India has a growing population of circular labour migrants, with the annual rate of this migration already higher than that of permanent labour migration. What does this mean for creating inclusive cities, specifically in terms of housing?
The migrant crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted a growing policy recognition of the importance of affordable and secure rental housing for migrant workers, leading to an emphasis on the provision of formal rental housing. While this represents a welcome shift, it is important that we do not lose sight of the diverse and generally informal living spaces of circular migrant workers. Their lived practices and experiences in / across these spaces offer rich insights with significant implications for approaching their housing question in India’s urban areas.
Drawing upon research on the lived practices and experiences of circular migrants who come from the tribal regions of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh to work as construction labour in the city of Ahmedabad, this talk examines how their multilocal lives shape their relationship to housing in the city in distinctive ways. It also explores how policy frameworks and urban governance regimes – and the interplay of these with their multilocal lives – shape their everyday lives and living spaces. In doing so, I argue for a more grounded and relational understanding of housing that takes circularity, multilocality, and lived practice seriously in debates on inclusive urban futures.
This event will run from 9 -10 a.m. EST and 6.30–7.30 p.m. IST
*Please note: this is an online event. Zoom details will be sent out closer to the session*
About the speaker
Renu Desai is an independent researcher based in Ahmedabad. Her research interests center on questions of urbanization, urban planning and governance, informality and housing. She investigates both the experiences and practices of negotiating urban life, amongst urban poor communities living in diverse land and housing tenures, as well as aspects of policy, planning, governance and politics that create the conditions for their inclusion / exclusion. She has been involved in research on the housing of circular migrant workers, particularly in the construction sector, since 2014. Renu was previously a research fellow at the Centre for Urban Equity, CEPT University (2011-19). She has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses as visiting faculty in the Faculty of Planning, CEPT University and the Anant Fellowship at Anant University in Ahmedabad.
She is one of the founding directors of ShelterSquare Foundation (SSF), a non-profit established in 2023 to promote equitable and dignified housing for workers in the unorganised and informal sectors. At SSF, her main focus is on building out learnings related to its housing interventions in the domains of worksite housing at construction sites and rental housing for industrial workers.
