Towards a Less Polarised Andheri -Rethinking the Streets

The city planning has remained largely indifferent to infrastructure provisions that are affected by land development: water supply, transport, sewerage, waste disposal, flood control, pollution control, environmental health. Even in terms of housing the city has grappled to meet the demands because it always responded by trying to increase land supply. The consequences of the authoritarian top down approach can be seen in the regular floods and diminishing mangrove cover. The focus has been on creating BIG infrastructure projects which are eye-catching and can be used to sell the idea of a globalised Mumbai. The authority saw the city in terms of the streets and the streets as roads for moving cars. This reductive approach has led a lot of damage to the city over the years.