The book analyses how the city of Ahmedabad, which could cope with the crisis of deindustrialisation in the post-Independence period, thanks to the enterprising spirit of the people and flexibility in economic base is currently struggling with problems of a globalising regime. The workforce has become more vulnerable due to uncertainty of employment and earning opportunities. Urban development processes, that were inclusive in the past, are becoming more and more exclusive, responding to the existing spatial and economic dichotomy in the city. Dependence on capital market and decentralisation initiatives in the state and the city are largely due to compulsions of resource scarcity and pressures from international agencies. This has adversely affected the capability of the city to deal with problems of poverty and vulnerability. It is the sheer ingenuity of a few local initiatives resulting in community based projects, which has enabled the poor to cope with the problems. These experiments are, however, more or less localised and fragmented, without the possibility of large scale multiplication. Furthermore, the city, which had sent out messages of peace and harmony to the whole world not several decades ago, is witnessing spells of communal violence. The communalisation of city’s polity and shrinking of democratic space, especially for vulnerable sections of population, have further weakened its capability to cope with crises.
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