The Past’s Affect on Development: Modernity and a Market

Abstract

Introduction This article analyzes the redevelopment of the Gujari Bazaar—a traditional weekly market in Ahmedabad, India—by the city‟s most ambitious development initiative, the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project. As neo-liberal efforts to “reclaim” (cf. Smith 1990; Chatterjee 2004) the urban centers of many cities in the global south continue, activities such as these —and the spaces they occupy—come under increasing threat. Moreover, sites of cultural heritage and historical value face interesting tensions as efforts to modernize cities move to either displace them, in order to make way for sites fitting the interests of global finance capital, or preserve them as tourist attractions, sometimes contorting them for an envisaged tourist desire. In this paper, I argue that the Gujari Bazaar (Gujari) provides an instructive case as to the ambitions of contemporary urban development in India and the efforts of activists and spaces swept up in these ambitions work against that grain and negotiate a future for the past. It also highlights the ability of existing institutions, whether these are formal or ordinary, to adapt to new conditions. Out of this, come to light questions like: What does it mean to simultaneously consume and preserve the past? How may development ambitions intervene in that process? While faced with an uncertain future and potential displacement, activists working to protect the market ensured its incorporation into the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project (Sabarmati Project) by using the public interest litigation (PIL) mechanism. They leveraged its value as a site of cultural heritage, drawing out the perceived contradiction of Ahmedabadi official‟s simultaneous efforts to achieve World Heritage City status from UNESCO while excluding the market. While this effort was successful and allowed Gujari to „live another day‟ it is crucial to investigate the implications of not only that effort, but the potential concerns with such approaches to first redeveloping and then re-presenting that past. This article begins with a brief history of Ahmedabad‟s current development ambitions and the impetus that gave rise to the Sabarmati Project. Next, I discuss the Gujari‟s history as a market with a valid historical claim and its intersection with the Sabarmati Project and the public interest litigation that ensued. Finally, I turn to discuss what I see as some concerns for development writ-large and heritage redevelopment more specifically.