The Complications of Redeveloping an Urban Slum

What ways in particular should the state government act to ensure the public-

private partnership in Dharavi is properly balanced?

Danny Harris 08107816

Carl O'Coill

ARC3001M: Research Proposal

University of Lincoln School of Architecture

2

Contents List of Illustrations 3

Introduction 4

Private-Public Urban Regeneration 10

The Slum of Dharavi 18

Conclusion 27

Bibliography 30

3

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Sharma, K., 2000. People's Map by the National Slum Dwellers' Federation. [picture] (NSDF)

Figure 2. Mehta, M., 2007. Dharavi: Dharavi Redevelopment Project. The Urban Age India Conference. London 2-3 November 2007. London: School of

Economics

Figure 3. Arnstein, S., 1969. A Ladder of Citizen Participation. Journal of the American Institure of Planners [e-journal] 35: 4. Available through: Informa

World [Accessed 4 December 2010]

Figure 4. Anon., 2009. Compound 13 [online] Dharavi.organic Available

at: <http://dharavi.org/index.php?title=C.Communities_%26_Nagars_of_

Dharavi/13_Compound> [Accessed 20 October 2010]

Figure 5. Davis, M., 2007. Planet of Slums. p. 30. London: Verso

Figure 6. Mehta, M., 2007. Dharavi: Dharavi Redevelopment Project. The Urban Age India Conference. London 2-3 November 2007. London: School of

Economics

4

1. Introduction

The Context of Slums

Today's urban population is around 3.2 billion. The rural population has

reached a peak and will start to decline after 2020. Therefore, mega-cities will

account for nearly all future population up until 2050. It is estimated that by

then, the world will have a total population of 10 billion (Davis, 2007, p. 2). In

most least-developed countries (LDCs), migration rates from rural to urban

areas have increased because the lack of jobs in rural spaces has been

counter-acted by industrialisation in cities (Lynch, 2005, p. 1). The jobs

created by middle and upper-class citizens in the metropolis include

"construction workers, domestic servants, rag pickers, fruit and grocery

sellers" (Roy and Roy, 2008, p. 47). These are mainly unskilled jobs that are

easy for the migrants to fulfil. However, most of them fail to take into

consideration the cost of urban living and end up living illegally in settlements

that gradually become squalid environments.

Over the past 30 years, governments have looked at regenerating these

areas rather than their previous method of demolishing them completely.

"Over urbanisation is driven by the reproduction of poverty, not by the supply

of jobs" (Davis, 2007, p. 16). This explains how the implication of clearing

slums just creates more slums in other areas, a reason to justify the new

approach of upgrading the areas to benefit slum-dwellers.

The city of Mumbai is a prime example of why slum regeneration needs to be

addressed. High density is the key issue in this exploding metropolis, where

large concentrations of people inhabit small spaces.

Historic Bombay, now Mumbai, was described in Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island (1909) to be six islands formed around the Mahim Creek. One of

these islands was Dharavi. When rural-urban migration first became a

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phenomenon around the early 1930s, the migrants arriving into Mumbai

gradually got pushed towards the Dharavi region. The original inhabitants of

Dharavi were the Kolis and their trade was fishing. Since then, boundary walls

and territories have been formed by communities of people who originate from

the same rural villages and people who share the same religious views.

(Sharma, 2000, pp. xxi-xix)

Two main suburban railway lines now surround the area. The Mithi River is

situated to the North and a recently developed business district called the

'Bandra-Complex' is to the West (see fig. 1). With economy and development

increasing simultaneously, higher-classed societies have voiced their

frustrations about the eye-sore that is in their city, Dharavi being the prime

example (Thompson, 2009).

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Figure 1. People's Map by the National Slum Dwellers' Federation

Aim and response

The aim of the essay is to debate how a balanced partnership can be formed

between slum-dwellers and developers in Dharavi from the perspective of the

Maharashtra state government. The state government play a role of the

'middle-man' in this debate. They have passed their share of the land to

developers to enhance the lives of the slum-dwellers. All negotiations

between public and private sectors have to be regulated by the government in

order to progress efficiently. However, efficiency is not a word that is heard

very regularly when the subject of upgrading slum areas arises. By collating

published research on urban studies about how to succeed in projects of

regenerating urban poor areas and comparing these theories to the on-going

situation in Dharavi, key issues can be highlighted, that may not be apparent

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in other publications. All of the subjects introduced in the text are intended to

be from a neutral perspective.

