Development-induced Changes in the ‘Urban Landscape’ and ‘Social Space’: A Case Study of Metro Rail’s Impact on the Hyderabad City

Abstract

Scholars interested in urban space focus on topics such as place-making, place attachment, place identities and the politics of place. The expanded landscape of cities compels its inhabitants to constantly move into the city for livelihood and other activities. Consequently, urban anthropologists showed considerable interest in people’s mobility, infrastructure associated with mobility and mobility cultures in the city. However, in its dynamics, mobility alters the urban space, leading to the emergence of new frontiers for holistic urban phenomena. How urban space expansion causes mobility needs and the mobility solution, in turn, modifies urban space is the prime concern for the research.

The present research focuses on the changes that occurred in the urban space with the onset of a single development programme introduced for people’s mobility needs. The study investigated ‘Metro’ commuters and non-commuters in Hyderabad City. Data for this urban ethnographic study of an Indian city were gathered using observation, semi-structured interviews and the case study approach. The study finds that Metro rail construction and operation for the mobility needs of the people have produced a new kind of techno-space on the roads of Hyderabad city. It also highlights how Metro pushed the ‘gentrification’ process to the forefront of urban social structural changes.

Introduction

Anthropologists while studying various societies like tribal, fishing, peasant and rural, got interested in analysing development policies and programmes. Recently they were also concentrated on urban development. Though the studies done in urban development by scholars focused on various problems and issues in the city, there is a limitation in understanding the relationship between ‘Development’ and ‘Urbanisation’. Urban Anthropology developed due to the rapid transformation of rural groups into city inhabitants. It focused on migration to cities, rural–urban connections and voluntary association’s role in facilitating cultural adaptations of new urbanites. Jaffe and de Koning (2016) observed, ‘Two main factors for the emergence and growth of urban anthropology are global processes of rapid urbanisation and shifts within broader anthropology’.

It is against this background that, as an extension of understanding the diverse dimensions of urban society, the current research aims to understand the social dimension of urban individuals, emphasising the concept of ‘Development’. The study aims at understanding the acclimatisation that one makes through diverse social institutions in the ever-changing societal conditions of the urban space. Contemporary society assumes and projects rural life as peaceful, content, beautiful and sustaining in the popular discourse; inversely, urban life is plagued with many anomalies like formal rules, impersonal relations, alienation, pollution and crime. However, there is a shortage in the knowledge realm to understand why humans prefer to live in an urban society. Are the push factors in the rural agro-economy propelling people to migrate to cities? Or is the presence of many amenities and facilities in urban areas pulling people to move to cities? Or does introducing development programmes through urban planning attract people to migrate to cities?

Globally, there is a trend towards growing urbanisation, and many towns and semi-urban areas are set on the path of spatial and demographic expansion. Pardo and Prato (2012, p. 1) say, ‘More than half of humanity lives in towns and cities, and that proportion is expected to increase in the coming decades’. These new trends attracted the attention of scholars of different disciplines who studied the individual and social changes happening in urban society. An urban individual is not isolated; the family, community and even unknown people are part of their existence. An urban individual follows many sociological rules, regulations, laws and behaviours and adjusts and adapts to evolving conditions. They form new social structures at educational institutions, workplaces, places of entertainment and different public places.

Urban anthropologists focus on the cultural meanings people construct around socio-politico–economic–religious places, buildings, street corners, landmarks, public structures and neighbourhoods in the city. Social structures can be inferred when all the daily life processes are abstracted at the macro level. An intriguing feature in urban society is the constant movement of people into the city for their livelihood and other activities. There is enough research on the modalities of movement within the town and the shaping of social interactions in urban public spaces in these communities.

Although mobility is a prime need for people in the city, some of these movements can be frustrating, contributing to the afflictions of the urban population’s physical and mental well-being. In simple societies, people move according to specific habits, traditions, beliefs and norms. Anthropologists interested in understanding how different social and cultural groups navigate their environments focused initially on the mobilities of hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, fisher folk and other non-urban groups (Istomin & Dwyer, 2009). People in simple societies practise certain rituals and beliefs before hunting and farming. However, these ideas of simple communities were turned into laws, rules, regulations and other formal institutions in urban society. People follow all these ideas as they show movement in urban society. Individuals in simple societies first look into certain omens based on their belief systems before they move. At the same time, urban individuals follow time-induced calendars and schedules and show modern, adapted behaviours based on secular principles.

