Daily Archives: February 3, 2013

Labels and Stereotypes

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Should this be the true representation of a slum?
Photo by Daniel Berehulak/ Getty Images [3]

Tin roofs of different shades put in patterns not made for esthetics but for the sole purpose of keeping rain out, a dilapidated door that creeks, a card board wall with a humidity mark in the shape of heart, trash everywhere and grass ridden areas, one can say these are descriptions of slum conditions given by one who visits from the outside world. However, where in this description might one find the smile given by all the people encountered during the visit or the kindness with which one is treated when visiting each local vendor or the pride and diversity in character/culture found in each habitant of the slum? The fact is that this is very uncommon because sadly talking about such things would not give justice to what we outsiders consider “real” slum dwellers. For some reason there is a criminal connotation that is used when people think of these slums but why is this so? As Kalpana Sharma argues, “ It is this deemed illegal status of informal settlements like Dharavi that makes people presume that they are breeding grounds for criminals and other ‘antisocial’ settlements. And that their crammed condition exacerbates tensions-communal, class or caste. “ [1] Most of these assumptions are more than likely based on stereotypes created by media outputs that have failed to accurately portray the inhabitants of slums in an accurate way.
Dharavi is a slum in Mumbai that is characterized by living conditions that are sometimes not the most favorable ones. Its location in the city has changed in the past due to demolition in order to make way for new “legal” construction projects. However, Dharavi is a place that in itself is a mixture of different religions and cultures from all around India but whose population is extremely crowded into one sector due to large scale migration from rural areas during the latter part of the 1900’s. Furthermore, this combined with “inadequate supply of urban land and the lack of the creation of new urban centers resulted in extremely high density cities.” [2]These habitats of agglomerated living then amount for close interaction of these different people with quite similar goals and for a new kind of city that can be said to be “kinetic”. This elasticity of Dharavi to adapt is mostly based upon the fact of the high velocity with which construction is achieved and the ability to quickly dismount these dwellings due to the recyclability of the construction materials. Moreover, this kinetic behavior can also be seen as the personal adaptation that many of the inhabitants go through to live with people who at times in history they have been in conflict with.
The history that each inhabitant brings from their part of India contributes immensely to the development of the community. It is incredible that even though these groups are so different within themselves they still manage to organize themselves at the micro scale into their religious/cultural groups but come together at the macro scale to work in the informal job sectors and construct a better lives for themselves and the community. The human development of Dharavi is then quite advanced because if we consider a country with so much diversity in terms of languages, culture, and religion coming together in one neighborhood to live at peace then this is an achievement that many parts of the world are still trying to acquire. Consider the density of the population which is “an estimated 18,000 per acre. In this densely packed area you find twenty seven temples, eleven mosques, and six churches.” [1] It is no surprise that what surfaces for these inhabitants are not their less than desirable living conditions but the life stories and character of each individual.
Dharavi as Sharma states, “is the intermingling of the stories of its residents ordinary and extraordinary . Of their lives their histories and the history of the city of Mumbai.” [1]This allows them to create a developed neighborhood in terms of human interaction where acceptance has evolved to become a part of everyday life in order to create harmony and stand against the oppressions of those from the “formal” or “static” city. If we measured the level of human character development and perhaps not so much the material development then maybe we would not be so fast to connote these individuals with titles of criminals.

Discover Dharavi through its people:

1. http://www.tanya-n.com/?p=136

2. http://www.followtheboat.com/2010/06/06/the-dharavi-slums-of-mumbai-in-photographs/?nggpage=9

Bibliography

1. Sharma Kalpana, Rediscovering Dhavari: stories from Asia’s largest slum ( New Delhi ; New York : Penguin Books, 2000.), xvi-xxxviii.
2. Burdett, Richard, and Deyan Sudjic. “The Static and the Kinetic.” Living in the Endless City: The Urban Age Project by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. London: Phaidon, 2011.

3.  Berehulak Daniel, Mosaic of Poverty. Time Magazine, From Getty Images, http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1877000_1840436,00.html , Feb 2, 2013

 

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Act As Fluid

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Comparing with other global south countries, India is characterized with its cultural and social division within the country: influence from British colonization and local Hindu tradition. Corresponding to elite and subaltern culture, most Indian cities are separated into “the static city” and “the kinetic city” in urban landscape and economic development. The static city, like its name reveals, represents the in state-controlled economy, under which middle and higher classes have relatively more stable life. As the site, the static city includes the elite architectural forms of the whole city. On the other hand, the kinetic city shows all contraction of the static city: post-industrial economy, lower income people, and the elastic and temporary urban condition that is not even recorded in traditional city map. It is surprised that in today’s India, these two sides of cities are sharing the same urban space, and more likely, to resolve into each other.  The kinetic city, acting as fluid, occupies every leftover space in the static city and starts to bond two parts of cities, establishing a rich relationship between the inner divisions of Indian cities.