The first chapter will look at how and why the public-private partnership

method of urban development was introduced. It is recognised that there are

other methods of upgrading slums that have been used in the past. Two

examples include the implementation of services, called site-and-service, and

complete demolition which is rarely heard of in the modern day society.

Recent phenomenons of slum upgrading are satellite cities and desokotas,

which are both fitting for highly-dense areas in China. Charles Correa, head

Architect for the 1985 Prime Minister's Grant Project (PMGP) in Dharavi,

decided to choose a complex solution of using site-and-service, with the offer

of a loan on a new tenement, repaid by a higher rent strategy (Sharma, 2000,

p. 164). Mukesh Mehta is the head architect for the current Dharavi

Redevelopment Project (DRP). He has considered the idea of using 'satellite

cities' (Sheth, 2008, p. 26) in the on-going regeneration but instead, favoured

an approach that uses a public-private partnership (PPP). Therefore the focus

of this text is on the public-private scheme. This chapter will also look at how

the past neo-liberal approach towards slums has had a damaging affect on

how societies view their governments.

The second chapter will look at how a PPP will be beneficial or detrimental to

slum-dwellers lives. The architect Mukesh Mehta will be referenced

throughout because he has a vital role in ensuring the future of Dharavi is

successful. Explanations will be given as to why his proposals for the DRP

have affected relationships between the various groups involved in the

development. The conclusion will collate all of the overlapping evidence from

sources that have been used as research, so that the major issues can be

emphasised. This will lead to a formulated consensus of what the appropriate

and effective methods of progression may be for the DRP.

8

Methodology and Literature Review

The methods used in this essay include the present polemics of how the PPP

is working in Dharavi, through the medium of newspaper articles and journals.

This also includes the proposals published by the architect Mukesh Mehta for

the DRP. His ambitions he says, are to help the urban poor squatter

population of Dharavi. "I am nobody. I need to connect with the residents. We

want to stay morally correct" (Weinstein, 2009, p. 399). Research about

historical polemics in Dharavi will be collected in an attempt to connect and

relate to the slum-dwellers. Both primary and secondary research will be

carried out through the use of books and sources on the internet from

organisation websites and the official DRP website. Historical and cultural

research will be of the past 80 years in Dharavi, the intention is to discover the

slum-dwellers identities and origins, how they live in Dharavi and how they

interact with each other.

The two main texts referred to are Planet of Slums by Mike Davis and

Rediscovering Dharavi by Kalpana Sharma. Planet of Slums presents various

surveys from Intergovernmental Organisations such as UN-HABITAT. These

organisations are in place primarily for human welfare, but specifically in this

case to aid poverty in LDCs. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) also

feature in the texts because they play a big part in ensuring the slum-dwellers

do not get treated unfairly. In most areas, too many NGOs are founded as a

result of the large amount of government funding they receive, this can

confuse the situation rather than solve it. All of these surveys present a reality

of slums that is ignored in the Western World, Davis explains the extent of

how quickly the problem is growing. Rediscovering Dharavi shows a more

personal viewpoint from inhabitants of Dharavi itself. The stories told by

different generations of people in the slum document a place that is portrayed

by Sharma not to be one slum, but a variety of communities that have united

to fight for survival in the same area.

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The majority of research has been collected from academic journals, mainly

because the development in Dharavi only started three years ago and many

debates that have arisen since then remain unresolved. Jockin Arputham and

Sheila Patel who are both representatives of NGOs for the slum-dwellers

welfare have presented some of these unresolved issues in Environment and

Urbanisation journals. Other forms of less accredited media that has been

used as research, include the documentary series Slumming It by Kevin

McCloud. McCloud lived in Dharavi for two weeks with local families from the

various communities, to discover the 'finer grain' of the life and citizens in the

slum.

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2. Public-Private Urban Regeneration

Historic Methods and the 'PPP' Phenomenon

A public-private partnership offers a solution to urbanisation that the neo-

liberal approach of the 1980s did not, a "voice for the people" (Coaffee,

Healey, 2003, p. 1980) of the area under development. Previous to this, state

governments were solely focused on the economy of the country, which led to

society resenting them and revolting when schemes of slum demolition took

place. Harris explains how three interrelated processes of gentrification have

changed the way society view the State (2008, p. 2409). Now, state

governments tend to choose this option because it is a morally-correct exterior

they are presenting, even if they do have underhand motives. Weinstein's

recording of a meeting between Mehta and the slum-dwellers. This dialogue

shows how Mehta represents himself to be have moral motives on behalf of

the State and private sector in the current development in Dharavi (2009, p.

