Connections Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture

This is a journey to see how architecture brings people together.

How buildings make us connect.

In India, an enormous slum that became a vibrant community.

Brasilia, a capital city that dreamed of a brave new world.

Damascus, the world's oldest inhabited city.

And from 1930s New York...

..a vision of the modern age.

This is the Planalto, a spectacular wilderness

at the very heart of Brazil.

It's a place where nature still feels all-powerful.

But in the middle of the last century,

this land became the site for a giant experiment in city building.

It was one of the most audacious

architectural projects ever realised.

It was created at a time when people believed

that architecture could change the world,

and that architects could cure social evils,

they could transform for the better the way in which we live.

And all was to be achieved through a perfect city designed from scratch.

'The city was to be Brazil's new capital.

'The site was remote, 600 km from the nearest paved road.

'But in just over three years, it was transformed.

'They built Brasilia.

'The city was inaugurated on the 21st April, 1960,

'intended as a bold, fresh start for a country stricken

'by poverty and disease.

'It was to be a new capital

'to express the identity and aspirations of a new nation,

'proclaiming social equality and belief in the future.'

These buildings are all the work of one man -

the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

Politically a Communist, architecturally a Modernist,

he realised the government's vision

through sculptural buildings, liberated from styles of the past.

It's extraordinary to think

that not one building in this city is older than I am.

It's an infant, it still has some of the exhilaration of youth about it.

I know most people aren't moved by Modernist architecture,

but I think this little elegant building

could bring about a few conversions.

Just open your mind to it, just look at it.

It's the Palace of Justice. And the building's all to do with light,

with glass walls letting light flood inside,

a beautiful space to occupy and work in and it's to do with lightness.

Lightness of the construction, the minimal construction.

It's fantastic, the whole thing supported

on these really elegant, beautifully shaped, curved columns.

They barely touch the ground,

the whole building seems to float in space.

Incredibly beautiful.

The greatest ornament of this building

is simply the means of its construction.

Modernist architecture has a reputation

for being arid, anonymous, machine-like.

But not here.

Niemeyer wanted to create an architecture

that reflected the nature of Brazil and its people.

So, he used the curve to echo the curve of the Brazilian hills,

the curve of the clouds in the skies,

and of, as he put it, the form of your lover.

He was particularly taken, he said,

by the curvaceous, baroque buttocks of Brazilian beauties.

And that's the sort of form,

the sensuous form he wanted to put into his architecture.

The city's great centrepiece

is the building housing the Brazilian parliament.

This is very exciting.

I am going on to the roof of the Congress building.

The roof used to be open to the public,

but has been closed for decades.

I suppose for reasons of security and health and safety.

So, I am very privileged.

I am about to have an experience

that is now denied citizens of Brazil.

Here we are. Gosh, it's wonderful.

It's strangely antique, almost spiritual, really.

Up here is like being on top of an acropolis, like in Athens.

And the ramps, like the ramps of Egyptian temples.

It's an amazing marriage, really, of old and new,

of materialistic and spiritual, creating a government building

that's also, in a way, a sacred building,

the heart of the nation.

What's surprising for me is that in a city conceived by Communists

rises one of the world's most spiritually charged Cathedrals.

A dark passage takes you down into the bowels of the earth,

into a grotto, into a tomb,

but you get here, and suddenly, there's an explosion of light.

This is of course to do with rebirth, resurrection,

the tomb becomes the womb.

All this is a bit obviously Christian, isn't it?

Christ's tomb, resurrection, and the form of the building -

the great concrete arches are like the crown of thorns.

But Niemeyer was an atheist, which makes it amazing, odd at least,

that he would design such a powerful Christian cathedral.

But that, of course, is to miss the point.

This is not just to do with Christianity.

It was a fusion of the beliefs of the people of Brazil.

Roman Catholics, older religions, religions brought here from Africa,

a fantastic monument to the nature of the nation of Brazil.

But to comprehend the scale of Brasilia's ambition,

to see how it embraces the modern age,

requires a different perspective.

