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“A city is not a handful of exclusive Resident Welfare Associations and its residents, or the private property owners, to dictate who gets to participate in land uses.” One late evening in Mumbai, we took a sick street cat to a charitable animal hospital. That day, she did not need food but an urgent vet visit. As we stood in the queue, we saw people from all walks of life, labourers, municipal workers, blue-collar employees, waiting with animals that were not necessarily “ow

Introduction Across contemporary South Asian cities, state authority and infrastructural power are increasingly established not only by acts of construction but also by the material politics of destruction and eviction (Built-UP South-Asia | South-Asia, n.d.). This dynamic is central to debates on the built environment in the region, and Raika is a prime example of how built-up areas are produced through demolition. The 19th May 2026 demolition and eviction drive in the Raika

Introduction The idea of the “built-up” is often associated with urban expansion and planned infrastructure. Yet built-up forms are not confined to cities; they also take shape in rural landscapes where industries, mines, transportation networks, and development projects transform physical spaces and everyday experience. The mining region of Tandwa in Chatra district, Jharkhand, is one such landscape, where coal extraction has reshaped not only the physical terrain but also t

Newly built places shimmer with hope and the promise of tomorrow, while those untouched by recent change seem frozen in time, echoing a sense of stillness. These stagnant spaces stir a deep nostalgia, serving as living relics of a vanished era and a fading culture that now survives in quieter, more resourceful ways. This photo essay journeys along the old Mandi-Bilaspur highway (National Highway 205), seeking to capture the wistful memories that linger along its path through