Listening to the Margins: Urban Lives Beyond the Master Plan

In this episode of InterLinked, we delve into the hidden geographies of urban life — the communities, crafts, and labor often overlooked in mainstream narratives of development. Shivali Yadav is in conversation with Namesh Killemsetty, a researcher whose work bridges urban studies, policy analysis, and community-led action.Together, they unpack the ethical and practical questions surrounding the representation of slum dwellers and artisan collectives in academic research and policy spaces. The discussion moves from the struggles of eviction and the complexities of humane resettlement, to the role of feminist ethnography in making research more accountable to the people it seeks to represent.Drawing from his fieldwork in slum communities and craft clusters, Namesh shares how a participatory, bottom-up approach can reshape both policymaking and urban imagination. The episode also reflects on how city planning, especially under the guise of ‘beautification,’ often hides the very people whose labor sustains it.Tune in for a conversation that challenges the way we think about cities — and whose stories get to shape them.

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