LEARNING FROM DHARAVI: Land Ownership Patterns and Redevelopment Strategies

This thesis is our attempt to understand deeply what Dharavi is, how it works and what does it needs? The thesis deals with the history and development of Dharavi since pre-colonial era while trying to understand how Dharavi came into existence. Huge focus has been laid on Koliwada due to it’s connection with Mumbai as well as Dharavi. We have tried to explain how Koliwada correlates with both and why it is an imperial part of Dharavi even today. Dharavi is an informal settlement in Mumbai, India which is under continuous suspicion of the authorities since a long period of time, for redevelopment. The latest redevelopment plan was proposed in 2004 and since then no major action has been taken regarding the same. This is due to the inability of the proposal to meet the needs of the occupants. Also, it will tend to destroy the current self sustaining fabric of the area. But an interesting thing happened after the proposal of the Redevelopment in 2004. A fishermen community called Koliwada who have been the first occupants of Dharavi and settled here around 300 years ago, even before Mumbai became a city protested against the plan saying that they are not a part of the slum and it’s been there village even before colonialism. This forced the authorities to exclude Koliwada from the Redevelopment Plan in 2007. SInce then the community has been looking to redevelop itself in a way which will meet the needs of the users. This is what caught our attention the most along with a very peculiar thing that exists in Dharavi along with Koliwada, it’s land occupancy and ownership patterns that change from area to area and hence have an effect on how the space turns out to be in Dharavi. Therefore, it was our aim to take Koliwada as a prototype and work on the strategies that can be used to redevelop in in the least invasive manner. The thesis has been divided into three parts. The research part of the thesis has been divided into five chapters ranging from the history of Koliwada, Mumbai and Dharavi to the incremental development that has been happening over the years in Dharavi with or without the help of the government, shaping Dharavi the way it is today along with the Redevelopment that the government has been trying to do since independence and even before. And lastly, the peculiar land ownership and occupancy that occurs in Dharavi and is majorly responsible for how Dharavi is today. Also, we have tried to focus on Koliwada a bit more since it has been excluded from the redevelopment plan of 2004 and thus, holds huge potential. The second part is the case studies which can be termed as projects from around the world that have inspired us and helped us to move forward and think outside the box regarding the solutions that can be looked at in such situations. The third and final part of this thesis explains our approach towards these situations. We have taken Koliwada as a prototype and tried to think of strategies that would help improve the conditions of these areas while also understanding and trying to fulfill the needs of the occupants. The design strategies proposed in this section is an effort to show the concerned authorities that there are even more ways of redevelopment without being too invasive while keeping the modes of income of people intact and discovering ways to earn profits.