2nd Edition of Inclusive Development Conference: Housing and Urban Land Management in an Unequal World
National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
The Centre for the Study of Social Inclusion (CSSI) at National law School of India University (NLSIU) and Institute for New Economic Thinking-Young Scholars Initiative (INET-YSI) are organising the 2nd Edition of Inclusive Development Conference: Housing and Urban Land Management in an Unequal World from March 5 to 7, 2025.
Aim of the Conference
The conference aims to examine the complex interplay of housing, law, economics, and spatial justice in an unequal world, and we welcome scholars and practitioners to participate.
About the Conference
Housing affordability and urban land management have become a tumultuous challenge for countries that are rapidly urbanising. These challenges are reshaping the question of urban property. Established instruments of land management, such as zoning, tenure management, building obligations, taxation, expropriation, incentives and subsidies, land readjustment, land redistribution and reform, environmental and conservation regulation, different ownership models, financialisation of land and housing, and public land management have their scope and limits. In response, new innovations are emerging in both formal and informal land management. Hybrid spaces, technology-assisted cartographies and property registries, collective property ownership, and informal property regimes are among the approaches seeking to address the dual goals of equitable access and efficient management. The convergence of law, economics, and policy is critical in shaping the future of urban development. Yet, scholarship on the interface of law and spatial dimensions of the city is scant. Where such scholarship does exist, it is often confined to isolated case studies from the Global South, which are frequently dismissed as exceptions rather than being integrated into the broader global discourse on urban studies.
In many regions, in the Global North and the Global South, the expansion of urban centres has been marked by the commodification of land and housing, further deepening the divide between the wealthy and marginalised communities. Public policies and legal frameworks often struggle to keep pace with the complexities of this expanding urban fabric, leading to gaps in affordable housing provision and sustainable land management. While innovative solutions like collective ownership models and inclusive zoning regulations have shown promise, the questions remain are (1) how can these innovations be effectively scaled in a world marked by deep economic and social inequalities? (2) What governance changes are desirable to design a responsive urban land management?
To know more about the questions and topics that will be addressed in the conference, click here.
Schedule
Read the full schedule and venue details here.
12.00 PM:
Check-in | Training Centre, NLSIU campus
5.00-5.20 PM:
Welcome and Introductory Remarks
Opening of the conference: Brief on conference objectives and themes
Welcome Address by Prof. Dr. Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice-Chancellor, NLSIU
Welcome Address by Sunanda Nair-Bidkar, Director, South Asia, INET
5.20-6.30 PM:
Inaugural Lecture | Speaker: Alain Bertaud (Keynote Speaker)
Topic Tentative: Urban Land Management in an Unequal World
8.00 PM:
Welcome Dinner | (Invitation Only)
8.00-9.00 AM:
Breakfast | Training Centre Canteen
Registration | Seminar room, Training Centre, Ground Floor
9.00-11.00 AM:
Morning Session | Seminar room, Training Centre, Ground Floor
Expert Panel 1: Housing and Urban Land Management in the Context of Inequality
Speakers: Chetan Choithani, Ashima Sood, Harsh Vardhan
Moderator: Babu Mathew
11.00-11.30 AM:
Tea & Networking Break
11.30 AM-1.00 PM:
Mid-Morning Session | Young Scholar Session | Seminar room, Training Centre, Ground Floor
Moderator: Manpreet Singh Dhillon
Theme: Informal Housing, Dispossession, and Politics of Space
– Politics of Policy Categories: Informal Settlements in Guwahati City – Bristi Bannerjee | Discussant: Anwesha Ghosh
– Politics Shaping the Urban Governance Landscape in Zimbabwe: A Behavioural Interpretation of Migration and Social Change – Himani Pasricha | Discussant: Samson Simwanza
– Does Training Farmers on Multiple Technologies Improve Adoption? – Tinotenda Chidhawu | Discussant: Sattwick Dey Biswas
– Politics of Urban Formality: the effects of climate change on female home-based workers in Delhi – Morvi Gupta | Discussant: Dhivya Janarthanan
1.00-2.00 PM:
Lunch | Training Centre Canteen
2.00-3.30 PM:
Afternoon Session | Young Scholar Session | Seminar room, Training Centre, Ground Floor
Moderator – Aniket Nandan
Theme: Capitalism, Real Estate, and Urban Governance | Seminar room, Training Centre, Ground Floor
– Challenges in low-income shared rental housing (LI-SRH) markets in India: A case study of two formally operated shared rental housing suppliers in Bengaluru – Sai Rama Raju Marella | Discussant: Chetan Choithani
– Limits of the Growth Machine in the Periphery of Capitalism: Reflections on Conflicts in the Production of Urban Megaprojects in Rio De Janeiro and Johannesburg – Joao Paulo Constantino | Discussant: Sony Pellissery
– Tenurial predicaments in a spatially polarized city: Housing regulation, tenure security and the politics of informal housing production in India – Devansh Shrivastva | Discussant: Ashima Sood
3.30-4.00 PM:
Tea & Networking Break
4.00-6.00 PM:
Visit to CDD – This is a voluntary studio event to understand nature based technology for wastewater management, we are organising a visit to https://cddindia.org/, which is six kilometers away from NLSIU
8.00-9.00 AM:
Breakfast | Training Centre Canteen
9.00-11.00 AM:
Morning Session | Seminar room, Training Centre, Ground Floor
Expert Panel 2: Social and Economic Dimensions of Urban Housing
Speakers: Anjali Karol Mohan, Tikender Singh Panwar, Sheema Fatima, Jayprakash Chadchan
Moderator: Sushmita Pati
11.00-11.30 AM:
Tea & Networking Break
11.30 AM-1.00 PM:
Mid-Morning Session | Young Scholar Session | Seminar room, Training Centre, Ground Floor
Moderator: Rinku Lamba
Theme: Informal Housing, Gentrification, Urban Vacancy and Inclusive Development
– Creation of the ‘Other’ in Urban Discourse – A Case Study of Kochi City, Kerala – Shankar Verma | Discussant: Jayprakash Chadchan
– Challenges of Gentrification and Housing Deprivation among Transgender Communities in Bengaluru, India – Swarupa Deb | Discussant: Sheema Fatima
– Waiting, Anxiety and Fear: (Re)Housing the Urban Poor through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Model in Contemporary Delhi– Rajshree Chowdhary | Discussant: Anjali Karol Mohan
1.00-2.00 PM:
Lunch | Training Centre Canteen
2.00-3.30 PM:
Afternoon Session | Young Scholar Session | Seminar room, Training Centre, Ground Floor
Moderator -Gayathri Naik
Theme: Housing Rights, Social Justice, and Economic Policy
– Illuminating Inequality: Intra-State Economic Convergence and Regional Disparities in Karnataka – Mohammed Hashim | Discussant: Sudheesh R C
– Gender-based Property Tax Discounts: Role in bargaining power of women in household and intergenerational educational outcome – Faiyaz Julfikar | Discussant: Karthik Suresh
– Unlocking Housing Capital: Semi-Legal Titles & Informal Credit in Delhi’s unauthorised colonies – Divya Sharma | Discussant: Neethi P
3.30-4.00 PM:
Tea & Networking Break
4.00-4.30 PM:
YSI, INET & NLSIU: Fostering Inclusive Scholarship
4.30-5.45 PM:
Valedictory Lecture | Speaker: Shailaja Fennell
Lecture Title: Urban inclusion and housing as a form of agency
5.45-6.00 PM:
Vote of Thanks
NLSIU
INET – YSI