A chawl dwelling decorated with paper lanterns for the Diwali festival in Mumbai.
Photographer: Dinodia Photo/Getty ImagesHow ‘Chawl’ Tenements Helped Mumbai Become a Megacity
These urban dwellings built decades ago can rent now for the equivalent of $1 a month. But plans are to demolish many to build high rises.
(This article is part of Bloomberg CityLab’s series exploring the iconic home designs that shaped global cities. Read more from the series. Get the next story sent to your inbox by subscribing to the CityLab Daily newsletter.)
For more than a century, the chawls of Mumbai have acted as one of the city’s most important forms of affordable housing. Large tenement complexes built during Mumbai’s industrial boom from the 1850s through the first half of the 20th century, chawls once housed workers from the sprawling ports and textile mills of what was then called Bombay.