The book is the outcome of over twenty years of research at Oxford and Kolkata, and encompasses a historical, social and cultural study of the development of the urban landscape of Indian from the era of the Indus Civilisation to contemporary postcolonial times. It tends to focus particularly on colonial and postcolonial urban development in India and consist of eighteen chapters, down the ages, the multifaceted concepts of urban space in Indian cities, whether sacred, public, commercial or practical and the socio-economics and socio-cultural dimensions of Postmodernism, globalisation, expanding urbanisation. town planning, conservation. heritage, race, class, ethnicity, proverty, gender, public health, the natural and built environment and other related aspects of urban India and also studies the evolution of the natural and rural landscape of the country.