Lucknow : culture, place, branding and activism / Binti Singh

Introduction -- Emerging out of the shadows -- Cultural and heritage branding in contemporary Lucknow -- Forgotten Places : Tolas ,Gullies ,Kothis of Lucknow -- Place ,culture and the Urban Experience -- Citizens cultural acticism and place making in contemporary Lucknow -- Conclusion

India is undergoing a period of extraordinary urban transformation. For the first time in modern Indian history, the rate of urban growth is higher than that of the rural. Material transformations -- freeways and tollways, malls and gated communities, changing work patterns and new forms of consumerism -- are, however, also accompanied by social and cultural changes. What is also of enormous significance is that accelerated urbanism is not just a facet of life in large metropolises. It is also transforming lives in the towns and cities across India beyond those cities that have been the usual focus of scholars of urbanism. This book is extremely valuable for precisely this reason: it moves our gaze away from the 'usual suspects' to a city that is the capital of the most populous state in India, an urban locale of extraordinary historical importance and one that is undergoing a tremendous urban upheaval.