India, Jan. 27 -- A narrow metalled road slices Burari in vertical halves. All of two lanes wide, Sant Nagar Marg is a battleground, where cars, motorbikes, trucks, shops, and street vendors joust for every inch of space. Leaking sewage pipes and "work in progress" boards punctuate the potholed nightmare. Burari, on Delhi's northern fringe, has mushroomed around this avenue over the past 25 years - quickly, dramatically and haphazardly. Multi-storeyed malls sit beside police stations, which sit beside residential towers, which sit beside godowns.

"This road means a lot to us. When we moved here, it was just a single-lane muddy road," said Arvind Choudhary. The 52-year-old shifted to Delhi from a tiny village in Supaul district of Bihar a...