Athens Charter, J. R. Gold, notes, emerged from the fourth International Congress of the Modern Architects (CIAM), held in 1933, advocated that urban form was predicated by four essential functions—work, residence, recreation and transport. Jaffe (2016, p. 52) observes, ‘Anthropological studies demonstrated that our movements through the city are influenced by many social networks, the mental maps we make, and culturally informed beliefs about who should be moving where, how, and with whom’. Urban anthropologists paid attention to mobility, infrastructure and technology associated with mobility in the present-day global world. Where does mobility stand in urban society? Mobility is the primary need of the people in the city to do or participate in other social, political, or economic activities. So, transportation is a basic need in urban society. Several features of the social dimension in the city can be linked to its mobility. In the modern automobile world, speed, safety, well-being and cost-effectiveness can be associated with freedom, individualism, anonymity and class structure in urban mobility. Jain and Lyons (2008) highlight an over-reliance on the monetisation of travel benefits and dis-benefits within transport studies and policymaking and a related lack of knowledge about the social resources involved in travel and the positive aspects of travel. The imposition and adoption of technology into urban mobility brought many changes in the form of restructuring urban space.

Significant studies on city-dwellers movements in the urban environment occurred in the second half of the twentieth century, following the publication of Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City (1960). Social groups move through the city in different ways, individually or collectively, effortlessly or with difficulty, on foot, by car and by public transport. Auto mobility is also a form of urban mobility that has received increasing scholarly attention in recent years. Walking has been a basic form of urban mobility for as long as cities have existed. Before cars, carts drawn by different animals were used by people, and cars only appeared in urban society about a century ago. Mackett (1998) argues that most transportation literature, mainly based on quantitative methods, does not consider how complicated travel behaviour is.

Numerous scholars of urban research, like David Harvey, Henri Lefebvre, Manuel Castells and Michel de Certeau, put interest in place, space, economy and politics of the urban society. In contrast, anthropologists paid closer attention to everyday urban life and the forms of urban imagination and cultural representations of urban mobility. The works of various authors who researched urban space and urban mobility were valuable in understanding the relationship between urban space and urban mobility. Their works can be summed up as follows.

According to Lefebvre, cities are crucial public spaces where different people mix and mingle. However, different groups and classes of people who inhabit the city always struggle to make the urban space according to their wishes (Lefebvre, 1992). After democratic institutions were established, elites saw the urban spaces shared by the lower classes, which led them to materially segregate the city’s urban landscapes with the erection of closed, defensive enclaves (Holston, 2008). Women do not belong to the urban public space but generally move in it temporarily, and behaviour comes out based on the spatial interactions in the urban society (Donner, 2008). The economic subtleties also have a powerful cultural dimension, and the emergence of middle-class gentrifiers took place in the culturally rich neighbourhoods of the city (Zukin, 2010). Development programmes can be understood by observing an urban place’s everyday life and its residents’ relationship with the city’s urban spaces (Lindsay, 2014). Setha Low demonstrates the value of ethnographic theory and methods for understanding space and place. Spatial cultures analysed through ethnography can give insight into prejudices, social inequalities and exclusion in urban space (Setha, 2017).

Mobility is not just physical movement but a whole bundle of thoughts, experiences assumptions and values attached to it. The key idea is that mobility is socially structured and coded with meaning, which is gendered (mostly masculinised) and also can be ideological (Cresswell, 2006). Recent urban mobility studies shifted their focus from the studies of car cultures and significant road expansion projects to reducing car usage and encouraging sustainable transport in urban areas (Jones, 2014). It is argued that by emphasising the everyday and mundane in analysing discourses of mobility, mobility can be understood as a social and cultural practice in constant negotiation and (re)production of urban space (Doughty & Murray, 2016).

