Muted tones, loud wisdom
An afternoon with Abbas Bhai's hypnotic wheel.
No Place Like Here - building narratives through localities
urbz animated a session with filmmakers that foregrounded the idea of locality in storytelling, specifically in the making of fiction films.
Popping in Pink
Aatma Devi is working towards her goal of creating an equitable world for women.
Pushpa's Pulse
Pushpa has been living in Dharavi since she was born. Our day starts with her bright smile as she sells pulses right outside the urbz office. We recently had a little chat with her.
The ABCD of Koliwada
We have spent the last fifteen years in the neighbourhood of Dharavi, actively participating in the user-driven evolution of its material and social life. This has given us the confidence to conceptualise and embark on a project called “The ABCD of Dharavi Koliwada”. This article outlines the vision for the project.
A Koliwada in Dharavi
This article presents the Koliwada in Dharavi through the evolution of its built and natural environment, tracing the Koli's fight for their land, how the community is leading the development of their neighbourhood and our role in it.
re:arc selects urbz!
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.
Dharavi SRA tenants on the Redevelopment project
The announcement of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project brings unanswered questions with it. To gain insight into the housing rehabilitation process, we spoke to Suryakant and Mohammed, whose homes were rehabilitated by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) some years ago.
2024 - Here we are !
We take a moment to reflect on urbz's achievements in 2023 and our objectives for 2024. We started in Mumbai in 2008 where we are busier than ever. Over the years we expanded our activities to Goa, Bogota, Geneva and now Paris. For 2024, we make the good resolution of communicating better and more frequently with our friends and followers!
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.
1000 Voices
Dharavi has creativity and diversity deeply embedded into its landscape. It houses schools, hospitals, mosques, temples, pottery studios, craftsmen, leather industries, textile workshops, food production units
Dharavi works
Dharavi works is a series of projects designed in Mumbai by urbz in partnership with local inhabitants and contractors.
ICRC Campus
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
Homegrown Street
We are taking the Design Comes as We Build project to the next level - the Homegrown Street!
Gendered Mobility and Climate Action
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
Entekochi Urban Design Competition
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
Covid-19 in Dharavi
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 urbz has been researching its effect on the people of Dharavi.
Habitat 100: A chawl redevelopment project
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
Handstorm in Dharavi
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
Urban Typhoon Kochi, June 4-9, 2019
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
Koliwada Charcha
The exhibition Koliwada Charcha is an attempt at understanding the essence of Dharavi Koliwada's architectural and visual language.
Point-du-Jour
Public consultation for a densification project in Geneva / Démarche de concertation pour un projet de densification au Petit-Saconnex, Genève.
Circulatory Urbanism
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).
Make in Dharavi
This series of interviews portrays the economic life of Dharavi in Mumbai through the activities of its inhabitants.
Proyecto Escape - Cazuca
Collaborative process between communities led by Proyecto Escape and supported by different local and international organisations
Proyecto Manila
Building a Community center by understanding social dynamics and participatory planning in a homegrown neighborhood in Bogota
The Design Comes as We Build
urbz invited local builders from Dharavi to design the best possible house they could imagine. These designs were translated into physical models by artisans.
Homegrown Things
We produced everyday-life objects based on the specific needs of residents and the skills available in the Shivaji Nagar area in Mumbai.
Khotachiwadi
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.
Mashup workshops
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!
Homegrown cities
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
Place, Work, Folk
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.
No Future
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
Bareilly Street
Studies, workshops, street exhibition and plans towards making a small square in Dharavi children friendly
Breaking Ground
A 5 day long workshop in Geneva which produced strategies for gradual urban densification.
Urban Typhoon
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.