The Re-making of Mumbai in the Sustainable Age
Shri Ratnaker Gaikwad, Metropolitan Commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency, Mumbai

An Integrated Development Plan for Mumbai  
Lalit Gandhi, Chairman, Remaking of Mumbai Federation, Mumbai
Mayank Gandhi, Secretary, Remaking of Mumbai Federation, Mumbai

The Re-making of Mumbai: Search for an Appropriate Skyscraper Response   
Antony Wood, CTBUH Executive Director / Associate Professor, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago

Day 2 - Welcome: David Scott, CTBUH Vice-Chair / Arup, New York

Session Chair: Sang Dae Kim, CTBUH Chairman, Seoul

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Shri Ratnaker Gaikwad, Mumbai Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency

First to present was Shri Ratnaker Gaikwad, Metropolitan Commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency, who gave an in-depth overview of the many new infrastructure projects proposed for the city. Mumbai is widely recognised as one of the densest cities in the world, with massive growth and enormous strain on the existing infrastructure, much of which is vastly inadequate and many decades old. A projected population increase from 20 million people today, to around 34 million people over the next 20 years will put even more strain on a city where already 55% of people live in slums or very poor housing conditions. To those who were new to Mumbai, this lack of infrastructure was apparent everywhere – from the gridlock on the roads, to the dilapidated housing and the rubbish on the streets. Only the day before, in the first plenary session, Charles Correa himself had been critical of the construction of so many new high-rise buildings without the necessary infrastructure improvements to make their operation practical. This then, was an opportunity to see how Mumbai will face these challenges in the coming years.

Mr. Ratnaker started out by looking at new developments in transportation – an issue that is of the upmost in importance in a city where traffic gridlock is immense, and car ownership is increasing dramatically. Future developments will include the ‘Mumbai Metro Rail Project’, a $10 billion elevated rail network, the Mumbai Monorail project which will pass through the most congested areas of the city and the Mumbai Trans Harbour link, a 22km, 8-lane bridge linking the peninsular of Mumbai to the hinterland in the east.

Rehabilitation and redevelopment was next on the list, in particular the slum prevention programme which will create apartments of 160 – 400sq feet (which may seem small, but are larger than much of the current slum accommodation) with very low rents. Mr. Ratnaker then went on to discuss how iconic buildings, and in particular tall buildings will help establish Mumbai on the world stage. The recent announcement of a 101-storey tower project in Wadala was discussed with Mr. Ratnaker stating the idea is to create “an iconic super structure” in the manner of the Petronas Towers, Empire State Building or Burj Dubai. Whilst the announcements of such tall towers will always cause a ripple of excitement in the audience, in many ways, it only serves to strengthen Charles Correa’s concerns raised the day before.

Mr. Ratnaker finished the presentation by examining some of the other infrastructure projects the city has in the pipeline, such as improved water resources, solid waste management and power generation. Whilst the scale of the projects is impressive, and very few cities in the world can lay claim to such vast infrastructure plans, for Mumbai, many of these projects cannot come soon enough.

The second presentation was given by Lalit Gandhi and Mayank Gandhi, Chairman and Secretary of the Remaking of Mumbai Federation. Mr. L. Gandhi started proceedings by discussing the challenges Mumbai faces in the future, through a fantastic video presentation. “The task is difficult, but not impossible” he declared in an upbeat manner.

Mr. M. Gandhi then took over, giving a passionate presentation about three critical issues in Mumbai – housing, infrastructure and governance. The housing problems in Mumbai are well known, but the statistics are still shocking; 7.5 million people live in slum conditions in the city, with some 50,000 people simply living out on the streets. There are 32,000 dilapidated buildings in the inner city, and collapses are not uncommon. Mr. M. Gandhi went on to discuss in detail the major problems with tall building development in Mumbai at present. According to Mr. M. Gandhi, the first major problem is the construction of towers and the subsequent increase in density puts more stress on the already crumbling infrastructure. Secondly, there is damage to the cultural heritage through the construction of skyscrapers that simply ignore the unique climate and context of the locale. Finally, many of the tall buildings constructed are simply unsustainable, not responding to the environmental needs of a climate-change challenged world. Mr. M. Gandhi’s dismay is that many iconic high-rises are being designed alone, isolated from the existing urban realm. Instead he feels Mumbai would be better served by holistic development, with clusters of towers and buildings designed together in conjunction with upgrading of local infrastructure and restoration of buildings of historic and religious significance.

