Urban Sustainability and The Creation of Slums

Urban Sustainability and The Creation of Slums: Case Study of The Dharavi Slums in Mumbai, India

Cities have changed vastly over a large period and have shaped a new era of development in the world. These urban centres have powerful networks, which help them function at a national and international level.

On the other hand, the number of models also explains how slums are a by-product of cities. With the economic growth and development in infrastructure, there is a vast area/field to be explored by various researchers and that is the creation of slums and the challenges of liveability in it.

The present research has explored the Dharavi Slums in Mumbai, India. Lewis Mumford defined a city as “a theatre of social action and everything else- art, politics, education, commerce…”. Powerful cities such as New York, Tokyo, London and Hong Kong are known to hold the strongest political and economic power.

As a result, these cities are known to have a well-established and maintained healthcare system, education system and, infrastructure, which includes public transportation. Urbanization in cities started with the arrival of industries and new opportunities, and as a result, there was an increase in population within these cities.

People from rural communities migrated to these centres for new opportunities, and people from different countries immigrated to these cities for the same reasons. Sustainable cities are those which can provide proper accommodation to the residents.

This is known to be infrastructural needs such as roads, transportation, housing, buildings, etc. Along with infrastructural needs, they also are provided with necessities such as street lighting, waste management, clean water, and employment.

As cities maintain a balance between, what the residents need (demand) and how much the city can provide (supply), demand and supply this can help them maintain sustainability. There are many issues which can question the sustainability of a city, and one issue is the supply of adequate housing. There is a need to provide affordable housing to all the residents within the city, and if this does not happen, the residents who do not have proper housing, can lead to an outbreak of slums.

Sustainable cities also have environmental criteria to follow. This includes reduced average carbon footprint and creative ways to establish a greener way of living. Planners have to work to better the environments and have to maintain a healthy lifestyle, which is reflected in the ways of living.

Cities have implemented many by-laws and rules which ban specific practices by residents. In Vauban, Germany there was a large housing complex built in the 1990s, which was to accommodate 5000 people.

There were practices such as driving cars were banned in this neighbourhood, and this encouraged people to use public transportation and other means for travelling. Cities are created for people, and development then is a result of how the people function with the resources provided.

There are many cases where planners have failed to accommodate residents with proper infrastructural needs, and as a result, those cities have seen many problems such as outbreaks of diseases due to lack of sewage systems, or even cases where residents use open areas as bathrooms because there is no sewage system set up.

Cities which see rapid urbanization but do not have, because these cities are poor, they are unable to build or repair the systems which are a necessity for the residents. As a result, people are left to find their own solutions, which because a plague for the city, because as the population increases, it becomes harder to take control of the out-of-hand situation.

Slums are formed in open and vulnerable spaces, such as an open area between buildings, or an open ground which is not used for any other purposes. There are a lot of problems with slums, such as social, economic, and political, which have to be dealt with and hence these slums become a problem for the greater city.

In 2003, the United Nations stated that one-third of urban dwellers lived in slums [6] and since then these numbers have increased. Kibera district of Nairobi and Dharavi area in Mumbai are known to have the largest slum settlements, which means large populations are residing within these unplanned settlements. The creation of Dharavi slums will be expanded on to show the effects on the political, economic, and social factors of the city.

Read more: Urban sustainability and creation of slums