The kinetic city, holding and providing living for more than half of the population, has potential to change the urban landscape mainly formed with static city’s architecture and infrastructure. Rahul Mehrotra mentioned in his article “The Static and The Kinetic” about the bazaar in Victorian arcades in Mumbai, which manifests the original use of the arcades in a more suitable and elastic way. Bazaars still function as the connection between streets and buildings as well as the shelter for pedestrians. The interpretation of the kinetic city provides opportunity for elite historic architecture to adjust its function to the current social condition.

Dharavi, one typical example of these settlements in the kinetic part of Mumbai, started from the edge of the city, and have to move every time when the squatted land become useful for the static side again. The kinetic city always is the vulnerable side in the urban land competition because of the illegalness. However, it is surprising that in this condition Dharavi even is able to function as a transfer station, giving “ jobs to successive waves of rural migrants till they can move on to something else” and some even start own business after the training in Dharavi.

The huge impact of the kinetic city to the State can no longer be ignored. Its requirement for the urban environment is proved to have huge impact on the “static” architecture, even though people still live in temporary simple kinetic house. Both Sharma and Mehrotra mentioned about the necessity of constructing architecture with communities genuinely involving in rather than the profit driven projects.

 

 

Burdett, Richard, and Deyan Sudjic. “The Static and the Kinetic.” Living in the Endless City: The Urban Age Project by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. London: Phaidon, 2011

Sharma, Kalpana. Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s Largest Slum

The Community of Squatters

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In squatter settlements such as Dharavi, it is important to note that the social situation is often not the most pressing issue that needs to be addressed.  Many times, particularly in settlements that have existed for long periods of time, there is a strong sense of community that is not always present in affluent areas.  In Dharavi, people are employed, have a community with similar histories surrounding them, and are proud of how they have improved their own and their family’s situation.

Dharavi has roots going back over one hundred years, and thus has had time to establish itself, its businesses and its neighborhoods, as well as assert its importance within the city.  As it has become more centrally located within Mumbai between two major train routes, Dharavi has become a focus for the city, particularly the politicians.  Multiple redevelopments have been attempted, however, the only truly successful ones included community involvement (Sharma xviii).  A sense of belonging to a group is part of what sets Dharavi apart from many densely populated areas of the world.  People can connect over their common struggle to move upward in society as well as over cultural similarities.

Inhabitants of slums in Mumbai, like the dabbawalas, often live with a group from their home town.  This strengthens the sense of community, and promotes a peaceful environment, not a violent one as many people assume.  For much of its existence Dharavi has been a relatively peaceful place to live. There have been religious riots in recent years, but previous to that, there were seemingly few problems.  This indicates that even in an area of such density containing an enormous variety of people, governmental control is not necessarily the only solution.

Most importantly, while much of the world is in a state of economic distress, Dharavi has avoided many of the problems that come with government involvement in the economy.  As a result, “almost everyone seems to be employed in some kind of work. And many have prospered through a mixture of hard work, some luck and a great deal of ingenuity” (Sharma xxxv).  This is not to say that the working conditions are safe or healthy, quite the contrary, they certainly need to be addressed, but at least many of the residents of Dharavi are employed (Sharma xviii).  The availability of jobs also allows for social mobility, giving many the hope for a rags to riches story of their own.  This is a promising  aspect of the extra-governmental society that has formed within Mumbai, which proves that even without government control, economies can flourish.

Many people consider squatter settlements to be disorganized in every way solely because they often appear so in their physical layout.  With a closer look at Dharavi, it is made clear that just because it do not follow government standards, that does not mean that it is a disorganized place.  In fact, the complex network of dabbawalas that Percot describes illustrates that intense focus on detail and planning.  Without each person being in exactly the correct place at the correct time, the system would fall apart.

The dabbawalas are the perfect example of the successes of informal settlements.  They function as a single organized entity with a complex set of rules that govern their jobs.  They have created a system of symbols that when paired with their extensive route planning allows them to have an efficient system of deliveries throughout Mumbai (Percot 8).  These men all belong to a single community, from a single area of India, so they have a strong sense of solidarity, as well as social control within their group (Percot 4).  Stories like those of the dabbawalas are what make Dharavi such a unique settlement with incredible potential.  They express the highly organized social and economic system that has grown within an ‘illegal’ community.

 

Burdett, Richard, and Deyan Sudjic. “The Static and the Kinetic.” Living in the Endless City: The Urban Age Project by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. London: Phaidon, 2011.

