Housing woes: the solution rise in London

Tired of Mumbai's housing problems "" slums, old dilapidated buildings, obsolete building bylaws that force you to stay in these buildings, the absence of green open spaces and volatile housing markets?

Solution may be at hand, if the city fathers were to follow the example of London. From Canary Wharf to Limehouse and areas in East London, the city of London has faced problems similar to Mumbai in redeveloping old and decaying buildings and housing a growing migrant population.

Since 1980s, London has managed to transform itself successfully into a modern megapolis with well-managed civic systems.

Michael Edwards, of the regeneration unit of the University of London, shared some of the insights while presenting a paper at an international conference on renewal strategies for Mumbai city.

Many of the solutions for London may be applied to Mumbai city, said Edwards. He was talking at the urban renewal conference in Mumbai today, organised by Bombay First.

"Relaxation of land regulations helped London in a big way. Deregulation of land use rules, privatisation of social or community housing and rationalising rent control, helped the city to overcome a volatile property market, and create massive housing stock of a good quality," said Edwards.

But he admitted with a growing population of migrants, city is once again facing a squeeze for space. And like Mumbai, it was middle income groups which face this squeeze.

"We still don't have housing of a quality commensurate with their income levels." said Edwards.

He also had a few insights on what not to do. "We sold a lovely building in the docks area to a developer who decided to build a shopping complex there. But it was out of everyone's way "" there were housing estates there nor was it on anyone's way. So the mall had to be pulled down eventually. My advice to any city developer would to make sure you have captive customers. For us, it was a good example of too little planning."