This series of articles seeks to shed light on the origin of the unplanned settlements that are home to more than half of Caracas’s population, but whose stories have never been told. Multiple inhabitants were interviewed and shared their stories of struggles, overcoming hardships, constant improvement and self governance that are the origin of unplanned settlements in Venezuela.

The urban design competition EnteKochi 2020 focused on integrating a participatory approach within the planning process for the city of Kochi. The competition was planned for, announced and conducted during the pandemic induced nation wide lockdown. This article provides a glimpse of the process. 

Following up on the biggest news we had in our yearly update, we want to share more about how we got to kickstart our dream project in Dharavi Koliwada. Here we go. 

The following text recounts Paarth and Abhay’s experience measuring a plot of land owned by Ramesh Koli and his family. The plot includes a house and 7 shops that face the street. The family hopes to redevelop the plot with urbz.

urbz is working on the design of a house for a joint family of 38 people, on a plot of 330 Sq.mts (3500 Sq.ft) in the dense urban settlement of Dharavi Koliwada, Mumbai. 

Students from SAL worked with urbz and Dharavi residents to understand the connections and interconnections that make up the neighbourhood and its relationship the city.

How local, community owned and managed housing co-operatives, can be a vital step towards improving the neighbourhoods, bringing good quality civic infrastructure and making the city genuinely ’slum-free’.

Micro homes which integrate spaces of work and are well connected to the street economy seem to be far more viable on the longer run at all levels.

How we locked ourselves in a box (The Hindu 02.02.19)