Injected Urbanism? Exploring India's Urbanizing Periphery

Engaging with different literatures in economic geography, postcolonial urbanism, and planetary urbanization, this article seeks to develop a theoretical understanding of remote urban formations taking shape in India's countryside. The analysis draws on extensive primary data collected at two study sites in Bihar and West Bengal, which rendered an uncommonly rich data set for such remote areas. We observe emergent urban formations that result from densification, expansion, and amalgamation of built-up environments and a massive shift of employment out of the agricultural sector. At the same time, alternative local economic opportunities are scarce, giving way to significant increases in circular labor migration. We introduce the concept of injected urbanism to denote a form of urbanization that is exogenously generated through remittances, in the absence of significant local agglomeration processes. The infusion of remittances drives local economic restructuring and the emergence of a consumption economy. Injected urbanism spurs local development, but its dependence on economic activity elsewhere raises important questions about its sustainability.

Automated summary

This article engages with different literatures in economic geography, postcolonial urbanism, and planetary urbanization to develop a theoretical understanding of remote urban formations emerging in India's countryside. The analysis utilizes extensive primary data collected from study sites in Bihar and West Bengal, which provides a unique and rich dataset for these remote areas. The research observes the emergence of urban formations resulting from densification, expansion, and amalgamation of built-up environments, as well as a significant shift in employment from the agricultural sector. The concept of injected urbanism is introduced to describe this form of exogenously generated urbanization through remittances in the absence of significant local agglomeration processes. Injected urbanism drives local economic restructuring and the emergence of a consumption economy, but its dependence on economic activity elsewhere raises questions about its sustainability.