We were delighted to host another cohort of Engineers for Social Impact from NYU, Abu Dhabi for the sixth edition of the annual handstorming workshop. This year, the students provided us with their technical expertise for the projects that the urbz team has been working on as a part of the ABCD of Koliwada. It is an Action-Based Comprehensive Development process of co-creating need-based intervention ideas through active participation of the Dharavi Koli community. It is geared towards the environmental, economic and spatial improvement of the Koliwada. 

The idea behind the workshop is to learn to think from a hands-on approach, and create with people and communities instead of relying on a purely technical approach. This reversal in approach allows the students to immerse themselves in places. Getting to know the deeply embedded contexts and histories and using that as a starting point for solutions based on their needs rather than starting with the technology itself. 

Such an approach relies on the exploration of the neighbourhood, its people and their connection to each other. To that end, urbz facilitated various interactions which enabled them to gain a holistic perspective of the community. The students needed to interact with the Koli community of Dharavi, who are fishermen and Mumbai’s first inhabitants. They wanted to understand the community’s relationship with the river and other water bodies. To encourage this, we organised a boat ride to the ponds in the Mithi River, which gave them a view of the relationship of the community with the environment. They even bought fish from the market in the Koliwada and spent an afternoon cooking it with Kavita Mavshi (our regular lunch aunty). Surely she might have reconsidered her decision when she saw the variety we presented, but she was still patient enough to give us her time and teach us her ways. The students also interacted with the youth organisations, Dharavi Koli Jamat (local governing body) and the fisherman’s association. After getting a holistic perspective of the community's needs, we delved into the second part of the workshop - developing the projects in partnership with the local stakeholders. 

Some projects are infrastructural while others are public space interventions. The students helped with four projects that the urbz team has been working on - the upgradation of water and sanitation infrastructure, solar energy to power street lamps, activating community land along the Mithi River and the adaptive reconstruction of a customs house. The customs house is a dilapidated colonial structure within the Koliwada that the Koli Jamat wants to rebuild as a study space for students and a small museum which displays the history of the Kolis. 

Each group frequently visited their respective sites to study them through observation and conversations with the people from Koliwada. These interviews gave them insights into water supply schedules, lighting needs, the spatial, temporal and material history of the customs house, and the condition of the Mithi. Based on these conversations, we tried to develop solutions to address the problems we were presented with. 

The infrastructural projects involved mapping, measuring, calculating requirements and liaising with technicians. We studied similar cases from around the world to understand how this has been addressed in the past. We researched materials like pipes, lights, wiring, panels and other components to build up holistic proposals and formulate a phasing plan that charts out different stages of the project. 

The other groups were focused on the activation of spaces to revitalise their relationship with the community. To this end, we conducted extensive fieldwork and visited various sites. Students working on the customs house visited study spaces spread out across the city. They also rummaged through archives to find pictures of what the customs house could have looked like. The group working on activating the banks of the Mithi River identified the needs of the fishermen which included a jetty. They visited other Koliwadas to understand how their jetties were constructed. 

The engineering students along with the urbz team, presented these projects to the Jamat, going back and forth with them a couple of times to alter them according to the feedback they received. They are going to continue being in conversation with our team for the next couple of weeks to build these ideas until they are ready to be implemented.