Abstract

In an increasingly global India, an agricultural community in Pune, Maharashtra when faced with losing farmland to urbanisation, devised an unusual solution. Pooling their land together, these farmers leveraged their social and political networks to take advantage of the changing economic climate in Pune and built a mixed-use township on their 400 acres of farmland. They formed alliances with other stakeholders, both internally within the agricultural community and externally at the city and state levels. This case study highlights the significance of ad-hoc coalitions in the power and politics of urban processes in an Indian city. These coalitions have emerged as a result of a political power and leadership vacuum in Indian cities in the face of the changing focus and priorities of national and regional governments, as well as a growing gap in urban service provision.