As part of the ABCD of Dharavi Koliwada, project we organised a 10-day-long event in the community ground of Holi Maidan. The event, which centred around exhibits of all four interventions, saw about 200 visitors from the neighbourhood. The event was an opportunity to directly engage with a large number of residents who had not yet participated. Many children who play at Holi Maidan were curious and visited the exhibition, some of them were so eager to share their ideas and visited nearly every day. From the local postman, political leaders, contractors, fireman, and policeman, to the various women’s groups, college students and non-koli residents -  the event brought together a large section of Koliwada.

Exhibits showcased proposed solutions that addressed existing issues and needs. The Design proposals were presented through drawings and models. The residents got to learn about the projects and also got a chance to express their thoughts about them. The urbz team spoke with each of these 200 visitors, carefully explaining the projects and noting down all the feedback they had to give.  We also interviewed many residents with specialised backgrounds, knowledge and experience. When larger groups visited, like the women’s self-help groups, we would gather for a spontaneous group discussion. These in-depth conversations helped validate the importance of the identified projects and yielded more information and knowledge about them. 

All of the feedback was noted down and immediately put up on the walls, this enabled people to not only see the projects but also engage with what the rest of the community had to say about them. In this way, the exhibits transformed into multiple dialogues across the neighbourhood. 

These dialogues became valuable feedback that helped refine the existing design proposals, acknowledge other needs and determine more interventions for the neighbourhood.