399). The partnership involves a lot of negotiating from various groups of

people to ensure a profitable solution can be given to all involved. In order to

gain a balance in this partnership, a very detailed site analysis needs to be

undertaken by developers. Because these urban poor areas are densely

populated, the surveys are harder to conduct (Patel et al., 2009, p. 247).

Incoming and outgoing traffic is uncontrollable and the number of residents

per household varies in each dwelling. These settlements usually have their

own cultural heritage and identity with communities of migrants arriving from

diverse backgrounds and locations. Lifestyle, including food and trade

specialities differ with each community, and with all this in mind, surveyed site

analyses are extremely hard to complete in large scale settlements. The

'voice' of the people is harder to hear when the settlements are large because

each community is segregated. Giving a presentation at the London School of

Economics, Mehta described these fragmented communities and a key

agenda to be fixed during the development of the area (2007).

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Once the area has been surveyed, a viable plan is proposed by an appointed

head architect. This architect will then delegate certain areas for developers to

work on, depending on the scale of the project. The government will ensure

that this plan is workable for all 'actors' before moving forward. The head

architect tries to build a personal relationship with members of the society

within the slum throughout this process. These small interactions mean the

slum-dwellers put their trust in him/her and the work he/she wants to complete

in their area. However, the NGOs are required to voice the opinion of the

entire slum-base at meetings with the government. Whilst the planners and

architects might have built relations with various inhabitants, upsets always

arise from some people who want to remain unmoved and stubborn. This

stubbornness is shown later in various examples from the current project in

Dharavi.

The Viewpoints of the 'Actors'

The term 'actor' relates to all of the individual groups or parties involved in a

PPP. The slum-dwellers, the developers, the state and NGOs are all groups

that are referred to as actors.

One method the slum-dwellers use to unsettle matters in the slum, include

protest marches and a stubbornness to relocate when asked to. Recently, the

most effective form of distressing the state is to cause problems to the

economy. This has been demonstrated by blocking key traffic routes to and

from the metropolis during rush hours (Arputham and Patel, 2007, p. 505).

The slum-dwellers have a fully justified reason for acting the way they do in

this partnership. Their method of unsettling matters buys them more time to

figure out the best route out of their situation, which is to face eviction in many

cases. The only problem with this is that other slum-dwellers who are entitled

to a new dwelling have to wait longer before they can achieve this. These

people generally share the opinion of the architect because they have the

prospect of getting a dwelling in the newly developed area. The issue of

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compromising certain things is a bitter pill to take as a slum-dweller but if they

revolt in unnecessary circumstances they might face a more severe set of

policies after preceding meetings.

Representatives in the NGO groups attend at various stages of the

development with state officials and developers. The arguments they present

are based around the adverse effects the development might have on the

complex society within the slum. NGOs choose this debate with careful

thought and attention because the public sector (the government) have the

power to stop the private sector (the developers) from developing the land, a

power which the NGOs (voluntary sector) have not got. Proposed plans are

critiqued to highlight the deficiencies they contain; these could either be loss

of communal space or social interaction. After each meeting, the people of the

slum are consulted before the next action is taken and correspondence is

given from the NGO representatives to the developers. This entails in a long

drawn-out process.

The developers seem to be the most frustrated actor in the partnership. Whilst

the slum-dweller incurs the most detrimental affect at the end. The developers

own the land that is a potential 'gold mine' for them. The opportunity of a

massive pay-out in Dharavi has been reognised by some of the worlds

leading development companies, these include Emaar from Dubai and

Hutchison Whampoa from Hong Kong (Robinson, 2008). The pace of the

development is very slow, so it feels like their investment will not ever pay the

dividends they first anticipated. The developers feel anxiety because of the

element of risk it carries. This has been shown in the past in Mumbai, when

developers built on a housing market that had fallen into decline. The total

expense was US$ 2.9 billion after the original estimation was US$ 1.8 billion.

(Patel et al., 2009, p. 250) The thought of another decline heightens the

anxiety throughout today's current climate, even if Mumbai does seem to be

defying a recession that has affected the western world.

