On-the-Go Settlements: Understanding Urban Informality Through Its Digital Substructure. (November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Janu, Swati
• Is Part Of: Urbanisation. Volume 2:Number 2(2017)
• Page Start: 116
• Page End: 134
• Publication Date: 2017-11
• Subjects: Memory cards -- informal settlements -- migration -- phone recharge shop -- video game parlours -- Delhi; Urbanisation -- Periodicals; Human settlements -- Periodicals; Cities and towns -- Periodicals; Urbanization -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Human settlements -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Cities and towns -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Urbanization; Human settlements; Developing countries; Cities and towns; 307.7605
• DOI: 10.1177/2455747117740651
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2455-7471

Abstract

This article investigates the digital networks within informal settlements in Delhi through an ethnographic and practice-based research methodology. 1 By studying top-up and media consumption at the ubiquitous phone recharge shop and uncovering the persistence of video game parlours in squatter settlements, the article presents the subversive, low-tech nature of this digital nexus. It looks at the parallels and intersections between the networked realities of these technologies and the alternative model of urbanism offered by the informally built areas where they thrive.