From crowded lanes to peri-urban growth:
Two sites showing Patna’s urban realities.
Research Overview
Patna’s rapid growth spans crowded inner-city neighbourhoods and expanding peri-urban edges. Nehru Nagar shows how long-established areas adapt to congestion and fragile infrastructure, while Mubarakpur highlights the pressures and possibilities of new settlements on the city’s margins. Together, they reveal how urbanisation shapes everyday life in risk-prone landscapes.
Nehru Nagar is a densely populated settlement, located in the core of Patna city. The settlement came up through state supported resettlement in the 1980s, under the Indira Awas Yojana. It is characterised by narrow lanes, auto constructed houses with exposed brick facades, inadequate infrastructure, and encircled by the vertical sprawl of multi-storeyed developments.
The population of Nehru Nagar comprises both resettled households and those who moved in through market-driven means. The residents here are largely engaged in informal livelihoods, that include domestic work, wage labour, waste work, street vending, animal husbandry, driving etc.
Photo Documentation
Research Documents
Maps
Mubarakpur is situated on the western periphery of Patna city and falls within the jurisdiction of Danapur municipality. The settlement came up as a result of a vast state sponsored resettlement scheme for families affected by the riverine erosion along the floodplains of Ganga in the early 1980s. Its transformation from a peri-urban village into densely populated settlement happened over four decades, and is continuing to grow further since it urbanised. The resident families are engaged in informal work such as wage labour, home-based work, and small trade. Alongside those resettled, the area houses others who entered through private or informal market routes.
The settlement is affected by seasonal water logging, owing to its proximity to the Ganga as well as poor draining infrastructure. Livelihoods are deeply affected and vector-borne diseases are common.
Photo Documentation
Research Documents
Maps
