Digital Applications
The modern world is being shaped by a symphony of global forces, and India’s attempt at globalization has produced a revolutionary overture in the field of digitalization. India’s architectural terrain in the digital age is like a dynamic skyline where old buildings blend with new technological constructions. With the onset of globalization, an intricate web of interconnections emerged, including India into the global digital economy. The architecture of this transition demonstrates the spread of cybernetic structures, or virtual environments that cut across national borders. Tall and towering, the virtual skyscrapers of e-commerce platforms and international software companies are altering the economic skyline. Mumbai, a vast city with a diverse urban landscape, has experienced a significant transformation driven by the forces of digitalization. The skyline of real estate is one area where the changes are most noticeable. Mumbai, which is renowned for its distinctive skyline made up primarily of tall buildings, has seen a paradigm shift in the design and development of metropolitan areas. Digital platforms have made real estate transactions easier, and internet portals are now the virtual builders of the real estate industry. Digital blueprints such as Housing.com and Magicbricks link buyers and sellers in a constantly changing virtual real estate market. Virtual home tours and online property listings have become complex threads of the urban fabric formerly knitted through traditional means.
Transport and Trade
In Mumbai, the digital resurrection of transport, the lifeblood of every megacity, has taken place. The rise of ride-sharing applications like Uber and Ola has revolutionized the transport scene in the city. With only a swipe of a smartphone screen, one can now easily traverse Mumbai’s previously chaotic and clogged streets, bringing in a new era of effective and technologically advanced transportation. With the aid of digital maps and real-time traffic reports, commuters now easily move across the city, completely changing the structure of Mumbai’s urban transportation system. This digital tsunami has not spared Mumbai’s street markets, which are a vital part of the city’s urban fabric and are vibrant. Street sellers and traditional bazaars have adopted digital payment methods, moving past cash-only transactions. In Mumbai’s rich tapestry of commercial activity, the advent of digital wallets and online payment systems such as Paytm and Google Pay has stitched a new thread. In addition to improving ease, the digital transaction ecosystem has helped the government realize its goal of a cashless society. A community that has been significantly affected by this is that of vendors and general store retailers. With the onset of applications like Dunzo and Fresh Basket, they have noticed decreased customer interaction. This has made them go about traveling across neighborhoods or being stationed near apartment societies as a way to maintain their customer amount. The existence of “sabzi mandis” or vegetable markets is significantly reducing. The easy access to everyday products has led to the recent generation being used to digital media over buying groceries from vendors.
The Urban Built
The skyscraper complexes of Bandra Kurla Complex and Nariman Point, which symbolize the business environment, have undergone a digital transformation. The conventional office design, which had boardrooms and cubicles, has been replaced by remote collaboration tools and virtual workspaces. The growth of coworking spaces and virtual offices is indicative of a change in the urban landscape, where workspace borders are now symbolic rather than physical, extending into the digital sphere. Security checks and lifts are some common places where this digitization can be seen. Only those with entry cards can enter the premises. The technology to thus make a difference between who can and cannot enter has become interestingly easy. The entertainment scene in the city has seen a digital transformation on a cultural level. Mumbai’s cultural mainstay, the renowned Bollywood industry, has embraced digital channels for content delivery. Mumbaikars’ entertainment consumption habits are being transformed by streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ Hotstar, which have emerged as the cinematic architects. Major reconstructions and updates have been done to current theatres to make them more eye-catching and provide various experiences of movie-going. These changes and indirectly the increase in prices have instead had a negative impact. Covid also helped accelerate this process. During lockdowns, when the world was shut, people took to these streaming apps to escape their homes by entering the world of the movies. The freedom of choice, to be able to watch whenever, and to be able to control what and when to watch without having to pay a lot made these streaming apps extremely popular amongst the masses.
Work Infrastructure
A notable adverse effect is the amplification of pre-existing social and economic divides. Mumbai has a clear digital divide, with some sections of the populace benefiting from advances in technology while others are left behind. The urban fabric, which was formerly typified by various groups living side by side, is now marred by a digital barrier that exacerbates already-existing socioeconomic disparities. Not every social class has equal access to digital opportunities, skills, and infrastructure, which creates an exclusive rather than inclusive digital environment. And this disparity then amplifies as a particular section of society is opened to more opportunities than the other. Moreover, the introduction of digital technology into the workplace has changed Mumbai’s job market dynamics. While boosting efficiency, the advent of automation and remote labor also threatens conventional jobs in industries like manufacturing and clerical work. Once woven with the strands of many professions, the urban fabric is changing, perhaps leading to joblessness and a change in the city’s socioeconomic composition.
Citations
Huang, S., Han, F. and Chen, L. (2023) ‘Can the digital economy promote the upgrading of Urban Environmental Quality?’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), p. 2243. doi:10.3390/ijerph20032243.
Bai, F. et al. (2022) ‘Modeling the impact of Digital Economy on urban environmental pollution: Empirical evidence from 277 prefecture-level cities in China’, Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10. doi:10.3389/fenvs.2022.991022.
