Conservation: The most significant aspect of metropolitan housing in Bombay: Fid-Bau Portal

Conservation: The most significant aspect of metropolitan housing in Bombay

Dua, Ajay

AbstractBombay, the second largest metropolis and the commercial capital of India, has a similar history of its growth and development to Calcutta. While Bombay developed more as a commercial trading centre initially, Calcutta was not only the British capital in India but had the largest industrial infrastructure of the country as its hinterland. Bombay has undergone a sea change since India's independence with the development of industries in emerging areas like nuclear power, chemicals and fertilizers, with its sea coast acting as life line to India's overseas trading. This has placed serious housing demands on the narrow strip of central Bombay which can expand only along the coast and by building vertically. Unlike Calcutta, central Bombay was developed with a very modest building infrastructure primarily to support industrial workers for the textile mills. The life cycles of these buildings were minimal at the time. Due to overpopulation, congestion, natural causes and strain due to overuse of services, the built environment has reached functional and physical obsolescence. This part of the city being on the most expensive land, its redevelopment is of extreme logistic importance to its lifeline. The aging of the built environment, therefore, is one of the most serious concerns for the city planners. This paper brings out the conservation aspects of aging Bombay. The efforts have met with partial success so far. There are many questions such an approach would provoke. I leave it to the readers to ponder on them and compare notes on similar examples from elsewhere. (Ed.)