Construction of Public Sapces in India

With the rise of British colonization of South Asia in mid-late 18 century came western ideas of the “public”, contextualized in spatial, social and political terms. The later construction of “public” spaces during mid-late 19th century, like parks, evidences that overtime the municipalities, consisting of both Indian and European officials, attempted to alter the landscape of the major cities in an effort to replicate the sociopolitical environment of the western world. However, although, as Sudipta Kaviraj argues, notions of the common or collective identity readily existed in India, adoption of a socio-politically defined “public” sphere proved to be difficult precisely because the ideas were not organically grown but rather were transplanted (88). Consequently, the conflicts that arose from the inclusion of aforementioned ideals within the indigenous ideology had impacts on the physical layout of the colonial city.

In Calcutta, and in other provinces as well, common spaces, structures and activities surely existed but did not align with the European philosophy of the “public”. Open spaces for games, festivals and Puja’s were common features of many villages (Kaviraj 88). Even though there were no legal or official markings for the space, it was assumable that these commons fit the colonial definition of a “public” space.

Accordingly, municipal committees were formed in 1862 to govern the use of urban space and property. As such Indians were forced to align their property claims within European definitions of the “public” versus private. In one such case that Glover extracts, a shopkeeper Nabi Baksh built a mosque without government permission. He persuaded the officer in charge to let him proceed with building because t...

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...o be unsustainable due the influx of refugees. The refugees’ conceptions of public space also radically altered the physical make up of the city as Kaviraj comments the destitute, “ …appreciated the physical stratum of the stature or railings rather than their symbolic or aesthetic values, “ (Kaviraj 107). The occupation of parks like Deshapriya led to the creation of new public spheres. Thus it’s seen that the universality is achieved at least on a class-based scale in Calcutta. On a different note, Glover’s observations lend to the notion that during colonial times construction of public/private structures was dependent on how well one could articulate or manipulate their claims within the European framework. This is because an elected authority could vote upon claims to “public interest” because they were in theory representatives of the interest (Glover 9).