This book paints the modern history of Bangalore. It traces the city’s rise to metropolitan status and the consequent shaping of urban spaces and citizenship. Complemented by over sixty black and white photographs, old and new, that capture the city’s many moments, it highlights the consequences of urban growth that was telescoped into a period of five decades.

Providing important insights into Bangalore’s recent growth, the book will appeal to sociologists, historians, urban planners, architects, scholars, and the interested lay reader.

‘… rigorously researched…the chapters cover a wide conceptual field, ranging across the disciplines of history, town planning, law, architecture, politics and gender… the first…to look at Bangalore from the perspective of imagining the city…the range of topics and wealth of material presented is substantive.’ —The Book Review

‘…an important contribution within a surge of research on Bangalore, providing a wide-ranging historical understanding of this garden city-become-technopole.’ —James Heitzman, Economic and Political Weekly

‘…a definitive statement on the twentieth century trajectory of the city… It is engaging not only for its critical rigour but also for the facility of its prose…the book remains a treat.’ —Deccan Herald

‘…a rich academic enterprise…a very readable critique of a young metropolis…’—The Hindu