Reclaiming (the urbanism of) Mumbai

The production and reproduction of Mumbai is emblematic of a magnificent and paradoxical post-colonial Asian megacity. The complex history has resulted in an urban landscape that is fascinating and frightening, rich and wretched, beautiful and revolting. The ordering logics of its seemingly chaotic urbanism are, at first sight, difficult to understand. However, reading the city and a larger context through both the literal and metaphorical notion of reclamation sheds light on its inherent structure, Within a compressed timeline of events, the processes of colonization, modernization and globalization have radically transformed Mumbai. In this book, reclamation - in the sense of land creation, recovery, repossession, renovation and recuperation - has been (and remains) the driver of states of change. It also give us an insight of possible developments, and show that any hope for the future of the megacity lies in the reclamation of both ecology and civility. In this respect Mumbay is an example we all should look at, and learn from.
From book's presentation and 'Reclaiming Mumbai' by K.Shannon

Mumbai is in the midst of dramatic transformations. The juxtaposition of the awe-inspiring and heartrending sensations and physical realities is incredibly powerful. The brutality of change in the city forces one to confront new modes of urbanism and urbanisation. The urbanists and planner has the job to re-think, re-visit and re-learn means for intervention. Social, economic and political forces are reflected in an evolving urban form and local architects and planners are struggling to qualitatively intervene.
The first essays in this book are extremely pertinent in their questioning of the status quo and the current mode of city-building. The third part of the book is about hope: which is to be found in the margins. The impossibilities of Mumbai are obvious, the stimulating forms of urbanity are in the margins were they provide clues for possible future interventions.
From book's presentation by SUN website

CONTENTS

• Reclaiming Mumbai 
K. Shannon

• Mapping Mumbai
Projective Mapping
K. Shannon 

• Voices & Issues. Problematics
Shifting Ecologies 
A. Beja Da Costa, S. Favaro, L. Campos 
Destruction of a Legacy. Mumbai’s Mill lands in a Globalizing Context 
N. Adarkar, P. Achwal Desai 
Dharavi. An Uncertain Future 
K. Sharma 
Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion. Evidence from Mumbai Slum Redevelopment Scheme
P. Achwal Desai 
The (Im)Possibility of Planning the Mumbai Mega-region 
V. K. Phatak 

• Voices & Issues. Resources
Banganga. Enduring tank, regenerative Tissue 
M. Neville 
Mumbai’s Maidans. From Fields of Fire to Non-places
J. Gosseye 
Learning from Bombay 
C. Correa 

• Voices & Issues. Metaphors
Kinetic City. Issues for Urban Design in South Asia 
R. Mehrotra 
The Extraordinary Everyday. A Hunt for New Metaphors 
R. Shivkumar 

• Voices & Issues. Design
Potential in Mumbai’s Post-Industrial Waste Landscape 
J. Tiranishti, E. Gjoklaj 

• The urban Project
Towards an Urban Debate. Questioning Mumbai’s Voices & Issues 
A. Loeckx 
Framing the urban Project in Mumbai 
K. Shannon, A. Loeckx, B. De Meulder

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Kelly Shannon is Professor of Urbanism at KU Leuven, Belgium. Her research is at the intersection of urban analysis, mapping and new cartographies, design and landscape urbanism. She is co-editor of two book series: “UFO” (Urbanism Fascicles OSA) and “Explorations in/of urbanism”, both published with SUN. She led the Mumbai Region Studio within the framework of the KU Leuven European Master of Urbanism programme in 2007.
Janina Gosseye is presently a PhD student at KU Leuven, researching public and collective spaces in post-war Flanders. She completed her first degree in architecture at Saint Lucas in Brussels and received a post-graduate Master of Human Settlements degree at KU Leuven. She participated in the 2007 Mumbai Studio.

This publication was realized by the Research Group Urbanism and Architecture (OSA) of the K.U. Leuven in collaboration with the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) and various architects and urbanists from Mumbai. The interpretative mapping and design research proposal were completed by the 2007 Mumbai Landscape Urbanism Studio of K.U. Leuven's MaHS/MaUSP/EMU postgraduate pragrammes.
Series Explorations in/of Urbanism:
This book is part of the series Explorations in/of Urbanism, SUN ACADEMIA Publisher. The series aims to fill a gap in the contemporary debate concerning urbanism. Each contribution to the series is a case study and an exploration in urbanism (the science of the city) as well as an exploration of urbanism (the discipline that acts upon the city). As a series, Explorations in/of Urbanism has the ambition to document and critically analyse a worldwide spectrum of changing urban conditions in interaction with the development of urbanism. Published Books: Framing Urban Renewal in Flanders (Issue 01, A.Loeckx, editor), Antwerp, Territory of a New Modernity (Issue 02, B. Secchi, P.Viganò). Forthcoming Books: Designing for a Region. Echoes from the Netherlands and elsewhere (Issue 04, Nancy Meijsmans, editor).