Let’s Talk about Garbage, Dharavi is the biggest slum in Asia, located about 10 minutes from the city center, the famous Bollywood and the financial district.it is home to over a million inhabitants who are responsible for a vibrant garbage and recycling industry which generates profits in excess of 500 million USD annually.it basically supplies Bombay with necessities in products and goods. The city authorities decided to sell off the slum to an investor who is among other things charged to see to the housing, sanitary and water needs of the registered 300 thousand inhabitants, falling short of the reality of over a million. The housing should be around 20.9 sq. m per person.
Courtesy of UGO Architecture and Design
The major challenge was with whether to relocate the slum outside the city or have a social housing scheme sitting at the very centre of the metropolis. In responding to this, the architects looked to no other place than the source of the garbage industry. Located at about 7.5 km from Dharavi, the Derona garbage dump is the spring of the industry. Residents collect about 6 thousand tonnes of garbage daily, which keeps the industry moving.
Courtesy of UGO Architecture and Design
Now the proposed new structure is a somewhat vertical rendition of a slum, aside the north facing part that has a predetermined function, the rest of the building is left to the shaping of the inhabitants. As a multi-storey block, it is divided into units of 7 x 3.5m similar to a car park.
Courtesy of UGO Architecture and Design
This south facing residential part is left to residents to reshape as they see fit, making them the architects of their living space like they do in a slum. The north facing recycling part divided from the latter by a corridor permits for close proximity to the tools of their trade.The whole is encircled with a 7m wide circulation area at the fringes providing for normal moving around as well as meeting spaces for trade of the inhabitants.
Hassan Yakubu is an editor at Arch2O with a deep academic and professional background in architecture, planning, and urban infrastructure. Currently pursuing his Ph.D. at Cornell University, his editorial focus spans climate urbanism, sustainability transitions, and the intersection of infrastructure and STS. Hassan brings a sharp critical lens shaped by fieldwork in Accra and policy research across Africa. With prior experience leading pedagogical initiatives and contributing to architectural practices in Rabat and Accra, his writing brings clarity, academic depth, and a global perspective to contemporary urban issues and design thinking.