ABSTRACT
The chapter argues that the study of India’s 1947 Partition provides an opportunity for bringing the city into the study of South Asian environmental history. The latter has focused primarily on forests, deltas, and wildlife. However, there are parallel recent concerns in environmental and Partition history with respect to scale and differential social exposures to hazards. The two research fields also share concerns about continuities across supposed watershed moments. The rich empirical data provided by urban locality-based studies of Partition-related violence, migration, and refugee resettlement provide a resource for exploring intersections between the city and the environment. Post-Partition responses to the pressures of migration and resettlement have also impacted on urban planning with long-term consequences for sustainability in the contemporary era of climate change. The chapter examines these themes in a case study of Lahore, and its early post-Independence history. The city’s border location contributed to large-scale Partition-related physical destruction and mass migration. Formal planning responses to these challenges along with informal encroachments exacerbated a colonial-era legacy of urban sprawl. The city which now has a population of more than 11 million has swallowed up its hinterland. In the absence of integrated transport, excessive car use has worsened the air quality and contributed to climate change-induced pluvial flooding.
