Population Environment And The Slums Of Mumbai

The city of Mumbai has seen much growth in the past years. A string of elegant hotels have been set up for travelers and high-class business men. An ever growing, top of the line airport has been built for those coming in and out of the country. From the outside, Mumbai seems to have taken a liking to being internationally integrated with the rest of world, otherwise known as globalization. This is not the case, however; as seen in Katherine Boo’s novel Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. This novel is set in a slum right next to the Mumbai International Airport called

Rapid urbanisation has caused a variety of problems, including transport congestion, lack of sufficient homes and living conditions, sanitary and health care issues, and crime. For all these problems, city planners have attempted potential solutions, each with varying degrees of success. Cities including London, Manila and Mumbai have several of the aforementioned problems, and have each tried their own potential solutions. This essay will discuss how successful these schemes have been in resolving these issues.

The author Mike Davis has done countless research on the topic of urban poverty. In his studies he collects and receives his information from other sources. Perhaps this is the reason why he has a negative view on slums. This is illustrated in his piece “Planet of Slums” as he discusses the politics, urban development, and methods within the slums population. According to Davis, slums and urban poverty have and will continue to significantly increase. While doing so, the gap in exclusion and inequality will grow. As a result, this will weaken urban elites in their work to utilize cities as engines of growth. Slums and slum population are classified as those who are living below the poverty lines, all while, being associated with overcrowding, having poor or informal housing, inadequate access to safe water and sanitation, and insecurity of tenure. This is being recognized as an international phenomenon. To emphasis this phenomenon, approximately half of the slum population in most

While it may be easier to persuade yourself that Boo’s published stories are works of fiction, her writings of the slums that surround the luxury hotels of Mumbai’s airport are very, very real. Katherine Boo’s book “Behind the Beautiful Forevers – Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity” does not attempt to solve problems or be an expert on social policy; instead, Boo provides the reader with an objective window into the battles between extremities of wealth and poverty. “Behind the Beautiful Forevers,” then, exposes the paucity and corruption prevalent within India.

Gentrification is characterized as a struggle of power through the process of neighborhood change taking place in three stages; entry, exit, and restoration. Gentrification is driven by private developers, landlords, businesses, and corporations, and supported by the government through policies. (Hang) The “rehabilitation” of depressed urban areas leads to the inevitable exile of it’s lifelong residents. As wealthy interest in less affluent neighborhoods increases, it causes a sociocultural change to occur in those communities. These changes send a shock wave of economic effects. The average income increases and the average family size decreases. The economic eviction of lower income families will result because of increased rent, property

Gentrification is most easily understood as occurring in various stages. During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, public subsidies and “urban renewal” altered many large cities as sporadic reinvestment battled increasing flight from the inner city to the suburbs. The second significant surge occurred in the post-recession 1970s, encouraged by public-private partnerships and assimilation into national and global economic and cultural developments. At last, in the 1990s, gentrification swelled with rising urban housing markets and increasing capital investment.

Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums, predicts the direction in which the world’s cities are headed, and how the changes in living conditions are only going to deteriorate if certain trends continue. The title of his book explains Davis’s vision for the future of cities as he feels there is enough evidence pointing towards an exponential rise in slum populations across the world’s largest cities. Additionally, he expresses his opinion on many issues regarding the rapid rise in developing cities’ slum populations, although he offers very one-sided arguments geared towards those who feel the current system is causing more problems rather than improving current conditions. This causes Davis to overlook the problems of slums as resolvable through different modes of assistance such as international aid programs. Instead, he views aid programs as the root cause of imbalance created during industrialization. Throughout the book, Davis presents information that confirms his preconceptions towards the slums. Therefore, all the evidence that is presented by him portrays confirmation bias as Davis fails to mention anything about the resolution of the problem of the growing number of slums and instead sees this problem as unavoidable. Particularly, Davis’ writing, although intended for the general population, is more geared towards critics who have similar ideas. Instead of providing the means through which the economy could be improved and the problem of slums could be resolved, it is

