How Delhi’s resettlement colonies have set a new standard for peripheralisation

Source: The post is based on the article “How Delhi’s resettlement colonies have set a new standard for peripheralisation” published in Down To Earth on 3rd November 2022.

What is the News?

According to a report by the Centre for Policy Research, recent resettlements of Delhi have set a new standard of peripheralisation in its history.

What is Peripheralisation?

Peripheria is an old Greek term that is used to describe the outside. In geographical terms, the periphery is referred to in the contexts of cities and regions. 

The periphery is usually the lesser developed part of a town or region, that is usually located at the edge of the cities/regions and far away from the developed, more “sophisticated” and often beautiful city/regional centre.

In the social sense, “peripheralization” describes the production of peripheries through social relations and their spatial implications.

Example of Peripheralization

India: It has been observed that new settlements in Delhi (2010, displacement due to Commonwealth games and others) suffer from a new standard of peripheralization. These include: – poor access to basic services like water, healthcare, etc; inadequate housing provisions; located outside the ambit of ‘planned colonies’.

Globally: “The West” is the centre and (parts of) Africa, Latin America and Asia are the periphery.