New Urban Peace in Delhi

The recent emphasis on “space” within the sphere of conflict and peace studies has duly highlighted the urban space as a legitimate locus for investigative efforts (Björkdahl and Buckley-Zistel 2016, 2022). Maintaining focus on peace for this brief article, I define peace as a space-specific process in line with other theorists (e.g., Macaspac and Moore 2022). The emphasis on space is important because the material structures built on these spaces are saturated with meanings, a sense of collective identity and (collective) memories. These spatial markers can, thus, bind people across generations as imagined communities. In this sense, spaces convey meanings and a sense of connection that can be altered with the change in demographics and the consequent spatial interventions that accompany such changes. There are numerous instances of such spatial interventions after conclusions of wars where spaces are erased to either precipitate forgetting or communal segregation. Examples from the former category include destruction of heritage or architectural cleansing (e.g., Bardi 2016), while “mohallas” or the walled and gated urban communities—dotting older parts of Delhi among other parts of India—serve as examples of spatial divisions that segregate the dwellings that belong to members of different religious groups (e.g., Parveen 2016).