Evaluating Projected Housing Benefits and Early Livelihood Risks under the Thane Cluster Redevelopment Scheme – the Urban Density Trade-Off

The Cluster Redevelopment Scheme (CRS) is a flagship urban renewal project by the Thane Municipal Corporation to replace the dense informal settlements with planned high-rise residential complexes with better infrastructure, sanitation and formal housing rights. The policy is designed to address the longstanding problems of housing and the environment in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), but its overall socio-economic implications are not yet clear, especially at the initial implementation stages.

This paper explores the possible trade-offs of the CRS in Kisan Nagar and similar clusters in Thane. It considers the potential for the impact of improved housing quality to intertwine with livelihood systems that rely greatly on spatial access, informal employment, and intra-community economic networks.

The study uses cluster-level beneficiary housing data from Kisan Nagar, Census of India data on employment and commuting patterns, and municipal planning documents from the Thane Draft Development Plan. The findings indicate that although CRS has the potential to cause a substantial impact on housing conditions through replacing extremely small and structurally weak housing units with formal housing of around 323 sq ft, it can also upset informal economic systems found within the dense housing pattern.

The results emphasise the need to consider livelihood continuity as a part of urban redevelopment policy. The paper proposes that the physical and economic displacement risks need to be considered in a unified socio-spatial perspective, with an integrated connection between housing outcomes and employment accessibility.