In Mumbai, a Push to Recognize the Successes of ‘Informal’ Development

To an outsider, the Dharavi neighborhood might not seem like much of a role model. A hyper-dense network of narrow lanes close to the heart of Mumbai, this area was made internationally famous as the setting of Slumdog Millionaire. It packs an incredible (estimated) 700,000 residents into just 0.8 square miles, with provisional-looking buildings threaded together and only rudimentary transit and sanitation infrastructure. The area is frequently damned in the Indian media as the country’s largest example of that terrifying but subjectively-defined urban nightmare: the slum.

But Dharavi’s days in its current form may be numbered. An ongoing, long-delayed plan to demolish the area and start afresh seems to be gathering momentum, with a Dubai-based firm currently bidding to overhaul it completely.