What does a road do? It links places, of course. But it can also split places. So, what is a place? A ‘concretion of value,’ says the geographer Yi-Fu Tuan. This is the story of how people made an informal place called Pratap Nagar in the face of poverty, neglect and marginalisation. Like a nurturing ecosystem it helped consolidate and shape precarious lives. Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) disrupted the nearly ‘organic’ integrity of this place and its value as a foundation of everyday life - homes were demolished, amenities erased, and families moved out.