TRANSFER OF PLANNING TECHNOLOGY AND LOCAL POLITICAL-ECONOMY - A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF CALCUTTAS PLANNING

Calcutta's planning experience after independence is noteworthy for two reasons: first, it included an unprecedented effort at transferring western planning technology (mainly through the Ford Foundation) to a Third World city; second, it serves as a graphic example of how the larger picture of a city's future is drawn by the forces of politics and economics. Using Calcutta's story as the background, this paper examines the issues involved in transfer of planning technology (diffusion, permanence, etc.), and the overwhelming importance of the political economy of the receiving region in determining the acceptance or rejection of the transfer, and in shaping subsequent urban development.