View from the URBZ office. Photo taken by Stefano Boeri.

Suspect activity has been observed in Dharavi in the last days, particularly around New Transit Camp and the URBZ office. An unusual number of Italians have been seen walking around the neighbourhood, some of them taking pictures and even measuring a vacant plot on Mahatma Gandhi Road. Is the Italian mafia spreading its tentacles all the way to the most contested piece of real estate in the world?

It turns out that the visiting Italians comprised of many different groups, all related in one way or the other to URBZ’s activities. First came Francesco Strocchio and Alberto Bottero, two graduating architecture students from the Politecnico di Torino, who were sent by double-agent Subhash Mukerjee of Studio Marc, who, it turns out had participated in the Urban Typhoon workshop in Koliwada (2008). Francesco and Alberto have been working on the design of a Social Club for street children and elderly residents in New Transit Camp. This is a project for which URBZ is looking for funding at the moment (just in case you know someone willing to give for a good cause!)

Then came Marco Ferrario and Rakhi Mehra of Micro Home Solutions, a social housing initiative based in Delhi. Their approach is truly interesting in that they try to combine micro-finance with architectural solutions. We talked about a housing project for rickshawalas in Delhi. They also gave us some tips about how to make our own ideas fundable through micro-credit style investments.

Marco Ferrario, Francesco Strocchio, Rakhi Mehra, Matias Echanove, Alberto Bottero, Rahul Srivastava in URBZ office.

The same day we also had the magical visit of Neva Pedrazzini, a scholar of historical preservation who has worked in Milan, Lisbon, Barcelona, La Havana and Venice. She immediately recognized Dharavi as being part of the cultural heritage of Mumbai and India. Her notion of heritage involves change as a principle of conservation. Historical urban spaces and landscapes, she says, should be lived in a sustainable way. Preservation is about preserving life and culture, not just the physical structures.

Just when we thought that the Italian wave of Dharavi was over, the Don of architectural Dons knocked on the door ofour office. We had the honor to receive Stefano Boeri with his wife Maddalena Bregani in our humble office. Before we could even think of interviewing him, he had turned the camera on us and asked us to tell him all about URBZ and Urbanology. Fascinating discussions followed in which we agreed to collaborate on a theoretical platform for the 21st makeshift city.

Stefano declared the office as occupying a mythical space in the world of urban theory and practice. Myth is that special location in the world of imagination and practice that, more than anything else, opens new gateways. He left us with our minds bowling with new ideas and projects, which will soon fill these electronic pages.

“Mitico!”: Matias Echanove, Rahul Srivastava, Alberto Bottero, Maddalena Bregani, Stefano Boeri, Francesco Strocchio. Stefano was a co-author of the ground-breaking book Mutations, with Rem Koolhaas.

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