ABSTRACT
Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is India’s largest city, home to over 14 million residents. With a population density of about 57,000 persons per square mile, it is more than twice as dense as New York City. 1 Mumbai is also India’s financial and entertainment capital, attracting thousands of new migrants weekly from around the country in search of employment, which can be relatively easy to find in the booming economy. Finding adequate shelter is another story. The city has some of India’s most expensive real estate markets (and the world’s, comparable to New York and London). With far more demand than supply, land is Mumbai’s most prized commodity and is out-of-reach for most residents. Truly affordable rental housing is also limited. The result is an enormous informal sector of tenements and squatter settlements, covering perhaps ten per cent of the city’s land, but housing three-quarters of the residents. This has earned the city the infamous reputation as the ‘global capital of slum dwelling’. 2 The informal sector has been part of the cityscape for centuries, but has been expanding rapidly in recent decades. It coexists with the planned city, and this juxtaposition makes Mumbai a city of contrasts between opulence and squalor; consumption and basic existence.
