A Safe Path Home

Navi Mumbai is the largest planned city in the world, situated on the west coast of India, in Maharashtra state. Despite there being roughly an equal divide between the sexes, pubic space Navi Mumbai remains a male domain similar to many other cities around the world. Women’s access to public space is highly conditional and therefore their movement within these spaces is limited. Social restrictions on women’s spatial mobility reduce their job opportunities especially those from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and the Low Income Group (LIG) since their livelihoods depend on public space. These women are faced with issues regarding their own safety, their sense of belonging and the lack of access to basic needs such as sanitation. The opportunities for women in the informal sector are extremely limited and the restricted access to public space only exacerbates this issue.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of Maharashtra was formed by the government in 1970 with the aim to address the urban housing shortage among the lower and middle income groups, including slum dwellers. Their mission is to house these people in pucca, meaning permanent, houses by the year 2022. However, in recent years, the Mass Housing Scheme has become standardized, failing to deliver what it promises, offering no planned amenities and only providing 2 very similar dwelling types. The scheme’s incapability to provide for different people’s inhabitation patterns and needs, demands a new approach. The same is true for the environmental impact on the area, specifically in regards to the mangroves. Ever since CIDCO started to develop the satellite city there has not been any serious action taken to preserve and expand the natural environment.

In response to the research, the proposed project targets areas in Navi Mumbai where the CIDCO Mass Housing Scheme has already been built in order to activate the existing schemes by means of a gender sensitive approach. A set of gender sensitive principles have been derived from the book Why Loiter? by Shilpa Phadke, writing on women and the risk on Mumbai streets. These principles have been applied at every scale from the urban strategy to the individual dwelling unit. The scheme consists of four components including separate building types for each income group with public space acting as a social connector. The project aims to show that by increasing the density and taking up more ground space, an unwelcome dead zone can be converted to a lively, safe and inclusive neighbourhood for all.