Urban Growth In Mumbai

In the Third World, it is not difficult to discover the large-scaled slum at the rural-urban fringe of every city. Take Mumbai, an Indian city with four slums, into consideration. As a result of flows of citywards migrations, the growing rate of urban population outpaced that of development of the city. The limited infrastructure forced the migrants to live in the slums. Dharavi, one of the four slums in Mumbai is residentially dense with 800,000 people in more than 2,000 huts (Gruber, Kirschner, Mill, Schach, Schmekel & Seligman, 2005). The living conditions there are extremely terrible. Only 18.5% of the slum population has directly piped water supply, and most rely on the shared toilets most rely on is not equipped with the proper sanitary

According to the bid-rent curve (Free, 2010), the shorter the distance from the CBD, the higher the rent is. It is because the one at the urban core can easily access to different parts of the city and the neighboring regions. The high accessibility of CBD is accomplished with comprehensive transportation network within and between cities. It helps the grease the wheels of commercial and business activity in the CBD. Before emerged as commercial center, the CBD was an industrial land use. It now also serves as a zone of retailing, service industries, business offices and financial institutions (Pacione, 2009). Less land within the CBD is designed for the residential use. On one hand, because of suburbanization, in which the peripheral regions are developed to play similar functions as the CBD like the retail, the original CBD is of less importance of these sectors (Pacione, 2009). The American cities show some variation in the matter of the CBD. On another hand, renewal of the urban core adds new elements of cultural and entertainment complex into the CBD, increasing the diversity of function in the CBD (Pacione, 2009). The CBD with these features is also known as the Western-styled CBD that prevails in both First and Third

& McGee, T. G. (1991) The Extended Metropolis: Settlement Transition Is Asia: University of Hawaii Press

Desakotas in the cities of the Third World has blurred the rural-urban boundary. Most regards desakotas as the extension of urban fringe and linkage to the less developed regions. Desakotas is defined as the densely populated rural areas with “the thorough mix of rural and urban activities” (Bunnell, Drummond & Ho, 2002, p.118). The activities here include the agricultural production and manufacturing industries. Figure 1 shows the desakotas in the Asian country. The megalopolises are interconnected by the desakotas, in which high mobility of labors and goods is allowed. Simply speaking, the desakotas act as the spatial and economic transition between the urban and rural regions. In spite of the loss of distinct confines, the rural-urban discrepancies regarding the level of development are considerable. The description of “European-styled megalopolises and African-like villages” for China illustrates its urban-rural gap. Concerning the infrastructure, it is well-established in most cities. People are allowed to go anywhere they want with the extensive transportation network. Yet, the roads in the villages of China have fallen into disrepair over the years and a number of crucial facilities like hospitals and schools are miles away from home. It is a product of Deng’s theory