The Origin of Bombay (Mumbai)

It took over 150 years to join the original seven islands of Mumbai. The original island of Mumbai was only 24 km. long and 4 km. wide from Dongri to Malabar hill (at its broadest point) and the other six were Colaba, Old Woman’s island, Mahim, Parel, Worli, Mazgaon.Today it encompasses 436 sq.km and has been a natural shipping and trading centre throughout its history and has grown in spite of lying in a seismically active zone.

Mumbai recognized Back Bay’s potential as a centre of maritime commerce and has a specific history towards the Back Bay area reclamations of which Marine Drive is an outcome.

Backbay Reclamation

The first Backbay Reclamation Company (BRC) was formed in the 1860s with the express purpose to reclaim the whole of Backbay. Later on the Backbay Reclamation Project was handed over by the City Improvement Trust to the Bombay Development Department (BDD).

BDD reclaimed Marine Drive along the southern coast of the island of Bombay and began developing suburbs to the north. The Backbay reclamation project began by 1950 and was completed finally in 1970’s by BDD. However, as the reclamation continued in various stages even after that, a third Backbay Reclamation was put into effect after Independence and it yielded the acreage on which stand the high rises of Nariman Point and Cuffe Parade. The Backbay Reclamation Project symbolized a major shift in the spirit of the city from Victorian to an International city.

Planning Aspects of Marine Drive

In the middle of 1935, work was commenced on Marine Drive, the splendid western foreshore road. When the full scale of the layout was completed by 1940, Marine Drive or the ‘Queen’s Necklace’ emerged as the most magnificent avenue in the island of Bombay. This layout however, was an outcome of proposals by WR davidge and Bombay Architect Claude Batley not being implemented by the government. The overall layout of the scheme stipulated that the area occupied by carriageways, footpaths and open spaces was large in relation to the total area allotted for the buildings. The formulation of special building rules for Backbay Reclamation led to it being a fine example of judiciously controlled building area.The Backbay Reclamation scheme gave birth to a new precinct with its various land uses, thereby adding another layer to the city. Perhaps at its time, the creation of Marine Drive was seen as a dramatic shift and also as being detrimental to the existing views and physical relationships within the city. For what this project did for the city was not only to extend the existing physical context on the pulse of the movement and a gesture that opened up new possibilities.