2024 Fall Issue of Urban Land - 88

The Hidden
Logic Behind
India's
Housing
Called
" Slums "
Changing nomenclature
and enhancing design
improves lives
KALI MARNANE
Divyabahen grew up in Ramapir No
Tekro, an area of Ahmedabad in northwest
India. Widely referred to as a " slum, "
it sits on land formally owned by the city.
After getting married, Divyabahen lived
with her husband's family for a short time
before they looked for a place of their
own. Unable to afford to rent or buy a
home, they built a small house on public
land along a creek near Divayabahen's
childhood home. They enjoyed living
under large shade trees there, with space
around them and extended family nearby.
In 2023, Divyabahen's neighborhood
in Ramapir No Tekro was demolished to
make way for a government redevelopment
project. Her extended family scattered
into different neighborhoods. Some
were eligible for a new apartment, but
Divyabahen's family was not among them.
They did not have electricity records to
prove that they had lived in the house for
more than 10 years. The family now lives
in a rented " chawl " -a built-to-rent complex
of one-room apartments with shared
bathroom facilities-and Divyabahen had
to find new schools for her children.
Most of Divyabahen's time is spent in
and around her new home, looking after
her daughter and two sons, walking them
to school, and picking up groceries from
the local shop. Her husband works as
a recycling collector and drives a small
truck. Divyabahen never had the opportunity
to go to school and dreams that
her children will be well educated and
find good jobs-something she couldn't
do. She worries about saving enough for
this dream. Most of the couple's meager
income is spent on daily needs, with
occasional travel to visit relatives in other
villages. Any money they manage to save
goes toward their children's education.
Divyabahen's story is one of a billion
like it. Around the world, one person in
seven lives in a slum, a figure anticipated
to increase to 1-in-4 by 2030. But how do
you picture a " slum " ? Overcrowded, dirty,
poor, and polluted? Perhaps you are also
reminded of places called ghettos, shanty
towns, hovels, or favelas.
One of the first published definitions of
slum, in 1812, made the word synonymous
with " racket " or " criminal trade. " Shortly
thereafter, this definition took on a spatial
meaning to refer to rooms where " low
goings-on took place . . . inhabited by
people of a low class [and] loose talk. "
Divyabahen's extended family prepares goods for sale in the shared space outside their homes in Ramapir No Tekro in 2017.
88
URBAN LAND
FALL 202 4
K ALI MARNANE

2024 Fall Issue of Urban Land

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