Dhara Patel is an architect and postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Urban and Spatial Sociology, Institute of Sociology, TU Darmstadt, Germany. Her research focuses on the intersection of architecture, urban studies and sociology, with a particular emphasis on housing and socio-spatial dynamics. She holds a PhD in Architecture Building and Planning from the University of Melbourne. Her scholarly pursuits delve into the transformative impacts of globalisation on living spaces, the intricacies of postcolonial urbanism and the material manifestations of culture in the built environment.

• List of figuresList of tablesAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Verticality and prestige: bungalows to gated luxury condominiumsPART I: Conception1. The allure of exclusivity: imagery, investment and identity2. Liminal luxury: identity and spatial constructs3. Dwellings and social prestige – vernacular, colonial, postcolonial IndiaPART II: Occupation – Case studies from Mumbai and Pune4. The new cosmopolitans – modern domesticity5. Old discriminations, new spatial mechanisms: the spectacle of consumptionPART III: Evolution6. From global to neocolonial? Progression of type7. Beyond the Gates: unpacking social mobility and spatial politics BibliographyIndex

Dhara Patel is an architect and postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Urban and Spatial Sociology, Institute of Sociology, TU Darmstadt, Germany. Her research focuses on the intersection of architecture, urban studies and sociology, with a particular emphasis on housing and socio-spatial dynamics. She holds a PhD in Architecture Building and Planning from the University of Melbourne. Her scholarly pursuits delve into the transformative impacts of globalisation on living spaces, the intricacies of postcolonial urbanism and the material manifestations of culture in the built environment.

• List of figuresList of tablesAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Verticality and prestige: bungalows to gated luxury condominiumsPART I: Conception1. The allure of exclusivity: imagery, investment and identity2. Liminal luxury: identity and spatial constructs3. Dwellings and social prestige – vernacular, colonial, postcolonial IndiaPART II: Occupation – Case studies from Mumbai and Pune4. The new cosmopolitans – modern domesticity5. Old discriminations, new spatial mechanisms: the spectacle of consumptionPART III: Evolution6. From global to neocolonial? Progression of type7. Beyond the Gates: unpacking social mobility and spatial politics BibliographyIndex

Dhara Patel is an architect and postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Urban and Spatial Sociology, Institute of Sociology, TU Darmstadt, Germany. Her research focuses on the intersection of architecture, urban studies and sociology, with a particular emphasis on housing and socio-spatial dynamics. She holds a PhD in Architecture Building and Planning from the University of Melbourne. Her scholarly pursuits delve into the transformative impacts of globalisation on living spaces, the intricacies of postcolonial urbanism and the material manifestations of culture in the built environment.

• List of figuresList of tablesAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Verticality and prestige: bungalows to gated luxury condominiumsPART I: Conception1. The allure of exclusivity: imagery, investment and identity2. Liminal luxury: identity and spatial constructs3. Dwellings and social prestige – vernacular, colonial, postcolonial IndiaPART II: Occupation – Case studies from Mumbai and Pune4. The new cosmopolitans – modern domesticity5. Old discriminations, new spatial mechanisms: the spectacle of consumptionPART III: Evolution6. From global to neocolonial? Progression of type7. Beyond the Gates: unpacking social mobility and spatial politics BibliographyIndex