Mr. M. Gandhi finished the presentation by discussing governance issues, and in particular the importance of consultation in deciding Mumbai’s urban future. Mr. M. Gandhi called for a “democratic, decentralised approach to redevelopment”, including in discussions those people whose lives will be affected by redevelopment. “The shopkeeper probably knows better where the road should be built, not the government” he stated.

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Lalit Gandhi, Remaking of Mumbai Federation		Mayank Gandhi, Remaking of Mumbai Federation

The final presentation of the plenary was given by Antony Wood, who outlined an alternative vision for tall buildings in Mumbai, created by twelve students from the Illinois Institute of Technology in conjunction with the Remaking of Mumbai Federation and the architectural colleges of Rizvi and Sir JJ in Mumbai.

Mr. Wood started by highlighting what he feels is the “shortfall of tall”, stating that although it may seem strange to hear this from the Executive Director of the CTBUH, he feels that “95% of tall buildings are terrible pieces of design!” Mr. Wood feels that architecture is homogenising cities around the world, with tall buildings being the worst culprit. Echoing Mayank Gandhi concerns, he feels the solution is for each place to find a suitable regional response to tall building design. Exploring these ideas further, Mr. Wood outlined two major shortfalls in the design of high-rise. The first is when tall buildings are designed simply as vertical extrusions of an efficient floor-plan in order to achieve only the maximum commercial return for a developer. The second is when tall buildings are designed as “iconic pieces of high-rise urban sculpture” with little relationship to the local urban setting – a flaw that is apparent in many high-rise projects around the world.

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Antony Wood, CTBUH Executive Director / Illinois Institute of Technology

Acknowledging these shortfalls, the tall building studio project presented by Mr. Wood aimed to design a connected skyscraper proposal, inspired by the culture and context of the city. The final urban vision of the studio was a network of five interlinked towers, with skybridges creating connections at height and a new public domain in the sky. Mr. Wood was keen to highlight the many potential advantages skybridges, and interconnectivity at height, offer tall buildings; alternative evacuation paths, reducing the isolated nature of towers and improving urban enrichment were just some of the points put forward.

The studio project provided some fascinating imagery. Each of the five towers, designed by students working in pairs, contained predominantly residential function, but also incorporated a unique agenda inspired by the city. One pair sought to create a residential tower combining aspects of urban agriculture and food provision, with vertical farming organized in a fashion suitable to the cultural setting of India, i.e. through de-centralized, ‘cottage industry’ type internal ‘farms’, rather than one central operation. Another pair recognized the cultural and environmental importance of water in India and designed a tower to collect and redistribute the maximum amount of rainwater from the building, site and skybridges for recycled usage within the vertical community. The third pair identified the problem of waste management in Mumbai and created a tower centred around this idea, whilst also positively embracing the concepts of locally-available, reclaimed, recycled (and recyclable) materials into the building. The fourth pair embraced the idea of textiles and clothes washing within their design, creating residential apartments inspired by vernacular patterns of living in India, incorporating significant outdoor space, tubs for clothes washing and natural ventilation. The fifth pair sought to create a tower combining residential and education (specifically a high school) with high quality living and educational spaces bound together by aspects of learning. In addition, two of the students dealt with the design, structure and program of the skybridges that linked the towers together. The results were both inspiring and challenging, and certainly offered an alternative take on how tall buildings can interact with an existing urban realm. 

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Plenary 2 Speakers & Chair		Plenary 2 Q & A

In conclusion, all three presentations offered a thought-provoking take on the urban future of Mumbai. What followed was an exciting and passionate discussion throughout the questions and answers session, as many in the audience added their opinions to this ongoing debate.