Waste recycling in Mumbai is enabled entirely by the labor of ragpickers and the enterprise of informal industries that are largely concentrated in the 13th Sector at Dharavi. Informal systems are sometimes inextricably linked to the way a city functions. An urban waste management strategy that doesn’t leverage the circuit of labor and resources through the informal system cannot be successful. The foundation for a strategy that works with the informal sector to improve an urban system depends upon a clear understanding of the informal system.
Authors: Sourav Kumar Biswas, Dima Rachid, Maria Jose Vargas
For 'Livelihoods and Urban Form' Seminar at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Faculty: Martha Chen, Rahul Mehrotra
