MG Road, Dharavi, Mumbai

The Homegrown Neighbourhoods workshop (Jan 8th-14th, 2013) looked at social and urban development processes in Mumbai. It involved a four day period in Mumbai exploring neighbourhoods and meeting people with whom we are working with  – mainly in Shivaji Nagar (Govandi), Uttkarsh Nagar (Bhandup) and our office in Dharavi. This was followed by a three day reflective and discussion based session at the institute office in Aldona, Goa.

This workshop saw the participation of friends and colleagues from various institutions around the world including the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, the Swiss Polytechnic Institute of Lausanne, the Politecnico do Torino, the Max Planck Institute of the Study of Religous and Ethnic Diversity in Goettingen, Columbia University and Harvard. It kicked off a collaborative research project aimed at producing critical concepts that can be used as tools of engagement for a pragmatic yet humane urbanism. By the end of the year we hope to have a series of essays exploring related themes in depth in various contexts and forms. We also hope that this collaboration will result in the organization of more workshops, studios and seminars with students and participants from Mumbai and other parts of the world.

First day session at the URBZ office in New Transit Camp, Dharavi, Mumbai.

Professor Amita Bhide who teaches at the School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and is an advisor to the Institute of Urbanology.

This was a significant moment for our ongoing work. We could reflect with academics and researchers from all over the world about themes close to our practice and deepen our engagements conceptually and intellectually. As practitioners we are acutely aware of how valuable the discursive space is and we were lucky to share experiences and ideas with a group of people that understands the spirit with which we work.

The Mumbai chapter involved explorations of “homegrown neighbourhoods” (the term which provides the title) in small groups and many discussions on the move. Participants could observe, discuss, critique and respond first hand to the contexts that shaped the themes of the workshop. The themes emerged from our ongoing work and the resource persons in Mumbai were essentially our local partners with whom we interact on an everyday basis.

From the Left: Pierre Frey (author of Learning from Vernacular), Vincent Kaufmann (Director of LASUR), both professors at the Swiss Polytechnic Institute of Lausanne (EPFL). From the right: Bhau Korde (social activist in Dharavi), Himanshu Keny (resident of Koliwada in Dharavi) and Matias Echanove (URBZ/Urbanology).

Centre: Irfan Khan community leader in Baiganwadi (Deonar-Govandi), explaining the mosque project to the workshop participants. Left and Right: Rahul Srivastava and Shardul Patil (URBZ/Urbanology).

Luca Pattaroni (Professor at EPFL) reading palms to children in Bhandup.

The intense sessions of observation, immersion, dialogues, became the fodder for the sessions in Goa. The office of the Institute in Aldona was formally inaugurated through the workshop. Debates about the informal and formal divisions  that shape most  perspectives on urban spaces today were critiqued and argued around threadbare, the concept of the tool-house was given the treatment by fire and the complex realms of economic activities and spatial arrangements – resonating at abstract and concrete levels – occupied much thought.  What was particularly rich was the perspectives that came from  the range of disciplines the participants represented, and the conversations across the Francophone and Anglophone social science realms.

The workshop is a start of a series of collaborations between the participants who will continue to interact and communicate with us to deepen, sharpen and critically evaluate the concepts and ideas that shape our practice. From April onwards, we shall be putting up short blog posts that frame the themes and ideas discussed and  emerge from these ongoing discussions. These broadly center around the idea of the tool-house, which acts as a touch-stone for building bigger theoretical frameworks on cities and urbanism.

Smita Srinivas and Yehuda Safran,  professors of urban planning and architectural design at Columbia University respectively. Both are also advisors to the Institute of Urbanology.

Discussion at the Institute of Urbanology in Aldona, Goa. From left to right: Anush Kapadia (lecturer in social science at Harvard), Michele Bonino (Prof at Politecnico do Torino & principal architect at Studio Marc), Sytse de Maat and Tobias Baitsch (PhD students at EPFL), and Ajay Gandhi (Post-Doc anthropologist at Max Planck Institute).

Gabriela Santana (architecture student at Escola da Cidade, Sao Paulo and member of URBZ Brazil)

We are particularly thankful to Vincent Kauffman and Luca Pattaroni, from Lasur, EPFL who provided the basic infrastructure and also bought in a big group from their institution. To Peter van der Veer of the Max Planck Institute for supporting the attendance of their members, to Mark Wigley Dean at the Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, Columbia University, for supporting the participation of Yehuda Safran and Smita Srinivas, and to all our friends who came on their own.

We are grateful to our advisor, the writer Amitav Ghosh who so generously opened his house to welcome the guests in Goa and whose intellectual contributions that evening remained with us all through the sessions the next two days.

Photos by Julien Gregorio. More photos of the workshop here.

Nestled on the hillocks in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai, Amrutnagar, Ghatkopar paints a figurative picture of the city; where affordable housing is scarce but people have tweaked the system and the land to achieve the best possible results in the given circumstances. The airborne traveler gasps at the sight welcoming the landing craft. The favelas of Rio come to mind, associated as they are with images of poverty and violence. They seem to say “welcome to Slumbai!”

The view from the plane doesn’t do justice to the pertinent housing typology devised by the locals. The housing in this hilly terrain embraces the topology. The rocks dug from the hill are used to build the foundation of the houses and the retaining wall that prevents landslides. The natural slope helps with drainage. Porches acting as public corridors are reminiscent of the quintessentially Bombay “chawl” typology. All houses are oriented in the east-west direction for maximum light and wind. Most of them are only ground floor structure, which allows everyone to enjoy one of the best views of the city. From the hilltop one can see planes landing into Mumbai airport. Catherine Boo may have reported what she saw “behind the beautiful forevers”. This is above.

The homes on the hill are said to be illegally constructed, yet occupancy rights in the city are often more a political question than a legal one. The area we visited was a relatively small 13.5 acres hill called Ramnagar, part of the larger settlement Amrutnagar. With a population of 12,000 locals, this Marathi speaking population is the vote bank of the rapidly rising political party ‘Maharastra Navnirman Sena’ (MNS) which promises to be the guardian angel of the Marathi Manoos. It was previously dominated by the Shiv Sena, the original sentinels of the Maharashtrian community. However, there are a good number of people from other communities as well and the residents are quick to point out that people of all denominations and ethnicity reside here. The locals who have no expectation from the governing bodies try their level best to be in the good books of the local political party workers, as they fear demolition on a daily basis. The cost of constructing a house is very high, due to the hilly terrain and residents usually spend their annual income on a basic house with four walls and a roof.

An estimated 4000 houses are built on and around this hillock and almost all of them are ‘pukka’ houses. 2000 are above the drainage line and the remaining 2000 below. Since the settlement emerged before 1995, it is liable for the SRA scheme and several redevelopment projects are an ongoing feature in the area. One graphical representation of the mandatory 269 sq feet redeveloped flat by the local builder shows a flat screen TV, contemporary furniture and modern art on the walls depicting a certain conception of what urban life should be about. The politician-builder nexus is well known. A SRA scheme can be force d upon anyone and residents are aware that the only way for them to get a legitimate house in the near future is their own hard work and destiny.

An interesting feature of this settlement is its road hierarchy. With no vehicles able to go up the steps of the hill, the only mode of transport is human and animal. The hilltop crest has several donkeys grazing, ready for whatever work may come up. Every house has a patio facing the city which acts as internal street whereas the steps winding down the hill act as the main road. Constructing a house uphill demands huge labour charges. A minimum 60 bags of cement, 30 bags of sand and 5000 bricks needs to be carried on foot. The labourer charges Rs 100-150 per bag as transport fee which doubles the cost, and a basic house costs around Rs 1.5 lacs. The cost of construction is higher because of use of relatively expensive materials and one extra floor as loft. The loft is usually rented to outsiders for Rs 2000/- a month. The cost of buying a 10 x15 sq ft house is around Rs 15-20 lacs. The local labourers called mistris who are experienced artisans in this field and usually inhabitants of the neighbourhood, are directly hired on daily wage basis for construction which usually last 15-20 days. The houses downhill are higher, have a larger footprint and are more ornate.

The settlement has several temples, public squares and courts, social mandals and groups on its way up and a bustling commercial street at the foothill. Commercial enterprises thrive mostly downhill, as goods transport is tedious and expensive uphill. However economic activities take place in homes as well. The dominant community which has largely migrated from the Malvan regions around Goa, work outside in the city. Most men do office jobs like data entry, peon, clerk or work in private security agencies. Women are mostly housewives and some of them work as part time maids in the neighbourhood buildings. They mostly wash utensils in various houses. A few homes do economic work like assembling parts for some manufacturing activity or the other or simply providing service at the village level. The average male income is Rs 7000-10000 whereas women earn Rs 2000 per month as maids. The area doesn’t function as intensively as the tool house clusters of some other settlements in Mumbai. They pay a monthly rental of Rs 170-220/- to an NGO for 25 minutes of daily water supply, spend around Rs 200/month on mobile phones, Rs 350/month on cable TV connection and some even spend Rs 200 on monthly internet services.

An interesting learning from Amrutnagar is the way people have organized themselves, developed construction technology and housing typologies without help from outside and how they go out on their own and innovate systems to make their life easier. There is a real sense of vernacular urbanism here. Construction techniques in Amrutnagar are unlike any parts of the city that we have visited. They are suited to meet local needs and means. Even without security of tenure and with very limited servicing by civic authorities, citizens have managed to look after themselves and their sheltering needs fairly well.

Sketches by Shardul Patil @urbz

As we climbed to the summit of the hillock, beyond the settlement, we found the landscape and atmosphere becoming gradually more relaxing. People sitting outside their homes, enjoying the view and the breeze, firmly committed to the quality of life they were living. They claimed there were no mosquitoes, since water slides away leaving no stagnant pools around. They would not want to go anywhere else.

A temple built in 1957 dedicated to Khandoba looms over the hill. The sleepy priest-guru-founder lounges around a charpai. He used to be a mechanical superintendent at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, turned to spirituality at a young age and built the temple with his hands. A labyrinthine structure with a maze leading to smaller shrines, leads you to the other end of the complex and into a landscape that is anachronistic to everything else we had seen. Lush green grass, pigs and donkeys loitering around. A pathway that seemed to lead to dense foliage, with the promise of a forest adventure.

We land up at the other end, past a hidden cricket field known only to the local kids, the view of a shooting range and a stone quarry, walk through the foliage politely turning away from stray people going to the open-air toilet (no smell – thanks to the pigs) and come to a tarred road and a helipad! Beyond the trees lies a gate and behind that the ‘illegal’ neighbourhood of Hirandanai Gardens can be seen. A city built on subsidized land meant for the poor, with no threat of any demolishing of any kind facing its destiny.

From the point of view of Dinesh, the boy taking a stroll with us, the view from the hill helps him gain perspective on life. Somehow the view, the peace, the trees remind him that a city can potentially provide you with all kinds of habitats. He knows it is a luxury to be able to walk up to a place like this. Right now it instigates him to return to his native village in Benares, so reminiscent is it of a memory he has from there. In minutes though, as he trundles down, he is absorbed into the bustle of the neighbourhood. He points to his father’s tailoring shop and the direction of his college. Back in another world. He is living in a transit camp now. An SRA tower is coming up to relocate his family. Will he stay on? Will he go back? As long as choices remain, all possibilities exist. Somehow one gets the feeling, as the neighbourhood transforms into tall vertical buildings, that the choices which enrich his simple life are diminishing, and diminishing too fast.

Dinesh

More photos and sketches here.

This article was written by Megha Gupta with contributions by Shardul Patil, Rahul Srivastava and Matias Echanove

This conference aims at expanding the scope of affordable housing initiatives in India. For the most, affordable housing has been seen as the result of state interventions responding to the needs of the urban poor. More recently, non-state actors (both profit driven and charitable) have entered the market for the provision of affordable housing.  The government is now actively encouraging market driven interventions that cross-subsidize the construction of affordable housing stock.

The Slum Rehabilitation Scheme in Mumbai is an example of this approach where land is released from erstwhile occupied lands in officially designated ‘slums’ through relocating residents in vertical structures, while providing valuable “transferable building rights” to developers. In other cities developers are directly purchasing cheap land wherever possible and targeting new buyers from the lower middle-class sector who were so far unable to afford housing at market rates. There housing is made affordable by lowering construction costs, minimizing the footprint of individual units and scaling up the size of housing projects.

Yet, expectations are still far from being met, both in terms of quantity and quality of affordable housing. According to some projections India still needs 27 million more units, while managing to produce hardly 1 million in the past 10 years. This need is likely to grow to 35 million units by 2025. Even more dramatic is the poor quality of stock being produced today.

The logic that consists in making housing affordable by reducing the cost of construction has lead to all kinds of malpractices. After a few years in existence, affordable housing blocks typically start crumbling down, leading to rising maintenance cost and lowering real estate value. Very soon they look and function worse than those they were meant to replace, and ready to be redeveloped themselves.

Between 1997 and 2002, the government and the builders built 500 000 houses in urban India, when in the same time, people built 8.5 million units in so-called “slums”. This conference will discuss new ways of conceiving, producing, financing and designing affordable housing, which break the self-defeating logic in which affordable housing seems to be locked in today. It focuses on a much-overlooked aspect of Indian cities: the ability of so many neighbourhoods to produce their own homes.

The so-called slums of the city are in many ways attempts at increasing affordable housing units through a different construction and financial system. Of course the discussions will take into consideration many dimensions – legal, political and economic – but also issues of design, the history of urban planning, twentieth century visions of modern cities and other rarely discussed concerns that are pertinent to a critical and effective policy on and practice about affordable housing.

The conference builds on weeks of pedagogic exchanges with students of  the Sir J.J. College of Architecture, URBZ, leading practitioners from India and abroad, and local contractors and masons. They have documented existing construction practices in the neighbourhoods of Shivaji Nagar -Govandi, Bhandup and Dharavi and evolved their own visions through this learning experience.  The students’ work that will be exhibited and presented during the conference, includes an in-depth understanding of the local construction processes and examines physical construction and financial sustainability.

This study opens up the possibility of re-looking at affordable housing in a manner that transcends, statist, private sector and market driven approaches and strives for a realistic and more effective model based on user’s involvement, community networks and local economic dynamics. Can we develop new models? Think out of the box? Support effective affordable housing initiatives as they are already unfolding in our shadow cities? We hope the conference starts asking – and answering – such questions towards this end.

See the conference page, for full programme and speakers’ bios.

Rahul Srivastava and Matias Echanove speak at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy on December 1st at 3PM. Followed by presentations by URBZ fellows and Politecnico graduates Alberto Bottero, Francesco Strocchio, Serena Alcamo, Daniela Bosco, Valeria Federighi, Miriam Bodino, Fabio Colucci.

Click here to enlarge the poster.

(Art by Alberto Bottero and Francesco Strocchio)

URBZ members Rahul and Matias spent a week in Bangalore at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements and discussed the future of Indian cities along with 39 participants from all over the country and 21 faculty members. In addition to giving a lecture on “Citizenship and Activism”, we also facilitated two groups of participants through the “practica” exercise. In the “practica”, participants were asked to respond to a proposal that seemed both absurd and all too real: to use a central space in Bangalore to create a new financial centre for the city and the country. Most groups rejected the idea of a new financial centre in Bangalore altogether and proposed alternatives such as a transport hub or an incubator and research centre.

The broad theme of this week-long seminar/studio was “Re-Imagining the World Class City.” The many debates and questions that arose over the week left it unclear whether the World Class City should be re-imagined at all. Many argued that the concept should be dropped at once, as it has been used and abused by a small constituency of big players in urban and real estate development to promote their vested interests, with little considerations for the historical, cultural and social specificity of Indian cities and urban settlements. We discuss this theme in a new post on airoots.org.

This event was meant as a preamble to the start of IIHS which aims at becoming India’s premier urban planning institution. From June onwards, it will offer undergraduate, masters and doctoral courses with a strong emphasis on practice. Headed by Aromar Revi, the Institute has a strong faculty, which includes the likes of Smita Srinivas of Columbia University, Peter Head, director of the global planning unit at Arup, and Caren Levy, director of the Development Planning Unit (DPU) at UCL. We will also continue our collaboration with IIHS as academic consultants.

For more on IIHS, visit their website.