Facing waste: Strategies to encourage and promote cleanliness in neglected urban spaces in Indian cities

Environmental pollution is a global problem! I travelled to India learn more about it. Public spaces in the cities vastly polluted by toxic waste in various forms and sizes. An explanation is that the public environment is rarely considered valuable, thus facing neglect and mistreatment. Accordingly, sustainable change can only happen when a true sense of responsibility and appreciation for the environment emerges.

Motivation through awareness, action and education is the key. Besides the governmental campaign Swachh Bharat Abhiyan(=Clean India Mission), many independent groups and individuals, like The Ugly Indians in Bangalore, are drastically improving countless public spaces. They prove, that lively spaces like intersections, parks and bus stops can function as an effective platform to bring about a collective transformation.

In Dharavi, Mumbai’s largest informal settlement, the neglected Shivraj Udyan Garden shall become a productive space of change where wasted materials are transformed and reused. An environmental education and upcycling container invites locals to rethink and build a lively park with potential for micro business. The adjacent school will take care of a small forest and edible garden, thus making the Garden to a magnet of development.