Beyond the urban: rethinking urban ecology using Kolkata as a case study

Abstract

Urban ecology is an emerging discipline providing opportunities for inclusion, incorporation and integration of methodologies from numerous disciplines across natural and social sciences. Studies have multiplied over the last few decades and the subject has expanded in scope from sheer dependence on ecological variables to socio-economic, political and cultural variables Within the contemporary context of Third World urbanisation process and urban development, this paper revisits the scope of urban ecology and attempts to further widen the purview of the discipline by incorporating the study of rural/peri-urban and urban linkages and their transforming interactions from political ecology and historical perspectives. By shedding light on the mutually interdependent interrelationship between the city and its peri-urban interface (PUI) and how it has transformed from a mutually reinforcing system to a truncated one, the Kolkata case study strongly emphasises the need for integrating political ecology and historical frameworks to render urban ecology more inclusive.