An effective transformation of a space like Dharavi is possible only if we utilise resources that exist inside the community skills, willingness to mobilise assets and raising funds
The immense ferment that Dharavi has seen in the last few years has settled down a bit. This is to do with the global financial crisis that translates into the expected cold-shouldering of the promised private investment in the Dharavi redevelopment plan.
According to many involved sources, there is hesitation on the part of several parties to say anything definite about where exactly the plans are headed now, especially if they were linked to private investment and realestate development rather than the masked rhetoric about slum redevelopment and rehabilitation.
However, activist groups working in the field of housing, which did not directly connect with the feverish rhetoric, find themselves having some more breathing space. What they do eventually with this breather only time will tell.
According to a few unconventional urban planners, this is the best time to bring to notice the fact that a really effective transformation of a space like Dharavi is only possible from within. In other words, it will have to rely on the resources that exist inside the community in terms of skills, willingness to mobilise resources and raising funds. However, this has to be framed within the logic of incrementalism the idea that slow, step-by-step growth and changes over time and stimulated by the needs of natural growth of families and communities is the best way ahead.
If we look carefully at those spaces within Dharavi where some level of incrementalism has occurred spontaneously, we see the way economic mobility has spurred a natural improvement. Homes have been improved upon and built over. In some cases the communities have come together to build and improve sewage and drainage systems on their own.
The residents of Dharavi have always aspired to better living standards, and demonstrated extraordinary resilience and creativity in the face of social exclusion and economic hardship. Many commentators, including The Economist, have been impressed with the dynamism and entrepreneurialism displayed by its residents.
Studies show a very high degree of absorption of new technologies by the population. Every lane in Dharavi has a cell phone retailer, and cybercafes are flourishing.
If these internal energies are allowed to spill over into the space of self-development or what are also called autobuilt urban environments then the government does not have to play a role beyond providing a support system.
From within the logic of incrementalism, Dharavi does not appear to be a complex, overcrowded, chaotic space but one that is teeming with resources. Of course, the several decades of political and social indoctrination in which patronage has been the norm has had its toll. Often it is difficult for the residents themselves to have faith in their own capabilities simply because the local leaders and political representatives browbeat them into a passive role. Activists should have cut through the space of centralised leadership to create structures for organic participation. Processes have often worked by default or accident.
Unfortunately, the language of activism that Mumbai and the country at large has become used to is an extension of state patronage. If the nongovernmental organisation also speaks a version of statism, then there is slim chance of a genuine break from old thought processes. In this scenario, it will be impossible to make incrementalism part of a policy statement. That would involve the same level of synthetic intervention as wholesale manufacturing of consent.
Instead, the best way ahead would be to take advantage of a situation where the overheated markets are correcting themselves and also correct a bit of the overheated political rhetoric that we have also become attached to!
Residents of Dharavi have always demonstrated extraordinary resilience and creativity in the face of economic hardships
Rahul Srivastava, a PUKAR associate, specialises in urban issues, and writes on traffic, trains, illegal construction, Mithi, monsoon… in short all things that make Mumbai go grrr