Culture&Territories#3

Neighbourhood & City
Caught between metropolitan renovation
and resistance: The dilemma of Khotachiwadi,
Mumbai (India)
Nicolas Bautès (0000-0001-6833-2720), French Institute of Pondicherry, India.
n.bautes@gmail.com
Abstract - Many of the world's large cities are enduring recurrent bouts of urban
renewal that force their inhabitants to coexist amid the production of competitive
urban spaces, and the preservation of heritage sites and spaces associated with
the search for urban "authenticity". In Mumbai, these processes are threatening the
city's historical centres. In a context of rapid urban transformations in central and
peripheral parts of Mumbai, the persistence of cultural and architectural particularisms
at the heart of a contemporary Indian metropolis emerges as an opportunity
to structure alternatives derived from the recognition and struggle for the preservation
of urban uniqueness. Although the neighbourhood-village model appears broadly
idealized, it allows, through controlled mediation, the promotion of initiatives aimed
at heritage conservation, and the development of cultural tourism to face the
speculative pressure of renewal policies, namely as regards densification and "gentrification".
This chapter proposes a reading of the current dynamics of Khotachiwadi,
a heritage village in Mumbai, built in the 16th century by Portuguese colonizers. The
morphology of streets and houses, as well as local toponymy, are historical and have
patrimonial elements that testify to the process of production and construction of
a culturally hybrid metropolis, constituted from successive migrations and influences
reflected in their urban forms as well as in their religious, cultural and social structure.
185
Keywords - Mumbai, Khotachiwadi, urban renewal, heritage conservation,
resistance movements, NGO, India
INTRODUCTION
This chapter contributes to the discussion on urban spatial transformations when
confronted with urban renewal policies that generally function by way of renovating
central districts and other strategic areas, leading to a choice of uses, and economic
and social practices. Current transformations question the survival of historic urban
fabrics such as, former industrial zones, run-down working-class neighbourhoods,
and semi-rural metropolitan peripheries. New neighbourhoods rise in their place,
formed either of middle-class buildings that displace the former residents of more
modest means, or by globalized commercial spaces that disrupt the clientele of small
businesses in traditional neighbourhoods.