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Constructing prestige and elaborating the ‘professional’: Elite residential complexes in the National Capital Region, India

Llerena Guiu Searle, 2013

Presented by,

Suryateja BV, 160729

Tanmaya Kumar Naik, 160744

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Why are certain types of urban landscapes produced?

Is it real estate responding to people’s desires or

Does real estate actually shape people’s desires?

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Businessmen vs Professionals

Gemeinschaft

Old Delhi

Traditional

Rude

Cheap

Non-Elite

Black Money

Gesellschaft

White Collar

Travel

Semi-Posh

English speaking

Nuclear

DINK

The author tries to argue for the latter by showing how the real estate developers essentially created a new class of citizens called the professionals as opposed to the so-called businessmen or the local Delhi people. These differences broadly boil down to a Gemeinschaft vs Gesellschaft scenario -- so the businessmen could be characterized by their traditional beliefs, they are kind of rude, cheap, large families, non-elite, and apparently also indulge in shady black money deals. Whereas the professionals are more into the white collar jobs. They travel a lot, english speaking, small families, DINK - which means the couple is dual income no kid, and they are Semi-posh -- they are not like, say, upper-class people who show off their brand new expensive jewellery but, they are posh enough to watch movies in multiplexes while also affording popcorn

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Why is it relevant?

Credits: PolyMatter

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Methodology

Ethnographic: Various interviews conducted in 2007 with real estate developers, marketers, investors, brokers, informants. Analysis of magazine articles, advertisements, investor presentations, apartment tours, government census data

Biases of informants - show “professionals” in good light while putting down “businessmen”

Socio-Spatial Theory: “Unlike farm land, urban land acquires value by the collective societal effect”

How real estate investment decides the growth of city in a particular way
Global view - bringing in foreign investors and NRIs

Before we dive in, let’s look at how the research was conducted. The process was largely ethnographic - various interviews were conducted in 2007 with real estate developers, marketing agencies, investors, brokers, and some local informants in Gurgaon. The author analyzed newspaper advertisements of newly built apartments, a few real estate magazines etc.

She points out that her informants had certain biases - for example, since the informants were elite English speaking people, they had a soft spot for the “professional class”.

Nry

We feel that this work follows the principles of socio-spatial theory - as Lefebvre said - “unlike farm land, urban land acquires value by the collective societal effect” - so we’ll see how the Gurgaon urban space acquired its value, and how it actually grew in a particular way thanks to real estate investments. The author also discusses how developers brought in foreign investment and attracted NRIs to invest in Gurgaon - which we can connect to the global view of urban development as proposed by David Harvey.

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How did the growth start?

Liberalisation ==> MNCs need offices ==> Govt allows private investment for urban reform (JNNURM)

Wooing foreign investment -

Joint partnerships with foreign investment banks to build individual projects like tech parks, townships
Go public: get listed in Bombay Stock Exchange or London Stock Exchange

Wooing NRIs -

DLF ran advertisements in newspapers with words like - “world class”, “international standard”, “American bathtub”, “security system”, etc

The growth in Gurgaon started with liberalistaion in early 1990s. With lots of MNCs coming in, the demand for office spaces grew. The government

couldn’t build infrastructure at the required pace - so they allowed for private investment in urban spaces.

The target of real estate developers now was to attract foreign investment and NRIs. The developers struck joint partnerships with foreign investment banks

To build individual projects like tech parks, townships. Some also went public - like getting listed in Bombay Stock Exchange or London Stock exchange. This made investment easier for foreign companies.

Additionally, to woo NRIs, developers ran lots of advertisements with words like world class, international standard, security system -- to show that our housing is on par with the housing in West.

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Growth Stagnation

The investors just bought and held the land - in hope of selling the land when the prices go up.

Asian Financial Crisis (1997) - NRIs pulled out of the market

Much of the land remained vacant - with no real estate activities

Real estate developers realized the project required dual addressivity:

Ensure market growth with Indian consumers
Attract foreign investors using Indian consumers

How? - Create the figure of a genuine resident (ie, the professional)

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Businessmen vs Professionals

Gemeinschaft

Old Delhi

Traditional

Rude

Cheap

Non-Elite

Black Money

Gesellschaft

White Collar

Travel

Semi-Posh

English speaking

Nuclear

DINK

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Guaranteeing demand

Middle class works for marketing discourse, but not for real-estate. There is a need to project individuals who are willing to spend

Advertise trends predicted by NCAER, Ernst & Young such as -

More nuclear => Need for new housing
Moving to high income brackets => Prone to invest

Foreign investors are ensured of a safe investment, thus putting India in the global circuit of capital flow

Credits: NCAER Data

We see in marketing discourse that foreign companies are attracted to India by projecting the middle class as their customers.

Because middle class has aspirations to improve their living standards.

However, the same can’t be used for real estate investors because there is a belief that middle class doesn’t spend much. Hence the need to talk of professionals.