Brasilia looks fantastic from the air, looking down.

It's like a great architect's model.

Everything ordered, in its place, everything's designed.

You can't help but feel the architect always wanted it

to be seen from a few hundred metres up.

It's been laid out in the shape of an aeroplane with swept back wings.

It's clearly divided into zones, according to use.

A Modernist hallmark.

I'm now running next to the fuselage of the aeroplane, so to speak,

a central monumental axis along which are set

the government buildings, the ministries,

That of course is where the pilot would be -

the Congress, the Government.

Where the wings meet the main axis,

where the engines would be, so to speak, is the commercial area.

Commerce, offices driving the city, fantastic symbolism.

And below me, on the curve of the wings, are the residential areas.

These are housing slabs set in parkland.

It's really rather wonderful, actually, a great sculptural city.

Brasilia's residential areas were planned with great care,

to create a new, classless world.

Blocks were limited to the height from which

mothers could hear their children playing below.

'And apartments were to be distributed

'right across the social spectrum.

'Government ministers and labourers living side-by-side.

'This was one of the first to be constructed.'

Hello.

'And Dona Olga has been here from the start.'

Very good. So I've come to see your lovely home.

There's a painting.

Yes, little finger comes out!

'She moved to Brasilia

'when her husband was elected as a state deputy.'

TRANSLATED FROM PORTUGUESE

Did you feel you were on the cutting edge

of a new way of living in cities?

Would you ever move?

But Brasilia was the victim of a changing world.

'Brazil's Socialist government fell,

'and the egalitarian vision of the city was abandoned.

'The gap between rich and poor opened up once again.

'Dona Francisco works as a cleaner at the Ministry of Urban Planning.

'But she can't afford to live in the centre of the city.'

Like thousands of Brasilia's low-paid workers,

she lives on its distant outskirts,

spending three hours a day on a bus to and from work.

She has an extra weekend job to make ends meet.

And what little time she has at home, she spends here,

in one of Brasilia's satellite towns.

'They are the city's alter ego - unintended, disorganised and poor.'

What's life like here?

Is it inconvenient, is it dangerous, even?

TRANSLATED FROM PORTUGUESE

What connection do you feel to Brasilia?

What would happen to Brasilia if the satellite towns didn't exist?

Brasilia's a Modernist dream, architecturally stunning.

It was to show how people should live together,

the rich with the poor, workers and professionals,

but now I've been to the satellite town,

it's clear that this dream has failed,

and the workers, really, have been betrayed.

This is Damascus, the capital of Syria,

at the heart of the Middle East.

Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city on Earth,

perhaps 7,000 years old.

While the once great and ancient cities like Persepolis,

Babylon and Jericho are now nothing but ruins or shrunken villages,

Damascus is alive and well, thriving.

I find it intoxicating, because it appeals to ALL the senses.

It inflames, feeds the brain and moves the spirit.

'To walk the streets of Damascus

'is to see what makes it so successful and enduring.

'From its earliest days, the city has been a centre of trade

'between East and West.

'And it's trade that has kept the city a living being.'

This is the oldest street of trade in Damascus, it's Straight Street.

The Decumanus Maximus of Roman times.

Originally it was four times this width with columns on each side

and behind the columns, shops selling the trade goods,

the wealth and wonders of the Empire.

'The city's tradition of trade is revealed by its wonderful food.

'It's emblematic of Damascus.

'The markets are laden with herbs and spices

'from all over the Middle East.'

Very good.

And sharing food is an important part of Damascus life.

It brings the people together and makes them feel part of the city.

Oh, nuts, nuts, lovely.

-All from Syria?

-Cafe?

Oh! Well, OK! Lovely. Didn't expect that.

Come to to buy some nuts and I get some lovely coffee.

These are all nuts from Syria?

Toasted and roasted. What's that?

-Salt.

-Salt. Of course, salted peanuts. Very hot, yes!

-It's a good joke. Very hot.

-HE LAUGHS

Up there, look, endless bags of nuts stored.