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The developers also have to deal with construction matters carefully or face a

potential revolt from the slum-dwellers. This has happened repeatedly in the

past, with the slum-dwellers attacking the things that will affect the economy

because they know this will lead to a quick reaction from governing bodies in

the state. The process again seems to stop and the developer's plans are put

on hold until the slum-dwellers are happy to back down. One example is to

block transport routes into the metropolis (Arputham and Patel, 2007, p. 505).

Commuter routes are blocked because they know this will put a strain on the

workforce in the city for the time period they act upon. Dharavi is situated in a

convenient location to do this, the slum-dwellers constantly use this method

as a threat to the private sector and state government.

Whilst they try to avoid these circumstances as much as possible. The

cunning plan the developers have is to eventually evict all of the slum-

dwellers and create "a middle class neighbourhood who will benefit from all of

the basic and luxury services close to home" (Fernando, 2009). The use of

politics is a powerful tool in this situation because the land is not officially

owned by anyone, even if the original potters and fishermen claim they have

rights to their communities. Mehta's presentation in 2007 indicates that the

State do not recognise the slum-dwellers as legal inhabitants (see fig. 2). The

in-depth surveying of the area is used as an aid to the government so that

they can set policies that will evict a sufficient amount of slum-dwellers in

order to complete a lucrative development that is less dense, and at the same

time, not look inhumane in their approach to doing this. All of this information

is 'purposefully obfuscated' as described by Erhard Berner in Defending a Place in the City (1997, pp. 21, 25, 26). Less dense developments are viewed

to be of a better quality. High-rise buildings offer two contrasting realities: the

huge amount of real-estate that is accumulated by them and the past

problems that led to a decline in modernism through social discrepancies.

(UN-HABITAT, 2003, p. 100b) The real estate price for a slum in a metropolis

like Mumbai is worth hundreds of millions to developers.

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Figure 2. Land Ownership in Dharavi

The government's role in these projects remains controversial enough to

serve as substance for various different research studies. They are the actor

of the three, including the slum-dwellers and developers that offer the most

polemics in this debate. No mistake can be made that the government want to

develop these areas for the benefit of the economy but they insist it is purely

for the welfare of the slum-dwellers. The reason they offer this land to

developers is because they know that developers will be ruthless towards

slum-dwellers in order to gain maximum profits. They do not gain any

immediate profits from the sale of the real-estate. However, the economy of

the country increases by the real-estate that was previously on land with no

value whatsoever (Satterthwaite, 2009, p. 300).

Architects that have been in-charge of urban-poor regeneration have always

seemed to share the elitist views of the people in the city that have benefited

from the rising economies. Mehta describes Dharavi as a "black hole.

15

Something we should be ashamed of" (Dhariwal, 2007). Wealthy city-dwellers

have the radical opinion that these areas are in vital need of development so

that they meet the needs of future generations. The blunt opinions they give

are downgrading to the slum-dwellers. They claim that these 'eyesores' affect

the first impressions of visitors to their cities when they travel either by

aeroplane, train or vehicle. Sharma explains this past phenomenon in Dharavi

and surrounding Mumbai, to be "pull-down syndrome" (2000, p. 193).

All of the arguments seem to cancel one-another out. The government's

reasons to develop are as valid as any other 'actor' opposing the

development. However, if the regeneration is not done in a successful

manner, the problem that currently sits in one slum will only arise in another

one somewhere else, at a later date. The policies the government use seem

unfair to the slum-dwellers because one could argue that their actions will

eventually clear all slum-dwellers out. If they do not qualify for a new dwelling,

then they will have to find a new slum to occupy. Similarly, if they do,

circumstances can be just as bad in the long run because high-rental prices

will drive them out of the area anyway. In Unconventional Urbanism, the

example of this process is given in a mirrored slum-community in Rio de

Janeiro (Endicott, Gonzalez and Polhemus, 2009, p. 3). The result will be

another middle-class neighbourhood in the metropolis. But this argument

cannot be used against the government until all of this is proved, by which

time it will be too late for the slum-dweller. The only option is to trust that the

government are going to be truthful when they say they want to help the slum-

dwellers first and foremost.

