India, March 24 -- "When I was a child, we would play in the spaces in corridors, foyers and between buildings," said architect Anuj Daga, speaking of his neighbourhood in Goregaon East. "But gradually, buildings started opting for boundary walls, splintering the space available for play, and restricting the space, the kind of play that is possible, and the kind of kids that come together to play."

Today, Daga's nephew is taken to the mall's play area on the occasional Sunday, demonstrating the tectonic shift that residential pockets in Mumbai have gone through in five decades. "With the diminishing of such public spaces and the rise of gated communities with parks within, play has become restricted within social classes and has become m...