Many identities exist for people like pedestrians, cyclists, bus users, shoppers or commuters in the urban mobility context. People are aware of the different ethics associated with car use in everyday social life and sometimes experience guilt and anxiety when they come across the availability of sustainable modes of transport in cities (Maxwell, 2001). Transportation studies focused on the physical and social engineering perspectives and left the fundamental effects of transit policy and practice on people’s lives. Car in society also generated many forms of inequalities (Lutz, 2014). Drawing on de Certeau’s notion of ‘tactics’ and Ingold’s idea of the ‘task scope’, some practical knowledge about passenger skills and moving around station premises can be understood (Bissell, 2009).

Transport structures and urban growth are strongly related. The transport infrastructure expansion strongly correlates with population growth, spatial development and land use change in urban areas (Aljoufie et al., 2011). Marc Auge analyses the Paris Metro and observes Metro functions as a unique social space, with all the codes, rules and habits that characterise such areas (Auge, 1992). Delhi’s Metro, constructed based on the broader development-based ideology, was sidelined by the architects and planners who promoted ‘aspirational planning’ that enacted a notion of upward mobility instead of social equality in urban society (Rashmi, 2018). Though the public, academicians, conservatives of heritage all fought against the elevated metro rail in Hyderabad, the government did not heed their petitions or protests and went on to build an elevated metro rail in the city to benefit mostly the concessionaire who built the project and also the realtors who viewed it as a big boon for their sector (Ramachandraiah, 2022). Studies on urban transport by urban geographers, transport scientists and urban sociologists mostly look into various dimensions of individual needs, individual well-being and community-level participation in development programmes. Nevertheless, large development programmes produce a more significant impact not only at the individual level but also at the societal level in the urban context.

Context of the Study

Conceptual explanations by scholars from different realms of knowledge infer how individuals live in an urban society with everyday mobility needs. The mobility patterns of people are richly embedded in the socio-economic–political context of urban society. In the modern globalised world, mobility in society involves not only the movement of people from place to place but also ‘networks and flows of goods, services, capital, and ideas. Movement is made up of time and space. Mobility courses through contemporary theorisations of the city’ (Cresswell, 2006). John Urry says, ‘Culture, as we understood so far, no longer sits in places, but is hybrid, dynamic, and more about routes than roots’.

The present study looks at the social implications and urban lifestyle changes that occur when a particular development programme is introduced for the transport needs or mobility of people in Hyderabad. In the last century, many social changes like new professions, consumer cultures, new occupations, sports cultures, media-based publicity and various middle-class subgroups got developed when individualised transportation inventions and choices were made available in society. Policymakers in cities worldwide are again considering and attempting to implement mass transportation through sustainable urban public transportation programmes. In this context, the current study focuses on the urban population’s reaction, action and adjustment to this new mode of transport.

It is evident that policymakers meet people’s needs in urban society through various plans, programmes and policies. Frequently, the economic conditions of the governments influence and impact the strategies for urban development programmes. This study examines how one government development programme is envisioned, realised under public demand and implemented in a city. This proposed study focuses on examining the change in Hyderabad’s landscape and social space with the introduction of ‘Metro’. This investigation raises the following questions: How has the introduction of the ‘Hyderabad Metro’ altered the urban landscape? How did the introduction of the ‘Hyderabad Metro’ contribute to urban space segregation in Hyderabad city?

Methodology Adopted

Urban anthropology is wide-ranging and continuously evolving area of research. Anthropologists must modify and put new research methods in the new urban anthropology field (Pardo & Prato, 2012) and even readdress traditional ethics when researching urban society. The presence of multidimensional nature in demography and the visible growth of concrete jungles in the last three decades makes Hyderabad city an appropriate field site for the current study. The study focuses on commuters and non-commuters of Metro rail in Hyderabad city. The present research aspires to develop an Urban Ethnography ¹ in the Indian context, which entails innovative tools and techniques to collect the data. Observation, semi-structured interviews and case study methods are the tools used for the study.

The majority of individuals in urban areas are unreachable to researchers. Typically, their everyday activities are intertwined with several social networks that spread across the urban landscape. These characteristics pose difficulties in employing conventional anthropological methods and tools. Mobile methods helped track the people’s movements and understand more prominent, more significant social phenomena occurring in urban society. The researcher made numerous trips and rode the ‘Metro’ with commuters to collect the data. Often, people in urban society leave during an interview because of their unexpected callings. So, the researcher walked with them on pavilions of the road, moving with them to their homes from metro stops and bus stops while conducting an interview. Interviews while walking, interview while shopping and interview while leisurely at parks were the methods used by the researcher. Semi-structured interviews and open-ended questions from questionnaires were used separately to understand the changes in urban space in Hyderabad city.

