ABSTRACT
Set up in 1961 to enable nation-building, IIM Calcutta's institutional history is closely tied to the trajectory of development of its permanent campus in Joka. The institute, as an organisation, and its campus, as its physical embodiment, developed side by side, along with the developing nation-state. The project of building a new campus in Joka was not as smooth as envisioned, particularly in its early years, reflecting both the larger problems confronting the newly developing nation-state as well as ground-level issues such as the characteristics of its site and its location on the outskirts of the city of Kolkata. What influenced thinking and planning for the new campus and how was the 134.8-acre site comprised low-lying paddy fields transformed into the campus of one of India's leading management institutes? This chapter traces the story of that transformation in physical space and time, the drivers of the changes and their impacts on the living habitat. It is both a narrative of the post-colonial state's developmental history via the physical growth of an institution established to facilitate nation-building as well as a reflection on town planning practices and community response.
