Dharavi

Documenting Informalities

Maria Labtz (Ed.)‚ Jonatan Habib Engqvist (Ed.)

Redevelopment plans threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people who live and work in Dharavi, a city within the city of Mumbai. This book dispells the idea that a “slum” can only be a location for despair. Dharavi: Documenting Informalities reveals thriving communities, innovative architecture and powerful grass roots politics. By moving beyond abstract concepts such as globalization and post-colonialism, Dharavi: Documenting Informalities gives detailed, personal accounts of the many ways in which we are all linked to Dharavi’s people and industries.
Essays by Saskia Sassen, Arjun Appadurai and Sheela Patel complement
maps, photographs, drawings and interviews made by a group of artists and architects from The Royal University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm.
In Dharavi, houses and workplaces have developed over generations. Markets, alleys and the landscape itself were created as a result of actions and hard work, through negotiations and mutual needs. Memories of these
struggles, stories and dreams all intertwine in Dharavi.

This chronicle twists the informal society toward a formal one. It aims to show the creative power of the grass-roots and encourage politicians and other stake-holders to listen and to provide the means for infrastructure
and services.  — Maria Lantz and Jonatan Habib Engqvist, editors