This book historicizes the complex and dynamic relationship between urban development and the multicultural communities that make up the historic center of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

By focusing on the oldest part of Colombo, currently the epicenter for urban regeneration, it succinctly traces how recurring cycles of urban planning and development, spanning over five centuries, have impacted the mosaic of communities who live and work there. The book is organized around the succession of four economic models Colombo has witnessed—mercantilist, colonial capitalist, post-colonial ethnonationalist, and neoliberal—and three continuities—the city’s peripheral relationship with the global economy, persistent colonial power-knowledge structures, and the spatial context of a multicultural port city—that have guided urban change through these transitions. By examining how these continuities and discontinuities have interacted, it reveals how urban development and planning have failed to deliver broad-based improvements to the lives of the people of Colombo.

Exploring the history of urban development in Sri Lanka’s largest city, from its origins as a pluralistic Indian Ocean port to its modern-day efforts to become a world-class city, this will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of urbanization, colonialism, and post-colonialism, particularly in South Asia.

Sanjaya DeSilva is Associate Professor of Economics and Asian Studies at Bard College, New York. His interdisciplinary teaching and research are at the intersection of economic development, urban studies, and Asian economic history. Born and raised in Colombo, DeSilva holds a Ph.D. in development economics from Yale University.