Towards Hope As Practice: Young Residents reclaiming a Neighbourhood's identity through Arts and Placemaking

Abstract

Low-income neighbourhoods in our cities are often poorly-planned spaces that exacerbate socioeconomic disparities their residents face. These inequities also impact their health, especially communities in the Global South who are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. One such example of an inadequately planned rehabilitation neighbourhood is Natwar Parekh in Mumbai’s Govandi. Over 25, 000 former slum dwellers - the population of a tier 3 city - have been crammed into 61 seven-storey buildings, with 80% homes having little to no access to sunlight or ventilation. The area is flanked by Asia’s largest landfill and polluting industries, creating an unhealthy environment with poor air quality and contamination. Tuberculosis and other diseases are on the rise here and the average life expectancy is just 39 years, almost half the national average. 
Govandi is ghettoised and neglected by the rest of Mumbai. Children who grew up here hesitate to mention their address because of the stigma attached to living here. Burdened by this shame and loss, Govandi’s youth came together seven years ago to work with a group of artists and urban practitioners from Community Design Agency (CDA), a social design organisation, to reimagine their neighbourhood. Together, they have redesigned garbage-filled alleyways into accessible streets, painted vibrant murals, and held the first-ever Govandi Arts Festival that allowed them to redefine their narratives of the place they call home. These initiatives have brought the community closer, made them more resilient, and even prompted spatial improvements by city authorities who were forced to turn their gaze here.  This essay explores the interlinkages between spatial improvements via arts and placemaking initiatives and their effects on the physical and emotional well-being of Govandi’s youth. Urban practitioners Natasha Sharma and Sandra Alexander from CDA explore methodologies for regenerative place-making in this vulnerable neighbourhood.