Articles by Ishita Chatterjee

Ishita Chatterjee is a consultant working for Apnalaya on the WASH project. Her doctoral thesis at the University of Melbourne studied the diverse growth processes of informal settlements in India. Her work focuses on informal urbanism, housing rights, urban citizenship and spatial justice.

59% of the world’s population defecating in the open live in India. The sanitation situation is far worse in urban informal settlements. One such settlement is Shivaji Nagar, a neighbourhood located in the lowest-ranked ward of Mumbai. Communities in Shivaji Nagar have lived with toilet scarcity for decades. They face multiple challenges related to sanitation due to systemic marginalisation and strategic placement beside Asia’s largest landfill.  A study, taking stock of sanitation in Shivaji Nagar, was released recently by Apnalaya, a non-profit organisation working on issues of the urban poor. The NGO has been working in Shivaji Nagar for many decades.  Map showing functional and…

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