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Theories about the Effects of a 'PPP'

Figure 3. Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation

A range of theories have been written about political power and morality in

social sciences regarding private-public partnerships. One theory presented

by Susan Arnstein is called "laddered participation" (see fig. 3). Arnstein

explains the range of participation involved in different projects and how it can

be unstable if one 'actor' does not have as much input as their counterpart. At

one end of the scale is ultimate participation from the slum-dweller

communities. Developers offer the help of a labour force but leave all of the

decision-making to the slum-dwellers. The other end of this scale is

manipulation from the developers. This is used through the political power and

can also be called "revanchist urbanism" as described in The Changing State

of Gentrification (Hackworth and Smith, 2001). Political power is used to gain

17

the territory lost by squatters. In the 1980s, 'collective consumption' was a

method used in a more developed form from when it had been presented in

the 1960s and 1970s. The rise of NGOs meant that "decentralisation" broke

down government power, leading them to revise the tactics they used when

regenerating the urban poor areas (Das and Takahashi, 2009. p. 213). This

example is taken from a slum with a lot of similarities to Dharavi, in the city of

Ahmedabad, India. The methods that the stakeholders in government then

take relate back to the theories of Arnstein. All of these issues have taken

place in Dharavi through the course of history. Most importantly, the motives

of the government in the current development need to be discovered before

another slum upgrading project fails.

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3. The Slum of Dharavi

A Vibrant Culture and Booming Economy

A PPP is extremely hard to manage in a slum that is as complex as Dharavi.

When you ask the inhabitants of the slum where they are from, many replies

are assertive in telling you that it is not Dharavi, but their own diverse

communities. "What is this Dharavi you are talking about?... This is Matunga

Labour Camp, not Dharavi" (Sharma, 2000, p. 4) This is because

communities have migrated from rural areas all over India and settled into

individual settlements. These communities stay strong in times of disruption

because their families have built up trusting relationships over generations of

time through their shared migration experiences. Many trades are passed

down through families and friends and therefore, they end up working with

one-another. Kotkin records Mukesh Mehta explaining the reasons why

people stay in Dharavi. "Many slum-dwellers earn middle class incomes… 

they stay for practical reasons. They stay because the real estate is too

expensive in Mumbai" (2010, p. 40). The companies they set-up don't pay tax

and remain illegal. The government are fully aware of these businesses but

choose not to shut them down. The reason the government keep the areas

regulated in business is because they act as an aid to jobs in Mumbai that are

not wanted by the rich citizens of the area, as stated in the introduction. All-in-

all, these small, unwanted jobs, are estimated to account for an annual

turnover of between US$650 million and US$1 billion, reported by the World

Socialist Web Site (Thompson, 2009).

Money is not the most important thing to the people of Dharavi however.

Engaging in their environment and surroundings is more important to them.

Architecturally, the chawl of dwellings being so dense, the integrated

communal spaces and the working relationships give people a sense of

respect for each other. This has been lost through the typology of our own

communities in Britain and the Western World. In Britain, "our measure of

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beauty is from technology, housing, gardens and place,' in comparison to

Dharavi where 'they measure beauty through humanity, looking nice and

through social aspects" (McCloud, 2010). Dharavi people do not live like other

slum-dwellers around the world. You cannot compare them to the people of

the favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, nor can you compare them to the

refugees in camps in Lagos, Nigeria. They have a better standard of life

because they do not have to go about their day scavenging for food and

committing crime to achieve this. The hostility isn't apparent as much and

much of this is down to the economy being in a stable condition.

With all this in mind, one could argue that the PPP or indeed any method of

upgrading Dharavi is completely unnecessary. It causes disruption to the

array of trades and business that operate around the clock and is harmful to

the workers that contribute to this booming economy. It is alarming that if this

partnership is not dealt with properly then social interactions will be lost (UN-

HABITAT, 2003, p. 106b). The plans show a forecast that could be a

reflection of how the decline of modernism became apparent in Britain in the

1960s. The high-rise structures mean that families will be "sectioned into

boxes" (McCloud, 2010) and communal spaces will no longer be used. This is

the most drastic response to answering how the plans could fail. Dharavi is

painted to be a beautiful picture of culture on one side of the debate, but there

is also a horrific side: the cleanliness of this squalid area.

Downfalls in Hygiene and Morality of Lifestyle

Ethical concerns are the biggest threat to humanity in Dharavi every year.

"The most common illnesses were found to be respiritory diseases, gastro-

intestinal disorders, skin diseases, fever, worms, ear, nose and throat

diseases, tuberculosis and veneral diseases" (Desai, 1988, p. 72). This is

down to the lack of treatment and re-exposure to the same illnesses. This

reason alone gives the State a good point of argument for why the DRP

should be imposed on the slum-dwellers. The slum-dwellers have to urinate

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and excrete into the same rivers that they use to hand-wash their clothes in

because the site-and-service project of 1985 failed to leave the slum with an

adequate amount of sewer systems to accommodate the rapidly increasing

population {Sinha, 2006). These actions are performed with very little privacy

or self-respect. And to observe such actions dampens the joyous spirits that

are experienced when you see how people interact.

