Targeted planning interventions to stimulate the upgrading of the run-down administrative ward of Dharavi in Mumbai, India.

This final-year project presents an alternative plan for achieving the government's adopted goal to rid Dharavi, an administrative ward of Mumbai, of its slums and transform it into a sustainable middle-class area. In this alternative the needs, wishes and above all the skills of the former slum-dwellers are integrated wholesale into the design process. It additionally utilizes consistent sustainable design principles from the initial concept up to and including the construction detailing.
The Indian government wants India to present itself as a mighty nation with Mumbai as the financial capital of Asia. In its impatience to give shape to that ideal it seeks to push through some big changes, including replacing all slums with new, modern residential districts. Dharavi is one such area. At the same time it is an area with potential, as its hard-working residents are shaking off the traditional caste system by setting up an advancing informal industry.
In order to fix the desired future shape of Dharavi and stimulate the process of creative change necessary to achieve that future, the project invokes the backcasting method. This approach led in turn to the applied strategy of urban acupuncture. This entails creating new elements in the city that can initiate the desired changes, so that the city in effect changes itself. Armed with this strategy, a concept scheme was designed for Dharavi in which nodes generate positive effects in the immediate area. With the node as intervention, the aim is to introduce quality into the area and connect Dharavi with its untapped economic potentials. The basic idea consists of organizing the lucrative craft trades of Dharavi in such a way that they can be deployed along a broader front. The aim is to promote the craft products and offer them commercially.
The project divides into three stages. The macro stage is about coupling the planning area to the context. A boulevard is to improve links at the provincial and urban levels. New sources of income are tapped in the Mahim Creek subarea by developing alternative agriculture, such as bamboo plantations. In Mitthi River, the water quality is improved by introducing aquatic plants and productivity increased by floating agriculture and a floating market.
The meso stage encompasses three design proposals. First off is the 'craft tower', which is to open up new markets and show its wares to the public at large. It has a craft showroom, offers production services and houses people, animals and plants. This low-tech icon has eight freely subdivisible storeys and multiple layers including a system of climbing plants, a bamboo support frame and a skin of rammed earth. The second design is a community centre with an open-air theatre and a large hall. The third architectural component is the 'living bridge', where consumers can first become acquainted with Dharavi in an appealing and friendly fashion.
The micro stage is all about detail. This includes an analysis of the structure of the living bridge. To calculate the bamboo structure required a constant interaction between computer programs as well as a number of experiments to better understand how bamboo behaves as a building material. One involved a prototype to test the strength of the most complicated node in the living bridge.
This final-year project is based on existing techniques. Built up from the inside outwards, it works with the local culture and local skills and seeks to hold the local economy together.

Place of education: TU Delft | Specialization: architecture | Tutors: Axel Kilian, Arjan van Timmeren, Eliza Guse