A Benevolent Future
Towards a strategic spatial framework fostering social resilience - The case of Dharavi, Mumbai
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Abstract
The thesis explores the social potential of space i.e. the social logic of space to enhance resilience of society. As social resilience is defined as the capacity of society to cope, adapt or transform societal relations towards external stress, space that is a ‘construction’ and a function of the structure of society hosts the ability in fostering societal robustness against external perturbations (Alan H. Kwok, 2016; Raffestein 2012; Hillier,1984).
World Global Risks report 2018 considers extreme weather events and natural hazards as a major disturbance towards risk perception (WEF, 2018). At present, Mumbai as well as other cities are at risk from natural and man-made hazards (floods, fires, ethnic violence etc.). Although, Mumbai did witness acts of benevolence by its people during the times of crisis such as the floods, the past and present situation of Mumbai’s spatial and social fragmentation underlines threats towards external stresses. Besides this, the geographical isolation of Mumbai, a man-made archipelago with a population of over 22 million (Review, 2018) makes the accessibility to resources that could maintain and foster resilience even more difficult. Hence, the reliance on social solidarity as a means towards fostering social resilience is a key to safeguarding the future of Mumbai and its people. Although, resilience is not a final state but a process, it is the system’s ability to maintain its integrity and to return to its original state, a state of equilibrium, normality, when it is confronted with a disruption or hazard” (Holling,1973).
Through the case of Dharavi - Mumbai, a historic, unplanned settlement located in the heart of Mumbai that faces challenges and highlights potentials in the formation and maintenance of social solidarity, the thesis aims at developing a strategic spatial framework towards fostering social resilience under the purview of the ‘social logic of space’. It explores the spatial capacity in time to enhance social solidarity against external stresses (man-made and natural).