Tag Archives: mumbai

Static/Kinetic: An Intertwined Boundary

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Reading about the static and kinetic components of a city is a fascinating idea that creates a multitude of opportunities. The relationship between the two means for unique moments of interventions in the interstitial space between the two city identities. More opportunities come up when one considers the temporary characteristic of the kinetic city. It constantly modifies itself, and therefore is naturally created by materials with a temporary characteristic; as opposed to the more permanent, and common, building blocks of the static city. (Burdett 108) I find it particularly interesting when the reading begins to subtly label the kinetic city as having more of a ‘cultural memory’ as opposed to the static city which is, once again, subtly labeled as being more ‘object-centric (devoid of life)’. (Burdett 111) Furthermore, the issue of boundary, something that was also brought up last week when referring to the boundary of the formal and the informal market, an area Urban Think Thank referred to as Urban Acupuncture, is brought up again this week when discussing the boundary between the static and the kinetic city. An example given in the reading is the porch-like structure that is built by the PWD and attached to a building to protect the people from monsoons. What made me curious about this event was that the already-curious-boundary between the kinetic and static all of a sudden become even more blurred, in a symbolic sense, than they already are as the kinetic city clearly expands itself into the static, even if it’s momentarily. It raises quite a few questions, such as how the people living in the formal and static city respond to the informal and the formal city. While many of these readings are written from the point of view of the residents of the slums and their way of life, it might be interesting to see how the formal population sees it. How would they feel about a temporary structure that is attached to their building?

Looking at Rediscovering Dharavi, a small portion of the reading discusses a “a time when it was seriously argued that efforts should not be made to ease the lives of the urban poo by providing them basic urban services or house, because then many more of their kin would rush to the city.” (Sharma 37) Yes, argued that efforts should not be made. Recognizing that the government, or the people in charge of making such decisions, is part of the formal market and the static city, it is an interesting notion that such a train of thought actually existed at one point. Of course, by the 1980s, this kind of thought was scrapped and a more humane approach towards the topic was achieved. In fact, it is hard to label the government as being inhumane by thinking in that way because, “a place like Dharavi poses several difficult challenges for the government.” (Sharma 37) Part of the book discusses a what-if scenario: what if the government had anticipated the fast growth of Mumbai, and invested in low-cost, low-income housing for migrant workers? “Some of the present crisis that the city faces would have been averted.” (Sharma 35) While there exists a notion of nallah, or the diving line between settlements in Dharavi, one wonders the extent of the boundary between the static and the kinetic, the equivalent of the nallah, on a bigger scale. (Sharma 10) As mentioned earlier in this entry, this idea of the bigger scale nallah, the interstitial space, is what makes the urbanity of Mumbai so interesting.

One cannot deny that the “slum is not a chaotic collection of structures; it is a dynamic collection of individuals.” (Sharma 34) And these individuals, with years of trial and error, have figured out a way to live with each other, to tolerate each other. Not only is this true for the nallah boundary within the slums, but also the greater, more curious boundary between the static and the kinetic. Their coexistence with each other, their sense of being intertwined as a machine which works together, is made apparent with the concept of Dabbawalas. These “tiffin suppliers”, deliver food to thousands of workers across the city. (Percot 1) These informal employees visit the homes of dozens of employees, pick up the food that was prepared for them, and deliver it right to their workplaces. A job that is clearly in the informal sector, but very much thrives on the formal sector. In fact, it has become such a popular industry that it is “elevated to the status of model of Mumbai entrepreneurship.” (Percot 1) The idea of the Dabbawalas is very unique. While many will wonder why the worker won’t just bring his own food to the work place, it is apparent that the density of Mumbai makes it extremely difficult to carry one’s food to work at the peak of rush hour. The idea of the Dabbawala is pure entrepreneurship. Not only does it take a situation which might seem unfortunate for many and turn it into a job that satisfies both sides of the business, but it is a clear demonstration of the intertwined existing of the two economies, formal and informal, and the two cities, static and kinetic.

 

Works Cited

Burdett, Richard, and Deyan Sudjic. 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. Print.

Percot, Marie. “Dabbawalas, Tiffin Carriers of Mumbai: Answering a Need for Specific Catering.” (n.d.): 1-10. Web. <http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/03/54/97/PDF/DABBA.pdf>.

Sharma, Kalpana. Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s Largest Slum. New Delhi: Penguin, 2000. Print.

 

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

Urban Acupuncture

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“I began to wonder about the morality of a world that denies people jobs in their home areas and denies them homes in the areas where they have gone to get jobs.” (Neuwirth 12) As Robert Neuwirth does so in Shadow Cities, it is easy to ‘wonder about the morality’ of dozens of situations that we see in today’s world. Unfortunately, as cliche as it may sound, the world is an unforgiving place. While it is easy to wonder about humanity, it is more important to do something about it. When reading about the ‘slums’ across the world, I couldn’t help but wonder why there wasn’t a greater resistance against the creation of areas like Sultanbeyli. Similar to the January 2005 movement in Mumbai, where about 300,000 people were pushed out of the city, without a care as to where the evicted people would go. The sense to resist against these kinds of settlements would be based on the definition and notions towards a slum as being “laden with emotional values: decay, dirt, and disease.” (Neuwirth 16) This would be one way of looking at things.

The fact of the matter is that we are way passed that point. As John Beardsley explains, the “mass country-to-city migrations of the mid 20th century” is one of the underlying reasons as to the growing populations of cities, the lack of preparation by the government, and thus the result of what we know today as the ‘slums’. (Beardsley 55) One can question the morality of the way of life in slums and feel a sense of inhumanity, or, on the other side of the scale, have a sense of repulsion toward these places. However, the infrastructure of such places have been under construction for decades, and are a seemingly permanent way of life. The reality is that it works. The ‘informal sector exists. And it exists with a very strong foundation. In “the 1980s crisis … informal sector employment grew two to five times faster than formal sector jobs … in majority of Third World cities.” (Davis 178) This, to me, is an incredible statistic. It is not only incredible in the sense that a naturally growing informal sector can be so ‘successful’, but it is also incredible in the sense that these ‘slums’ are there. They are very much there and they are staying. Reading that fact, and recognizing the entrepreneurial aspect of the informal sector, it all of a sudden seems shameful to refer to these settlements as slums.

With the realization that these ‘slums’ are here to stay, what begins to interest me at this early point of this topic is the idea of the connection between these formal and informal cities; what Urban Think Tank refers to as the Urban Acupuncture. (Neuwirth 58) I currently live in Istanbul, and on a personal and emotional level, I might have a completely different response towards the ‘slums’, or the gecekondu, and the consequences these kinds of communities and the people living in them might bring to the city. However, on a macro scale, and on an objective level, there is no way of doing what Mumbai did in 2005 and kicking thousands of people out. There needs to be a some sort of realization and stances toward the urban acupuncture; whether this is blurring the boundary between the formal and the informal, or taking the existing boundaries and making them even taller.

Bibliography

Neuwirth, Robert. Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, a New Urban World. New York: Routledge, 2005. Print.

Beardsley, John. “A Billion Slum Dwellers and Counting.” Harvard Design Magazine Dec.-Jan. 2007/2008: 54-59. Print.

Davis, Mike. Planet of Slums. London: Verso, 2006. Print.