Figure 4. Compound 13, The Waste Landfill Site.

Compound 13 brings more terrifying accounts of how morally-unacceptable

the society is (see fig. 4). This is the waste landfill site for most of Mumbai's

hotels and offices that is situated on the corner of 60-feet road. Newly-formed

plastic recycling businesses have meant that Dharavi recycles over 80% of

plastics (Mehta, 2007), compared to an appalling 22% in Britain (Davis, 2010).

Therefore, around five-thousand slum-dwellers scurry through the heaps of

rubbish, filling three-thousand bags of assorted items. (Sharma, 2000, p. 107)

Needles and other used medical equipment make this job both dangerous

and inhumane. Long hours of minimum pay mean that the women working on

21

these sites have just enough money to live and to build a small fund in order

to send their children to school. This is the aspiration of most parents in

Dharavi.

In contradiction to accounts stating that there is virtually no crime in Dharavi,

many reports explain how the frustrated life in slum environments can mean

"young boys are carriers of illicit distillation of liquor and young girls practice

prostitution openly" (Desai, 1988, pp. 72). It has to be noted that this source

was over 20 years ago and improvements have been made since then.

However, these forms of activity haven't been completely eradicated. Sharma

explains how 'ghettoisation in communities' has become more apparent since

the riots of 1992. These riots happened because of destruction of the Babri

Masjid mosque in Uttah Pradesh. They affected the people of Dharavi

because they were migrants from Uttah Pradesh. This had been "pre-fought in

1962-63 over the fight for land between Hindu and Muslim groups" (2000. p.

151). The religious disharmony is much more relaxed now, but because

history has shown repeat disruptive attacks, it leaves the suspicion that

repercussions will occur again one day in the near future (Das and Takahashi,

2009, p. 215a). Whether this will happen whilst this current redevelopment is

on-going is still unanswered. But this is yet another reason why public-private

relations have to be dealt with so cautiously.

The government uses poor health, inadequate work conditions and tension in

societies as justifications for the need for infrastructure in the area. Many

slum-dwellers agree that the conditions they live in need to improve, but they

wouldn't be dissatisfied with their lives at present, if the development didn't

happen. Many sources state that the government's reasons to regenerate the

area are cover-ups for a more unethical reason, the economy. Policies put in

place at the start of such a large-scale project can have a detrimental affect

on slum-dwellers, depending on where they sit within the hierarchy of the

slum. "Project-affected persons" (Arputham and Patel, 2007, p. 502) have to

22

face the reality of their livelihoods being taken from them when the

construction starts on their patch.

Hierarchy in Dharavi

Figure 5. Slum Typologies, taken from Davis' Planet of Slums

The hierarchy typology in Dharavi is similar to Davis' example of a metro-core

slum hierarchy rather than one of a periphery (see fig. 5). The policies

requirements set out by Mukesh Mehta to acquire a new dwelling in the

current regeneration, include either a 'photopass' identity, which is in-effect a

passport, or a place on the electoral roll that was surveyed in 1995. (Anon,

2007) This process becomes corrupt because the 'photopass' identification is

23

often given to landlords so that rent can be secured on tenements. The

landlords take bribes from the poorer people because they are in a higher

position of power. Sharma has taken specific consideration to the fraudulent

system in slums, focusing one chapter on the subject in Rediscovering Dharavi. The police have been known to take bribes and side with the

criminals. This has led to a loss of faith in the policing system in the area.

(2000, pp. 127-154). Other large groups facing eviction with no compensation

are the sidewalk-dwellers. The reason most of them are living on sidewalks is

because the 1985 redevelopment project relocated the leather tanning trade

to Deonar, on the outskirts of Mumbai (Desai, 1988, p. 71). These slum-

dwellers either slept on the factory floors of the tanneries or used their wages

to pay rent. In the end, they lost their livelihoods altogether. Their fight for

survival meant moving to sidewalks and looking for other jobs or relocating to

Deonar. The repercussions of this are being felt 25-years on. These people

are going to have to face losing their small patch on the sidewalks as well.

