This paper explores the potential of a range of peri-urban environmentalisms to come together in support of sustainable urbanisation. The present-day ‘urban,’ along with the dominant planning visions of urbanisation, lack in inclusivity, deliberative democracy, grassroots innovations, and bottom-up processes of knowledge generation.

In India, peri-urban areas are too often neglected. Many people live in poverty and face increasing marginalisation and food insecurity. Yet peri-urban agriculture could be a major contributor to poverty alleviation and food security.

A decade has gone since the first line of metro started in Delhi in 2002. Despite its expansion across the city in the past 10 years neither pollution nor congestion levels have gone down as claimed by its advocates. An analysis of the revenue generated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation through property development and the rise of property prices adjacent to metro routes and stations suggests that the metro is entangled with the larger process of gentrification in the city.