Theoretical Framework

Using ‘a specific sets’ of ‘thinking tools’, the urban ethnography method was used in this study to get accurate empirical data. This study tries to elicit information about the development programme for mobility from a diversified range of people using Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of agency, capital, field and habitus as thinking tools. Bourdieu’s work emphasised the corporeal nature of social life. He always gave importance to the role of practice and embodiment in social dynamics. He further argued that judgments of taste are related to the social position in society and are themselves acts of social positioning. According to Bourdieu, field is the network, or configuration, of objective relations between positions (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). Field is the social setting where individuals and their social positions are located. The position of each particular individual in the field is a result of the interaction between the specific rules of the field, his habitus and his capital (Bourdieu, 1984). Henry Lefebvre’s ideas on the production of space in urban society is used to understand how people navigate and use landscapes and construct and reconstruct social space in Hyderabad city. In the urban space while individuals perform their social roles, they try to play the social game unconsciously bearing their habitus and give meaning to the space.

About Hyderabad Metro ²

Citizen mobility plays an important role in developing a Metropolis, and Hyderabad is no exception. Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) is an initiative to meet the growing transportation needs in Hyderabad. This ambitious project was awarded to Larsen & Turbo (L&T). A special purpose vehicle, L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited, was incorporated as ‘the concessionaire’ to agree with the then Government of Andhra Pradesh on 4 September 2010 for the implementation of the project under the Design-Built-Finance-Operate-Transfer basis.

‘A striking example of an efficient public transport system, HMR is a marvel of modern engineering that will add a new dimension to the city of Hyderabad’, claimed HMRL HMR is the world’s largest public–private partnership project in the Metro rail sector. Metro rail and other forms of mass rapid transport systems are emerging as significant infrastructure requirements, offering a viable solution to the transportation woes accompanying the urban expansion. The project is an integrated urban transport development project with inter-modal connectivity and convenient skywalks that will begin an era of seamless commuting across Hyderabad. In the words of HMR MD, My City, My Metro, My Pride is the brand mantra of HMR that focuses on operationally aligned, economically viable and people-oriented project development, which will accelerate the holistic growth of the city. It will improve the commuting experience of the citizens of Hyderabad by providing a safer, faster and more comfortable mode of public transport. HMR network covers a total distance of around 72 km across three corridors.

Field Data and Analysis

Hyderabad, one of India’s historical and modern cities, is a fast-growing Metropolitan with people from varied cultural, regional, linguistic, religious and ethnic backgrounds. The case study method is primarily employed in this study to uncover the deep relationships among various dimensions of urban society. Field work was conducted in the Hyderabad city to get data for the present research from November 2021 to June 2022. More than 240 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the citizens of Hyderabad city. About 16 case studies were done to understand the metro’s impact on landscape. Studying different segments or categories of the social structure in urban society helps understand the development programme’s impact and would provide a solid research foundation. In order to achieve the criteria mentioned earlier, this study has taken five persons of different identities, professions and castes as cases for space consideration and described below.

Urban social life is a diffused or composite life yet runs on fixed or established conventional norms. Unlike Western city life, which is characterised by anonymity and formal, impersonal relationships, the social life in an Indian Metropolis is built on caste, kinship, language, regional and class characteristics. People’s preference to live and settle in a particular Indian city neighbourhood is always linked to their primordial attachments. Thus, we find a mixture of all these different categories of people sharing urban landscapes and social space in Hyderabad. When people use the Metro, a development programme, for their movement, these variables are also affected. Its utilisation in the city reflects a blend of caste and class participation. The five cases selected revealed the necessary identifiable relationships between development and urban space.

