India, April 25 -- "No one wants to be an activist," chuckles Alan Abraham, 51, joint principal architect at Abraham John Architects (AJA), an architecture and urban planning firm, founded by his father in 1967. While he applauds the work of prominent environmental and legal activists in Mumbai, he hastens to add what sets him apart. "We call ourselves progressive development specialists. We are developmental experts," he says.

For over a decade, much of Mumbai has remained behind barricades as it undergoes infrastructure upgrades. And although Abraham is peeved at how the city's big-ticket infrastructure projects have been taking shape, he hasn't distanced himself from development. "Because the moment you say something (against a public...