The regulations are rooted in the building codes that were drawn up for the city after the plague of 1896 but, over time, they have been reduced to merely quantifying real estate. With the state making them convoluted and opaque, people are unable to redevelop land or properties themselves. On the ground, the DCR operates in a way that you can visually tell the slum redevelopment buildings apart, compromising the health and livelihoods of the poorest. The state needs to stop thinking like a developer and formulate DCR that will serve the city for the next 30 years, says Sameep Padora in this interview to Question of Cities.