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Urban housing challenges: slums in Mumbai

Edexcel IAL Geography · WGE01 Global Challenges

Rapid urban growth in developing and emerging megacities creates housing shortages and slum growth, and meeting housing need requires NGOs, community self-help groups and city government to work together.

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Housing shortages and slums

When cities grow faster than formal housing is built, people build informal homes on any available land: river banks, railway sidings, steep slopes, wetlands.

Slums typically have insecure tenure (no legal right to the land), overcrowding, poor-quality buildings, and little access to water, toilets, drainage and waste collection; many are exposed to floods and fires.

Indian census data reported in 2013: about 64 million people lived in urban slums in 13.8 million households, about one in six city dwellers; in Mumbai, 41% of households lived in slums; more than a third of slum homes had no indoor toilet and 64% were not connected to sewerage (reported by Vatican Radio from the census).

Why slums grow in megacities like Mumbai

Slums are also places of enterprise, with workshops, recycling and small businesses that support the city's economy.

Meeting housing need: working together

In situ upgrading (improving slums where they are) keeps people near jobs and is cheaper than clearance; resettlement to distant tower blocks can break livelihoods. Joint working combines government resources with local knowledge and labour.

Worked example

About 64 million people lived in urban slums, about one in six urban dwellers. Estimate India's urban population at that time.

  1. If 64 million is one sixth, the total is 6 x 64 million.

Answer: About 384 million urban dwellers.

Key idea: Slums: insecure tenure, overcrowding, poor services. India: about 64 million slum dwellers, one in six urban people; Mumbai about 41% of households. Solutions need government, NGOs and community self-help together.

Check yourself

  1. If 64 million slum dwellers are one in six urban residents, estimate the urban population in millions.
    Show answer

    384 million. 64 x 6 = 384 million.

  2. Of 13.8 million slum households, 64% were not connected to sewerage. How many households is that, in millions, to 2 decimal places?
    Show answer

    8.83 million. 13.8 x 0.64 = 8.83 million.

  3. Insecure tenure means that slum residents
    • pay very high property taxes
    • own their homes outright
    • live in government tower blocks
    • have no legal right to the land they live on
    Show answer

    have no legal right to the land they live on. Without tenure people risk eviction and have little reason to invest.

  4. Residents saving together to build shared toilets and drains is an example of
    • community self-help
    • top-down redevelopment
    • offshoring
    • a special economic zone
    Show answer

    community self-help. Residents organise and act themselves.

  5. Why is in situ upgrading often preferred to moving slum residents to distant tower blocks?
    • It removes the slum entirely
    • It is always more expensive
    • People stay close to their jobs and social networks
    • It requires residents to leave the city
    Show answer

    People stay close to their jobs and social networks. Livelihoods depend on location.

  6. Explain why meeting housing need in megacities requires joint working between NGOs, community groups and city government.
    Show answer

    Government has the land, money and power to provide tenure and infrastructure, NGOs add funding and expertise, and communities know local needs and can provide labour, so together schemes are cheaper and more effective.. Each partner brings different resources; together they are more effective.

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Sources

Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.