It has been pointed out that in contemporary times the culture of the cities has shifted from one of production to consumption. Writing about the passages of Paris, Walter Benjamin had recognized their impact as the moment of transformation from a culture of production to one of consumption. Capitalism for him was a system that empowered objects with the means to express collective dreams (Knox 2011: 83-85).  In Paris initially it was the passages, gallarias and then came department stores that changed the face of urban consumption. Introduction of electric lighting brought unprecedented changes in the entire shopping experience. It made advertising attractive through dazzling displays and shopping districts safer through street lighting (see lecture 24). The contemporary transformation of cities in India has focused on creating ‘world class cities’. We will discuss some of the resultant unintended and intended consequences of such transformation through the case-study of Mumbai. Before that a quick look at the ways of maintaining the social divide in contemporary cities.