Neoliberal Governing as Production of Fantasy: Contemporary Transformations in Ahmedabad’s Landscape

Abstract

Contemporary urban planning and practice in India are anchored on the production of fantasmorphic imaginaries that seek to transform cities according to global imaginations. The Smart Cities Initiatives, in particular, abstract away the reality of Indian cities and articulate the urban through a technological fantasy. This chapter explores the background of this transformation in the Ahmedabad region through projects that were conceptualized during the tenure of the current prime minister as then chief minister of the Gujarat State: Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project and the GIFT city. The trajectories of these projects suggest that urban planning in India proceeds through the production of fantasies that are distanced from social reality. Moreover, these processes have limited engagement with how the city is making proceeds in material terms through survival strategies of the migrant population.