At first, the researcher attempted to get acquainted with the regular Metro commuters while riding the Metro rail to get the data. D. Rama Krishna, an IT professional, who has lived Hyderabad for the past 12 years, is a regular Metro traveller. A software company employs him in the Raheja Mind Space, Hitech-city locality. His migration from a tiny village somewhere in the corner of the State makes a compelling case study. The dispositions he had acquired through socialisation and training reveal the candidate’s persona and class position in society. His class location being on the lower side drives his ambition to lead a good life in the city. He studied a Master of Computer Applications (post-graduation) course from 2010 to 2013 from Vivekananda group of Colleges, Batasingaram, close to Ramoji film city, Hyderabad. He rented a room east of the city’s L. B. Nagar neighbourhood. He opines on ‘Metro’ that

during graduate days we felt Miyapur, which is on the west side of the city, as some uninhabitable wasteland. In 2013, travelling from L. B. Nagar to Miyapur through public transportation took between 3 and 4 hours. If one leaves L. B. Nagar at 6 AM, they will not arrive in Hitech City until 9 AM in time for work. We do not understand why employees travel 6 hours daily with such difficulties. Four years after the introduction of the Metro, great developments occurred. The travel time came down to 40 minutes from L. B. Nagar to Hitech City through the Metro. In addition, private cab services, food distribution and parking services around Metro stations were seen. After completing their education, many of our friends settled in L. B. Nagar. They travelled to far-flung locations such as Hitech City, Miyapur and Gachibowli for employment without a problem.

Rama Krishna said,

We witnessed numerous accidents on Hyderabad roads. It is frequently annoying to travel during rush hour. Besides, pollution and discomfort are also caused for concern. The Metro has now arrived in the city. Many individuals were freed of these arduous efforts for daily travel. The majority of employees use the Metro to commute. We have noticed that several families who wish to save excessive travel time are also utilising the Metro. However, students do not use the Metro since they cannot afford the fare. Unlike State Public Transport which issues subsidised bus passes, the Metro does not offer any subsidy to students. We believe that Metro is not economically viable for students. Metro recently offered a Rupees 59 promotion called ‘Holiday offer’ to attract students. Using this holiday offer card, anyone can ride the Metro countless times during a single holiday.

Metro authorities did not permit passengers to bring large items and commodities on board.

Krishna continues,

It is beneficial in many ways. The authorities assert that the Metro is exclusively for transit within the city. In airports, waiting for boarding passes and weighing bags is torment, whereas the Metro is always on schedule. Currently, many people do work while commuting in a Metro. Previously, it was not common to work while travelling. The state government RTC buses were not conducive to work. A lot of noise, pollution, and other kinds of discomfort is there in buses. In contrast, the Metro journey is smooth, so people work without disturbance. We can sit and complete our office work uninterrupted for approximately 40 minutes.

The journey is no pollution, perspiration, or aggravation for Metro commuters. It is a novel experience to commute on the Metro. Krishna observes,

The environment in and around the ‘Ameerpet’ area is distinct. Numerous students who have graduated from colleges reside in ‘Ameerpet’ and are looking for employment. Some students enrol in skill-development courses and then engage in job-seeking activities. People were unaware of several security cameras in and around Metro stations. People believe that, unlike other forms of transportation, the Metro is a safe public environment with extensive protection. People choose to reside in L. B. Nagar, Hyathnagar, and NGO’s colony on the east end of Hyderabad due to the culture they encounter there. They consider that Andhra or Rayalaseema culture is their own. When employees ride the Metro from the workplace, they use the Zomato app to buy meals, and the food delivery is already there when they arrive home. The employees take the food and relax; they are currently making the most of their leisure time. Because travel time is now perfect or accurate, there would not be any delay in travel time because there are no traffic jams or similar difficulties. People are confident that they will reach their homes on time due to the punctuality of the Metro.

Unlike earlier public transportation systems, regular commuters consider the Metro to have no traffic delays, be orderly rather than chaotic, and be free of pollution. With the advent of new technologies and new socio-economic necessities, people request that governments provide them with a sophisticated environment to work in whenever needed. The building and operation of HMR system for the people’s mobility needs have created a new type of techno-space on the roads.

