Paan fried fish: Industry meets Environment
We recently travelled from Mumbai to Chiplun and then onward to reach Sawarde, a small village in the Konkan region. While we enjoyed the abundant landscape we also discovered some sobering realities.
We recently travelled from Mumbai to Chiplun and then onward to reach Sawarde, a small village in the Konkan region. While we enjoyed the abundant landscape we also discovered some sobering realities.
Our article on the Toolhouse was published in the Built Environment, a quarterly publication on a diverse range of contemporary issues, the focus of this issue is live-work spaces. We present snippets of the article from the latest issue of the Built Environment - 'Homes that Work', Volume 49 - number 3.
Urban gardens are multiplying around the world, responding to the impulse of people that want more green and social spaces in their neighborhoods. urbz was invited to host a series of brainstorming sessions at the Jardin des Moraines in Geneva.
Latin America and India share a common history of experimentation in slum-upgrading and incremental housing strategies. The ideas of John Turner, who was informed by years of work in Lima, in particular have inspired some of the most progressive schemes and projects in Mumbai and other parts of India.
A community-led water supply project as a device to upgrade urban citizenship
Navigating down Mithi River's intricacies between landscape and identity in Dharavi Koliwada, where urban and ecological memories contest homogenizing narratives and challenge the city’s accessibility and sustainability.
NYU AD students explore a user-driven website to establish new communication channels among locals, visitors, entrepreneurs and civic institutions.
NYUAD students in conversation with the Women of Dharavi
NYU Abu Dhabi students collaborate with the Koli community and the urbz team to address water supply and drainage for Dharavi-Koliwada.
NYU Abu Dhabi students are back in Dharavi, this time for more in-depth interactions with various community members of the neighbourhood.
One among the many ways of watching Nishtha Jain’s exquisite documentary, ‘The Golden Thread’ (2022), is by following the imagination of urbanist Patrick Geddes.
Lying in the heart of Dharavi Koliwada, the Koli Jamat Building offers the opportunity of a community gathering space to the residents in the dense urban grain of Dharavi, that majorly lacks public open spaces.
Looking back at one of the redeveloped chawls in Dharavi, we share the experiences of the people living in a space where staying inside gives the experience of being on the outside - thanks to special features such as the building’s location, orientation, ventilation, and natural lighting.
The article reflects on the lifestyles and aspirations of the residents of Jairam Sheth Chawl, in Dharavi Koliwada, Mumbai, and recognizes the contradictions in the type of homes they aspire to inhabit and the experiences and relationships they want to take forward from their current homes.
This article narrates the entire participatory process organized for the IFRC Park Project through a series of videos.
The article unpacks the design of the Pasco Patil chawl to study the gradual shift in levels of privacy, to house both commercial and residential spaces inside one building.
Through the series of participatory events with the IFRC staff members, and its neighbours, urbz drafted a conceptual framework for the park which reflects the most common sentiments among its users.
Revisiting the recently redeveloped Vithal Bhaskar chawl (a traditional residential tenement) in Dharavi Koliwada, Mumbai, to examine the impact of changes on daily life.
These projects have been re-developed by the residents in collaboration with local contractors and the urbz team.
Celebrated writer Jerry Pinto takes a walk with urbz partner Samidha Patil through the bylanes of Dharavi Koliwada.
The participatory events planned for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Geneva, brought out specific concerns, and focus areas to convert the park into a shared space.
Over six months, several events were planned for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Geneva. The process promotes discussion, brainstorming, ideas and aspirations of the IFRC staff members, and their neighbours for the future park.
urbz is leading a participatory landscaping process for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) through a series of workshops, walks, talks and exhibition. The end result will be a publicly accessible IFRC Park in the center of Geneva.
Artisans collaborate with contractors, residents and the urbz team, to create models in wood, clay, steel, acrylic and brass to produce model homes in Sangam Gully, Dharavi, Mumbai, as part of the Homegrown Street Project.
Two short videos present the Homegrown Street Project in Sangam Gully, Dharavi, Mumbai.
As part of the C40 Cities Women4Climate Gendered Mobility in Climate Action research project, this blog post attempts to explore the economic impacts and implications of gendered mobility.
This blog post discusses the the commute and the responisibilities surrounding it from a gendered persepctive as a part of the Gendered Mobility and Climate Action research.
This blog post highlights key challenges faced by women commuters drawing from the interviews taken as a part of Gendered Mobility and Climate Action research.
This blog post summarizes the everyday journeys taken in Mumbai and the workshop conducted as a part of Gendered, Mobility and Climate Action research.
