Accepted Panels

On contrary to the decentralization of democracy in the 90s, several parastatal bodies were constituted or empowered to cater the interests of regional and global capital. These parastatal bodies doesn’t have any representatives in its decision making process and are allotted a huge amount of funds as compared to the urban local bodies. It can device its own methods like land pooling to find out proper land for infrastructural development or any other facilities. These bodies draw their power from the urban and land policies of the State and Central governments which encourages the development of speculative frontier in and around the cities. Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA) possess the power to shape and create urban spaces in the context of Greater Cochin urban agglomeration. Its functioning over the years in line with the central and state government policies on land and real estate market and urban schemes has made its implications over the city. The role of speculative frontier in the big cities in India, which are less than ten, drew a great amount of attraction from the scholars on urban studies. But there are very few studies on the non-metropolitan cities, small cities or towns in that matter. Besides that, Kerala is one among the densely populated states. Land has become a scarce resource there and the political dynamics between the State, its parastatal bodies and regional and global capital is an interesting matter to study deeply.