URBZ is glad to announce the launch of its new Eastern Waterfront Website. This Website features the work produced by students from Columbia University, JJ School of Architecture and Tata Institute of Social Sciences. This urban design studio was lead by URBZ co-founder and Columbia University faculty Geeta Mehta. URBZ has been organizing the studio in Mumbai and is still coordinating the interaction between the three institutions. More work will be uploaded in the coming months and thereafter. The site is open to contributions by other institutions, organizations and individuals interested in the future of Mumbai’s Eastern Waterfront. Please visit often: http://ewf.urbz.net.

We are hoping that the work published on this site will contribute constructively to ongoing discussions on the future of Mumbai’s Eastern Waterfront. While Mumbai can consider itself lucky to have much of its shipping needs supplied into its core areas by a thriving Port that directly or indirectly employs up to one lakh (100,000) people, many voices are demanding an improved and widened public access to this Eastern Waterfront for the city at large.

The Columbia-JJ-TISS studio seeks to address some of these pressing issues in the context of an overheated city, which seems to be reinventing itself by the day. This Website is an attempt at opening the debate to the larger public and an invitation to all users and stakeholders to participate and contribute.

In neighbourhoods directly bordering the sea, such as Darukhana off the port of Mumbai, the open space over the water is an attractive opportunity for expansion. Of course, the tide is something one has to bear in mind,  especially as there is a two meter range between the levels of low tide and high tide in Mumbai.

Photo 16. Kuala Bandar, Darukhana, Mazgaon, Mumbai. Low tide, revealing the supporting piling of the light dwellings.

Darukhana’s main employment is ship repair and ship recycling. The use of sheet-shaped building materials is therefore an obvious choice. Many of these come from dismantled ships. These structures are very light, compared to concrete and masonry. Another advantage is the flexibility. Repair and expansion is easy, since material is locally available. In terms of sustainability, this is an exemplary site.

The roof shape is straightforward. Its slope is down to the waterside, which is the logical thing to do, as it would otherwise drain to the street, with all resulting inconveniences. The street would turn into a mud pool; the water would be pouring from the roof right in front of the shop or the house and in the end, the water would drain into the sea anyway.

To protect the ground from being washed away by the tide, the shore is paved with heavy stones. In order to keep it accessible and capable of bearing the piles under the dwellings, the stones are stacked stepwise, thus providing sufficient horizontal surface. In addition, the stairway form helps to dampen the incoming waves.

Photo 17. The shore is paved stepwise, providing excellent ground for these dwellings. Click photo to enlarge.

Notwithstanding the wish of many for more comfortable housing, there certainly are things to be appreciated about these dwellings. Their design is practical, straightforward and natural. Everything is in the right place, and in that way it is perfect.

Click here to enlarge the poster.

Periodically, Mumbai’s assorted set of concerned citizens groups and bodies cast their attention on Mumbai’s long and spacious Eastern Waterfront (EWF), occupied mostly by the Mumbai Port Trust Authorities as a source of land supply for urban infrastructure. The authorities themselves are not as enthusiastic about  all the attention since it devalues the tremendous economic contribution of the port to the city’s economy by measuring its worth only in terms of land value. Several studies conducted by institutes such as Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) and the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute amongst others have made significant contributions to this debate and the officers of the Port Trust have responded with their own arguments.

The Columbia University Urban Design Studio lead by Richard Plunz and Geeta Mehta, which is co-organized by URBZ, revisits some of these debates and take another look at the waterfront with  their students between the 9th and 13th of January 2010. They will be accompanied by students of the Habitat School, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and the JJ College of Architecture, who will deepen the study conducted through their perspectives from social science and development studies as well as aspiring architectural practitioners in the city.

The Columbia EWF Studio has made, as the sites of their inquiry, some creative choices of locations – starting from Colaba and Chor Bazaar in the south, to P.D.Mello Road and Mazagaon as vital nodes and Sewri Fort and Wadala as the northern points of their study. The learning from the studio – whetted as it will be by previous studies as well as ongoing debates – becomes an important input into a panel discussion specially organized with the Earth Institute and JJ College of Architecture. This will take place on January 13th 2009 at JJ College, from 2:00 p.m. onwards. The panel discussion is open to the public. See the poster for more details.

The Earth Institute at Columbia University together with URBZ and UDRI are co-sponsoring this panel discussion in a run up to the establishment of the Columbia Global Centre/South Asia. This Center to be launched in March 2010 is part of their ongoing commitment to help address the challenges of sustainable development in India including poverty alleviation, energy, water, health and urbanization,

Sir JJ College of Architecture has been at the forefront of urban issues since its founding, and is committed to promoting a robust dialogue among academicians and all stake holders on important urban issues facing Mumbai and India.

The panel discussion “Mumbai Eastern Waterfront: Envisioning the Future” will focus on the Mumbai Eastern Waterfront to discuss strategies and policies that can play a constructive role in its future development. The process and the result of EWF development will have a profound impact on the Mumbai as well as the greater Mumbai Region. Eminent thought leaders will serve as panelists to discuss balancing environmental and ecological concerns with the desire for rapid economic development; balancing local, city and regional interests; balancing public interest and profit motives of developers; and balancing the interests of the middle class with the needs of the poorest residents.