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Source: https://scroll.in/article/967981/how...he-coronavirus
How strong is the link between Mumbai’s slums and the spread of the coronavirus?
Is slum redevelopment the best way to guarantee the city’s long-term health?
17 hours ago
Hussain Indorewala and Shweta Wagh
At a two-day conference on climate change in February, Mumbai’s Municipal Commissioner announced that densification – essentially, increasing Floor Space Index to construct high-rise buildings – is the only way for Mumbai to meet the twin challenges of environmental protection and housing.
People complain that through the process of slum redevelopment that accommodates residents of informal settlements in high-rise buildings, “we are creating urban vertical slums”, he said. But, he declared, we must look at the “big picture”. Building vertically allows us “to free up some land” for other facilities like sewerage and sanitation. Moreover, if we don’t “densify like this” we will have an “urban sprawl which [goes] 150 km outside Mumbai”.
Four months later, the pendulum swung the other way. As the number of Covid-19 cases in informal settlements like Mumbai’s Worli-Koliwada and Dharavi began to rise, “density” became a dangerous idea. Dharavi was described as “a ticking time bomb” – a “fertile ground for the virus to spread rapidly”...
How strong is the link between Mumbai’s slums and the spread of the coronavirus?
Is slum redevelopment the best way to guarantee the city’s long-term health?
17 hours ago
Hussain Indorewala and Shweta Wagh
At a two-day conference on climate change in February, Mumbai’s Municipal Commissioner announced that densification – essentially, increasing Floor Space Index to construct high-rise buildings – is the only way for Mumbai to meet the twin challenges of environmental protection and housing.
People complain that through the process of slum redevelopment that accommodates residents of informal settlements in high-rise buildings, “we are creating urban vertical slums”, he said. But, he declared, we must look at the “big picture”. Building vertically allows us “to free up some land” for other facilities like sewerage and sanitation. Moreover, if we don’t “densify like this” we will have an “urban sprawl which [goes] 150 km outside Mumbai”.
Four months later, the pendulum swung the other way. As the number of Covid-19 cases in informal settlements like Mumbai’s Worli-Koliwada and Dharavi began to rise, “density” became a dangerous idea. Dharavi was described as “a ticking time bomb” – a “fertile ground for the virus to spread rapidly”...