2nd Edition of Inclusive Development Conference: Housing and Urban Land Management in an Unequal World
Training Centre, NLSIU, 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.
The conference is open to public.
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 | Training Centre, NLSIU:
Check-in
5.00-5.20 PM | NAB 101, NLSIU:
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 | NAB 101, NLSIU:
Inaugural Lecture | Keynote Speaker: Alain Bertaud, Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
Topic Tentative: Urban Land Management in an Unequal World
7.30 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 | Allen & Overy Hall, First Floor, Training Centre
Morning Session
Expert Panel 1: Housing and Urban Land Management in the Context of Inequality
Speakers:
Chetan Choithani, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies
Ashima Sood, Associate Professor, Director, Centre for Urbanism and Cultural Economics, Anant National University
Harsh Vardhan, CEO, CDD India
Moderator: Babu Mathew, Professor and Co-Director, Centre for Labour Studies, NLSIU
11.00-11.30 AM:
Tea & Networking Break
11.30 AM-1.00 PM | Allen & Overy Hall, First Floor, Training Centre
Mid-Morning Session | Young Scholar Session
Moderator: Manpreet Singh Dhillon, Assistant Professor, Public Policy, NLSIU
Theme: Informal Housing, Dispossession, and Politics of Space
– Politics of Policy Categories: Informal Settlements in Guwahati City – Bristi Bannerjee | Discussant: Anwesha Ghosh, Assistant Professor of Social Science, NLSIU
– 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, Independent Researcher
– Politics of Urban Formality: The Effects of Climate Change on Female Home-Based Workers in Delhi – Morvi Gupta | Discussant: Dhivya Janarthanan, Assistant Professor of Social Science, NLSIU
1.00-2.00 PM:
Lunch | Training Centre Canteen
2.00-3.30 PM | Allen & Overy Hall, First Floor, Training Centre
Afternoon Session | Young Scholar Session
Moderator – Aniket Nandan, Assistant Professor of Sociology, NLSIU
Theme: Capitalism, Real Estate, and Urban Governance
– 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, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies
– 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, Professor & Co-Director, Centre for the Study of Social Inclusion, NLSIU
– 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,Associate Professor, Director, Centre for Urbanism and Cultural Economics, Anant National University
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 | Allen & Overy Hall, First Floor, Training Centre
Morning Session
Expert Panel 2: Social and Economic Dimensions of Urban Housing
Speakers:
Anjali Karol Mohan, Visiting Faculty, NLSIU
Tikender Singh Panwar, Visiting Senior Fellow, Impact and Policy Research Institute
Sheema Fatima
Jayprakash Chadchan, Professor, School of Architecture, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore
Moderator: Sushmita Pati, Associate Professor of Social Science, NLSIU
11.00-11.30 AM:
Tea & Networking Break
11.30 AM-1.00 PM | Allen & Overy Hall, First Floor, Training Centre
Mid-Morning Session | Young Scholar Session
Moderator: Gayathri Naik, Assistant Professor of Law, NLSIU
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, Professor, School of Architecture, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore
– 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– Raajorshi Chowdhury | Discussant: Anjali Karol Mohan, Visiting Faculty, NLSIU
1.00-2.00 PM:
Lunch | Training Centre Canteen
2.00-3.30 PM | Allen & Overy Hall, First Floor, Training Centre
Afternoon Session | Young Scholar Session
Moderator: Rinku Lamba, Associate Professor of Social Science, NLSIU
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, Assistant Professor of Social Science, NLSIU
– Gender-based Property Tax Discounts: Role in bargaining power of women in household and intergenerational educational outcome – Faiyaz Julfikar | Discussant: Karthik Suresh, Assistant Professor of Law, NLSIU
– Unlocking Housing Capital: Semi-Legal Titles & Informal Credit in Delhi’s unauthorised colonies – Divya Sharma | Discussant: Neethi P, Senior Consultant – Academics & Research, IIHS
3.30-4.00 PM:
Tea & Networking Break
4.00-4.30 PM | Allen & Overy Hall, First Floor, Training Centre
YSI, INET & NLSIU: Fostering Inclusive Scholarship
4.30-5.45 PM | Allen & Overy Hall, First Floor, Training Centre
Valedictory Lecture | Speaker: Shailaja Fennell, Professor of Economic Security and Resilience; Deputy HoD, Department of Land Economy; Director, Centre of South Asian Studies; Fellow and Director of Studies, Jesus College University of Cambridge
Lecture Title: Urban Inclusion and Housing as a Form of Agency
5.45-6.00 PM:
Vote of Thanks
NLSIU
INET – YSI