(Im)mobility at the margins: low-income households’ experiences of peripheral resettlement in India and South Africa

Williams, G., Charlton, S., Coelho, K., Mahadevia, D. and Meth, P. (2022) (Im)mobility at the margins: low-income households’ experiences of peripheral resettlement in India and South Africa. Housing Studies, 37(6), pp. 910-931. (doi: 10.1080/02673037.2021.1946018)

Abstract

Expanded state-subsidised housing programmes in middle-income countries raise questions about the displacement and socio-spatial marginalisation of poor households. Examining these questions through people’s experiences of resettlement indicates the importance of mobility to their lives. Drawing on a mixed-method comparative study of Ahmedabad, Chennai and Johannesburg, we ask: How does the relocation of low-income households to urban peripheries reshape the links between their physical and socio-economic mobility, and how does this impact on their ability to build secure urban futures? Experiences of families moving to five peripheral settlements indicate two linked challenges to the social and economic mobility of the peripheralised urban poor: first, their immediate and individual ability to be mobile within the city and second, the longer-term social mobility of their households. While trajectories towards secure urban citizenship for all remain a policy aspiration, housing policies and practices are placing this on hold or even reversing this, with mobility constraints locking many low-income groups into marginality.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The research was funded by University of Sheffield.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Meth, Professor Paula
• Authors: Williams, G., Charlton, S., Coelho, K., Mahadevia, D., and Meth, P.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Housing Studies
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 0267-3037
• ISSN (Online): 1466-1810
• Published Online: 07 July 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Housing Studies 37(6):910-931
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license