In the last three decades, Hyderabad, a 400-year-old ancient city, has diversified and expanded in the wake of liberalisation to become a prominent IT hub. People from all across India have migrated to the city because, compared to rural society, it offers more opportunities for employment and a better standard of living. 55-year-old homemaker K. Sulochana Rani resides in the Uppal area of Hyderabad. Her husband operates a small business in the city. She came from the Bapatla town of Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. Following her marriage, she relocated to Hyderabad, where she has resided since 1991. She has a daughter and a son.

Sulochana Rani says,

During the 1990s, single-bedroom and double-bedroom housing rents were affordable and inexpensive. However, apartment rents are currently extremely high. Due to our early company losses, our family could not afford to purchase a home in Hyderabad. Consequently, we began working to assist the household and pay off our obligations. Thirty years ago, some individuals used to misbehave and insult women at workplaces where most of us worked. However, significant transformations have occurred in the region as of late. Previously, some central government personnel resided in the Uppal neighbourhood. Many educated individuals have come here and are employed by various institutions. Recently, we have seen that the conduct of many people has changed in the neighbourhood. Now, people from various walks of life have settled here. People of the middle class are slowly replacing those from the lower classes. Previously, housing owners increased rents by 5% to 10% every two years, but today they increase rents by 10% to 20% yearly, citing city growth. Landlords also claim that Metro Service has improved the quality of life in the neighbourhood and that rents must be adjusted accordingly.

People’s wages have increased, and the quality of life in the city has improved due to Metro, Uber, Ola and other services, claimed homeowners; hence, the rents should be reviewed and raised. Many individuals from lower socio-economic classes who cannot afford increased rent are slowly relocating to the city’s periphery. Some property owners have even demolished their old homes and given the property’s vacant land to developers to profit from the construction of apartments. The operation of the Hyderabad Metro has impacted the city’s landscape in unanticipated ways. The modification and increase of housing rents and other service charges impacted the monthly budgets of middle-class individuals. It shows how the government’s new mobility development programme affects people’s economies.

Builders and contractors see the urbanisation phenomena as a boon to their profession. They always expect the cities to expand and attract new residents from faraway places. They also want the government to take proactive measures, such as implementing new, innovative development projects, because these programmes provide the city with desperately needed infrastructure. T. Vidya Sagar, aged 54, is a realtor. He is from the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh state. Since 1995, he has been living in the city as a building contractor. Sagar built numerous apartments in the Miyapur neighbourhood of the city. He discusses the Metro,

Over the past three decades, the city of Hyderabad expanded primarily on the west side, as well as on all other sides. Because of its arid and rocky surroundings, the city of Hyderabad is expanding in a circular pattern. After the construction of cyber towers, a large number of software firms flocked to the city and hired professionals. The localities of Kukatpally, Miyapur, and Gachibowli experienced a sea change. Numerous individuals work in the ICT corridor and financial district. Before transforming into a commercial zone, the IT corridor had a predominantly wasteland comprising huge rocks and small tanks. Therefore, employees purchased homes and apartments in the Miyapur and Kukatpally neighbourhoods, where, over the past two decades, there have been numerous construction projects.

According to Vidya Sagar,

Builders used to construct two to three apartments per year in the above locations. Despite the employees’ attachment to these colonies, some grew impatient with the journey’s duration. Employees frequently complain about traffic congestion, theft and accidents and consider moving closer to their place of employment. However, with the launch of the new Metro service, many IT employees decided to remain. Some of our homebuyers stated that their potential savings would diminish if they remained in the IT corridor area. It is because spending on numerous necessary consumer goods is currently higher in urban areas. Realising the necessity of the situation, we have purchased and developed many flats near the Metro stations, which are in high demand. Within one to two kilometres of a Metro station, there is a good deal of demand from prospective homebuyers. We made substantial profits as middle-class professionals bought these residences for future investments. However, many low-income residents of this region departed and settled in Chintal, Shahpur and Jeedimetla.

Cities have evolved and expanded in the past due to scientific and technological advancements. The establishment of significant industries provided jobs for millions of people. The migration of people from rural to urban regions to take advantage of these new opportunities is increasing the strain on governments to provide infrastructure amenities for the efficient operation of urban life. The Hyderabad Metro, envisioned as a fundamental infrastructure facility for the people’s mobility, needs also modified the urban landscape.

