India's Dharavi: the options for Asia's largest slum

This paper argues for the importance of community involvement in the alleviation of mass poverty in India, especially the development of slums. The authors' visit to Dharavi in Mumbai, India, the largest slum in Asia, began with assumptions that demanded radical revision after the first visit. A comparison is made regarding the approaches towards slum development by community-oriented organisations; like the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) with the commercial building industry and official government policy. It is suggested that the failure to develop appropriate policies is partially due to the narrow technical focus of engineering education in India. The paper argues for major reform of engineering curricula and invites conference participants to join the Monash team in making engineering education relevant to the needs of poverty alleviation.