Shades of Culture in Post-Industrial Landscapes

By : Manu Mahajan

Page No: 69-78

Abstract
From the 1970s onward, cities in Western Europe and North America started seeing significant structural changes in the economy related to the shift of manufacturing (a post-industrial phase of city reorganization) to parts of South East Asia, South Asia, and other parts of the globe. As per the literature, post-industrial is essentially Western European and North American context specific. Neo-liberal urban agenda is one such prism through which one can understand the steps taken by the cities to address the post-industrial conditions leading to the redevelopment and marketisation of urban landscapes with numerous shades of cultural economy. This paper briefly touches on the literature of post-industrialisation and instruments of the neo-liberal agenda in the beginning before looking at the cases from North America, Western Europe, and South-east Asia from the perspective of urban transformation in post-industrial urban landscapes. The core of these cases is to look at diverse shades of the cultural economy and how cities absorbed these shades in the built environment. The second half of the paper presents cases from Indian cities to examine the transformation from the dimensions of cultural economy. In conclusion, the author argues about the additional roles of designers and planners in re-creating the post-industrial landscapes not only from the perspective of aesthetics and real estate but also addressing issues of public wealth, equity, and enhancement of the public realm.

Author :
Manu Mahajan : Head of the Department of Urban Design, School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi.