In Episode 2 of Season 2 of the Feminist City podcast series, Sneha Visakha is in conversation with Dr. Govind Gopakumar, Associate Professor and Chair, Centre for Engineering in Society at Concordia University. In this episode, they discuss Dr. Gopakumar’s work in Bengaluru on topics ranging from the politics of urban infrastructure, urban mobility policies surrounding cars, buses and car-centric urban design along with the critiques of existing solutions to decongesting Bengaluru that contribute to the very problem it is trying to solve. They also discuss the use of law in shaping the city, lack of people’s participation in determining policies and plans in cities and how this particularly affects women and other vulnerable populations in the city.
Dr. Govind Gopakumar is currently Associate Professor in the Centre for Engineering in Society in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science at Concordia University. His specific interests are in the policy dynamics of urban infrastructure change, social dimensions of the sustainability of water supply, globalisation of urban infrastructure, interdisciplinarity in engineering education and social entrepreneurship for engineers. Dr. Gopakumar received his Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Prior to that he received a M.S. in Energy and Environmental Policy from the University of Delaware and completed an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. He has a B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from College of Engineering, University of Kerala, India. You can read more about him and his work here: https://govindgopakumar.net/
For background reading, we recommend perusing the literature provided below:
Installing Automobility: Emerging Politics of Mobility and Streets in Indian Cities, Govind Gopakumar, MIT Press.
Making a Feminist City – Planning Safety and Autonomy for Women, Sneha Visakha
Indian Automobility, Govind Gopakumar, Concordia.
Jaywalkers to be fined in special drive on pedestrian safety, The Hindu.
Regime of Congestion: Technopolitics of Mobility and Inequality in Bengaluru, Govind Gopakumar, Science as Culture.
Who will Decongest Bengaluru? Politics, Infrastructures, & Scapes. Govind Gopakumar, Mobilities.
JNNURM as a Window on Urban Governance, Govind Gopakumar, Economic & Political Weekly.
Bengaluru does not need a steel flyover worth hundreds of crores, voices rise against project, TNM Staff, The News Minute
Free bus ride scheme for women begins in Delhi, The Economic Times
Now, free bus rides for Capital’s labour force, Sweta Goswami, Hindustan Times
Car Country: An Environmental History (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books Series), Christopher W. Wells, University of Washington Press.
Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, Peter Norton, MIT Press.
Participolis, Consent and Contention in Neoliberal Urban India, Edited by Karen Coelho, Lalitha Kamath, M. Vijayabaskar, Routledge India
Do Artifacts Have Politics? Langdon Winner, Daedalus, Modern Technology: Problem or Opportunity? The MIT Press
Civic Groups:
Bangalore Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV)
Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike’s Bus Manifesto for BMTC
Documentary:
Social Life of a Bus, Govind Gopakumar & Bangalore Bus Prayanikara Vedike, Youtube.
Podcast:
Installing Automobility: Emerging Politics of Mobility and Streets in Indian Cities by Govind Gopakumar (Podcast), Govind Gopakumar, Sneha Annavarapu, New Books Network.
Want to get in touch? Email [email protected] or reach out to her on Twitter, @magicanarchist.
