The following text is a documentation of a neighbourhood in Dharavi, closely connected to URBZ, that has taken steps to nurture its local youth by providing them with a creative space and the tools to learn a variety of invaluable life-long skills. This contribution will briefly showcase the inception of the Shelter at Dharavi, the processes that formed the backbone of its vision, and the children who have embraced the project’s outputs and are beginning to take advantage of the new activities available to them.

The Project’s Inception

The Shelter at Dharavi came into being through a locally-based initiative that was aimed at embracing the children living in New Transit Camp, Social Nagar. A local resident who had been active in the community felt that a particular element was missing; a space for youth to congregate, exchange ideas, create art, play, and learn. His idea was to create a new centre that would be accessible to the community’s youth. The centre would not only provide a space to meet but also a number of organized activities that local children would otherwise not have access to.

Through this grassroots process, the Shelter began to take its root. As the ideas and plans for the centre matured, a decision to construct a building on a recently inherited local plot was made. The local resident who took on the leadership role chose to approach URBZ, asking them to participate and assist local residents in the construction and realisation of their vision. This partnership was welcomed and the subsequent construction of the Shelter as well as the organization of the activities took on a collaborative and participatory methodology.

Soon after the creation of this partnership the Shelter wasted no time in quickly establishing itself as a community hub. A simple building was constructed and soon thereafter the local youth began to fill it. Several volunteers began to work with the Shelter, providing local children with art lessons and other fun afterschool activities. Throughout this time the children and their parents were consulted on what types of programs they would like to see at the Shelter. The results of this simple consultation process called for a fun publicity event, which would soon give way to a great deal of interest in the Shelter from both local residents and individuals from outside of Dharavi. The publicized event would take place over two days and would fittingly be called, Dharavi 48.

The Dharavi 48 Event

Dharavi 48 sparked a great deal of interest from surrounding communities and a number of individuals from outside of Dharavi. Organizers were excited to see an incredible response to the event, as the venue where it was hosted was bursting at the seams. The event showcased the artwork that had been created by local children and also drew upon a number of well-known artists based in Mumbai.

There were also a number of fun activities for all to take part in. Over the course of two days, organizers took participants back and forth from the newly constructed Shelter building and the local community hall, where the larger activities were taking place. Activities ranged from arts & crafts workshops to a lesson and performance by one of Mumbai’s foremost Capoeira experts (traditional Brazilian martial art/dance).

The local children were quite literally able to make their mark on their new centre as exciting painting activities took over the walls of the Shelter.

The event was a great opportunity for us to reach out to more people that came to learn about the Shelter, but most importantly for the children and residents to engage in a 2 day art event that brought people from outside to step into Dharavi for the first time and learn what this place is really about; a place where ambitions are strong, and aspirations are high, where children have an incredible energy and a capacity to learn and swallow the world if given the opportunity, where the world’s future artists and creative minds exist, where people have the will, the strength and heart to make things change for the better by themselves.

It is a place that needs to be legitimized so that people can synergize all their positive energy into working towards their future rather than battling against a system by which they are deemed illegal, by a system that doesn’t collaborate with the residents to understand who they really are, by a system that wants to use a ‘tabula rasa’ approach and force them all to start from zero all over again.

Current Activities

Since the Dharavi 48 event some of the more specialized activities that were to be offered at the Shelter have gained realization. Organizers from the Shelter were approached by individuals who were interested in continuing the highly inspirational Capoeira activities that captivated so many people during Dharavi 48. Another participant from the event came forward with a prop0sal for a formal photography class. Both of these proposals formed the first core set of activities that would be offered at the Shelter.

Photography Classes

Children are currently taking part in photography classes organized by photographer and instructor Alex Copley. The classes, which are run on Wednesday and Sunday each week, will take the children through the fundamentals of photography, teaching them the basics of light, composition, and colour. At current the classes are provided using five donated 35mm film cameras.

The children are split into groups, of which there is one camera for them to use.

