Geography | DAAD Can money compensate? Peri-urban development of Lahore

It is the study of socio-ecological change happening in peri-urban villages of Lahore due to urbanization and related processes such as the commodification of arable lands, speculation, role of the State. The other important highlight is of cash influx in agrarian spaces where people were not at the mercy of the market in entirety and had freedom which was coming from the subsistence they had and sustenance as a result of an ecology they were part of. There are a lot of studies on urbanization and a vast literature that connects urbanization with displacement, social injustice, food sovereignty, environmental problems, etc. However, my research adds to the fact that quality of life changes with the loss of intangibles in the name of development, which once lost, no money can ever compensate. Taking villages as microcosms of socio-ecological change helps in witnessing the larger picture of neo-liberal capitalist development and how state and economic policies downplay. Who pays the cost for the development and spaces and places are rendered 'underutilized'. It unravels the loopholes and provides a window to see where money-making policies are going wrong and the creation of an unequal world and aggressive class polarization is not natural but a chaos that has been created and desired for capitalism to function and grow. It is an empirical account documented over 8 years through the voices across class, gender, generation, ethnicity, and sects via ethnographic research (as a primary methodology). 

PhD: Huda Javaid
Funding: DAAD
Duration: 2019-2024