The speed and scale of urbanisation in India is unprecedented almost anywhere in the world and has tremendous global implications. The religious influence on the urban experience has resonances for all aspects of urban sustainability in India and yet it remains a blind spot while articulating sustainable urban policy. This book explores the historical and on-going influence of religion on urban planning, design, space utilisation, urban identities and communities. It argues that the conceptual and empirical approaches to planning sustainable cities in India need to be developed out of analytical concepts that define local sense of place and identity. Examining how Hindu religious heritage, beliefs and religiously influenced planning practices have impacted on sustainable urbanisation development in Jaipur and Indian cities in general, the book identifies the challenges and opportunities that ritualistic and belief resources pose for sustainability. It focuses on three key aspects: spatial segregation and ghettoisation; gender-inclusive urban development; and the nexus between religion, nature and urban development. This cutting-edge book is one of the first case studies linking Hindu religion, heritage, urban development, women and the environment in a way that responds to the realities of Indian cities. It opens up discussion on the nexus of religion and development, drawing out insightful policy implications for the sustainable urban planning of many cities in India and elsewhere in South Asia and the developing world.

India imposes stringent criminal penalties, including life imprisonment in some states, for cow slaughter, based on a Hindu ethic of revering the cow as sacred. And yet India is among the world's leading producers of beef, leather, and milk, industries sustained by the mass slaughter of bovines. What is behind this seeming contradiction? What do bovines, deemed holy in Hinduism, experience in the Indian milk and beef industries? Yamini Narayanan asks and answers these questions, introducing cows and buffaloes as key subjects in India's cow protectionism, rather than their treatment hitherto as mere objects of political analysis. Emphasizing human–animal hierarchical relations, Narayanan argues that the Hindu framing of the cow as "mother" is one of human domination, wherein bovine motherhood is simultaneously capitalized for dairy production and weaponized by right-wing Hindu nationalists to violently oppress Muslims and Dalits. Using ethnographic and empirical data gathered across India, this book reveals the harms caused to buffaloes, cows, bulls, and calves in dairying, and the exploitation required of the diverse, racialized labor throughout India's dairy production continuum to obscure such violence. Ultimately, Narayanan traces how the unraveling of human domination and exploitation of farmed animals is integral to progressive multispecies democratic politics, speculating on the real possibility of a post-dairy society, based on vegan agricultural policies for livelihoods and food security.

Religion and Urbanism contributes to an expanded understanding of the notion of 'sustainable cities' in the context of South Asia by demonstrating that religion exerts a significant influence on the nature of urban development in the region. The book argues that the multiple, often conflicting and complicated ways in which religion or the multiplicity of religions enable or challenge socially equitable and ecologically sustainable urbanisation must thus be considered in analyses of 'sustainable urban development' of the region.

South Asia has experienced relatively low rates of urbanisation; however the current and projected scale of its urban population growth, as well as the informal nature of urbanisation makes the study of 'sustainable urban development' and 'sustainable cities' in this region particularly compelling. Much like modernist urban planning, the 'sustainable cities' concept with its focus on environmentalism is imported uncritically from the West and imposed on planning practices in South Asia. However the notion has already been criticised for being exclusionary of the specific needs of the poorest, ethnic and religious minorities and women. Moreover, it negates discussions on other critical aspects of urban policy such as religion, culture and history. This book identifies and understands religion's influence on urban development, urbanity and the nature of urbanisation in South Asian cities as a challenge or an opportunity for sustainable urban development. It also provides much-needed implications for policy.

This book makes a much-needed contribution to the nexus between religion and urban planning for researchers, postgraduate students and policy makers in Development Studies, Urban Studies, Religious Studies, Asian Studies, Heritage Studies and Urban and Religious Geography.

India imposes stringent criminal penalties, including life imprisonment in some states, for cow slaughter, based on a Hindu ethic of revering the cow as sacred. And yet India is among the world's leading producers of beef, leather, and milk, industries sustained by the mass slaughter of bovines. What is behind this seeming contradiction? What do bovines, deemed holy in Hinduism, experience in the Indian milk and beef industries? Yamini Narayanan asks and answers these questions, introducing cows and buffaloes as key subjects in India's cow protectionism, rather than their treatment hitherto as mere objects of political analysis. Emphasizing human-animal hierarchical relations, Narayanan argues that the Hindu framing of the cow as "mother" is one of human domination, wherein bovine motherhood is simultaneously capitalized for dairy production and weaponized by right-wing Hindu nationalists to violently oppress Muslims and Dalits. Using ethnographic and empirical data gathered across India, this book reveals the harms caused to buffaloes, cows, bulls, and calves in dairying, and the exploitation required of the diverse, racialized labor throughout India's dairy production continuum to obscure such violence. Ultimately, Narayanan traces how the unraveling of human domination and exploitation of farmed animals is integral to progressive multispecies democratic politics, speculating on the real possibility of a post-dairy society, based on vegan agricultural policies for livelihoods and food security.

The speed and scale of urbanisation in India is unprecedented almost anywhere in the world and has tremendous implications globally. The sacral influence on the urban experience can be demonstrated to have resonances for all aspects of urban sustainability in India and yet, remains a blind spot while articulating sustainable urban policy. The book explores the historical and ongoing influence of religion on urban planning, design, space utilisation, and the creation and impact on urban identities and communities. Specifically, it looks at how religious heritage, religious beliefs and religiously influenced planning practices have influenced different facets of development in Indian cities. Three aspects are critical for sustainable urbanisation policies for Jaipur and Indian cities in general: gender, religious heritage and city planning; the city as a communalised space and caste informed space; and heritage and ecological challenges. The book identifies the challenges that Hindu-based planning and heritage poses for sustainability of the city in these regards.It argues that there are ritualistic and belief resources within the religion that urban planning can - and must - utilise while devising the sustainability of Jaipur. This book is one of the first case studies linking Hindu religion, heritage, gender, environment and planning in a manner that has clear implications for sustainable urban planning policies. The study has useful policy implications for the sustainable urban planning of many cities in India, the subcontinent as well as major cities of Indonesia, Cambodia and Nepal.

Conceptions of 'sustainable cities' in the pluralistic and multireligious urban settlements of developing nations need to develop out of local cultural, religious and historical contexts to be inclusive and accurately respond to the needs of the poor, ethnic and religious minorities, and women. Religion and Urbanism contributes to an expanded understanding of 'sustainable cities' in South Asia by demonstrating the multiple, and often conflicting ways in which religion enables or challenges socially equitable and ecologically sustainable urbanisation in the region. In particular, this collection focuses on two aspects that must inform the sustainable cities discourse in South Asia: the intersections of religion and urban heritage, and religion and various aspects of informality. This book makes a much-needed contribution to the nexus between religion and urban planning for researchers, postgraduate students and policy makers in Sustainable Development, Development Studies, Urban Studies, Religious Studies, Asian Studies, Heritage Studies and Urban and Religious Geography.