An incredible scene, an Aladdin's cave of nuts.

Damascus nuts, it says.

Pumpkin seed, you can't beat that.

'The constant commercial activity throughout the centuries

'means that some of Damascus's finest and most ancient architecture

'is devoted to trade.'

A large number of khans survive in the old city.

A khan is a warehouse

which also included accommodation, offices for merchants.

Mostly like this one, they are approached

through a big arch off a major commercial street,

generally architecturally wonderful, like this one.

This one was built about 300 years ago, I'm told,

and was home to tobacco merchants.

Three domes in a row with the sky open in the middle.

The sky working like a sort of ornamental ceiling.

Amazing sort of little palace of trade.

'The most magnificent khan is the As'ad Pasha.

'Built in 1752, it's a stunning piece of geometry

'and as fine as any mosque in the city.'

Along the trade routes leading to Damascus

travelled ideas, art and religion. But rather than dividing the city,

different religions and people

were absorbed to enrich the culture of Damascus.

This site's been the sacred heart, the soul of Damascus,

for at least 3,000 years.

Various conquerors brought their gods with them

and reshaped the building to suit their needs.

This portico here, these columns and that wonderful wall in front of me,

date from the 2nd century AD

and are the remains of the Roman temple of Jupiter.

This building shows how Damascus has survived

through its ability to adapt.

'In the 4th century, the Pagan temple was converted

'into a Christian cathedral.

'And when the Muslims conquered Damascus in 636,

'they shared the building with their Christian neighbours

'for nearly a century.'

This court's a fantastic architectural space,

but incredibly, it's only a shadow of its former self.

Originally, all these surfaces were covered with mosaic.

Imagine it - gold glistening in the sun.

They were executed in the 8th century,

but some of the mosaic does survive,

it's behind me here in this colonnade, now rather faded.

It shows, I suppose, Damascus in the 8th century.

There's the river Barada, full of water,

trees, plants, little houses,

palaces, mosques, an image of paradise.

The Muslims rebuilt within the ancient walls in 705

to create the greatest mosque in the world.

But they didn't just sweep the past away.

'Inside are rows of Corinthian columns from the cathedral.'

'The memory of the old building was kept alive

'in this vast Muslim prayer hall.'

And this historic structure is still a living place of worship.

I love this mosque. It is warm, welcoming,

a sense of calm, a sense of peace.

People come here to contemplate, to pray, of course.

Families wander around, a wonderful atmosphere.

Terrific carpets everywhere.

-And the sounds, sounds of...

-PHONE RINGS

-..telephones,

chanting, people just going about their daily life.

Very, very reassuring.

Can't help but sitting here and feeling

that within these ancient walls

still resides the soul of the ancient city of Damascus.

'And Damascus has survived and prospered

'because people of different religious faiths

'found a way of living together.'

So the city was divided into separate areas,

each home to a trade or religious group.

So there'd be a Muslim quarter,

a Christian quarter, a Jewish quarter.

And each of these groups would feel secure

in their maze of streets,

with their gates and those fortified tower entries.

The place would be utterly confusing to unwelcome strangers.

'The most magnificent houses have simple,

'almost nondescript exteriors.

'I'm on way to meet Hind Kabawat,

'one of the residents in the Christian quarter.'

DOGS BARKS

Oh, yes.

-Hello.

-Hi, how are you? Welcome.

Thank you very much. This must be your wonderful home.

Lovely little entrance with marble.

Shall I go in here? Aah, how lovely!

Glad to have you in our house.

Thank you very much, I have brought a gift for you.

You don't have you, thank you very much, thank you very much.

-I do appreciate it.

-Thank you very much.

-Something maybe for us to nibble at as we chat.

-Later?

Now, I hope!

Fantastic, beautiful with the fountain.

Typical of these courtyard houses.

Yes, this is where we sit in the afternoon and the evening

in the spring and the fall.

And we usually spend the summer here in the courtyard,

especially in the evening, it is very cool here,

and the temperature is very refreshing and very nice.

