India, May 10 -- Mumbai cannot handle the burden of the exponential redevelopment boom it is undergoing, and an alternative is direly needed: this was the consensus that emerged at a panel discussion titled Reimagining Mumbai's Future, held at The Asiatic Society on Friday evening.

"If you replace a neighbourhood of densely packed four-storey buildings with 20 40-storey buildings, like in Bhendi Bazaar, you will face the consequences," said Mustansir Dalvi, an architect and professor.

Organised by Art Deco Mumbai, the panel featured the platform's founder trustee, Atul Kumar, speaking with Dalvi, conservation architect Vikas Dilawari, and Dr Jehangir Sorabjee, head of the department of medicine at Bombay Hospital.

Mumbai, in the past, ...