Enacting participatory, gender-sensitive slum redevelopment? Urban governance, power and participation in Trivandrum, Kerala

This paper looks at two governance challenges that sit behind global commitments to deliver ‘cities without slums’: under what conditions can participatory ideals be successfully transferred to housing redevelopment programmes, and under what conditions can participatory slum redevelopment trigger wider shifts towards inclusive urban governance? It does so by examining Indian national slum redevelopment policy and its implementation in Kerala’s capital city, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram). Kerala’s track-record of participatory governance and the lead role given to its women-focused poverty alleviation mission, Kudumbashree, in implementing housing projects make it an ideal place in which to examine these questions, and their gender implications. Primary data focusing on two housing projects are used to contrast intended governance changes featuring female-centred community participation with their actual operation on the ground. Despite moves to foreground women’s engagement, both projects suffered from shortfalls in institutional design, the inevitable administrative complexity of housing delivery, and resistance from local power brokers. Given Kerala’s favourable starting conditions, these outcomes highlight the need for slum redevelopment to be based around a deeper analysis of power dynamics and the explicit articulation of an agenda for inclusion at a city-level if participation is to realise its transformative potential.