Fifty four percent of people in Mumbai live in slums. These slums are built on undeveloped land with little access to public infrastructure. Resources for clean water and power are scarce. There are no provisions for rubbish collection and the area around the slums is piled high with rubbish and waste.
However these slums show some of the most enterprising and inventive uses of the urban environment. These communities carefully balance the use of sparse resources and the reuse and recycling of materials. The slums are energetic, bustling communities full of hard-working, resourceful people. The businesses in Mumbai’s slums export goods around the world and the turnover is estimated to be around a billion US dollars per year.
The slums of Mumbai have a culture and lifestyle that has developed over generations and there’s a strong sense of community in these busy, bustling and sociable cities within the city.
