Urban Environmentalisms

Abstract

The “bourgeois environmentalism” concept framed by Baviskar (2002, 2003, 2006, 2011) till date remains the most powerful paradigm to capture urban environmental projects (restoration, beautification, and housing schemes) facilitating middle-class desires, aspirations, and perceptions of urban environment at the cost of squatter clearance and eviction drives in Indian metropolises. Environmental activism in Kolkata has also been perceived through this prism. Drawing inspiration from situated urban political ecology, and using historical urban political ecology, this chapter empirically investigates, chronologically covers, and qualitatively analyzes varieties of environmental activism across conflicting, negotiating, and mediating actors using two case studies: the environmental movement surrounding the restoration of the Adi Ganga, and rounds of activisms (since the 1990s to the present time) for the preservation and protection of the East Kolkata Wetlands. The empirical findings inform the theoretical grounding that the chapter deploys. Through the two case studies, the chapter asserts that urban environmental activism comprises vibrant stories of violations and victories with long-lasting impact and future directions for urban environmental trajectories that cannot be captured by unilinear understandings and perspectives.