Slumming It

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Culture, Sociopolitical Documentary hosted by Kevin McCloud and published by Channel 4 in 2010 - English narration

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Slumming It Kevin McCloud discovers a world of curious juxtapositions in one of the most extreme urban environments on earth: Dharavi, Mumbai. Having heard bigwig architects, planners and even Prince Charles claiming that Dharavi has the answers to some of the biggest problems facing our Western cities, Kevin embarks on a journey to lift the lid on this place himself. With a million people crammed into one square mile, Dharavi is one of the most densely populated places on earth. It is also one of Asia's biggest slums. As a way of experiencing the good and bad of Dharavi first hand, Kevin decides to live, work, sleep, eat and wash there, and he's terrified at the prospect of doing so. In the first programme, as Kevin enters Dharavi he finds open sewers, rats and hazardous chemicals everywhere. However, he also discovers that it is a highly organised place with thousands of tiny industries. To understand Dharavi, Kevin fully immerses himself in the environment, living and working with the locals, sampling life in the pottery area and discovering the extraordinary sense of spirit and community despite the hardships. He explores this industrious square mile, meeting bakers, cobblers and suitcase manufacturers, all thriving as part of the 15,000 one-room industries contained in this slum. But, despite the area's apparent successes, Kevin finds Dharavi is to be redeveloped and razed to the ground.

Kevin's immersive journey through Dharavi continues as he explores the extraordinary recycling industry. Here, 80 per cent of the city's plastic waste is recycled. Everything from plastic drinking straws to the coating on electric cables gets sorted, stripped down, cleaned and pelleted ready to be re-formed into a new product. Kevin works alongside the dustmen of Mumbai and follows the rag pickers who eke out a tiny living by collecting plastic from the city's dumps. He meets the people who've made it big in the slum, and visits the most expensive real estate Dharavi has to offer. Kevin also meets Mukesh Mehta, the man behind the plans to redevelop the entire square mile of Dharavi to create 30,000,000 square feet of housing, schools, parks and roads to serve some of the existing families residing in the area, along with 40,000,000 square feet of residential and commercial space. Kevin weighs up what will be lost when Dharavi goes.