Theatre of conflict, city of hope Mumbai, 1660 to present times

Includes bibliographical references (p. [236]-245) and index.

--Section I Agrarian Bombay C. 1660 - 1860 Land Into Private Property-- A Precarious Presence: The British in Bombay, c. 1660-1720-- Defence Preoccupations and the Emerging Town c. 1720 - 1780-- Customary Rights and State Regulations c. 1780-1810-- A Time for Change: Thomas Dickinson and the Bombay Revenue Survey, c. 1810-1830--Law and the Acquisition of Land for Public Purpose, c. 1830-1860--Section II : Industrial Bombay C. 1860 - 2010 Changing Patterns Of Land Use--A Metropolis Takes Shape c. 1860-1890-- Urban Planning or Crises Management ? c. 1890- 1930-- The Housing Conundrum and Bombay's Built Environment, c. 1930-1970, Chapter Nine: Megalopolis Mumbai:

This is the first volume to present such a comprehensive history of Bombay-from 1660s to the present times. Strongly grounded in primary sources and richly illustrated, it maps the radical transformation of Bombay from an agricultural settlement of little significance to a megalopolis. What had originally been seven 'islets' of fishing villages, coconut gardens, rice fields, salt-pans, and vegetable plots, had by the nineteenth century given way to chawls, warehouses, cotton mills, railway lines, and docks. In recent times shopping malls, skyscrapers and slums have become prominent in the urban landscape. The book discusses several other significant aspects concerned with land use and planning of the city-customary rights versus state regulations, revenue survey, land acquisition, agricultural and industrial growth, housing problems, development of the metropolis and problems confronting the city today.