In Portugal, Architects are revolutionising participatory urban planning by actively immersing themselves in a collaborative efforts with local municipalities. Through our interaction with Mariana Licenciada, we try to understand the negotiation process, the limitations within existing frameworks and how Res Do Chao has embedded co-Design as a tool in their participatory approach. 

Policies can be supportive or prohibitive, depending on who they serve. A public policy student tries to understand how marginalised communities navigate urban realities from the lens of the architects and urban planners who work with them. 

Streets, typically seen as the arteries of daily hustle, transform into a public stage during ceremonial processions where tradition and resistance are celebrated in unison. For communities of Dharavi, these processions denote a larger familial solidarity highlighting the struggles of urban life against the erasure of culture during calls for redevelopment. A declaration of presence that co-opts the neighbourhood, these processions also signify moments of resistance towards urbanisation-induced alienation in urban spaces.

The Dharavi Koli Jamaat Trust has been entrusted the responsibility to address socio-economic and spatial  challenges in Dharavi for the Koliwada community. The Dharavi Koli Jamaat Trust is a functional example of urban local bodies promoting grass-root level governance with a community centric approach.

Tahir Bhai takes us through his journey of self-exploration, bitter-sweet memories of his Kismat (fate) and being a spect-actor in Dharavi’s emergence as a socio-economic powerhouse.