About URBZ
URBZ facilitates the production and exchange of information, knowledge, ideas and practices towards better cities for all.
We organize participatory workshops, designs adaptable structures and develops web tools for urban communities and practitioners.
User-generated Cities!
URBZ believes that residents are experts in their neighbourhoods. Their everyday experience of the places where they live and work constitute an essential knowledge for planning and urban development.
For policy-makers, urban planners, architects and real-estate developers, accessing this knowledge is the best possible way to enhance the quality and impact of their work. Understanding a locality from the point of view of those who inhabit it improves the chances of success of a project at several levels:
. It identifies local stakes and players
. It opens multiple communication channels
. It generates new ideas and solutions
. It provides a deep assessment of the ground-level situation
. It improves social impact and environmental sustainability
. It lifts up the image of the project and increases support
URBZ is engaged in communities in various parts of the world. We support individual expression, grassroots involvement and ground up development and are committed to information sharing, open access and public participation.
Tools & Methodologies
URBZ uses web-based tools for the production and sharing of information by residents and stakeholders. URBZ develops “mashup sites”, comprising tools and applications such wikis, blogs, interactive maps, photo and videos albums and dynamic web pages.
Based on the experiences of its team, URBZ believes that – notwithstanding the digital divide – the Web remains the best medium to archive and spread knowledge and information on localities. It is cheaper than the print medium and allows many people to contribute over time.
URBZ regularly organizes participatory workshops that last 2 to 7 days where local residents work in small teams with guests from various fields to produce documentation in the form of surveys, designs, multimedia products, or documented action.
We then upload all the material produced on a website that all participants can access. In the process, the output is edited, organized and summarized so as to make it directly useful to all interested parties.
The URBZ workshops are resolutely open and inclusive. We believe that play and fun are natural paths to knowledge and innovation. The success of our workshops is based on the motivation and creativity of the participants.
URBZ is also interested in other forms of engagements with localities. Thanks to the variety of expertise represented by our team we are as likely to work on architectural projects, as getting involved in artistic or pedagogical initiatives. We have notably organized several conferences, seminars, studios and exhibitions.
The Team
URBZ’ main strength is its team, which is composed of extremely motivated and creative members from diverse fields including planning, architecture, design, anthropology, economy and information technology. We have offices in Mumbai and Geneva and our collaborators are spread around the world in places such as Mumbai, Goa, Geneva, New York and Santiago de Chile. In addition, we are lucky to have a constant influx of bright interns that join us to learn from our projects and unique methodology.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Curious to know to what extent URBZ is working on issues of production and manufacturing in neighborhoods. We will be holding a conference about the return of manufacturing to cities, and in Mumbai of course manufacturing never left. Is this an subject URBZ has been addressing?
thank you
September 21st, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Dear Stephen,
Our perspective on Mumbai is informed by the historical role that the city’s informal sector played after the decline of the textile mills from the 1980s onwards. That was when some activities of the industry got decentralized and dispersed in several poor neighbourhoods all over and around Mumbai. Notably the town of Bhiwandi in Thane District.
Dharavi too absorbed several processes of the industry – especially stitching and production of clothes.
Dharavi has been a traditional manufacturing base for leather goods, pottery and food processing. But it also housed local service sector that grew around its own self. Besides, it provided subsidised housing for hawkers and poor retailers who serviced large parts of the city. The tool-house typology that we talk about essentially looks at Dharavi as a composite of residential, manufacturing and retail activities as expressed in its built-forms.
This composite economic framework works equally well when seen in the context of Mumbai as a whole. The city grew around the docks – a service sector – in the 18th and 19th centuries and the sector continued to hold its own all through the 20th century – when manufacturing was at its heyday.
It must specially be noted that manufacturing in India was a complicated affair given that it was yoked to a colonial economy and accompanied a forceful displacement of artisanal production practices. In fact the mass migration of artisanal communities to cities such as Mumbai saw the emergence of neighbourhoods such as Dharavi – primarily through the experience of the leather workers and potters.
It is true that along with the gradual disappearance of gigantic 19th century industrial production complexes, one has seen the vanishing of a hundred year old evolving history of dignified labour practices. However, some would say the whole experience was unsustainable and so the dissolution was to be expected – especially when seen in the light of the larger role of industrial manufacture vis-a-vis traditional modes of manufacture.
