Doctoral Dissertation Research: How People Become Urban

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project examines three pathways to becoming urban in an expanding city: being born in the city, migrating from a rural area to the city, and living in a formerly rural area that is swallowed up by the expanding borders of the city. The emphasis is on those who did not migrate but become urban through city expansion as they have been the least studied to date. The questions investigated concern how people understand local belonging, which people and what places are viewed as truly urban and local, who is viewed as part of an in-group or out-group, and who is deemed worthy of local citizenship rights and shared public spaces. Findings will be useful to policy makers and other concerned parties seeking to more effectively promote social inclusion in rapidly transforming cities. Data collection for this project consists of fieldwork in a large and rapidly growing city. Spatial methods such as mental mapping exercises and city walks complement approximately 140 interviews: 40 interviews with each of the three kinds of city residents and 20 interviews with urban planning experts, drawn from different parts of the city. The interviews investigate how residents subjectively define the spatial and sociocultural boundaries that distinguish the urban and non-urban, the local and non-local, and the deserving and undeserving in their minds. Findings will yield a clearer picture of whether and why a sense of belonging or alienation persists among different types of city residents and how different kinds of city residents view the claims of others to citizenship. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.