International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Management (IJIREM) ISSN: 2350-0557, Volume-9, Issue-2, April 2022 https://doi.org/10.55524/ijirem.2022.9.2.36 Article ID IJIR-2239, Pages 248-256 www.ijirem.org Innovative Research Publication 248 Linking Economic and Industrial Development to Urbanization: Case of Dholera Special Investment Region-Gujarat Pooja Jaiswal Raval 1 , and Bhagyajit Raval 2 1 Assistant Professor, CEPT University Ahmedabad 2 Associate Professor, Parul Institute of Architecture & Research, Parul University Vadodara Correspondence should be addressed to Pooja Jaiswal Raval;pooja.jaiswal6618@paruluniversity.ac.in Copyright © 2022 Made Pooja Jaiswal Raval et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT: In the last two decades, post Industrialization cities have been conceived as product of global aspiration and identity. This paper attempts to understand the transformative model of governance adopted in development of the Dholera Special Investment Region in the domain of private partnership and exclusive planning strategies. It explores the role of speculation and making the city a spectacle in the planning of Dholera Special Investment Region. Working on the intersection of these broad theories of the mode of governance, it analyses the Special Investment Region Act, as a facilitator to the growth corridor project and investigates the role of the State in the conceptualization and execution of mega- project. The greenfield project reflects the transnational circular economy and urban policies that have brought a paradigm shift in the planning and development of cities in Neo-Liberal Era. It investigates the implications of SIR Act, 2009 on a greenfield project in reference to the right to the city. It argues that for the case of Special Investment Region, Urbanization is seen as a byproduct of the transformative economic and industrial policies. KEYWORDS: Dholera Special Investment Region, Greenfield, Special Investment Region, Worlding strategy. I. INTRODUCTION A. Greenfield Cities Planning of new Greenfield cities have followed new urban policies, showcasing shift in power and unique modes of conceptualizing new cities. Post 1990s, with the liberal economic urban policies, urban areas have been benefited more than Urban or rural development (Shaw, 2007). New cities are not organically grown but are implanted sectorial with various growth magnets to bring life and demand for the city. With the amendment of 74th Constitutional Act mandating the devolution of powers to local bodies, a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of new greenfield cities began. The Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) brought focus back to urban centers with establishment of large funding opportunities. This paradigm shift has brought transition in the way new cities or urban growth centers have been understood, planned, and executed. With liberalization and new modes of funding policies especially from the UN and World Bank, there are shifts in urban policies and resultant implications in governance methods resulting in it being fragmented and exclusive [1]–[3]. The implanted growth centers and proposed emergent cities speak very less with the proposed master plans and visions in case of greenfield cities. These greenfield cities lack demand and thus fragmented supply from the funding agencies and support from the parastatals. Government of India developed these spaces of production and growth centers as special zones and regions leading to paradigm shift in urban planning. NICDC clearly defined any region to be minimum 100 sq kms. These zones such as Special Economic Zones, Special Investment Region, National Industrial Manufacturing Zones, and Industrial corridors are ‘spaces of exception’ with prevalent questions of job, citizenship, and inclusion (Anand, et al., 2015). Post 74th CAA, the emergent cities face challenges in urban governance, land acquisition, organizational framework, compensation tariffs and functional overlaps of various parastatals. These satellite towns or Greenfield cities have been manufactured from certain external industrial or investment opportunities which has resulted into friction with the dynamics on the ground. These bifurcated zones of special regulations have been planned on the outskirts of a metropolitan area as their business and industrial hub to support the nearby metropolitan by decongesting the crowd in the city. Navi Mumbai is a similar kind of example where the entire satellite town was planned to decongest the highly congested metropolitan of Mumbai. Dholera was also planned on same concept however, the major difference between Navi Mumbai and Dholera was the demand for a new town. Dholera in that case has been manufactured on a saline soil near Gulf of Khambhat, 150 kms from Ahmedabad to be its twin city lacks growth trigger from Ahmedabad and Dholera village both [4]–[6]. B. Economic Development along Corridors National government in India adopted the corridor development as a strategy of economic development through industrial estates along the transit corridors. In mid-2000s the ruling government proposed a set of Dedicated Freight Corridors as listed in the image below to improve connectivity and trigger growth along Golden quadrilateral Highway. Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) improved connectivity to Western Dedicated freight corridor and was developed by Department of