Capoeira Classes

The classes in Capoeira teach children agility, respect, and self-control, all within an exhilarating environment of group energy, music, and dance.

The classes are lead by Mumbai’s own Reza Masaah, a renowned expert who offers high-level classes throughout the city. Children decend on the Community Hall every Sunday morning to take part in the classes.

Other Activities

The Shelter is currently open everyday from 1:00pm to 5:00pm, and later during the activities offered on Wednesday and Sunday. Throughout the week, the Shelter is staffed by a local woman who takes the kids through physical fitness exercises and other fun activities, such as arts & crafts and games.

Several activities are currently in the early stages of development; dance classes, formal english lessons, yoga, and further art classes.

Moving Forward

Our vision is to use art as powerful medium for expression, unity, sharing, and unlocking the community youth’s intuitive and creative impulses. We are working towards creating a safe and nurturing platform to free children to think and dream and sense.

Our mission is to continue to facilitate the development of creative initiatives in this space and collaborate in the connections of people to places – in this case a vibrant neighbourhood that is currently being planned without its residents’ participation.

On the 22nd and 23rd of May, 2010, The Shelter at Dharavi is hosting a two-day participatory workshop open to everyone who is interested in the creative arts. The event, which is entitled Art in Bombay’s Capital: Dharavi (ABC:D), is a chance for people to actively participate with local children and learn about the activities that are currently available at the Shelter. The event will be open from 12:00 noon onwards on both the 22nd and 23rd.

The workshop will consist of a series of projects in photography, performance, drawing and painting, capoeira, and will be followed by film screenings. The outputs of the event will contribute to a mobile exhibition, which will showcase a larger collection of work from local children and several Mumbai artists.

The entry fee for participants is Rs. 300, 100% of which will go towards sustaining and improving the current activities at the shelter. Please visit the Shelter at Dharavi Facebook page for all of the latest Shelter information!

The Shelter at Dharavi has started to translate the initial thoughts and ideas for specialized activities into scheduled programs that kids can now participate in. Drawing on the new connections from the Dharavi 48 event, the Shelter has moved ideas into actions, and the latest class to be offered at the Shelter has officially started.

On the 11^th of April the Shelter at Dharavi held its first session of photography classes. Instructor and photographer Alexandra Copley has taken on the role of introducing local children to the art and method of photography, starting with the basics of light and shadow, allowing participants to discover the fundamentals of composition. She will walk the children through a number of exercises during each class, moving them from place to place and allowing them to capture different local environments. The classes, which have now started for younger kids up to roughly 12 years of age, will be available to children twice per week, on Sunday and Wednesday. As the initial group matures and the program gains its strength, classes for older youth will also become available.

At present the classes are operating with donated 35mm cameras that Copley has managed to secure. The vision is to be able to offer classes with digital cameras, introducing the children to the latest methods of photography and the ease at which digital media can now be created, stored and shared.

The classes in photography enrich children with a number of invaluable skills. In the case of the Shelter, there is a hope that the children will eventually be able to document situations that relate to themselves and their community. Photography is not only a way of sharing amazing experiences, but also an exceptional tool for documenting concerns and sharing stories that need to be told.

The Shelter is now looking to its supporters for donations in the form of digital cameras. If you or someone you know is able to donate a camera (new or used), please contact URBZ or visit the Shelter at Dharavi Facebook Page.

The “slum” is often a place that people associate with lesser-value, filth, societal collapse, and criminals. A place to be avoided, shunned, and hopefully one day, destroyed and regenerated. The “slum” has become a typology of spatial arrangement; an example of failure in an urban design textbook. It holds an image of past-time London, crime-ridden Rio, and filthy Mumbai. Dirty, illegal, and inhumane.

Perhaps, in some cases, a few of these characteristics hold an element of truth. Some neighbourhoods are more dangerous, more edgy, more cluttered, and more inclined to have internal issues of their own. But in other instances, the “slum” is a social construct; a label that has been given to an outcast neighbourhood or informal place.  The sociological tsunami that follows in the wake of this branding of space carries with it an international message of caution. These are places to be feared and avoided.

