Mumbai is often referred to as the New York City of India, and for good reason. It’s the financial hub of the country, and it’s arguably the only city in the country that has a full-fledged seaside skyline—one that’s set to become much higher in the coming years.
But in the rush to construct, corners have been cut on safety and environmental regulations. The municipal government has recently unveiled a revised plan charting the course of the city’s urban development until 2034. But according to activists and academics, it leaves a lot to be desired, particularly in terms of transparency and accountability.
There’s a lot that needs to be done to make the planning and development process less opaque to Mumbai’s residents, who stand to lose the most when things go awry. A small step in that direction comes in form of an interactive mapping tool of the city’s land-use data designed by Akshay Kore, a student of interaction design at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.