ABSTRACT

This chapter attempts to answer the question whether the emerging economic class actions merely reproduce socio-spatial inequalities in urban areas. It seeks to understand the dynamic relationship between urban policy and governance, changing urban neighbourhood spaces and class relationships, with a specific focus on displacement outcomes. Scholars argue that the process of neighbourhood change, also known to some as gentrification, tends to produce spaces of concentrated advantages and disadvantages in the city. It leads to a sharp increase in rent and prices out the low-income groups, pushing them to poorer quality neighbourhoods. The urban development approach in India, already debated worldwide by researchers and academicians, is attempting a new project, known as the Smart Cities Mission, under the new government. Therefore, in the backdrop of all the current issues, the Smart Cities proposal of the government is under strict scrutiny of researchers, academicians and politicians and poses several challenges in future including its potential for displacement.