The smell of the courtyard, the visuals

and the sound of the fountain must be wonderful.

Birdsong, sounds, the senses, all the senses engaged.

Beautiful architecture. But you say in here, this is where you...

Yeah, let's go and see.

-Glad to have you here.

-Thank you very much.

I am very pleased to be here!

-Oh, ah!

-So it's warmer here, right?

It's an interior sort of pool, fountain.

I suppose it's Ottoman period, so it's 18th century, I guess.

I love the black and white stonework

and all these arches, recesses, beautiful.

You see, my sweet friend, this is the deeds.

The deeds to the house?

Yes, this is the original one from the Ottoman times.

-Oh, good heavens! To your family?

-Yes.

So your family's been here several hundred years, in that case.

Tell me about living in Damascus. I think it's wonderful.

The atmosphere is so peaceful and friendly, tolerant.

Very, very, pleasing place.

It is a very tolerant place.

A Christian family, we've lived here for a few hundred years.

We have never had any problems.

Our Shi-ite or Sunnis friends, we don't even know.

We're just like friends and we have been living here for ever.

It's been great.

Here's a call to prayer from the mosque nearby.

Exactly, and Sunday you hear all the churches also.

You have the Jewish area here, we are so close

and we are very good friends with everybody.

It's a very tolerant capital, beautiful, cosmopolitan.

It's very sort of exciting, isn't it?

The most ancient city on Earth should also be one of the most,

I suppose harmonious, the most model of how cities ought to be.

A lesson from the past applied to the present and future, isn't it?

Exactly. Exactly.

'The miracle of Damascus

'is its strong sense of history and identity.

'An identity that does not depend on one culture or religion.

'And one way the past is kept alive

'is through the tradition of story telling.'

SPEAKS IN ARABIC

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Very good, very good.

It's an incredible to think that Damascus was ancient

when Rome became a power in the land,

was old when the Pharaohs ruled in Egypt.

The city's had a turbulent history,

attacked by the Christian crusaders in the 12th century.

Pillaged horribly by Tamerlaine and his Mongols in 1401.

But it survived. It's seen empires and tyrants come and go.

It offers a fantastic object lesson

in how people can live together, creatively and in harmony.

It's a wonderful city in which to be.

This is New York City, the stunning city of towers.

The skyscraper, the building of the modern age,

has been with us for just over a century,

ever since we learned how to build huge metal frames

to carry the massive loads.

The skyscraper transformed the way cities are built

and the way they are lived in, for good and for ill.

From the earliest days, they have had their enemies,

but the city high-rise is here to stay.

Getting its design right is vital

if we're to live in harmony on this overcrowded planet.

In midtown Manhattan,

there's one skyscraper that has long intrigued me.

The soaring tower of the Rockefeller Centre.

It's part of a vision of a better way of living and working

in a crowded modern city.

The tower is staggeringly tall and slender.

The setbacks, the small sections cut into like steps,

give the tower an abstract, sculptural quality.

Although it looks wide from the side,

from the front it's almost blade-like.

It has a Cubist, machine-like beauty.

It's reaching for the future.

A family of 13 buildings frame the main tower,

occupying 22 acres of the city.

'The tower contains offices,

'but this is no mundane place of work.'

Good afternoon, Mr Cruickshank.

Oh, excellent, you were expecting me.

-Welcome to Rockefeller Centre.

-Thank you very much.

-What a fantastic place it looks to work.

-Isn't it? It sure is.

'The tower started in 1931,

'and the lobby's a sensational example of Art Deco.

'The materials and details are of the highest quality, very tactile.'

This really is a spectacular and magnificent space.

It's not just the entrance to a private set of offices,

it's also a public thoroughfare, full of shops.

It's part of the city and it's full of inspiring art.

Over there is a mural showing American progress.

The marriage of brawn and brain.

In the centre, a rendering of Rockefeller Tower itself.

It's all very idealistic.

And that's a clue to the story of this building

which is all to do with vision and courage.

