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Hydrating Hyderabad: Rapid urbanisation, water scarcity and the difficulties and possibilities of human flourishing
Citation
Das, D., & Skelton, T. (2020). Hydrating Hyderabad: Rapid urbanisation, water scarcity and the difficulties and possibilities of human flourishing. Urban Studies, 57(7), 1663-1569. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019838481
Abstract
The city of Hyderabad plays a significant role in urban transition processes at play in India. Cyberabad, a section of the city of Hyderabad, developed through the rapid urbanisation of rural villages and land, becoming a high-tech, state of the art, globally connected enclave. On weekday mornings in the neighbourhood of Madhapur, smartly dressed HITEC City workers, with ID tags, emerge from hostel accommodation and walk alongside large, black buffalo being herded into rundown dairies. This paradoxical use of space is replicated in the urban fabric of Cyberabad and surrounding Madhapur. Cheek-by-jowl urbanisation has created two very different types of urban locale: Cyberabad – air-conditioned, gardened, watered – a space of hydration and flourishing; and Madhapur – hot, dusty and desiccated – a space of dryness and water struggles. This paper explores whether aspects of urban flourishing and resilience are possible in the newly formed Telangana state and its capital, Hyderabad, through an examination of the past, present and future of the city’s water.
Date Issued
2020
Publisher
Sage
Journal
Urban Studies