Slum Networking is a community driven approach which sees slums not as resource draining liabilities, but as opportunities of sustainable change for the city as a whole. The programme involves the building of low-cost service trunks which include gravity-based systems of sewerage and storm drainage, the planting of gardens, and the surfacing of roads. In addition, 120 community halls have been constructed for health, educational, and training activities.

Slum networking set out five  objectives: (1) a holistic approach to  environmental issues in order to upgrade  the slums and the entire city; (2) a  significant reduction in the cost of utilities  and housing; (3) the mobilization of  material resources for the development  of settlements; (4) the increase in  community responsibility and control;  and (5) the improvement of the overall  quality of life in terms of education,  health and income. The objectives were  realized through innovative and low-cost  engineering solutions. The designer gave  priority to lowering and then paving the  slum streets, so that they drain off excess  rainwater during the monsoons; to  placing a gully trap in each house for the  removal of waste water and sewage; to  installing a manhole-covered inspection  pit for every six to eight houses; and to connecting slum sewerage lines to the  main artery along the river. 

Indore city plan showing the relation between natural drainage paths and  slum areas
Indore city plan showing the relation between natural drainage paths and slum areas: There is a correlation between the slum matrix and the natural drainage paths of the city. Thus slums help to build up lo cost service trunks, particularly gravity based systems of sewerage and storm drainage, together with environmental improvements such as new fresh water bodies, cleaning of rivers, green padestrian spines and restoration of waterfront structures. The slums naturally benefit from the improved city-level support. While development alternatives designed for the urban poor rarely transcend beyond the slum boundaries,  for the city as well, slum networking offers opportunities for change through this systematic process.
Proposed riverfront developments
Proposed riverfront developments: Indore, as a result of Slum Networking has 90 kilometers of  piped sewer mains installed in non-slum areas. This transformation was possible, firstly, by interconnecting the internal sewerage lines of slums along the rivers to make a city level network, and secondly, by incresing the pipe sizes to accept sewage from teh entire city population. The cost was less than half that for a conventional city system in India at the time.
The Slum Networking approach
The Slum Networking approach: The approach demanded that many unconventional concepts such as topography management, earth regradation and constructive landscaping. It required sensitive and intense participation of the public in the development process. This not only prepared the communities for the changes to come but also increased their willingness to maintain the systems. This willingness allowed for extending of the already evolved mechanisms to health, education and income generation programmes.  The objective was not to find solution unique to slums, but, explore the commonality between the slums and the better parts of the city to integrate the two.