The centre was built on the fortune of a great dynasty.

John D Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company,

making him the richest man in America.

His son had planned to concentrate on philanthropic works,

but a spectacular piece of bad timing left him stuck

with a huge plot of land in 1929,

just as America was devastated by the Wall Street Crash.

'Panic gave way to despair.

'Overnight, the richest country in the world had spawned bread lines,

'soup kitchens and apple sellers.'

Rockefeller Junior was left facing losses of 5 million a year.

Faced with financial disaster,

he put forward what seemed to many an insane plan.

In the depths of the slump,

Rockefeller proposed a giant development

of offices, shops and theatres.

'The work in the midst of catastrophic unemployment

'when 40,000 men on the greatest real estate enterprise

'ever undertaken by private capital.

'The only outstanding building project in Depression-time New York.'

From the early '30s, the 70-storey tower rose rapidly.

The pioneering construction combined with specially commissioned art.

Rockefeller's gamble paid off.

More than 30,000 people work in Rockefeller Centre,

in everything from a broadcasting company

to airlines and an auction house.

-Hello.

-Hello, Mr Cruickshank. I will call Mr Gerard for you now.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

'I'm curious to see how the tower works as an office.

'Is its strange narrow shape a problem?

'To find out, I've come to meet a partner in a corporate law firm

'who has worked here for 20 years.'

One of our partners, who I am going to interrupt here.

-Dan, come in, please. This is Laura Friedrich.

-Hello.

-Hi, how are you?

-Very well, nice to meet you.

-Good to meet you.

-Sorry to take you away from your work.

-No, no!

-Lovely light office.

Yes, they always notice the light in this office,

because the building is so narrow that you have light on both sides.

And it's very pleasant, I presume.

Marian Baldwin, Dan Cruickshank.

-How do you do?

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

This is not an efficient use of space but everyone has an exterior office.

There is really no core except for the elevators,

and I guess the only thing without windows are the washrooms.

Now, these are two of our associates, one of whom is on the telephone.

Nice to meet you. So, two in a room, eh? I see.

How do you sort out who gets the window here?

-Whoever's here first!

-THEY LAUGH

This is where my wife would say I live!

But you'll understand that. This is my office.

Nice home you've got! It's a corner office, how lovely.

Yes, it is a corner office,

and everybody likes to have a corner office,

that makes you feel important.

Because of the setbacks here at Rockefeller Centre,

there are eight corners on every floor.

So, I have a very nice corner office.

There is another corner just up there.

So, with eight per floor and nine floors, you have 72 happy partners.

Interesting! Can I see the view you've got? It looks terrific.

Yes, of course. The curtain's here.

Although I don't get a lot of time to stand here and look,

that is St. Patrick's Cathedral on the left

-and just on the other side of 5th Avenue.

-Yes.

It isn't just the design that makes the Rockefeller so loved.

This is a building that's always invited people in -

it's part of the city.

And now, nearly 100 million people pass through the centre each year.

It's hard now to imagine it, but 100 or so years ago,

all this was a European-style, low-rise city.

And when the first skyscrapers started to appear,

they were viewed with a deep suspicion.

The success of the Rockefeller

showed that skyscrapers didn't have to be objects of fear,

but could enrich people's lives.

The Rockefeller Centre occupies several city blocks,

and within its domain, strives to create

a more perfect vision of the city.

And look - there are these incredible details.

Here is this grille around the tree,

wonderful Art Deco piece of work.

It brings an amazing quality to the area,

a really civic quality,

marks it all out as being Rockefeller territory,

confirms this place really is a city within the city.

Here, art abounds as intended,

to lift the spirits and proclaim the wonder of the modern age.

And below ground, there are restaurants and shops,

a pioneering idea back in the '30s.

'It was once said you could do anything here

'except sleep, pray and not pay rent.'

I've never had such a good buffing. What a shine, it's a work of art!

Visitors flock to the Rockefeller in their millions.

But what do New Yorkers themselves think?

Just look around, it's stunning!

