Our youth stopped receiving marriage proposals because of how unhygienic our lanes were. Guests would often excuse themselves during visits; they’d say “Kitne gande mein rehte hai aap [you live in such unclean conditions],” recalls 43-year-old Kulsum Khan of Natwar Parekh Compound (NPC) in Govandi. Invitations should be in order for these guests after Kulsum and a team of women with Community Design Agency (CDA) have started cleaning, greening and rebuilding their lanes brick by brick.

Spread across five hectares of land, NPC was established as a slum rehabilitation colony in 2007, drawing in displaced residents from Sewri, Byculla, and beyond. “Each house here measures 226 sq ft on average, and is home to families of nearly seven members each,” shares Natasha Sharma, lead, public arts and design at CDA. Between 61 buildings, you can walk in its open lanes that comprise nearly 18 per cent of the total space, according to CDA studies. But would one really want to? “For years, these spaces were infamous for their stench, open garbage dumping, and disease,” Sharma adds.