Samidha believes in the power of architecture for social advancement of communities. She wants to travel, see the world and discover new cultures and experiences.

Articles

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. 

By: Matias, Rahul, Bharat, Samidha, Kareena

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. 

 

By: Rahul, Matias, Bharat, Samidha, Jai, Kareena
New night / New Day - Hugh Ebdy for urbz

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!

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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. 

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Aqua Civica

A community-led water supply project as a device to upgrade urban citizenship

By: Samidha, Jai, Kareena, Riva, Tanishka

The Women of Dharavi

NYUAD students in conversation with the Women of Dharavi

By: Rahul, Matias, Samidha, Kareena, Bharat, Bhau, Shyam, Jai, Riva, Tanishka, Jugaadh

Documenting Process: The IFRC Project

This article narrates the entire participatory process organized for the IFRC Park Project through a series of videos. 

By: Vidisha

Vithal Bhaskar Chawl after Re-development

Revisiting the recently redeveloped Vithal Bhaskar chawl (a traditional residential tenement) in Dharavi Koliwada, Mumbai, to examine the impact of changes on daily life. 

By: Jai, Samidha, Bharat, Vidisha

Resident-led Projects of Dharavi Koliwada

These projects have been re-developed by the residents in collaboration with local contractors and the urbz team

By: Jai, Samidha, Bharat

EnteKochi Review 2020

The urban design competition EnteKochi 2020 focused on integrating a participatory approach within the planning process for the city of Kochi. The competition was planned for, announced and conducted during the pandemic induced nation wide lockdown. This article provides a glimpse of the process. 

By: Radha

Dharavi Fortnightly 05 - Mumbai returns : Journeys back to Dharavi during the pandemic

In this issue of the Dharavi Fortnightly, we aim to understand the experiences of people now returning or seeking to return to Dharavi, the connections they have to their hometowns, and ways in which they are keeping these connections alive in the fast-paced world today. 
 

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Dharavi Fortnightly 03 - Dharavi on the move (in a pandemic)

While public transport is slowly resuming in the city, it is still inadequate to meet user needs. This issue of the Dharavi Fortnightly seeks to explore how restricted mobility due to the lockdown has affected the movement of people and goods within and around Dharavi.

By: Shweta Sundar

Dharavi Weekly 05 - The Village Issue

This is the fifth weekly report on how Dharavi workers and families are faring away from Mumbai. This report highlights their journey and life back home in the time of Covid-19. 

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Dharavi Weekly 04 - The School Issue

This is the fourth weekly report on how Dharavi's schools are coping. This qualitative study is based on 41 in-depth phone interviews with teachers, headmasters, parents, and students.

By: Samidha, Bharat, Partha, Rahul, Matias

Dharavi Weekly 03 - The Food Issue

This is the third weekly report on how Dharavi is coping with Covid-19. We concentrate on the food distribution effort initiated at community level. 

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Homegrown Street: an update

 Social distancing in a participatory process

By: Partha, Bharat, Samidha, Kareena

Unmasking prejudice

The waste of a resource that could help India cope

By: Samidha, Bharat, Shyam, Kareena

Dharavi vs Virus

March 24th, India went into a 21 day lock down to maintain social distancing. People were asked to work from home, only step out for essentials and wash their hands frequently. Prior to this announcement, the inter and intra state transportation was restricted. These were part of ‘crucial’ efforts to curb the spread of the novel Covid-19. 

By: Bharat, Samidha, Rahul, Matias, Kareena, Partha, Shyam

Expedition Mangrove

Over the last few months, we at urbz have been talking about interventions to engage with the ecological and economic aspects of the mangroves. So we went on an expedition to explore the mangroves near Dharavi.

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urbz Mumbai team

urbz joins the Social Design Circle

urbz is honored by Curry Stone Foundation, which selected it as one of 100 innovators in the field of social design.

By: Rahul, Matias, Jai, Manou

DIY Tool House

80 students design their own vision of one-day workshop where participants had to plan and design their own architecture studios/living space in a homegrown settlement of their choice. 

By: Matias, Rahul, Manou

The Story Of A Lane In Dharavi

Why is there a Bareilly street in Dharavi when Bareilly is infact in Uttar Pradesh? 

By: Jai, Perrine, Alex, Bharat, Rahul, Ketaki

Works

Participatory Planning process

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. 

By: Samidha, Kareena
Dharavi works

Dharavi works

Dharavi works is a series of projects designed in Mumbai by urbz in partnership with local inhabitants and contractors.

By: Samidha, Jai, Kareena, Bharat

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.

By: Vidisha, Matias, Samidha, Amin

Dharavi 2020: The Covid-19 challenge

We at urbz researched the circumstances in Dharavi from April to November. We now present a collection of four pandemic-focused articles, fifteen Dharavi Weekly issues, and five Dharavi Fortnightly issues.

By: Aashi, Kareena, Samidha, Radha

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 jointly ‘design the future city’ of Kochi. It is envisaged to plan and then facilitate the implementation of an integrated civic project.

The Kochi Municipal Corporation calls all creative minds to participate! 

Click here to know more

By: Samidha, Kareena, Rahul, Matias

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 owned by brothers Vithal and Bhaskar Koli. 

By: Kareena, Samidha

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. 

By: Matias, Jai, Bharat, Samidha, Rahul, Marius, Manou