Local responses to the unified metropolitan transport authority in Kochi, India:
Date
2019
Authors
Reeves, Sarah Elizabeth
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Abstract
This research interrogates the meaning, genealogy and local interpretations of the proposed Unified
Metropolitan Transport Authority in Kochi, India. The methodological approach is key in exploring the
complex environment in which this policy is situated. The centrality of relationships and narratives in this
research meant that rich interactions with local actors and an evaluation of my own positionality as an
‘outsider’ guided the research process. Three core thematic areas revealed three distinct findings. The
first is that policy genealogy at the local level is produced both through its history and through dynamic
alliances between stakeholders of varying power. The perception of power in choosing to form policy
networks alters the meaning of the policy in discourse and as a document. The second finding is that
ideas travel from international ‘spaces’ to local ‘places’ through global, hegemonic circuits. Ideas from
the Global North are easily able to land in the Global South and in turn shape the perceptions and
decisions of local actors in Kochi. The third finding is that there are discrepancies between the rhetoric of
policy in the form of meta-narratives and the way policy is enacted in practice. Stakeholders agree on the
underlying promises that allow UMTA to gain traction but the agency and discretion of individuals means
that policy practice is highly diverse. This process reveals contestations and negotiations for power at the
local scale promulgating in changing forms of governance in Kochi. It can be stated that something
unique is happening in Kochi which is illustrated in its dynamic policy landscape.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment in fulfilment of the requirement for the Masters degree in Urban Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2019
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Citation
Reeves, Sarah Elizabeth, 2019. Local responses to the proposed Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority in Kochi, India :Subversion, Adaptation and street-level bureaucrats, University of the Witwatersrand, https://hdl.handle.net/10539/31511