Title: Reengineering an urban slum: a case study of Dharavi, India

Authors: Abhijit Roy, Mousumi Roy

Addresses: Kania School of Management, University of Scranton, 320 Madison Avenue, Scranton, PA 18510, USA. ' Penn State University Worthington Scranton, 120 Ridge View Drive, Dunmore, PA 18512-1699, USA

Abstract: The Maharashtra Government in India has given the green light on the Dharavi slum redevelopment project in the heart of the business district of Mumbai in India. A total of 535 acres will have to be reengineered to resettle about 600,000 current residents of this slum neighbourhood. This project, which began in 2007, will cost Rs. 10,000 crores ($2.5 billion) over 7 years. We begin by using a historical analysis to understand the growth of Dharavi over the past century, and then appraise the proposed reengineering project using a holistic stakeholder approach, and simultaneously examine potential caveats of the proposal. According to a recent UN-HABITAT report, rural to urban migration will continue to spiral in the next few decades, thus creating larger urban slum populations throughout the developing world. If successful, the Dharavi project has a wide potential of being replicated in reengineering other urban slums in India and elsewhere.

Keywords: Asia; India; urban slums; slum redevelopment; cities; reengineering; Dharavi; Maharashtra; business districts; Mumbai; resettlement; neighbourhood residents; historical analysis; holistic approaches; stakeholders; United Nations; human settlements; UN-HABITAT; rural migration; slum populations; developing world; sustainable society; sustainability; sustainable development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2010.036945

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2010 Vol.2 No.4, pp.420 - 437

Published online: 18 Nov 2010 *

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