The countless acts of injustice to be perpetuated in the name of slum upgrading and redevelopment projects. In the process the incremental development of many so-called slums in Mumbai has been curtailed with dramatic consequences for the concerned populations and for the long-term social and urban sustainability of the city.  Mainstream conceptions of what a world-class city should look like and a tendency to understand urbanization from the point of view of form rather than process have given a free ride to the real estate construction industry and we redefine the conceptual fault line that runs through the typologies of the high rise building and that of the slum and propose a new planning paradigm based on neighborhood life and local economic activities, including the production of habitats themselves.

The potential of many unplanned neighborhoods in Mumbai has been entrapped in old-school urban planning practices and categories that are increasingly detached from the reality they are supposed to improve. These include conceptual shortcomings, the incapacity of integrating planning interventions to existing patterns of development.  A more grounded understanding of Mumbai’s habitats and the socio-economic processes that generate them, may help produce viable alternatives to the perpetual loop of slum demolition and reconstruction that preclude inclusive and sustainable urbanization.