Making Space for the Better: Living by the Sacred Yamuna

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a very compelling paper about an important contemporary urban issue and the response of one photographer to it. One overall comment I would make is that the context is discussed more thoroughly than the images themselves and that the author could analyze the images for the evidence they impart in order to tease out Agrawal's interpretation more clearly.

It is quite valuable to quote the publications of the artist as the author has done but it feels like there is too much external information being applied to these images rather than interpreting the photographs for what they show us about the Yamuna river itself and the community that used to live on its banks. While this comment seeks to invert the author's approach to the visual images, the research brought forward in this article is useful and important, so it is more a question of reconfiguring the material assembled so that the reader understands the context, of course, but also the reader should understand how these pictures might inform us differently. The author attempts to explain this but without using much evidence from the images themselves. It would also be helpful to explain the method--first elaborating the history of urban development in Delhi and the informal settlement that was demolished and then explaining how the artist pictures the river and what kinds of intervention he stages through his two series of photographs, what kind of critique of the urban development process is embedded in these images. There is also a very compassionate interpretation of the work of the urban poor here that few folks who work in urban development ever see. It may be of some use to show images of the new park/apartments that have been built there so the reader can see the effects the author describes.

Going through the text, here are a few areas where adjustments could be made:

lines 75-77: the author claims that the photographs show the marginalization of the people and the river itself--how do they do that? How is this comparable to "documents essentially invalidating the allegation against slum residents"? This dynamic is key and must be explained better. This might be a good time to turn to one of Agrawal's photographs to help explain the point.

lines 146-150--you have discussed other artists who have engaged the Yamuna but then try to explain why you will not be discussing them. This reasoning is not totally clear here--I think you mean that your focus is slum demolition and its effects on the population, but you have not explained this clearly here and that is not exactly what is achieved through the interpretation of the photographs provided.

Line 336--the text suddenly jumps to a smaller font. Please be consistent throughout.

Line 484-5--the people (not "peopled") had a right to live in the capital--it would be good to cite Lefebvre/Harvey here on Right to the City, especially as this is where the piece ends.

Line 630-1--the counternarrative--this seems to be the central point of the article but the author has not drawn on the photographs enough to demonstrate the counternarrative clearly--much more time has been spent establishing the narrative and the comments on the photos provided do not make it clear enough how this counternarrative is crafted.

Lines 674-676--the author discusses a photo of the demolished Yamuna Pushta--is this Figure 3? If yes please provide more visual analysis of that image. If no, please provide the photo described and give a visual analysis of that image. Here is where a comparison to an image of the present construction, not by Agrawal, but a news photo or one by the author, might be a good counterpoint to the images of the river/workers by Agrawal.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are some typos/grammar mistakes here and a formatting problem--the same map appears four times and it looks like the text is a figure caption (twice).

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper offers a relevant and much needed perspective on urban development and poverty, which is particularly relevant given the prevalence of homelessness (or lack of acceptable housing) in communities throughout the world. The author provides a thorough cultural and historical background for the geographical area, which is important to understanding the issues involved.  I appreciate that the author is creating the analysis around the photographs of the artis: I would like to see more of the photographer’s work. The article is generally well -written and edited, I noted the need for headings to help navigate the introduction.  I also included a few examples of sentences needing editing, there are others I did not include. The paper takes an interesting and generally underrepresented perspective on urban development that values the lives of poor or indigent residents.

I have included a few additional notes below:  The introduction  is long and would benefit from sub-headings. Introduce the topic and add subheadings for background related to the artist’s work for example, a heading for issues treated in the artist’s work, a heading for other artists working in this same area.  The final section would benefit from a conclusion that pulls together the many excellent points discussed throughout the paper with an emphasis on how the work is a counternarrative to neoliberal notions of urban development and poverty.

 I would like to see more images from the artist.  The notion of the fragility of the home for the displaced residents could be strengthened with a few examples of homes, including images. Most of the images focus on views of the river, outside the homes. 

Line 163: 162 Figure 1. It carves its way through the scenic hills before it enters the planes.  Should be plains.

Fix The marigolds find use in rituals, various auspicious occasions, and 594 celebrations, Figure 5 and Error! Reference source not found

Some final editing is needed, for example: But the policy 258 backfired as it led to the indiscriminate increase of industrial units, especially along the 259 Yamuna. Resulting in a greater drawing of the freshwater, disturbing its surface and 260 underground water networks.  (258-260_... and the people 271 living on its bank in slums contribute less than 0.08 percent of the entire waste (Agarwal 272 2005, 126–27).

for example Burgess acknowledged an impossibility of an exact overlap of the model with different city 348 structures, the work is significant in understanding larger constructs of human ecology, focusing on 349 interactions between individuals of different social groups (McKenzie 1924, 287–95). Therefore, 350 relevant to the current study. 348-350

for example In the 1990s, as mentioned earlier, a migratory trend was characterized by the influx 362 of wealthy, highly educated, intellectual capital–global participants. Visibly widening the 363 income disparity.9 Manifestly, from a new taste in public and private architecture. (362-364)

for example The images capture the people and places, otherwise ignored. Farmers, vegetable 614 vendors, cobblers, handymen, domestic helpers, ragpickers, etcetera, form a part of the 615 visual repertoire. Suggesting the microeconomies centered around the river. (616)

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Line 163: 162 Figure 1. It carves its way through the scenic hills before it enters the planes.  Should be plains.

Some final editing is needed, for example: But the policy 258 backfired as it led to the indiscriminate increase of industrial units, especially along the 259 Yamuna. Resulting in a greater drawing of the freshwater, disturbing its surface and 260 underground water networks.  (258-260_... and the people 271 living on its bank in slums contribute less than 0.08 percent of the entire waste (Agarwal 272 2005, 126–27).

for example Burgess acknowledged an impossibility of an exact overlap of the model with different city 348 structures, the work is significant in understanding larger constructs of human ecology, focusing on 349 interactions between individuals of different social groups (McKenzie 1924, 287–95). Therefore, 350 relevant to the current study. 348-350

for example In the 1990s, as mentioned earlier, a migratory trend was characterized by the influx 362 of wealthy, highly educated, intellectual capital–global participants. Visibly widening the 363 income disparity.9 Manifestly, from a new taste in public and private architecture. (362-364)

for example The images capture the people and places, otherwise ignored. Farmers, vegetable 614 vendors, cobblers, handymen, domestic helpers, ragpickers, etcetera, form a part of the 615 visual repertoire. Suggesting the microeconomies centered around the river. (616)

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf