“When the city is getting built — big infrastructure like roads, flyovers, buildings — it’s the homeless that is doing the work. They are the foundation of the city. Once the people settle into these newly built areas, they need other services to be in place; then, again, homeless come into play. Then, again, we demand them.” This week we speak with Abhishek Bharadwaj, founder of Alternative Realities, an organization that advocates on behalf of Mumbai’s 200,000 homeless. We discuss who is homeless, what the barriers to housing are, and some innovative solutions that include creating “cities within cities.” Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 03/11/2013 – 01:00
The horrific gang rape of a 23-year-old in Delhi last December publicly unearthed a truth too well known among Indian women: threats to their safety are everywhere — in the home, on the streets, aboard public transportation, and in city parks. Though the Delhi case was particularly gruesome, the protests that rippled throughout India in its wake have spotlighted the everyday harassment that beleaguers women and has left activists questioning how to develop safer and more inviting cities for all. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 03/04/2013 – 00:00
When Kid Powered Media rolls into a Delhi slum with its portable movie theater in the back of a white Suzuki van, everyone shows up. The 10-foot screen lights up with a battery-powered projector to showcase a drama-filled flick. But this is not your typical Bollywood film, and the stars on the screen are not your typical Bollywood actors. The films all star kids from the community who have written and performed the socially-focused movies to raise awareness about issues that concern them, as kids. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 02/25/2013 – 00:00
Urban governance in India — and in many regional cities — is at a crossroads. Megacities have grown at such rapid rates that current governance structures are ill-equipped to meet increasing demands. Citizens, especially the poor, lack basic services across the spectrum — housing, sanitation, transportation, clean water, and the list goes on. Many regional cities are struggling with how to usher in more efficient and effective governance to improve the lives of urban residents. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 02/18/2013 – 00:00
Rahul Pol’s karate class as a teenager changed the course of his life. When he was young, his family — he, his parents, and three younger sisters — lived on the streets of Mumbai for four years. He had dreams of becoming a doctor, but the difficult life began to wear on him. Pol soon lost motivation to go to school and began picking up small jobs on the street. “It was a bad environment with many bad influences,” recalls Pol. By age 12, he was an addict, taking drugs, drinking, and overdosing on over-the-counter medications. “Every night, I said I’ll wake up and stop today, but then I would end up with my friends and the cycle continued,” admits Pol, who is now 24. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 02/11/2013 – 00:00
Mumbai’s millions of commuters rely on a woefully outdated public transportation system. The two-and-only rail lines carry more than 7.24 million people every day. The dangerously overcrowded Mumbai locals, while surprisingly fast and frequent, have become increasingly life-threatening. An average of 12 people die every day on the suburban tracks. Any commuter who can afford to buy a car does so, leaving a traffic-tangled mess of cars, rickshaws, taxis, and worn-out busses on the dusty streets. The resulting emissions concerns have reached alarming rates as well. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 02/04/2013 – 23:00
Over the last 20 years, slums have experienced something of a revival in the popular imagination. A series of UN-Habitat reports on the issue of slums, media images of sprawling and heaving settlements, and a host of scholarly interventions — notably Mike Davis’ work Planet of Slums — all have served to sharpen attention on the size and growth of slums across the globe. While the word “slum” may conjure a Dickensian world, it is now proving historically malleable, making us look not only backwards, but forwards. For Mike Davis, the future holds a “Planet of Slums”; for UN Habitat, it holds “Cities without Slums.” Either way, the image of the slum has become integral to how we visualise the future of our urban spaces — and as slums increasingly shape projections of the future, two contrasting and forceful images have emerged. How has the slum come to define both an urban utopia and a crisis of modernity? Read more.
Submitted by Holly Young — Mon, 02/04/2013 – 10:08
Mumbai’s millions of commuters rely on a woefully outdated public transportation system. The two-and-only rail lines carry more than 7.24 million people every day. (The New York City Subway system has 24 rail lines through five boroughs on 656 miles of track and carries an average of 4.8 million passengers each weekday; that’s a mere 60 percent of the people carried on Mumbai’s 265 miles of lines.) The dangerously overcrowded Mumbai locals, while surprisingly fast and frequent, have become increasingly life-threatening. An average of 12 people die every day on the suburban tracks. Any commuter who can afford to buy a car does so, leaving a traffic-tangled mess of cars, rickshaws, taxis, and worn-out busses on the dusty streets. The resulting emissions concerns have reached alarming rates as well. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 02/04/2013 – 00:00
In Dharavi, Mumbai’s largest and best-known slum, the population is estimated to be a half-million people living within one square kilometer of overcrowded space. However, the accuracy of these “estimates” is questionable. Capturing accurate data of vulnerable populations can be difficult for reasons that include varying household numbers (dwellers and their families move back and forth between their native villages) and difficulty in gaining access to densely populated areas. Most frequently, however, the reason is denial: if the government doesn’t have the numbers, then they don’t have to react. Read more or join the discussion.
Submitted by Carlin Carr — Mon, 01/28/2013 – 00:00
Mumbai has a long history of conflict with hawkers, but what is happening in the past few years is nothing short of human rights violations as the State “cleans up” the city to make it “world-class.” Yes, the hawkers obstruct pedestrian movement, but is that really the concern that has led to the recent crackdown? The poor are being sacrificed to liberate street space in the name of pedestrians; however, the reality is that the spaces will be handed over to motorists for parking. In fact, parking on both sides of the streets and even on footpaths is now emerging as the biggest threat to pedestrians and a cause for traffic congestion — an issue that is being conveniently overlooked by the police.
Submitted by Rishi Aggarwal — Sun, 01/27/2013 – 00:00