Dry Feet

The growing population in urban areas around the world puts tremendous stress on natural resources. In India, the urban population has increased form 18 percent to 34 percent of the total population between 1960 and 2017 and is expected to exceed the rural population at the end of 2040. The growing urban population will putt stress on the availability of natural resources. The access to water, a vital resource for human existence, is already one of the resources threatened by urban growth. Only 70 percent of people living in urban areas in India have access to safe drinking water through piped infrastructure. The urban poor regularly lack access to the official means of water distribution because they live in illegal houses. In Mumbai, the largest city in India, around 42 percent of people live in slums and depend on informal water distribution systems like water trucks, neighbor water taps, public water stands, private water shops, ground water pumps or water kiosks. If the growing population of Nala Sopara is housed in the same way as before, the consequences will be severe. An increase in flooding will mean that more people will be cut off from electricity, drinking water, work, education and healthcare. Therefore better access to drinking water and good protection from flooding are main goals for the expansion of Nala Sopara. This will not only result in better health of inhabitant and more time to spent on work, study and other activities but may also become a tool for community making. But how can the growing population on Nala Sopara be housed in a way that water does no longer cause a threat but becomes a resources for community growth and empowerment of the urban poor? This research will try to answer this question. The goal of the project is to come up with a housing design for the expanding areas of Nala Sopara that delivers a better solution against the problems related with water while also providing a comfortable living space for the inhabitants. Since these problems are not at all unique to Nala Sopara alone, the design may also provide solutions to similar regions in India and the Global South.Global Housing Mixing Mumbai:Architecture, Urbanism and Building Science