Sheher Mein Gaon: Culture, Conflict and Change in the Urban Villages of Delhi

Delhi’s urban villages are paradoxical spaces―at once ancient and evolving, marginalized yet central to the city’s modern economy. These are places where centuries-old traditions coexist with pop-up cafés and start-ups, and where the past is never quite past.
Born out of state-led land acquisitions from the early 20th century, these villages were thrust into transformation through urban expansion. What emerged was not a seamless integration, but a complex in-between: part city, part village, part memory, part reinvention. This book journeys into those spaces―exploring how people remember, resist, and reimagine their place in a city that’s always on the move.
Through stories of place, identity, and power, Sheher Mein Gaon uncovers how these neighbourhoods reflect the deeper tensions of modern urban life―between tradition and progress, belonging and exclusion, history and ambition.