The only way the PPP will benefit these people is if it was dealt with on a

more personal level, so that the developers could discover people's

backgrounds. The people who were innocently evicted in 1985 and have

managed to survive in Dharavi ever since, should be more deserving of a new

tenement than people who have attained a 'photopass' illegally.

Mehta's plans of 2004

Mukesh Mehta, has been working in Dharavi since 2004. The plans he

unveiled in 2007 caused a rift between the private and public sectors from the

very first day (Endicott, Gonzalez and Polhemus, 2009, p. 2). The policies he

has enforced indicate that recreation of poverty in another location is

inevitable because not all of the slum-dwellers in Dharavi qualify for housing

in the new development. Furthermore, the lack of consultation with the slum

communities came under scrutiny when a letter was addressed to him from

Jockin Arputham (2007, p. 504). The letter explained how the slum-dwellers

planned to block the central and western train lines if they did not get some

24

feedback on the events that were proposed to take place. Not only did the

lack of communication affect the slum-dwellers in 2007, but the quality of the

proposed housing also left a lot to be desired.

Figure 6. Distribution of Dharavi to Developers

Firstly, Mehta had proposed that the areas under development were going to

be split into 5 sections (see fig. 6) with different developers taking control of

each one. This is not very fitting for a place like Dharavi because of the small

communities and religious groups that occupy different sectors so close to

one another. Instead, other ideas of developing Dharavi could be to look at all

of the 85 neighbourhoods individually. But this is something Mehta didn't

seem to do. Whether it was because he is ignorant about the culture of the

place or because he is trying to remain efficient in the plan, the result didn't

give a good impression of him throughout the slum. Secondly, the idea of a

'vertical' slum wasn't, and still isn't, appealing to a citizen of Dharavi who has

spent his/her whole life living no higher than one floor above ground height.

25

Simple daily tasks like carry water up several floors to flush the toilet are

issues that are going to be the chores of new life in the area. Trade systems

and fully operational businesses will be affected by loss of labour force and

insufficient work environments.

Liza Weinstein records a meeting between Mehta and key members of the

community in Kumbharwada. She puts emphasis on how much effort Mehta is

putting into the development by considering all of the issues the NGO groups

raise as discrepancies in previous meetings between the three sectors.

Weinstein goes on to explain how Mehta took the effort to speak in the

Kumbhars native language of Gujarati, rather than English or Hindi. As one

would expect, the meeting did not go smoothly the whole way though. When

quoting the scheme as a "slum scheme" (Weinstein, 2009, p. 399) the local

people reacted angrily because they do not view the area as a slum, but as a

normal community like any other settlement around the world today.

If Mehta or any one of the other private 'actors' in this partnership are quoted

in a misleading fashion the repercussions can be very severe. Slum-dwellers

seem to be very defensive about their communities because their whole lives

are based on the survival skills they have built within Dharavi. "The NGO

Concerned Citizens for Dharavi' held a '15,000-strong peaceful Black Flag

Day" (Patel et al., 2009, p. 242). The reason was because of the lack of

consultation at the time of the announcement of the first plans in 2007. The

relentlessness the slum-dwellers is admirable considering the situation they

are in. Events that give the people voice or power are alarming for the state

government. The threats can easily turn into actions of revolt. Therefore, they

tend to give into the slum-dwellers needs so that little or no damage is done to

the economy and surrounding societies in Mumbai. Historically, these

overhauls in political power to show a public voice have ended in an unstable

environment and many years of riots. To keep the balance in the partnership,

the government have to intervene and make sure that the developers are less

commanding. Historic events can also give a reminder to the government that

26

slum upgrading projects are very delicate matters that have to be considered

in a lot more detail than Mehta's plans show. His role as head architect for the

DRP is a powerful role but also very demanding. If the project continues to fail

the needs of the slum-dwellers, the development will favour an institutionalist's

view and will benefit companies and developers in the private sector. Once

again, this will be like projects of the 1980s, when the aim was to benefit the

economy, rather than giving empathy and aid to the ethical issues (Endicott,

Gonzalez and Polhemus, 2009, p. 3).

Mehta's task is huge. Involving existing trade systems and the booming

economy the slum creates, through the process of regeneration, so that it can

continue in the post-development period, will be the ultimate test to decide

whether this project is successful or not. In a wider context of slum upgrading

projects around the world, this project seems to be one of the easier ones.