Native residents of Hyderabad were also beneficiaries of the government’s development programmes. They were also experiencing the daily changes that happened in Metropolitan areas. They also felt and witnessed the urbanisation process. They described to the researcher how changes in their age-old, inherited jobs and the introduction of new professions into urban society affected their environment and social relationships. V. Aswitha Chary, 71 years old, is a carpenter and a member of the ‘Vadrangi’ caste. He is a native of Hyderabad who reported changes. He resides in the Nizampet neighbourhood of Kukatpally in Hyderabad. He is a native whose family members and numerous relatives reside in the same area. He recalls,

Fifty years ago, the carpenters made ploughs, sickles, axe shafts, bullock cart wheels, under these trees near the Nizampet panchayat office. In those days, many farmers in and around this region would come to place orders for agricultural tools. My father used to work here, and one of our younger brothers and I now carry his legacy. The other brothers did not maintain our caste profession and pursued different endeavours. In the past, land prices were very affordable. Numerous ponds and water tanks were situated in and around Nizampet. Gradually, numerous changes occurred in this region. After 1997, many educated people from the Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema districts settled here. Numerous residences were built. Those with software jobs also came and lived here. Numerous stores, restaurants, schools and businesses were established in the region. After 2001, the value of land rose gradually. Many apartments were built on both Patta lands and assigned lands. Illegal buildings proliferated throughout the region by appropriating the dry ponds, tanks and nalas. A few years ago, this Nizampet’s sarpanch was the most corrupt in the entire State.

Aswitha Chary had three daughters and two sons. The three daughters were married off to close relatives. Chary’s father left 2,000 square yards of land in this area as an inheritance. His elder son previously worked as a carpenter, currently out of work, and the younger son operates a travel agency. His two sons received 800 square yards of land. They gave the land to real estate developers, who developed apartments and provided some units. Now, they are supported by the income these apartments receive. Chary continues,

We have witnessed several changes in this Nizampet during the past five years. According to real estate developers, the proximity of the Metro to the neighbourhood is beneficial for real estate. They took advantage of the Metro initiative and increased apartment prices by Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakhs. Of late, individuals of lower economic status gradually left this colony and migrated to neighbouring Isnapur and Pattancheru. Evenings were spent near the panchayat office with many of our family and other elderly individuals. However, many have migrated to the city’s outskirts and reside there. Because these people are not bearing the higher living costs in this neighbourhood, they migrated. In the past, numerous vehicle drivers, iron smelting employees, shop owners and mechanics were in this neighbourhood. Now, a small number of vegetable and fruit vendor families and one watchman family live in each apartment. When IT professionals and other middle-class individuals moved to this region, many stores, schools, furniture stores and medical clinics were established. Other workers gradually leave the area, and some commute to work via ride-sharing vehicles and buses. This many stores did not exist here previously. Furthermore, new temples were constructed in the area. Before this, the colony was home to the Nallapochamma Temple, the renowned Hanuman Temple and the Boddu rai. Now, new temples have been built. We believe that Nizampet has undergone a significant and ongoing change.

With the arrival of employees, professionals and business people, the native people of Hyderabad have experienced an explosion of social, religious and commercial consumption spaces in recent years. The city adopted a modern, multiethnic lifestyle. Contributing to this Metro as part of a development programme to fulfil the growing demands for the movement of various demographic groups also influenced the urban landscape.

Entrepreneurs believe that urban society is a suitable environment for launching new firms and a place where they may enhance their financial and social status. B. Ramachandra Rao owns the Brundhavan Hotel in the Kukatpally neighbourhood of the city. He was from Andhra Pradesh’s Amalapuram. Rao has been operating this hotel in the heart of Kukatpally for 30 years. Rao asserts,

Many changes have occurred in the city during the past three decades. As a result of the expansion of Hyderabad’s ICT industry, people from the countryside have relocated and found employment in the city. In our opinion, managing a hotel 30 years ago was quite simple and profitable. However, managing a hotel today is quite challenging. As the population of the Kukatpally area grew, so did the number of hotels. The landscape has changed drastically here. This neighbourhood saw the construction of numerous apartments. Thousands and millions of people arrived and settled here. Our customer base has also grown, however. The habits and tastes of middle-class individuals are also shifting. It is not easy to estimate the populace’s preferences in this region. Sometimes our food preparation is wasted, and sometimes many consumers demand it. In addition, workers are requesting more wages. The expense of living in the Metropolis continues to rise daily.

