colonies, workers’ and migrants’ colonies, urban villages and slums, many of which have survived due to good governance or political and urban development management systems. On the other hand, several others have fallen prey to various social distresses and suffered as underdeveloped or undeveloped archaic areas causing hindrance to development and prosperity of adjacent urban areas.

The socio-economic condition that developed in New Delhi after the Partition in 1947 saw migration of millions overnight, with the creation of a large number of refugee camps in the city. This paper describes the courageous survival of one of these camps at Basai Darapur as well as the ambitious transformation of such camps to the colonies Moti Nagar and Kirti Nagar, over time, with proper management, through urban governance, socio-political aid, urban planning visions and urban design guidelines. The paper also attempts to discuss the possible holistic future of Moti Nagar and Kirti Nagar in coming times through careful urban management, considering opinions of different urban local bodies, real-estate stakeholders and public participations in different phases of urban development aided by the Delhi Masterplan 2021.

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Refugee colonies in delhi, Prerana chatterjee, Camp cs