Especially when comparing the problems the architects that have to deal with

when developing in third-world countries. These areas have significantly

higher poverty and crime rates. Public-private partnerships in favelas in Rio de

Janeiro, Brazil, or refugee camps in Lagos, Nigeria, are just two examples of

more extreme circumstances than Mumbai, India. In Dharavi, the citizens

don't live in an ideal world, but a feeling of satisfaction is sensed in the area,

mainly because they are earning a living in a modestly safe environment. Nor

do they pay tax or have to pay the high-priced rents of living in a city (UN-

HABITAT, 2003, p. 99b). This justifies why staying and living in the slum of

Dharavi seems like the best option for these people.

27

4. Conclusion Response to Slum Upgrading

From the research undertaken in this essay, the conclusion in response to the

problems ongoing in the slum of Dharavi still remains unanswered. However,

the majority of sources used in this debate all carry similar polemics to one

another. These include the issue of density, height to floor ratios, future

inhabitants of the area, consultation of issues and the livelihoods of the slum-

dwellers in a post-development period. Before any of these issues are

answered by the developers, the first actions taken have to be to cooperate

with the slum-dwellers.

Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation (see fig. 3) explains how Mehta is

operating around rings one and two on the scale of participation. Events that

occur in Dharavi, like the Black Flag Day, put emphasis on how important the

area of Dharavi is to the slum dwellers. Instead of reacting to this situation in a

positive manner, Mehta has remained committed to his 5 sector plan (see fig.

6). A counter-action that would have seen Mehta's popularity rise would be

not to deal with the slum as five pieces of a puzzle, but put in the due care

and attention to the 85 neighbourhoods that need to be dealt with individually.

The reason this alternate method would work more effectively is echoed in

Sharma's introduction to Rediscovering Dharavi. The slum-dwellers origins

are not Dharavi, but their own communities.

Preceding this more advanced level of interaction, the underlying polemics of

the quality of buildings can be assessed. In the UN-HABITAT report of 2003,

the ideals of a post-modern world are given as specific examples of how a

slum upgrade would fall into decline. Yet, baring this in mind, Mehta's plans to

build high-rise still only benefit the economy and not the environment. Both

Berner and Harris present notions of how the government do this when

28

upgrading slums. Hackworth and Smith's description of a revanchist style of

urbanisation mimics the methods of how Mehta is acting in the DRP.

Not all of the issues can be improved significantly. The complexity of the area

has to be taken into consideration. It would be almost impossible for Mehta to

complete the DRP to suit everyone, meaning compromises have to be made.

The compromise of building vertically to tackle density is potentially one of the

most disastrous for the livelihoods of the slum-dwellers. A balance does have

to be made in the PPP and the repercussions of high-rise may lead to loss of

jobs and businesses. As it stands, the only way the DRP can succeed using a

PPP is to take the left over land on offer to the developers to reduce the

density further, without building vertically. This will mean that the developers

will either lose interest in the quality of the build because the profits they were

promised have been diminished or they will pull out altogether.

Robert Neuwirth speaking on TED offered a varying solution. He speaks of

the most primitive shanty found in Kibera, a "stick in the mud hut." He goes on

to explain of developments, the "plastic tarps on the roof" in Bombay. This

protects the huts from monsoon season. Then onto Rio where there are

"scavenged terra cotta tiles and little pieces of signs, some colour." Further

progression is described in Sultanbelyi where a door and a fence have been

scavenged. "And then you get Rocinha and you can see that it's getting even

better. The buildings here are multi-story." The roofs here are rented for

further development on top of the current built. In Turkey, a "higher level of

design" is shown through "the crud in the front, which is mattress-stuffing." So

on and so forth. The point Neuwirth is trying to prove is that squatters can be

developers and given time and resources, an under-developed area of

squalor will eventually turn into an urbanised town or city (2005).

Drawing comparisons to the case studies in China, Dharavi can be tackled in

a very similar manner. Flexibility in the design of a desokotas means that they

can be built to accommodate the complex lives of the slum dwellers. This

29

includes a home environment, a work environment and a social environment.

As easy as it is to draw other conclusions to the problem in Dharavi, the DRP

has chosen the method of a PPP to solve the current issues. A change in

slum upgrading process is highly unlikely and the benefits, or more so, the

repercussions of the development will only be there to see once the new

environment has been built.

This raises the question to World Organisations such as UN-HABITAT of

when considering slum upgrading processes: Should a proven and successful

method such as a desakota be used homogenously? Or does every project

have to be dealt with specifically for the same complex reasons that have

arisen in Dharavi.

30

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