It appears that the middle-class population’s opinions and perspectives have shifted in the past five years, coinciding with the introduction of the Metro. Ramachandra Rao continues,

In this neighbourhood, rents, land values, and the prices of various goods and services have increased. The hotel industry has become intolerable at present. Even though food delivery services such as Zomato and Swiggy have provided some relief due to the surge in online orders, the situation remains precarious. With the Metro, residents of the area enjoy a substantial amount of leisure time. Consequently, we noticed they were cooking at home during this free time. Numerous Metro stations now feature KFC and other eateries. It is impacting our hotel industry’s profitability. The city’s population and resulting high demand contribute to a company’s success, but the Metro service has severely diminished our profits significantly. The Metro has altered travel times, the way people live, and the landscape of this Kukatpally neighbourhood.

The social process or social movement is the result of the collective actions of humans. People’s interactions have resulted in numerous additions or modifications to social institutions, and their needs shifted over time with the emergence of unusual conditions. New social systems have emerged due to the population growth that has resulted from scientific and medical breakthroughs in urban areas. However, these new social organisations are structured and restructured in response to people’s participation in social activities that reflect their habitus in the newly evolved social contexts. In this case, the development programme, which was a response to the shared mobility needs of people in urban society, imposed a field condition in which people with their unique habitus in the form of their learned and acquired dispositions utilised the programme to improve their social position. However, when different classes of people enter into social actions, albeit in a new situation, it transforms urban space into a new kind of place with associated meanings. In this social process, urban space is produced and reproduced, and in the process, it gets a new meaning.

When people participate in social activities, they sometimes eschew primitive relationships. Cultural manifestations such as traditions, conventions and values may transform people’s practice of social facts. Occasionally, people exercise these primordial or primary institutional ties again, albeit in new social forms. Earlier researchers, such as Marc Auge, Matti Semiatticky and Rashmi Sadana, viewed the ‘Metro’ as a transportation system associated with particular social groups or classes. They surmised some features of the Metro’s impact on people’s lives in cities worldwide. However, the Metro as a development programme entails more. It satisfies one of the fundamental needs of urban society, namely mobility, and has become an integral element of urban society’s social life.

Conclusion

A development programme like the ‘Metro’ launch and operation for the mobility needs of the people has produced a new kind of techno-space on the roads of Hyderabad city. The road is no longer viewed as a place of urban chaos, traffic congestion, pollution and petty crimes. With the help of technology, road travel can be converted into a modern structure with freedom and dignity. The Metro brought changes in the relationship between urban space and social categories. The mobility patterns of the people in the study area varied according to their education, profession and gender. With the introduction of the Metro, land values and apartment and home rentals have increased. Consequently, its influence in numerous sectors of urban society has significantly increased. When automobile inventions like two-wheelers and four-wheelers were developed, they were utilised in urban society for mobility purposes and to preserve or advance the class structure.

In a neoliberal globalised world, not just the wealthy or elite but even the middle classes and every member of urban society strives to better their class position. In urban society, members of the lower and middle classes attempt to improve their social position by participating in various social games. In this sociological desire for class enhancement, individuals in urban societies demand and get specialised development programmes, participate in them and use their social and economic capital to improve their social position. Consequently, individuals strive to better their standing in society by utilising various forms of capital in the urban field. Social hierarchies always motivate or urge individuals to perform particular social acts and advance their social position.

People in the study area attributed the exorbitant price increases to the Metro’s arrival, which pushed a section of the population to the city’s suburbs. In the city of Hyderabad, the Metro again brought the gentrification process to the forefront. Certain social classes, such as the poorer and lower middle classes, have been pushed further away from the Metro areas to the city’s outskirts. It indicates that gentrification occurs again when a development programme is implemented in a city. Sometimes the relationship between ‘urbanisation’ and ‘development’ is symmetrical, and other times asymmetrical. When the idea of development is placed within the context of urbanisation, the resultant social structural change is the production and reproduction of ‘class society’.