Slumdogs vs. Millionaires

Abstract

Abstract Mumbai and other Indian cities are rapidly transforming to address the needs of global commerce and the expanding middle class. Mumbai's vernacular environments, home to most working-class residents, are consequently being redeveloped using supermodern global aesthetics. The urbanism emerging from the current wave of modernism is an unprecedented radical departure from existing patterns of place. Proponents claim the new developments serve low-income residents' interests, when actually they ignore fundamental socio-cultural and economic realities. This paper considers two case studies, Dharavi and Girangaon, highlighting a subset of Mumbai's vernacular environments to argue for their significance and to explore alternative redevelopment approaches.