Extensions: an urban placemaking tool

Abstract

This paper highlights extensions as a form of people-led placemaking in resettlement sites of the urban peripheries' of Chennai, India. Drawing on in-depth qualitative fieldwork, the study traces habitability and disaster recovery processes of displaced communities by analysing their placemaking practices before, during, and after resettlement. A key finding reveals that inadequate disaster recovery prompted communities in planned peripheral resettlement sites to construct extensions as a coping mechanism. The paper concludes that the success of these extensions was possible due to the incremental nature of the structures, the communities’ capacity to build them, and collective action, which led to opportunities for negotiation with the state to ensure their habitability.