Research: Exploring Urbanism in India
Thomas Buchon, a French student at Gonville & Caius College, has just completed his MPhil in Planning, Growth and Regeneration (2017–2018). Below, Thomas shares his experience conducting dissertation research in India for his MPhil degree.
Earlier this year, under the scorching Indian sun, I arrived in Pondicherry on the 2nd of May. Being French, I was led by the fascination that this former French colony still has for us French people.
But it’s for earnest reasons that I flew all the way to this enclave in Tamil Nadu: I was seeking to carry out field research for an MPhil dissertation and complete my journey as a student of cities and territories.
Call it urban planning if you like, I tend to prefer urbanism.
I’ve just completed the MPhil in Planning, Growth and Regeneration — one of the three taught masters at the Department of Land Economy. Like all my peers, I had to write a dissertation. I felt doing field research was a must; research in urban development should always start by a confrontation with reality.
After a year living in Asia, I didn’t hesitate a second before going East again and explore a new territory. I was lucky enough to receive generous funding on behalf of my college and department to spend one month in India and research the 100 Smart City Mission — a national urban development programme.
In Pondicherry I was hosted by l’Institut Français, a research institute that helped me make the most of my time there and build contacts. Getting a panoramic view of Pondicherry’s Smart City Mission in only one month would have been impossible without the ten interviewees who dedicated a lot of their time to answer my questions.
Passionate discussions unfolded and spending three weeks meeting them has been the most insightful and exciting part of the project. From the young architect to the Lieutenant Governor, they all contributed to my understanding of a complex situation.
My journey was also the tale of an encounter with local populations. In the heat of a season free from tourists, I spoke to whoever I met about the Smart City — rickshaw drivers, street stall vendors, waiters… In other words, people who make up the city at large, the people who define its urbanism. These discussions substantiated the social ground map and gave me a glimpse of what I was looking for: understanding where urbanism is heading.
From my first hesitant steps, my supervisor Dr Shailaja Fennell, a lecturer in development studies attached to the Department of Land Economy, opened me the doors to India. Thanks to hours and hours of supervision, recommendations, contacts and academic inspiration, Dr Fennell gave me the framework needed to get a foot in the puzzling issue of planning in India and helped me bring my dissertation to an end.
This trip has been all about exposure and encounters. It was my first time in India, which to say the least, is a challenging country to study, and the acquaintances I made truly made the experience unforgettable. This brief story is the demonstration of how much Land Economy has to offer: it allows you to work on pressing research topics with brilliant supervisors, partly funding a field trip to the other side of the world, and gives you the credibility and confidence to meet with high-level stakeholders. An experience like this is also testimony to the fact that, while studying urban development in a tiny English village can seem contradictory, Cambridge is a place that connects us to the world.
Thomas Buchon is now working in London, as a Cities consulting intern at Burohappold Engineering, a global multidisciplinary consultancy. He also spent the summer as a research fellow at the Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore, the research arm of the Ministry of National Development. Before studying at the University of Cambridge, he lived, studied and worked in Hong Kong, Glasgow, Poland and France.
For further information on graduate study in the Department of Land Economy, please see the Department’s website.