Percot, Marie. “Dabbawalas, Tiffin Carriers of Mumbai: Answering a Need for Specific Catering.”

Sharma, Kalpana. Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s Largest Slum

Exploding Myths

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When thinking about the attitudes of people living in slums, an assumption that seems easy to make is that the people forced to live in slum conditions will be bitter, depressed, and aggressive to get what they need. This would be linked to crime and violence that should be a regular occurrence in a place packed full of people with an attitude such as this. When compounded with religious tension and rivalry, it should only make matters worse. However, when reading about the slums in Mumbai, India, the opposite is true. Kalpana Sharma describes in his book Rediscovering Dharavi this assumption: “it is this deemed illegal status of informal settlements like Dharavi that makes people presume that they are breeding grounds for criminals and other ‘antisocial’ elements. It is also assumed that the spatial layout of such settlements, where people have no place to breathe and live literally on top of each other, exacerbated tensions – communal, class or caste….[yet] Dharavi explodes these myths.” Even though clashes have happened between the groups of Muslims and Hindus living together, Sharma demonstrates that the statistics are drastically low for this area.

A sense of community and dependence on others and the avoidance of conflict makes sense to cultivate in a slum environment, which benefits all parties involved. When trying to survive and provide for your family and yourself, fear of violence and crime is understandably something to avoid at all costs. In what may be seen as a benefit of this understanding is the link that the Mumbai slums have with the formal city. The connection between the “static city,” the formal, legal construct of Mumbai, and the “kinetic city,” the informal, always-changing slums, can be seen as desirable. Described by Rahul Mehrotra in Living in the Endless City, the attitude of being able to live together despite differences within the slums has become a conduit for the interconnectedness of the poorer class in the kinetic city living and inhabiting Mumbai alongside the static city.

The shared sense of community and survival of the kinetic city, with its drastically impermanent environment and the need to adapt to different neighbors and people groups is something that is worth studying more. In different places where kinetic-static city relationships exist, it would be interesting to observe the relationships between the communities and the individuals who share the same heritage and cultural backgrounds and locations.

In an interesting related post, this article notes the ways in which lower-income families in the Unites States have historically and consistently been more generous in terms of giving money, despite a lacking of it.

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120826/LOCAL10/308269954

Illegitimacy Becoming Legitimate

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The situation within Mumbai shows that a strong and complex relationship exits between those in the city that are illegitimate, the “kinetic city” and those that are legitimate, the “static city”. [1] This relationship is, in a way, self-serving in how the static city legitimizes the kinetic city. Mehrotra depicts the kinetic city as brushed under the rug to make room for the static city, but the physical girth of the kinetic city has made that less of an option. Therefore the static city has no choice but to acknowledge the presence of the kinetic city. This acknowledgement of the kinetic city, is more then simply an acknowledgement of a problem but more a confession. The static city had in a way denied the existence of the kinetic city.

This new acceptance alters the relationship that exists between the static and kinetic city. The static city, the city of the working class has legitimacy. The inhabitants that make up the static city follow the norms of the established society with all the legal ramifications and standards that come with it. They have legitimacy as a people and as individuals. The static city did not have the legitimacy. But the new relationship between the two gives the static city legitimacy. As the kinetic city grew and became more complex it forced it self into a position where it had to coexists with the static city. This created the opportunity for interaction.

The dabbawalas are an example of this legitimacy and interaction. The working class of Mumbai, the static city, and the dabbawalas, the kinetic city, exists in a homeostatic relationship. The dabbawalas need the socially motivated wishes of the working class to have a home cooked meal for lunch as to provide them with jobs while the static city needs the dabbawalas to indulge there wishes. [2] This relationship forces the working class to realize the existence of the kinetic city. This admittance of existence is what gives the static city its legitimacy. The working class is now integrating the lower class into existence.

This legitimacy has effects on both the kinetic city and the static city. If the kinetic city was to be threatened then the static city too will change. If the dabbawalas cannot do there job because the trains stop working then the static city loses it home cooked lunch on a day to day basis. The static city has now become dependent on the survival of he kinetic city and the systems and infrastructure that maintains the institution of the dabbawalas and the kinetic city.

This is based on the idea that the static city legitimized the kinetic city, but it is very possible that the kinetic city delegitimizes the static city. If the static city has become dependent on the kinetic city and the practices of the kinetic city, with out directly altering the nature of the kinetic city, yet becoming dependent of the kinetic city it can be said that the kinetic city is the instigator of change.

 

[1] “Living in the Endless City”, Rahul Mehrotra. pg 108.

[2]” Dabbawalas, Tiffin Carriers of Mumbai: Answering a Need for Specific Catering”, Marie Percot. pg. 2