Author Description

This is a unique book about architecture, urban design, and urban planning in Kolkata from the late seventeenth century to the turn of the twenty-first century, told in the context of India. The author presents a new interpretive history of the transformation of a colonial city into a Marxist one and its attempt to become a global city. Drawing from multiple theories such post-structuralism; theories of dependent urbanism; Marxist political economy; postcolonial theory; contemporary urban theory; and studies of Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), and civil society, the book positions architecture, urban design, and urban planning in Kolkata's political economy and social milieu. The author employs critical ethnographical and other qualitative methods to narrate the amazing saga of Kolkata's urbanism. The book is accessible to a wide-ranging audience and is visually rich.