Bodh Gaya’s Rural–Urban Dilemma: Tales of Planning, Infrastructure and Residentship from a Small Town in India

Abstract

Bodh Gaya, a globally venerated small town, derives its significance from being the birthplace of Buddhism. It has a distinct religious and cultural identity. This article traces the mode of urbanism that the town has been subjected to and argues that the town is not witnessing a linear transition from the rural to the urban, but rather experiencing the social and spatial production of what I call the ‘rural–urban dilemma’ and marks how the planning regime has given rise to an evolving dilemma. This article reviews spatial planning narratives and interventions in Bodh Gaya, focusing on changing governing narratives and spatial zones of differential infrastructure associated with different discourses of belonging and residentship, and urban futures. Bodh Gaya cannot determine its future without addressing this dilemma.