The glue that holds midtown together.

-It's the greatest place on Earth.

-It's tall and shiny.

Splendid, it's like something you want to chew.

-Do you like this building?

-Yes.

That's a landmark!

What the hell do you mean, do I like Rockefeller Centre?

Unlike most office blocks, the Rockefeller is still full of life

long after the workers have gone home.

-Keep your arms out.

-Oh, no!

-No, man, you can do that.

-Yes.

If I fall on my back, I know one thing -

I'll get a splendid view of the tower!

PIANO MUSIC PLAYS

'At the top sits Rockefeller's Rainbow Room and Grill,

'where people come from all over the world

'to drink in the atmosphere of New York.'

High-rise buildings have been much criticised,

but the Rockefeller Centre is the model of how it ought to be done.

It combines private profits with public benefits,

utility with beauty,

it's a solution to modern city living, not one of the problems.

For me, this is the most perfect skyscraper in the world.

Sunrise over the rooftops of an immense shanty town

on the west coast of India.

INDIAN SINGING

This is Dharavi in Mumbai, home to 600,000 people,

and notorious as the largest slum in Asia.

I find this place absolutely riveting.

Here, in its organic forms, you can see the origin of cities.

You can see how people living and working in extreme conditions

create their own architecture.

Here in Dharavi, you can sense how most major cities were born.

Little has been planned.

This is organic growth, architecture without architects.

The people have created the buildings they need to survive.

'Dharavi was built in the 20th century.

'But it tells a much older story.

'It speaks of the way people create communities,

'how we learn to live together.'

It's incredible, it's like being in a medieval European city.

Narrow alleys, down there, looking into different homes.

People getting dressed, ready to go to work.

And here, there are overhangs on the first floor, like Tudor jetties.

Hello. Hello.

And just like a medieval town, Dharavi has lacked basic sanitation.

Meaning that diseases like cholera are rife during the monsoon season.

It was only in the 1970s that the state government moved

to improve the appalling conditions here,

building a handful of latrine blocks and communal taps.

But there are still more than 500 people to every latrine

and less than 30% of Dharavi has sewers.

The desperate nature of living in Dharavi

has stimulated the people to flights of creative exuberance.

The residents build their homes from whatever comes to hand,

using tarpaulin, scrap timber and bits of corrugated metal,

adding bricks when they can afford it.

'Dharavi contains some of the most inventive pieces of architecture

'I've ever seen.'

I love this brilliant, do-it-yourself,

ad hoc architecture, using cheap and available materials.

Look, that shutter's a fridge door!

Ah, hello!

The family that lives here has very kindly said

I can have a look around inside.

Hello.

This is the main room of the house.

I'm told six people live and sleep in here.

Here's the bedding. And everywhere, beautiful, bright colours.

And here is a shrine to Shiva with family portraits all round it.

And here is the kitchen.

Everything is very orderly,

very arranged, very clean, wonderful.

The story of Dharavi began over 70 years ago,

when the Great Depression gripped India

and rural workers migrated from the countryside to the cities.

They were driven out of the countryside by poverty, by drought.

They came to the city to make a living, to survive.

When they got to Mumbai,

the authorities didn't allow them to settle in the centre.

Instead, they had to live on the edge of town,

where nobody else with money wanted to dwell.

300 families from Gujarat were among the first to arrive,

and the fragile economy of Dharavi was born

when they built kilns and began a pottery.

It is a testament to their determination and resourcefulness

that for five generations, potters have thrived in Dharavi,

with their wares now even being exported abroad.

How long have you been here?

TRANSLATION

What was Dharavi like then?

What's your earliest memory of this area?

Were you a potter from the start?

Thank you very much for talking to me, very kind. And good luck.

Over the decades, Dharavi grew,

and each group that arrived formed its own distinctive settlement.

This is where the Valmiki community lives.

They are originally from North India

and they are sweepers by trade.

This community has grown on this site from the early 1950s.

Some families came here, invited their friends and relatives

to join them, and the community got bigger and bigger.

