The socio-spatial restructuring of Delhi was accompanied by large-scale slum demolitions that increased homelessness. This paper focuses on the people made homeless, and their struggle to assert their place in the city. First, it expounds the context of homelessness in Delhi and analyses the mechanisms behind its aggravation.
The construction of the metro railway—a flagship infrastructure project—and the preparations for the Commonwealth Games, are emblematic of the socio-spatial restructuring and makeover that have changed Delhi and affected those living on its margins over the last dozen years.
Delhi corroborated such trends before the Commonwealth Games. The main questions underlying this study are: which place is left for the homeless in Delhi, which place is claimed? Homelessness is not a new phenomenon in Indian cities. Nevertheless, the dramatic increase of the homeless population in Delhi over the last decade and the changes in its composition require us to analyse the factors and mechanisms responsible for such developments. This allows us to go beyond the revanchist city framework and evidence the ambivalence in homeless policies that include accommodative responses and not merely punitive measures—a complexity underlined in other contexts DeVerteuil , DeVerteuil, May et al.
The field observations were carried out in five periods between November and April They include in-depth interviews with various stakeholders evicted homeless, CSOs, independent activists and government officers as well as attendance at public meetings, consultations for the homeless and press conferences.
The invisibility of certain sections of this population, such as those who sleep in concealed places, makes its enumeration difficult. The variations in estimates can probably be explained by the different methodologies used.
