New cities

Abstract

This commentary responds to Ayona Datta’s article on ‘New Urban Utopias of India’, in which she examines Dholera as one of the pioneers of India’s national ‘smart city’ agenda. My response probes the roots of new cities such as Dholera, arguing that beyond their connections to post-independence new towns, they can also be understood as the descendants of and heirs to colonial imperial city building. Despite the rhetoric put forth by political figures, designers, consultants and other ‘visionaries’ and ‘thought leaders’ who label new cities as ‘innovation hubs’, ‘smart’, ‘global’ and ‘eco’, these glittering utopias in fact reproduce colonial era power dynamics and priorities. I suggest that stronger arguments could be made to connect Dholera and other planned ‘entrepreneurial cities’ to colonial urban development and power structures in order to demonstrate the continuities in new city projects over the past century.