Geographies of High-tech Development: Exploring Urban Policy Mobilities and Grounded Realities

The primary objective of this project is to explore the policy trajectories of neoliberal high-tech urban development in Hyderabad and document the human geographies of resistance/resilience from the locals. Drawing from the theoretical lens of ‘splintering urbanism’ this project will seek to understand how neoliberalizing initiatives have impacted Hyderabad’s (un)sustainable urban development vis-a-vis emulating Singapore’s and Malaysia’s urban policies (e.g. installing modern infrastructure, setting up software enclaves). The project further aims to document the human geographies of high-tech development in Hyderabad by providing insights into the everyday practices of locals and analysing the ways in which high-tech Hyderabad have been accepted, resisted and negotiated through their everyday practices. Few scholars have analysed the role of human agency within the splintering urban landscape taking account of grounded, place-based narratives of people’s lived experiences and the ways people negotiate networked high-tech space – to live and to make a living. This project will attempt to fill-in some of these gaps and extend the ‘splintering urbanism’, theory to a city in the developing world.