Comments on: Dharavi 2025

By: prasoon

prasoon — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:23:36 +0000

As much as I admire the government for succeeding in brining in the money for Dharavi Redevelopment, which is most often the most difficult part for a redevelopment scheme. My critque is that the government is seeing this only as a real estate venture with rehabilitation as one of the elements in the plan. They have oversimplified the complexities and missed out a lot of critical steps in moving ahead. A good plan for redevelopment of Dharavi would need a lot more brain power, studies, discussions, debates and practical solutions.

By: rahul

rahul — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:14:32 +0000

Hey Prasoon, Thanks for your comment. We went through the dharavievolution.typepad.com study. It is well thought out and comprehensive. To understand the need for diversity in built-forms in relation to specific needs is difficult to achieve when it is part of designed intentions. However, it evolves all the time in certain contexts. Maybe a study that attempts to understand what exactly these contexts are would help. Lets keep in touch. Do take a look at our latest entry on airoots that incrementalism – http://www.airoots.org/?p=551

By: prasoon

prasoon — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:57:18 +0000

The above story could well be a truth of the future. A lot of people can see it coming but do not know what to do. The easiest thing to do in creating high density on a small piece of land is to create high rise buildings, its the easy way out. Dont we humans always tend to take the path of least resistance.
I work for an international planning firm. My Regional Director posed a similar question to me a few months ago, can you think of a scheme to redevelop Dharavi which is low rise (3 storey) and high in density. A new Dharavi which would belong to its residents and be a new heart for the changing metropolis of Mumbai. I along with my colleagues sat down on this task which was by no means easy.
It was an interesting process that led into a deep study about Dharavi, its residents, the Nagars, their work patterns along with an understanding of the needs of the City, expectations by its population for its future and how Dharavi could evolve into a sustainable mini-city with its identity which is different from today. All this without loosing what is described above as the “spirit”.
‘Dharavi Evolution’ is a short documentation that has emerged from this study. It is available for download at http://dharavievolution.typepad.com/. We have successfully provide a range of housing solutions that cater to families depending on their work profile, needs and future aspirations. For example, families with their own workshops need low rise housing/ industrial space while people who commute to other part of Mumbai need to be located closer to the stations for ease of commute. The scale also changes along streets and at key nodes to define the nodes within the large Dharavi landscape. And the massing also responds to the fore sale component to create harmonious relationships between new and renewed.

By: Xavier

Xavier — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:27:09 +0000

Great