Neighbourhoods like Dharavi lived parrallel lives to industrial sectors in Mumbai from the 1930s to the 80s – testifying to the fact that while manufacture was central to Mumbai’s history, so was the composite – service-artisanal manufacture economy of Dharavi. When formal industrial manufacture declined, Dharavi absorbed and subsidized the processes within its fabric.
We see Dharavi and other spaces in Mumbai as those which encompass a range of different co-dependent economic activities – manufacture, retail, services and others (in the case of Dharavi Koliwada, even fishing right until the 1990s)! We certainly dont see manufacture as ever having left Mumbai. And we dont see it as ever being the sole economic factor in the city’s history either.
March 27th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
We need your efforts in Worli Village
worlivillage.org
April 1st, 2010 at 10:54 pm
We featured URBZ in our web/blog: http://paisajetransversal.blogspot.com/2010/04/urbz-ciudades-generadas-por-sus.html
We are an Architectural Student Association located in the Thecnical University of Madrid. We are a multidisciplinary group of architects, sociologists, artists and geographers currently organizing a workshop in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid about new methods of urban analisys and planning. We would love any input or comment.
Thank you!
April 2nd, 2010 at 4:12 am
Dear worlivillage, we will come and visit you very soon! We are very interested in what you are doing and we love Worli Village.
April 2nd, 2010 at 4:15 am
Dear Paisaja Transversal,
Your blog is amazing. We are adding it to our network box in the side bar and will check it regularly. We would also love to help in any possible way. Why don’t you help us organizing the Istanbul workshop? That could be a first collaboration.
April 8th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Dear Matias,
From Paisaje Transversal we would love to collaborate in any way. We can see further details by mail. Where can we contact you directly? Our mail is: paisaje.transversal@gmail.com
April 19th, 2010 at 3:59 am
Hi,
We are a team of urban designer’s and urban planners and have recently started an urban design cell at Rachan Sansad. We would be keen to meet people from your organisation.
How do we get in touch?
Warm Regards,
Trupti Amritwar
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 am
Hi,
I would really like to know about what it takes to be a part of your team. I am doing bachelor’s of engg in Civil Engineering and obv interested in being a part of team .
Regards.
leisuresoul.avi@gmail.com
June 14th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Hi,
TYCKA is a design consultancy with deisgners from IISC and IIT involved in product design /industrial design services and would like to partner with you in offering relevant solutions to the problems highlighted or captured by URBZ.
June 21st, 2010 at 2:10 am
i want to be part of URBZ, i want to know what it takes to be a part of such a noble institution.
regards
haris
October 11th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
[...] cultural space. We need to reclaim individual expression and collective imagination” say Urbz, working in Mumbai to turn the voices of residents into essential intelligence for urban planners, [...]
November 4th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
I am looking for an internship. Iam doing my 1st B.Arch at School of Planning and Architecture,Bhopal.Pls mail me abt the details required.
November 4th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
Dear Rohit – Please visit our internship page and send us a motivation letter along with your bio. All the best!
November 16th, 2010 at 5:03 am
We are a recently formed non- profit organisation called Disability Research and Design Foundation. We are basically involved in developing solutions for a more inclusive society by addressing issues related to accessibility. Our aim is to bring
together the creative, technical and legal expertise of individuals
coming from different academic and/or professional backgrounds to
formulate solutions for an inclusive society. The approach we take is
thus an interdisciplinary one, with our team consisting of architects,
engineers, activists, occupational therapists and social researchers. However, though we have been involved in more design based projects, we are interested in expanding to other areas. We would like to involve individuals from different walks of life (artists, curators, media people, etc.), in coming up with more novel ideas for social awareness programmes. Our intention is to inspire people to move away from the medical model of disability towards looking at it as something that is, largely socially constructed. However, we hope to make disability awareness the underlying message of our programmes, while focusing more on how normalcy is constructed in society.
It would be great if we could collaborate with URBZ in some way. Do let us know if we can get in touch.
Thanks.
Best,
DRDF
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:47 pm
[...] Workshop é um evento multimídia, multicultural e multidisciplinar promovido anualmente pela ONG URBZ na cidade de Nova Delhi, na Índia. Durante o evento – que tem a duração de uma semana [...]
