Mumbai

 

Cities in South Asia are characterised by physical and visual contradictions that coalesce in a landscape of incredible pluralism. Historically particular during the period of British Colonisation, the distinct worlds active with these cities - which could be economic, social or cultural - occupied different spaces and operated under different rules. The aim of their separation was to maximise control and minimise conflict between these, often opposing worlds. However, today these worlds share the same space, but they understand and use it differently. Massive waves of distressed rural migration during the latter half of the 1900's triggered their convergence into a singular, but multifaceted entity. Combined with the inadequate supply of urban land and the lack of the creation of new urban centres, this resulted in extremely high densities in existing cities. With the emergence of a post-industrial, service-based economy, the intertwining of these worlds within the same space is now even greater. 

 

Rahul Mehrotra