Developers advertised trends predicted by NCAER, Ernst and Young. Trends of increasing nuclearization meant that adults are breaking

Free from their families and there is a need for new housing. As the graph shows, number of households in all income brackets are increasing, so

People are prone to save and invest in real estate

This attracted investors and made them feel that investing in India is safe. This also put us in the global circuit of capital flow.

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Cultural Differences

Indians prefer Central Delhi over Gurgaon -

Position Gurgaon as -- no traffic, no dust, no congestion, no pollution
Malls, multiplexes, MNCs
Not too far away from major areas

Indians prefer land over building -

Attract the nuclear, non-traditional generation
Sell a western living with words like “Exotica”, “County”, “Laburnum”

Credits: Parsvnath

A major problem that developers faced was the cultural issues that Indian consumers had. Firstly, they preferred Delhi over Gurgaon. To solve this issue, developers positioned Gurgaon as everything that is not Delhi, as in, no traffic, no dust, no congestion, no pollution etc. Gurgaron also had malls, multiplexes, top MNCs. Also, it is not that far away from major areas of Delhi.

Secondly, Indians preferred buying land and building their own house, instead of buying an already built house. To solve this issue, developers stopped advertising to people with such traditional thought process. They attracted the nuclear, modern generation; and sold a western living with words like - Exotica, County, Laburnum.

The image shows the ad of Parsvnath Green Ville - it says -- “Get immersed in an international lifestyle -- unmistakably international -- a little bit of Switzerland in your life. The serene, pollutioon free, vast openness..”

http://www.parsvnath.com/city/residential/residential-gurugram/

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Distinction and Exclusion

Bourgeois Environmentalism: Coined by Amita Baviskar; refers to how upper-class voices its need for aesthetics via proxies like concern for nature. In our context, it refers to upper-class wanting class-exclusive environments -- free of social pollution
Integrated lifestyle communities: Offices are nearby; Plumbers, electricians all available; via this, developers convey that there is no need to go outside the apartment complexes -- thereby avoiding class contamination

(clear social pollution concept is at play & why ppl move from delhi to gurgaon & how re deveplopers convey adds) Bourgeois Environmentalism coined by Amita Baviskar; refers to how upper-class voices its need for aesthetics via proxies like concern for nature. In our context, it refers to upper-class wanting class-exclusive environments which are free of social pollution. For instance in the image shown, while Uniworld City advertise a pollution-free Gurgaon as opposed to polluted Delhi, the ad doesn’t show the polluted land of Delhi or the lush green Gurgaon. Instead it shows rikshaw walas, shopkeepers etc. The image clearly talks of social pollution.
Advertisments also talk of how the complexes in Gurgaon are closer to the offices; plumbers and electricians etc are available wtihin the complex -- thus promoting integrated lifestyle communities with social homogeneity. By showing these amenities, the developers convey to us that there is no need to go outside the apartment complexes, that is, no class contamination.

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Tools for Professional Living

Credits: United Tech Group

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Case Study : Meet the Sharmas

Real-world buyer profiles: Rakesh Sharma works as a resident manager of an MNC and Ankita Sharma is an exporter

Gurgaon offers convenience to these busy people - malls, multiplexes in vicinity

Examples of how these people make lots of profits by investing in real estate - “Small is big: Reaping rich rewards with small investments”

Real estate magazines offer legal and financial advice; eg: mortgage lending, applying for loan

Indexing demand: These ads need not be true or represent any social trend. However, people get convinced and fall into the spiral.

In the first case study of Meeth the Sharmas, the author talks of how advertisments contain real-world buyer profiles. For example, Rakesh Sharma works as a resident manager of an MNC and Ankita Sharma is an exporter
There stories usually talk of how Gurgaon offers convenience to these busy people via malls, multiplexes in vicinity.
There are also examples of how these people make lots of profits by investing in real estate. Magazines are full of articles with titles such as -- “Small is big - reaping rich rewards with small investments” encouraging nuclear families to invest.
Real estate magazines also offer legal and financial advice; for example: mortgage lending, applying for loan
These ads need not be true or represent any social trend. However, people get convinced and fall into the spiral, and this not only guarantees demand but also leads to an appreciation in prices of houses.

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Case Study : Meet the Sinhas

Apartment tours also reinforce the “professional” status of potential buyers. The Sinhas were told how similar they are to other neighbours living in the apartment; also shows that the apartment will retain class (value) incase the Sinhas want to sell later

Few things that real estate marketing agents often say - “Who lives in a place is much more important than what architecture it has to offer” ; “Cheap people ruin the ambience”

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Key Takeaways

“Professional” is a discursive construct that the real estate developers used to move money from foreign investors to India

Developers are tapping into the aspirations of nuclear DINK families for a “global” lifestyle

Housing comes to have social indexical values which create new class identities, spaces, and forms of values

The indexing ensures profitability of real estate and flow of money for investors and real estate developers