Following from early planned cities like Chandigarh and Bhubaneshwar, to industrial townships like Jamshedpur and more recently to eco-cities, Dholera presents a new trend in city-building in India that, instead of addressing existing social exclusions, actually reinforces longstanding social inequalities. Second, the Dholera case highlights a shift towards an urbanization’ by the regional state of Gujarat ‘entrepreneurial interested in enforcing bold’ policies on city-making through a rule of law. In doing ‘big so, it underscores how regional economic can become a model for emulation ‘success’ at the scale of the nation. Finally, while Dholera exhibits what has been called an urbanism’ (Murray 2013) through policy’ (Peck 2005, 767), it also shows ‘instant ‘fast that speed is a relative term across its scales of manifestation from the global to local. The of speed’ in putting together new laws, masterplans and global capital ‘bursts investment at the regional scale are matched by significant in ‘bottlenecks’ technological challenges and local protests by farmers living on the land where Dholera will be built. the smart city in Gujarat, India ‘Provincialising’ In recent years, the rise of gated communities, new towns, satellite cities and other spatial manifestations in the global south has seen a flurry of theorising around urbanism’. Scholars have argued that this reflects different moves ‘postcolonial towards a of Africa’ (Choplin and Franck 2010), of cities (Roy ‘Dubaisation ‘worlding’
Following from early planned cities like Chandigarh and Bhubaneshwar, to industrial townships like Jamshedpur and more recently to eco-cities, Dholera presents a new trend in city-building in India that, instead of addressing existing social exclusions, actually reinforces longstanding social inequalities. Second, the Dholera case highlights a shift towards an ‘entrepreneurial urbanization’ by the regional state of Gujarat interested in enforcing ‘big bold’ policies on city-making through a rule of law. In doing so, it underscores how regional economic ‘success’ can become a model for emulation at the scale of the nation. Finally, while Dholera exhibits what has been called an ‘instant urbanism’ (Murray 2013) through ‘fast policy’ (Peck 2005, 767), it also shows that speed is a relative term across its scales of manifestation from the global to local. The ‘bursts of speed’ in putting together new laws, masterplans and global capital investment at the regional scale are matched by significant ‘bottlenecks’ in technological challenges and local protests by farmers living on the land where Dholera will be built. ‘Provincialising’ the smart city in Gujarat, India In recent years, the rise of gated communities, new towns, satellite cities and other spatial manifestations in the global south has seen a flurry of theorising around ‘postcolonial urbanism’. Scholars have argued that this reflects different moves towards a ‘Dubaisation of Africa’ (Choplin and Franck 2010), ‘worlding’ of cities (Roy
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