Rapidly urbanising agrarian regions of South India provides with a unique opportunity to understand the transforming relationship between the commons and the community. The lake system in Bangalore therefore is a unique opportunity to examine this relationship. As a regionally networked water harvesting system, the lakes are central to the drainage ecology of Bangalore as well as to the cultural life.

The urbanisation of these regions implies the formation of new forms of social relations, as well as new demands from these ecological commons.  As a case, the lakes in Bangalore shall be framed to understand how the form and process of its transformation and the social relations within which it is embedded are interrelated.

About the Case Author
Jayaraj Sundaresan is a researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science LSE), Associate at the Development Planning Unit (UCL) and a consultant to the IIHS. His research and practical pursuits inform each other in the field of human settlements, human geography, urban planning and design. He is a qualified architect with an M.Arch in Urban design from the School of Architecture and Planning at CEPT University, Ahmedabad; MSc in City Design and Social science from LSE Cities Program and completed his PhD in Regional and Urban Planning Studies from the LSE Department of Geography. His PhD thesis theorises the relationship between land use planning process and land use violations in Bangalore. He consulted the London local government on policies panning across Planning, Regeneration and Urban Design. His work in India ranges from being a member of municipal commitee and task force in Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram, practicing architect, and conservation & documentation of historic settlements.

Amogh is a Research Associate at IIHS and currently works on research themes of economic development; governance & public policy and environment & sustainability. His research interests include issues of institutional governance, resource use, public goods, property rights, commons and urban political economy. He is particularly interested in exploring research questions involving the intersection of economics with other disciplines such as law, political science, and sociology.

Amogh holds a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Mumbai and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. In the final year of his Master’s programme, he chose specialisations in Urban Economics and Urban Infrastructure Finance, among others.