Vertical slums, governance and panopticism: A critical assessment on the governance practices in urban high rises during the Covid-19 pandemic in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Forced displacement and involuntary relocation portray extensive power struggles between the state and displaced communities while various governing measures can aid and sustain these struggles in favour of the state. During the Colombo Regeneration Project (2009), Sri Lanka thousands of slum and shanty dwellers in Colombo were forcibly displaced and involuntary relocated into government built high rises, planned and constructed at government discretion. These high-rises turned the previously horizontal slums into vertical, creating new socio-economic and political problems to the relocated communities. In March 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic government decided to lockdown some of these high-rises, as a measure to reduce the risk of community spread due to the increasing number of infected inhabitants.
In such context, this research investigated how the built environment of these high-rises aided the government in governing the movement of the inhabitants during the lockdown period? The research was conducted based on a post-positivist approach. Primary data were collected through In-depth interviews and the interviewees were selected through convenience sampling. Secondary data were collected through a desk review. Using Michael Foucault’s concept of panopticism, this paper argues that the government has been able to govern the movement of the inhabitants through an internal surveillance and a new method of ‘institutionalized network’ had further strengthened the processes of observation and examination during this period.

Korala, A., Cummings, V. (2023). Verticalized Slums, Governmentality and Pandemic Governance: A Critical Hermeneutical Analysis of Governance Practices in a Selected Urban High-Rise in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In: Hamza, M., Amaratunga, D., Haigh, R., Malalgoda, C., Jayakody, C., Senanayake, A. (eds) Rebuilding Communities After Displacement. Springer, Cham.
 

Korala, A., 2020, Included to be Excluded? A Critical Assessment on the Inclusion of Slum and Shanty Dwellers into the Urban Regeneration Project, November 30, 2021