Reading into the Politics of Land

The Sriperumbudur-Oragadam region on the south-western periphery of Chennai metropolis is projected as a growth centre and favoured destination for real estate investment. The Tamil Nadu government's intervention to develop the region into a global manufacturing hub accelerated the transformation of agricultural land for urban real estate. The paper examines the micropolitics of land transformation with a specific focus on the role of private developers. It discusses three findings from qualitative research conducted in 13 villages in the region. First, developers are not a unified category. Second, in a nuanced reading of the material politics of land, it suggests that the actors' embeddedness in local political relations influences their role. Third, it exposes the complex responses of landowners to land acquisition and the market process. Through a comprehensive analysis of the practices of different categories of developers and landowners it adds to the speculative urbanism theory. Finally, it argues for a grounded reading of the transformation and the role of various actors in the process.