Dunu Roy, from Hazards International, Delhi spoke on The Urban Nexuses of Social Injustice at the Nexus Network Urban Nexus workshop on 12 May 2016.
Read the full paper here DunuRoy_UrbanNexusesofInjustice_May2016Brighton
Dunu Roy says
The present nexus of resource use is clearly unsustainable and unjust. The use of superior and more efficient technologies is only likely to deepen that nexus and sharpen the social conflicts born out of inequality, as long as social relations remain the same.
In his paper, Dunu looks at how the ‘roots of injustice and inequality in urbanism are deeply ingrained in what is the dominant theoretical construct of “development”.’
The paper poses 3 questions:
- Is the ring model (a model of dependency, wherein the city could survive only if it could not only appropriate food, energy, and water from the surrounding hinterland, but also its land, labour, and capital) adequate to explain how cities are configured or is there the possibility of a more complex multi-cellular structure?
- How is urban society to be configured so that there is an equal distribution of resources with access guaranteed to all?
- How is work to be configured so that social life is productive and meaningful and not driven by profit motivations alone?
These questions are a challenge to
independent researchers who are trying to engage with real people in real circumstances, seeking a way to not only challenge the nexus of injustice, but also to construct a truly just society.
Download the full paper here DunuRoy_UrbanNexusesofInjustice_May2016Brighton
