Learning from the slums (1/2):literature and urban renewal

“Slumdog Millionaire” is the movie of the year. Its story of a young guy from Mumbai’s slum of Dharavi, who manages to change its destiny through the “Who wants to be a Millionaire” game has charmed many people, including the Oscars’ jury, who awarded the movie with 8 prizes.
At the same time, the movie has created a debate around slums and how the movie portrays them. “Slumdog Millionaire” follows the mainstream vision of slums, described in the XIX century by writers like Daniel Defoe or Charles Dickens: dark, dirty places, with people packed in small rooms with no water facilities. In slums, riots are frequents, and police can hardly enter: the perfect place for criminals to hide and plan their threats to the society, and the perfect incubator for all sort of diseases.

 

This is the vision that paved the way to all urban renewal projects: inhabitants of slums, trapped in it because of a bad fate, need to be redempted, through charity, public intervention, or maybe through a TV show. Urban renewal will clean all the dirt, bigger roads will allow a better control by the police, and everybody will have access to water and light.
One of the first cities to enforce an urban renewal policy was Paris. Between 1852 and 1870, under the direction of Eugène Haussmann, the Boulevards were cut throughout the city. Along with the Boulevards came water pipes, sewers and public transports, and police was finally able to patrol the city.

Paris, quartier des Halles. Boulevards cut the pre-existing urban fabric

Paris: a typical pre-Haussmann street. Note the building height/road width ratio, similar to the one in Dharavi or Glasgow