Venugopal talks to Asher Ghertner about his book ‘Rule by Aesthetics’. The book talks about the role the state plays in everyday lives of the poor and how urban aesthetics often supersedes inclusivity in the Indian city. Asher contrasts the powerful influence in Delhi of property owning citizens as represented through the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) with the travails of the property less in the city, and their displacement from public land.

Dr. Asher Ghertner is an interdisciplinary scholar who uses the contemporary politics of slum demolition and urban renewal in India to challenge conventional theories of economic transition, city planning and political rule. He previously taught at the London School of Economics and is currently an Assistant Professor in Geography and Director of the South Asian Studies Program at Rutgers University. He is the author and editor of three books and has written widely on subaltern urbanism, environmental politics, aesthetic governmentality, property, and the uses and limits of gentrification theory.