December 6th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Hi!
It sounds as though URBZ is doing fantastic work. I was very interested to read your website and with particular reference to Dharavi… I am currently carrying out research on the processes of slum upgrading and slum clearance in India and obviously Dharavi features heavily with its proposed Redevelopment Project. I just read your news about a new roof for the URBZ office in the New Transit Camp (plus have looked at the Dharavi.org website) and was wondering whether you have any specific involvement or current projects with Dharavi residents in terms of upgrading their housing and improving living conditions.
I’d really appreciate any additional information that you might have.
Many thanks
March 3rd, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Hi,
I have a background in industrial ecology (ie. waste=food) and urban planning. I’ll be traveling in India in Apr-Jun this year. Looks like your network is involved in a lot of interesting projects & i’d love to meet up with some of your team when I’m over there. Are there any events coming up? Thx!
March 29th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
[...] URBZ facilitates the production and exchange of information, knowl- edge, ideas and practices towards better cities for all. This non-profit organizes participatory workshops, designs adaptable structures and develops web tools for urban communities and practitioners. We plan to visit URBZ’s offices in Mumbai to schedule site visits of their projects, and participate in workshops. [...]
April 14th, 2011 at 8:36 am
Hey
I’m a third year Architecture student, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi, Pakistan.
Some of us here are really interested in working/interning with URBZ Mumbai over our Summer break.
Could you please let me know how we should go about this if its possible?
Any information would be great.
June 12th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
Hi there, I’m Priyanka Bista, currently an MA student at Oxford Brookes University. I will be coming for my research in a week to Dharavi to map the spatial narrative of Dharavi portrayed through the slum tours. I would love to meet with you and get to know the work you’re doing. Please do contact me at priyanka@LearningGrounds.org
Thank you again. Hope to see you soon.
Best Regards, Priyanka
June 16th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Feel free to come and visit us but we don’t organize tours!
August 29th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
My name is Fausto, i’m a student of Politecnico of Torino in Italy. To conclude my study i want to prepare a thesis about the urban development and neighborhood life in developing countries. My dream is to write my thesis on-site and collaborate with some NGos or some institute that studying this problem in India or in Asia.
I would be very happy if you can give me further information/contact emails of NGOs and, i would also be very happy to get in contact with you!
Thank you so much!
September 30th, 2011 at 7:27 am
Hello,
I’m a german-brazilian inventor and I’ve developed a natural orientation system which is also proper for illiterate people, see http://www.volksnav.com/India. The system also shall substitute postal codes like 400017 and addresses like Block 4/6/12 New Transit Camp….
The authorities try to ignore it, so I’d appreciate very much if URBZ would make the first step using codes acc. to http://www.volksnav.de/Dharavi for housings, crossing, stop points.
I ask for your return on that, thank you in advance .
Henrique Koehler
Munich Orientation Convention
March 11th, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Hi
I have worked on community setting for many years along with the social housing field for 12 years. I have set up communtiy groups, residents associations and large/small scale consultation events in regeneration, the future of social housing in England, local neighbourhood issues and environmental matters – running renwable energy and efficency projects. I really beleive in the local community feeding into key decision making processes and local issues. Could I provide any help or get involved in any of your projects/ consulation events in any way? P.s I love India!!! Rebecca from Manchester
March 27th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
[...] on Affordable Housing, organized by the Sir JJ School of Architecture and Lafarge together with URBZ, the Mumbai-based urban collective devoted to facilitating the production and exchange of [...]
September 1st, 2012 at 11:33 am
Hi …may i use information and quotes from your artical on the history of Khotachi Wadi in Mumbai, India.
Awaiting your response
Thanks and best regards
Roque Gonsalves
Khotachi Wadi
September 3rd, 2012 at 10:08 am
Dear Roque,
Of course feel free to use anything you may find useful on the site!
Matias
September 8th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
hi i am the student of DY PATIL NERUL that you came and host a lecture I really like yous work and gland being intrested in that and now finding a contractor to work and experience .thanksssss
shirnath
September 20th, 2012 at 6:37 am
Hey, I have recently graduated from IIT Bombay with a B.Tech. in civil engg. I would love to be a part of URBZ, in any way possible. My interests include GIS, statistics and Agent-Based Modelling