Homegrown cities
This experiment in affordable housing led to the co-designing and construction of a small house in Shivaji Nagar, in Govandi. A neighbourhood in Mumbai that is struggling against all odds to keep growing and improving.
In the past year we have been working hard to make the Homegrown Cities initiate a reality. Among other things, we have organized a Handstorm workshop and worked on a pilot house.
One of the highlight of the workshop was a discussion between a local builder from Shivaji Nagar in Mumbai and a local builder from Paraisopolis in Sao Paulo. They discussed their respective contexts and construction techniques. Among those witnessing their exchange was Yehuda Safran, who teaches architectural theory at Columbia University.
The pilot house should be built soon. At the moment the engineering firm Arup is revising a design we have done in collaboration with Sameep Padora’s architecture studio in Mumbai.
The report, which contains many images and links, can be downloaded here:
www.urbanlab.org/HomegrownCities-ProgressReport-June2014.pdf
We thank all of you who have supported us and followed the initiative on Facebook!