Mumbai: Case study of Urbanisation

Mumbai: Case study of Urbanisation

1. Location

   • Western Coast of India, Asia
   • Leading commercial city of India
   • Capital city of the Maharashtra state

2. Characteristics

   • Population of Mumbai 2010 - over 20million
   • 2025 population estimated to be over 26million
   • 2001 census: migrants accounted for 37% of the population growth in Mumbai
     • Estimated that Mumbai receives 1000 new migrants a day
       • With around 9/10 migrants coming from a rural background
   • Around 1million people per square mile

3. Causes

   • Employment rate of Dharavi was 85% in 2010
     • Found that around 30% of migrants were working in the same job for 15-24 yrs
     • Mumbai's universities produces well-educated, English-speaking graduates, employed by large western companies (BT)
   • Companies are attracted to Mumbai - low tax rates
   • Booming manufacturing industries
     • Half of Mumbai's factory workers work in the textiles industry - producing cotton for export
     • High demand for housing, factories and offices = increase in the construction industry
   • Mumbai has the world's largest film industry - Bollywood

4. Consequences

   • Low tax rate - city has low revenue from which to provide public services
     • Most low income earners cannot afford charges for these services = development of slums
   • India's wage rates are very low = many skilled graduates get employed by western companies
   • Mumbai's wealth draws people in - but most hopefuls arriving live in poverty = low quality of life for large % of population
   • Even those with living spaces have cramped, expensive housing far from their workplace
     • Leads to overcrowded buses and trains - over 3,500 people die on Mumbai's suburban railway each year

5. Redevelopment - Vision Mumbai

   • Quality of life had deteriorated in Mumbai; Slums have multiplied, as well as congestion, pollution and water problems
   • VM = plan to transform the city into a world-class location and to tackles problems causing the lower quality of life
     • Work on plan started in 2004, was completion targeted for 2013
   • If the economic growth was to continue at 8-10% a year, then the vision was to have over a million low-cost homes built, slum populations to fall to 10-12% of their 2000 and improvements in pollution, sanitation, education and health to be made
   • Part of VM means that Dharavi and other slums will have to go
     • The plan states for the land, worth $10billion, to be sold and developed
   • In return for every square foot of new housing built for the poor, they are allowed 30% more for commercial development
   • 2007 = 200,000 people moved and 45,000 homes demolished in Mumbai's slums