This post examines game methodology as a potential method for qualitative data collection to understand the subconscious behaviour of a commuter and the various factors influencing it, continuing our explorations of various data collection techniques as part of our research on Gendered Mobility and Climate Action.
urbz combines ethnographic participation with visual storytelling to accompany, facilitate, or initiate urban planning, heritage, and transformation projects.
Dharavi works is a series of projects designed in Mumbai by urbz in partnership with local inhabitants and contractors.
urbz is working on a comprehensive plan for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) HQ in Geneva. About 1200 people work in Geneva and another 20,000 work in over 100 conflict zones around the world
We are taking the Design Comes as We Build project to the next level - the Homegrown Street!
This project is undertaken under the C40 Women For Climate mentorship program, Mumbai in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra. The Mentee, Vidisha Dhar, is supported by Lubaina Rangwala (WRI), urbz
urbz is working with the Municipality of Onex in Geneva, putting together a participatory process to evaluate and contribute to a master plan aiming at improving the quality of life, providing new housing and
Remember the Urban Typhoon workshops in Kochi? These workshops were part of the EnteKochi citylab. We are now back with the Entekochi competition. This is a national level Urban Design Competition, aiming to
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 urbz has been researching its effect on the people of Dharavi.
We are excited to be working on a new architectural project in Dharavi Koliwada. Our friend, collaborator, and contractor Joseph Koli, approached us to work on his latest project - the redevelopment of a chawl
urbz has been mandated by the State of Geneva to develop a concept and program that integrates living, working and culture for a 60,000 m2 mixed used development in the city’s new downtown.
Un projet participatif pour repenser l’avenir du périmètre Pré-du-Marché et Clos-de-Bulle.
Our annual Handstorm workshops in Dharavi with the "Engineers for Social Impact" from NYU Abu Dhabi generate incremental innovations that improve the quality of life in this massive settlement
June 4-9, 2019
The Urban Typhoon workshop in Kochi is open to all citizens and visitors interested in working in urban areas and are willing to engage with communities participation. Together we will explore
urbz is carrying a 18 month long participatory process to redefine the two largest public squares in Lausanne (Switzerland). / urbz conduit une démarche participative de 18 mois visant à réimaginer les deux
The exhibition Koliwada Charcha is an attempt at understanding the essence of Dharavi Koliwada's architectural and visual language.
Public consultation for a densification project in Geneva / Démarche de concertation pour un projet de densification au Petit-Saconnex, Genève.
For the past 5 years, urbz has been following families who's lives are spread between Mumbai and their ancestral villages in the Konkan (Western India).
This series of interviews portrays the economic life of Dharavi in Mumbai through the activities of its inhabitants.
Collaborative process between communities led by Proyecto Escape and supported by different local and international organisations
Building a Community center by understanding social dynamics and participatory planning in a homegrown neighborhood in Bogota
Concertation pour faire émerger un nouveau concept d’EcoParc pour la zone industrielle de Meyrin.
The mashup workshops take many different forms and happen in all kinds of places. They take specific neighbourhoods as sources of inspiration and unleash a maximum of creativity onto them!
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
urbz invited local builders from Dharavi to design the best possible house they could imagine. These designs were translated into physical models by artisans.
We produced everyday-life objects based on the specific needs of residents and the skills available in the Shivaji Nagar area in Mumbai.
urbz has been involved with the heritage precinct of Khotachiwadi for nearly a decade. We have organized many events workshops there and produced a strategic plan for the area among other things.
Étude d’opportunité pour un équipement culture d'importance majeur à future place de l'Étoie (PAV).
Opportunity study for a major cultural center in the planned neighbourhood of PAV in Geneva.
As part of the Future Architecture Platform, urbz was part of a series of exhibitions and lectures at the MAXXI in Rome, the House of Architecture in Graz, Oris House of Architecture in Zagreb and the Future of
Place, Work, Folk is a fortnightly column in The Hindu Sunday Magazine by Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava, which is inspired by Patrick Geddes and analyzes current urban issues in India and beyond.
Studies, workshops, street exhibition and plans towards making a small square in Dharavi children friendly
urbz a invité les citoyens invité à imaginer la Plage des Eaux Vives. Les idées ont été présentées sur 100 cartes postales.
A 5 day long workshop in Geneva which produced strategies for gradual urban densification.
Enquête de terrain pour améliorer l’expérience des usagers durant les travaux de construction en ville, avec COLAS SA et le laboratoire de sociologie urbaine (LaSUR), EPFL.
Field research on how to improve the
Stratégies pour la densification participatives et graduelle des zones villas à Genève.
Strategies for the incremental and participatory densification of residential suburbs in Geneva.
Urban Typhoon is a 5 days long workshop taking place working with local associations to generate programmes and plans for the improvement or preservation of neighbourhoods.