I think many of the people would rather be in the countryside,

but they can't, because there's no work there.

This is the main temple, the Hindu. I am going to go inside.

Thank you, thank you.

Communities come here to work,

to try and build a better life for themselves.

There's very little unemployment in Dharavi.

'The irony is that these people provide

'much of Mumbai's labour and industry,

'but the city, which couldn't function without Dharavi,

'does little to sustain life here.'

There are some pretty nasty and hazardous industries

located in Dharavi, most of these seem to be to do with recycling.

All manner of things being recycled here, mostly, I think, plastic.

All this is unregulated by the city, but then, of course,

Mumbai does like Dharavi to do the city's dirty work for it.

'And all this industry has allowed some of the older generation

'to build up reserves of money to invest in their communities.

'I was in for a few surprises.'

Here's a school for the Tamil community,

and here, the children are having a lesson.

Very boisterous, very smart. Hello.

-Hi!

-Hi! Brilliant!

And next door is a Hindu temple.

So, school and temple unified in one building.

Really, this community is doing very well, there's money here.

And these brilliant scholars, I'm sure, will go a long way.

'There's a feeling of pride and identity in the streets of Dharavi,

'with some buildings that create a real sense of community.'

Golly, a health club! Bharat Mata - Mother India.

Let's have a look inside.

Hello, chaps.

Well, well, well.

I really didn't expect to see a gym in Dharavi!

All these fellows, fine fellows they are too, working out.

Very muscly type over there!

Very well organised, and good equipment.

Guy here's doing some sort of lift up. Very good!

Admirable!

Dharavi's not the sort of chaotic, squalid slum I imagined.

Indeed, it's not really a slum at all in many senses.

There's poverty here, but there's order, cleanliness.

Everyone's now washing their clothes.

Morning.

The houses are in reasonable condition. Well-decorated.

There's ornamentation, lovely little sacred tree here.

There is an underlying order not apparent at first to outsiders.

Different communities, different trades gathered together.

And...all sorts of uses mixed together

to make a very sort of balanced community.

A community easy to live in.

For example, here's a sort of corner shop. Hello.

Excellent supply of sweets for the children.

In the past, Dharavi was regarded as an illegal slum

and has always been at risk of demolition by the authorities.

And now that the land value of the area is enormous,

the city is proposing a radical redevelopment.

'Poor it may be, but Dharavi is fighting back.'

All this is productive people.

They are not taking loan from the bank.

The bank is not giving money.

The government has not given a grant.

Not a single one-inch structure has been built by the government.

That's a central point.

I mean, walking round Dharavi, looking,

I mean, slum is not the right word, it is not a slum, is it?

It's very organised, different communities.

People are poor, but they maintain their streets,

their houses, everything's cleaned and so on.

And there's lots of industry going on.

People have created this for themselves,

their own enterprise, their own energy, their own money.

I wonder what contribution the government has made, really.

Exactly, that's what we are questioning.

The government has done nothing.

Well, that's shocking, since the people who live here

make such an obvious contribution to the city,

the city should make a contribution to them.

But the city is sucking the blood from you.

The economy is ruling, the economy is booming.

The whole land value has gone sky high.

And what do you think the future will be?

The government would like to bulldoze it.

-Bulldoze, yeah, yeah.

-Bulldoze it. So it is not easy.

600,000 people, and it's going to be a war.

If at all even the bulldozers come near, it will be a war.

To visit Dharavi is like stepping back in time,

to witness the origin of cities,

of the way people first learned to live together.

But if Dharavi is to evolve creatively in the modern world,

then its residents must be listened to.

Dharavi has surprised and delighted me.

This is a place of warmth and welcome.

Here, a multitude of diverse peoples

have, through their energy and enterprise,

and against all the odds, created a viable and vibrant community.

A community which does much to serve the great city of Mumbai,

but which, shamefully, Mumbai has done very little to help.

This may be a place of economic poverty.

There's no poverty of the spirit here, no poverty of the soul.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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