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Malvani People's Plan : Summary
An approach to planning, improvement and up-gradation of
existing high density low income settlements in
Mumbai
KRVIA + YUVA
The habitat of a city dweller is not simply her dwelling unit
minimum area with walls and a roof - but a
place that offers to her and her family opportunities of work,
of leisure, of social interaction, health and
safety, the freedom to shape their environment, and the
possibility of growth and improvement - in short, an
institution for habitation, a place for creative well-being. As
physical infrastructure, it extends much beyond
the isolated units provided by private developers or housing
agencies. The city, the settlement district, the
neighborhood, the community, the street, the housing cluster and
dwelling itself - all form a nested spatial
structure, each ring dependent on and completing the one outside
it, and completed in turn by the one inside.
The Malvani People's Plan is a local area development plan for
the urban district of Malvani in the Western
Suburb of Mumbai, an area of 2.8 Sq Km, and home to an estimated
390,000 people (net density of 2670
p/Ha and tenement density of 463 DU/Ha). Settlements such as
Malvani, a high density low income under-
developed area, pose special problems, and there are many such
areas in the city - Dharavi, Shivajinagar,
Asalfa, are some of the larger examples. The Development Plan of
2014-34 for Greater Mumbai already
identifies these as areas requiring comprehensive development -
and suggests making local plans for
them. Though the thinking behind such a step is a holistic
development, the present study indicates that the
Malvani (and almost certainly other similar areas in Mumbai) are
internally quite diverse in terms levels of
development and settlement patterns, and while holistic planning
is necessary, development, if is has to be
beneficial to the residents,will need to be discriminate,
tentative and incremental.
This project began with a few concerns that were voiced during
the many debates and discussions around
Mumbai's Development Plan last year by the People's Campaign a
movement consisting of more than one
hundred grassroots, non-governmental and community based
organizations, activists and academics. For the
Campaign, the striking inequities in access to the urban
commons, the low levels of human development in
the city, the little or no participation of residents in the
planning process, the increasing shift of urban
development in the interests of developers and investors, and
the poor quality and availability of affordable
housing, among others, were crucial concerns. When YUVA invited
KRVIA to collaborate on drafting a
development plan for Malvani, these concerns became the first
questions we asked ourselves:
1) What is the role of physical development in the achievement
of human development goals? What are, in
other words, the physical barriers to the exercise of reasoned
agency of urban dwellers, and how can these be
mitigated? How can planning be undertaken for the achievement of
social goals as opposed to development
that is linked to economic growth objectives?
2) What is the role of physical planning in creating spatial
equity? How can we ensure equitable access of
every urban dweller to essential services, social infrastructure
and the urban commons?
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3) How can planning facilitate dweller control without
compromising on social commitments and welfare
objectives? What kind of participatory structures are necessary
for planners to understand the needs and
priorities of communities, and how can these be set up?
4) Is it possible, and beneficial, to plan for the informal
economy? What sort of questions need to be asked?
What kind of research is necessary? What kind of recommendations
will be made?
5) What is the purpose of norms and standards for development?
What are their limitations? Is it possible to
retain the substance and values that these are based on even in
circumstances where their actual achievement
may not be possible?
Based on these questions, we sought to understand the historical
and formative circumstances of Malvani,
the socio-spatial patterns and the quality and conditions of the
existing settlement, through various kinds of
surveys and studies. Resident communities were identified and
mapped, and Focused Group Discussions
(FGDs) were carried out with each of these communities to
understand needs and priorities. Much of the
amenity mapping at the community level was carried out with the
help of the residents. The FGDs also
revealed availability and quality of services and infrastructure
at the community level, which were
spatialized to show the variations, and the general inadequacy
of basic necessities. Communities also
indicated their own preferences with respect to their future
needs, which were adopted into the final
proposals. The final proposal was made at two levels: the first
level was the Proposed Land Use (PLU),
which reserves lands for public and private use, and the social
infrastructure facilities reserved are to be built
and managed by the MCGM or any other public agency. The first
level will provide the infrastructural
framework for the second level, that details the developments in
private use areas (mainly residential areas)where guidelines are
provided for the repair, improvement or up-gradation of homes.
Here, development
may be undertaken by households or by cooperatives with the
support (finance, construction, etc.) of a public
agency.
The Malvani Plan proposes a low-rise high density development
for the district undertaken through a
conservative, incremental and cooperative self-development.
Presently, the average residential space
available in Malvani is 4.66 sqm / capita (out of which only 2.6
sqm is authorized) and only 0.8 sqm / capita
of public area (social infrastructure, recreation and
circulation areas) is available. Despite there being only
0.6 sqm / capita vacant land, with the adoption of what we call
the free-layout typology it is possible to
achieve 6 sqm / capita average residential space (ranging from
5-9 sqm / capita) and 6.4 sqm / capita of
public area. In addition, the study and analysis that led to the
proposals have also evolved general principles
which may find application in similar contexts elsewhere in the
city. These are given as points below, and
are described at length in the report.
1) Possible strategies for how incremental, piecemeal and
conservative transformation of the lived
environment along with adequate planned provisions for health,
education, socio-cultural activities, leisure,
goods and services and mobility may be achieved.
2) The importance of building typologies and planned urban
layouts for physical development.
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3) The promise of collective / neighborhood ownership of land
and cooperative development and control
over housing.
4) A way of achieving adequate social infrastructure and
services for high density settlements with limited
availability of land for infrastructure creation.
5) How planned provision of infrastructure, support and services
for the informal economy and informal
livelihoods may be undertaken.
6) How improvement and augmentation of public and semi-public
transport infrastructure in the district
could be achieved.
7) The new kinds of social amenities and facilities that are
appropriate and suitable for the needs of informal
working people and often transient communities.
8) A range of 'intermediate' improvement and up-gradation models
for mixed use neighborhoods based on
the priorities and capabilities of the resident community.
9) The physical and institutional ways to prevent the formation
of gated enclaves and ghettos, and to setup
safeguards against eventual gentrification as the district
develops.
10) The basic development controls and built form codes that can
be employed for a low-rise high density
development scheme, to achieve an affordable, self-developed and
diverse built environment.
11) How structures for participation and involvement of local
communities could be carried out at various
stages in the plan making process.
