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Managing Urban Growth » Urban Example: Mumbai

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Cambridge spec: 7.3.2

Where Mumbai is and how big it has grown
The causes of urban growth in Mumbai
The challenges and opportunities, with Dharavi as a close-up
How Mumbai manages its growth, and how well it works

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Where is Mumbai?

Mumbai is one of India's biggest cities. It sits on the west coast, in the state of Maharashtra, on a narrow peninsula beside the Arabian Sea. It was built on a group of low islands that were joined together by reclaiming land from the sea. Water surrounds it on three sides, so the city can only spread north. Land is scarce and very expensive.

About 12 million people live in the city itself (2011 census). The wider urban area has about 20 million.
It was called Bombay until 1995.
It is India's financial capital and has one of the busiest ports in the country.

Key terms:

Dharavi: a large informal settlement in the middle of Mumbai, home to about 1 million people in roughly 2 square kilometres.
Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA): the Maharashtra government body, set up in 1995, that organises the rebuilding of slums.
Suburban railway: Mumbai's commuter train network, which carries about 7 million passengers a day.

Key dates

1995: Bombay is renamed Mumbai and the SRA is set up.
2005: the 26 July floods.
2014: Metro Line 1 opens.
2022: the Dharavi rebuilding contract is awarded to a private developer.
2024: the coastal road begins to open.
2025: underground Metro Line 3 fully open.

Causes of urban growth in Mumbai

Mumbai has grown for the reasons you met in Why Cities in LICs Grow So Fast. Here is how they apply to Mumbai.

🚆 Rural to urban migration

Millions of people have moved from poorer farming areas, especially the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Push factors are low farm incomes and few jobs. Pull factors are jobs and higher wages in the city.

👶 Natural increase

Many migrants are young adults. They have children in the city, so births stay higher than deaths and the population keeps rising.

⛵ Port and trade

Mumbai's harbour has made it a trading centre for hundreds of years. Port work and the businesses around it provide many jobs.

🎬 Finance and Bollywood

Banks, the Reserve Bank of India and the stock exchange are based here. So is Bollywood, the Hindi film industry. They attract workers from all over India.

Challenges and opportunities

Because Mumbai is so crowded, growth has brought both problems and benefits, socially, economically and environmentally.

Challenges

Housing and inequality: about 4 in every 10 people live in informal settlements, often a short walk from expensive tower blocks.
Water and sanitation: many homes in informal settlements have no private tap or toilet. People queue at standpipes and shared toilet blocks, and water supply is often cut for hours.
Traffic and commuter trains: roads are jammed. Trains are so packed that passengers hang from the open doors.
Waste: the city produces thousands of tonnes of rubbish a day. Landfill sites such as Deonar are overloaded.
Flooding: the city is low-lying and gets heavy monsoon rain from June to September. On 26 July 2005, more than 900 mm of rain fell in 24 hours. Streets, railways and homes flooded and hundreds of people died. Blocked drains make floods worse.

Opportunities

Jobs and income: finance, the port, film and services give work to millions.
The informal sector: street selling, repair work and small workshops give work to people with no formal qualifications.
Services and culture: hospitals, universities and cultural life are easier to reach than in rural areas.

A close-up: Dharavi

Dharavi shows both sides of urban growth in one place. It grew from a fishing village into a settlement of narrow lanes and tiny homes, now with about 1 million people in roughly 2 square kilometres.

✅ Enterprise

Dharavi has thousands of small workshops making leather goods, pottery and clothes. A large recycling industry collects, sorts and reprocesses plastic, metal and paper from across the city. This gives jobs and cuts waste.

❌ Problems

Homes are cramped, often one room for a whole family. Toilets are shared, sewage and rubbish collect in the lanes, and floods and fires are common.

Managing urban growth in Mumbai

You have already evaluated general strategies in Managing Urban Growth Sustainably. These are the ones Mumbai uses.

Slum rehabilitation: since 1995 the SRA has let builders put up extra private housing if they also rehouse slum dwellers in free flats. Many families gained a flat with a toilet and water. However, some flats are far from jobs and the old community can be lost.
Dharavi Redevelopment Project: a long-planned scheme to rebuild Dharavi, awarded to a private developer in 2022. The company, working with the state government, would build new flats, and under the original plan eligible residents (those living there before 1 January 2000) would get a free flat of about 350 square feet. Supporters say it brings safer homes and sanitation. Critics fear workshops will be lost and that residents who do not qualify will be pushed out.
Mumbai Metro: new lines take pressure off roads and trains. Line 1 opened in 2014 and the underground Line 3 was fully open by October 2025. The Metro is cleaner than road transport, but it is expensive and covers only part of the city.
Coastal road: a road along the west coast of the city, opened in stages from March 2024. It speeds up journeys, but it costs a lot, encourages car use and has been criticised for harming the shoreline.
Waste and recycling: the city asks large housing societies to sort their waste, and informal recycling in places like Dharavi reduces what goes to landfill.

Evaluation: how sustainable is Mumbai's approach?

Strengths: many families gain safe, legal homes, and the Metro and recycling reduce pollution and waste. Weaknesses: schemes are slow and costly, rehousing can break up communities and jobs, and road building favours car owners. Who benefits? Builders and middle-class commuters often gain a lot, while the poorest may gain least. Sustainable? Sustainable means meeting people's needs now without harming future generations. Recycling and public transport fit this. Expensive roads, and rebuilding that destroys local jobs, fit it less well.

Common mistakes

Writing only general ideas such as "slums have no toilets" with no names. In a 6-mark answer, name Mumbai, Dharavi, the SRA or the Metro. Another slip is to say every scheme works well. Always give a strength and a weakness.

Exam-style question

Fig. 1.1 describes a photograph of Mumbai. It shows a very large informal settlement beside office towers, with a commuter train in the background and passengers hanging from the open doors.

(a) Identify two causes of urban growth in Mumbai. [2 marks]

(b) Describe one challenge of urban growth in a named informal settlement in Mumbai. [3 marks]

Model answer

(a) Rural to urban migration from states such as Bihar (1). Natural increase, because many migrants are young adults who have children (1).

(b) Dharavi has about 1 million people in about 2 square kilometres (1). Homes are cramped and people share toilets (1). Lanes fill with sewage and floodwater in the monsoon, which spreads disease (1).

(c) Metro and recycling are sustainable because they cut pollution and landfill (1). The SRA has given many families free flats with water and toilets, which improves quality of life (1). However, some flats are far from jobs, and the Dharavi Redevelopment Project may remove workshops, harming the local economy (1). The coastal road encourages cars and may harm the shoreline (1). Overall, the strategies help in places but are only partly sustainable because the poorest gain least (1 for a reasoned judgement, plus 1 for linking it to who benefits).

Exam tip

For "to what extent", give a strength, a weakness, name Mumbai places and end with a clear judgement.

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