As urban societies
are booming, informal economies are also developing side-by-side. Especially in
developing countries, we see posh and luxurious colonies co-existing with
slums, shacks and humble, untidy shanties. The capital city, New Delhi of India
has plush malls and shopping complexes. But equally popular are the unplanned markets,
which have mushroomed at Lajpat Nagar and Sarojini Nagar and numerous other
such colonies. Mumbai, which is the financial and industrial capital of India,
cannot ignore the existence of ‘Dharvi’, Asia’s largest slum that co-exists
with its luxurious housing amenities. Shivajinagar is another example of an
unplanned, crowded and an extremely chaotic market. This is one place where one could find
anything and everything under the sun. Being one of the oldest markets of
Bangalore, Shivajinagar has yet retained its history, beauty and charm.
Informal structures are mushrooming all over the place, but their origins are
very old and are the core urban economies.
Informalisation is also present in
modern and developed economies. Social networking sites have become a very
effective means of communication all over the world. Developed countries need
cheap labour to manufacture luxury items at cheaper prices. So they too depend
on developing economies. So all of us are in some way connected to the
informal.
-Sharanya Aggarwal
No comments:
Post a Comment