BASAS Annual Conference 2005: Bourgeois Ordering of Public Spaces in Chennai

For a city that in casual talk is frequently referred to as the ‘sandy metropolis’, Madras, or Chennai as it is now renamed after the official decree of 1996, has displayed an ambiguous and sometimes even a dubious relationship with its seaside.

Despite all the tall claims of tourist brochures declaring the possession of the world’s second largest beach, the presence of a national park within the city boundaries, etc., for many decades, the attitude of the city (including the State, the wide-ranging coterie of public and private institutions, and the citizens in general) towards its open spaces remained frustratingly whiny... Read More