In recent years, there has been a spate of interventions proposed to transform Mumbai into a"world-class" city on the Shanghai model. As this article suggests, the developmental state in Mumbai is intent on producing the modern world-class city through the construction of roads. However, this proposed development assumes that it will benefit everyone who lives in the city: a matter of public interest. Yet, the public who is being imagined thus as a putative beneficiary, is rather "exclusive". In Mumbai, the notion of public interest disconnects millions of people in the city from substantial citizenship particularly because of the privileged positions occupied by those who envision and operationalise Mumbai's projects of world-class development.
