Caught between metropolitan renovation and resistance: The dilemma of Khotachiwadi, Mumbai (India)

Abstract : Many of the world's large cities are enduring recurrent bouts of urban renewal that force their inhabitants to coexist amid the production of competitive urban spaces, and the preservation of heritage sites and spaces associated with the search for urban "authenticity". In Mumbai, these processes are threatening the city's historical centres. In a context of rapid urban transformations in central and peripheral parts of Mumbai, the persistence of cultural and architectural particularisms at the heart of a contemporary Indian metropolis emerges as an opportunity to structure alternatives derived from the recognition and struggle for the preservation of urban uniqueness. Although the neighbourhood-village model appears broadly idealized, it allows, through controlled mediation, the promotion of initiatives aimed at heritage conservation, and the development of cultural tourism to face the speculative pressure of renewal policies, namely as regards densification and "gentrification". This chapter proposes a reading of the current dynamics of Khotachiwadi, a heritage village in Mumbai, built in the 16th century by Portuguese colonizers. The morphology of streets and houses, as well as local toponymy, are historical and have patrimonial elements that testify to the process of production and construction of a culturally hybrid metropolis, constituted from successive migrations and influences reflected in their urban forms as well as in their religious, cultural and social structure.