Design
A Drone Tour of Mumbai's Largest Bedroom Community
Navi Mumbai was supposed to be a fully functioning satellite city, but in practice it’s more like suburban sprawl.
The development of Navi Mumbai, today one of the world’s largest satellite cities, began in earnest in 1971. The planned garden city was supposed to usher in a sparkling new era of urban planning for India and attract residents from overcrowded Mumbai neighborhoods just across the bay. But like so many of history’s attempts to build an entire city from scratch, Navi Mumbai’s grand designs ended up looking better on paper than in practice.
Instead of easing congestion in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai has become a sprawling bedroom community for its larger twin. Real estate speculation now outpaces much-needed infrastructure improvements.