MUMBAI - BUILIDING SLUMS

More than half of the inhabitants of the city of Mumbai (Bombay) lives in slums. While some of these slums are poor and consist only of simple tents, others, like for exemple Dharavi, are relatively well organized and look more like small villages sheltering an incredibly dense population. Dharavi count about 750000 residents on two square kilometers.

These neighborhoods grow according to well-defined construction's standards, the houses must not exceed two floors and it is not uncommon to see a home destroyed because "unauthorized" by the neighborhood. Contrary to what one can imagine, these houses are not made as pieces of sheet metal, but brick built as quickly and discreetly as possible to escape the police checks. The work crews are made up of men and women of the neighborhood and a foreman directs the illegal site.

The slum is a place of intense social and political struggles. There is a lot of poverty and violence, but there are mainly constant agitation, a high economic activity and a strong solidarity.

The state has unfortunately realized the value of the land that he is trying to recover, it builds new neighborhoods of buildings which are rapidly converted into vertical slums where people are left to themselves and to a even greater social misery.

This series is part of a story started in February 2013 in the slums of Dharavi, Bandhup and Sri Shiva Naggar in collaboration with the EPFL and the planning office "Urbz" in Mumbai.

© Julien Gregorio/phovea