Within the unprecedented challenges posed by the explosive growth of urban population, the lack of water supply and sanitation is one of the most urgent and harmful issues. The relationship between water supply and cities’ welfare is very important, as cities require a huge supply of fresh water, and in turn, the way in which the city makes use of water has an impact on the availability of fresh water. It is impossible to consider a city as being ‘sustainable’, if it cannot ensure safe access to drinking water and suitable sanitation to its habitants. (Naciones Unidas, 2010)

Poverty and oppression is a serious condition that is prevalent even in today’s modern society. Women and children are exposed to poverty and subjected to a life of injustice. One of the countries where such problems still occur is in India. Despite the country’s modernization, there lies an undercity where the disparity of wealth is transparent. These social problems are thoroughly described in movies and literature such as Slumdog Millionaire and Behind the Beautiful Forevers. In the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Catherine Boo, the author describes slum life for a set of individuals and the hardship that their social conditions confined them to. Another movie that gave insight to slum life in India is Slumdog Millionaire

This quote explains what it’s like to live in the Mumbai slum. The residents of Annawadi could get arrested or in trouble with authorities for doing virtually anything.

The pollutants affecting water quality is a major issue affecting every community on a global scale. Whether individuals suffer from lack of

Gentrification has been a controversial issue both in urban planning and politics primarily due to the displacement of poor people by the rich folks (Shaw & Hagemans, 2015). Many individuals have viewed gentrification as an illegal act that should be avoided at all costs. On the other hand, another group of people believe that gentrification is the way forward to promoting growth and development. With such contrasting ideas, this paper is going to take a look at gentrification from a positive and negative perspective, its effects, and how it can be prevented or contained. Apart from this, the paper will also address the following questions.

Yet, gentrification is so difficult to track and explain. There is no definite reason for the causes and there are many potential studies that need to be conducted before any conclusions can be made. Gentrification is the result of a general trend of middle and high desiring to move from the suburbs and into the vibrant city. “It seeks to transform the historic neighbourhoods in an opportunity for the market, in the context of the growth of financial real estate and touristic sectors” (Díaz-Parra, I.,2015). So not only is gentrification inclined by the increase in demand of middle and high class people within cities, but also by the large profit margins that can be made by developers. Although, the hardships for deprived households is extremely harsh. Tenants within gentrifying areas suffer as their undervalued housing is loss for very low compensation, they are forced out of their communities, away from their jobs, friends, and resources that were once valuable to them. The issue lies in the difference between the rich and the poor. The gap in wealth makes this type of corruption so accessible and common. The poor, deprived households continue to lack power within society and simply have to watch as their life is changed when they are forced to

Slums are hindrance to the achievement of economic growth and development. It is the duty of the government to plan effectively towards the achievement of quality life within the cities. Slums contribute towards the presence of criminal activities within the cities and unemployment hence a significant force towards the overall economic development. Upgrading of slums is vital in the process of offering economic, social, institutional, and cultural services to the city dwellers like other citizens.

The recent development of water supply projects in the cities and townships has not met the increasing demands of urban population and huge investment is necessary to improve water supply facilities in the cities. 212.Water drainage Most urban centers are served by various forms of open drainage such as ditches and street gutters. Only a small percentage has access to sewerage systems. The lack of wastewater treatment in the cities constitutes a major health hazard during periods of storm and flooding, when coliform and fecal pollutants from human wastes are easily spread through contaminated floodwaters.Water logging problems in the main cities are due to the dilapidated drainage systems and an aging culvert system, parts of which dated since the French administration. The inadequacy of drainage systems causes flood in many areas in the cities and all the wastes flow together with the rainy waters into canals and lakes. Maintenance of existing systems has not kept pace with the increasing influx of population. 213 Water pollution. Water pollution is the most serious environmental problem and with a growing urbanization, many cities are ill equipped to provide their growing populations the safe water and sanitation they need. a / Sources of water pollution. It may come from: . wastewater from industries and minor handicrafts which have