This research explores how India’s post-2014 architectural politics most visibly through the Central Vista Redevelopment and the Smart Cities Mission operates as a form of spatial pedagogy, instructing citizens in a unified national identity. Although these projects draw on modernist principles of urban design, they are saturated with Hindu nationalist imagery that sidelines marginalized communities, especially the Adivasi. The study interrogates how this “architectural nationalism” glorifies the state’s vision of progress while enabling the displacement and cultural erasure of indigenous populations in areas such as Jharkhand. Grounded in postcolonial theory and trauma studies, the research fills a significant gap by tracing the links between state-led spatial violence, indigenous deterritorialization, and the suppression of Adivasi architectural knowledge. To date, no large-scale studies have been performed to investigate the prevalence of such spatial exclusion, thus, using a mixed-methods approach combining policy analysis, ethnographic interviews, and spatial mapping it examines how infrastructure development perpetuates dispossession while disregarding indigenous ecological wisdom and the principle of free, prior, and informed consent. Early findings indicate that these projects deepen social divides and erase memory, echoing colonial modes of control that deny the land’s sentient and relational meanings in Adivasi worldviews. The study ultimately calls for a decolonized, participatory model of urban planning, one that centers Adivasi voices and challenges hegemonic design practices. By merging architectural critique with community narratives, it proposes new pathways toward equitable spatial justice and inclusive heritage preservation in India’s urban future.

Authors:
Md Sidratul Muntaha, Aligarh Muslim University, India

About the Presenter(s)
Md Sidratul Muntaha is pursuing an M.A. in English Literature from Aligarh Muslim University. His work explores tribal literature, postcolonial studies, memory, and ecology.

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