“I wish the rich people would realize who is building these towers. I wish they could come and see how sad this life is” (Davis & Monk 66). The definition of “evil paradise” could be easily integrated into these two sentences. In Davis’ and Monks' Evil Paradises the audience is taken to Dubai and other newly glamorized cities, experiencing their many luxurious and exclusive features, yet witnessing a stark contrast between the rich and the poor. Throughout the book Davis and Monk portray the exclusion and landscapes of wealth that have been prevalent since the “globalization” boom of 1991. This boom was the product of state power, which only benefited the elite. As a result, massive privatization occurred, subcontracting of public employment, and deregulation of financial markets. Neoliberalism stayed in one realm, instead of expanding it “main achievements …have been redistributive rather than generative” (Davis & Monk 2). Throughout the book, skyscrapers and gated communities become a common theme of capitalism at the expense of the poor. Moreover, the authors describe the inequalities, injustices, and inhumane lifestyles that come with the territory of living in a Utopian “paradise”.
During the last two decades migration from villages and small towns to urban areas has increased tremendously in India. This lead to the degradation of the urban environment by growth of slums especially in the metropolitan cities like Mumbai. Due to Mumbai’s lands mostly being occupied by slums, with real estate values on the rise, a large amount of profit is made from the people in poverty. In Planet of Slums, Mike Davis notes, “Land owners and private developers have manipulated … squatters into forcing portions of the land onto the real estate market (89). Manish Chalana implies the same notion in “Slumdog vs Millionaires”, as Mumbai and other Indian cities are rapidly transforming, to address the needs of global commerce and the expanding middle class. As a result, rights to the city issues have evolved, as many residents have been displaced from their homes. Mumbai’s vernacular environments, home to most working-class residents, are consequently being redeveloped using super modern global aesthetics. The city of Mumbai provides an ideal location for looking at how the existing vernacular environments, including informal housing, is transforming in the face of rapid globalization. As Chalana’s “Slumdog vs. Millionaires: Balancing Urban Informality and Global Modernity in Mumbai, India”, “In a city that retains a rich variety of vernacular environments from its indigenous, colonial and post-colonial past, the creation of global spaces is often in direct competition with the local” (25).
Mumbai has become an outcast for its common resident. This megalopolis has started to showcase the country’s economic growth, manifested in the proliferation of glitzy skyscrapers and other evil paradises (ie; modern banks, malls, and gated communities). As stated in an interview with an Indian professor in “Mumbai needs to learn from Shanghai in Urbanization Process,” what is called the Mumbai-Shanghai plan has caused much controversy. The development scheme is designed to pack the city's skyline with the “starchitecture” of a globalized metropolis to enable Mumbai to compete with the transnationalism that is represented in modern Shanghai. The plan was supposed to have completely transformed the city by 2010, adding new banks, skyscrapers, and hotels. However, the vision of a cosmopolitan, safe, and multi-cultural haven has been delayed due to Mumbai’s massive population growth during a short time period. transnationalized Mumbai has not kept abreast of its local population’s needs. Nonetheless, in Nayantara Kilachand’s “Weren’t We Supposed to Be Shanghai by Now”, she portrays a new set of plans that lay out goals for Mumbai in 2022, 2032 and 2052. Kilachands examines several factors, including security, open space and housing that would help catapult Mumbai to “world class” standing.
Though many of Mumbai’s transnational plans have been delayed, there are various satellite cities that have successfully flourished as master planned communities. For example, Navi, Mumbai (also known as New Mumbai), is home to over 1 million people, Navi, Mumbai provides modern hospitals, restaurants, and malls, to its residents (it will have its first international airport by 2019). Navi, Mumbai is withholds various educational institutions offering courses in several streams including engineering, medical sciences, interior designing, and hotel management. In “What is it like to live in Navi Mumbai?” Mehershad Wadia notes the “peaceful” atmosphere felt throughout Navi, providing spacious roads, clean air (relatively less polluted than Mumbai), and reliable transportation systems. Furthermore, various corporations like Siemens, McDonald's, and Burger king, have their headquarters across the city, making it an active business hub. Navi, Mumbai also has various recreational facilities such as the golf courses, central parks, and water falls. Seawoods Grand Central, and Little World are some of Navi’s most popular malls. Navi, Mumbai represents what evil paradises calls the “secession of the successful” starting from scratch and leaving behind the inadequate infrastructure and ‘in your face’ inequalities of the city proper.
However, while many will enjoy Mumbai’s urbanism and the thought of master planned communities, 60 percent of Mumbai's sixteen million inhabitants presently live in slums. Dharavi is home to more than a million people, making it the largest slum in all of Asia (Read more in my Slum tab). This reality does not match up with the municipal self-image being fostered by Mumbai. Countless slums are being torn down, resulting in at least two hundred thousand people displaced by the slums' deconstruction (Interview). Unfortunately, skyscrapers are slowly becoming Mumbai’s main priority while slum dwellers are being forgotten.