India is no stranger to slum terminology. It is also no stranger to people who are fascinated in studying these alienated places. A slum is a formally defined settlement category in India, and these settlements have long been discussed both in public and academic circles. Debates have emerged in the fields of economics, development planning, sociology, geography, and the image of the slum has become a staple within performing arts. Across each field, however, one consistent assumption flows seamlessly over the academic and public circles of discussion; the “slum”, for all intents and purposes, is still an alien place.

But why is this the case?

That the term “slum” has formally found its way into a legal framework for settlement categorization speaks to the structural violence that inherently prevents these communities from gaining the legitimacy that they require. A slum is a slum, and the associated stereotypes that accompany this title will continue to hinder it so long as it continues to be called such a thing.

But what is it exactly that we are calling a “slum”? As I travel to and from the URBZ office everyday, I begin to ask myself the very same question. The most obvious concern within the context of Mumbai relates to the highly publicized Dharavi “slum”, also the neighbourhood in which URBZ Mumbai has its office. Dharavi has been made famous through novels, documentaries and more recently, major western films, and in many ways the artists, writers and directors have dragged the “slum” title through the streets of New York, London and Los Angeles, glorifying the misfortune of the people that inhabit this incredible neighbourhood. But the fact that Dharavi has been labeled a “slum” has made residents angry and left with a sense of not only being used, but also completely misunderstood.

Matias and Rahul of URBZ have discussed this theme and the “S… Word” in previous presentations and articles, but the relevance of their central argument calls for a reverberating echo to all urbanists and citizens of the city. This is not an outlandish concept to be thrown under the carpet. Perhaps it comes down to the remark on structural violence within the categorization of neighbourhoods. As soon as a place is considered to be alien, it will remain as such, whether or not we really understand how that neighbourhood actually operates. As I write this piece from the URBZ office in Dharavi, I wonder how many artists, directors and researchers, who have collectively made millions of dollars on research and artistic projects off of this “slum”, have actually stayed in this neighbourhood and genuinely taken the time to understand it. Maybe it is not so outrageous to say that when confronted with the word “slum”, the average person still tends to think of the images described in the opening paragraph of this post. Lets hope that researchers, artists, directors, and future citizens don’t continue to do the same.

Pallet racks structure for the social club project in Dharavi.

The problem with architects is that they think too much. That works well in a context where planning is a prerequisite to any construction project. Investors want to know what they are getting into and regulators must ensure that the project complies with all rules and regulations. But as we recently found out, in Dharavi things function differently. In a context where ownership is not always clearly defined and with some of the highest physical and population density levels in the world, any little piece of land is highly prized and immediately preyed upon by dozens of people.

As regular visitors to urbz.net know, we are currently involved with a social club project just down the street where our office is located, in New Transit Camp, Dharavi. Paul, our landlord is a local community leader. He “inherited” a plot of land from a neighbour who had no family to give it to. The plot is technically  not privately owned and can only be used for charity work as it belongs to a trust. Paul decided to use the space to build a shelter for street kids and elderly residents. He asked us in what way we could help.

We immediately responded by saying that we could help design a structure for it and maybe even find ways to finance it. URBZ Fellows Francesco and Alberto, from Torino Politecnico in Italy flew into to Mumbai and spent a month studying the space and produced several drawings. Freeman Murray, a Bangalore based social entrepreneur agreed to finance the structure as long as it was built with pallet racks, a long-time interest of his. Everything seemed to be rolling, except that we were disconnected from the ground realities of New Transit Camp.

A wall being built in a few hours time on the site of the Social Club in Dharavi

The space could not wait that long to be occupied. Other neighbours were making claims on it and shad started ‘encroaching’. So while we were scratching our heads, producing concepts, designs and business plans, Paul built a structure on the site. This meant that for our project to be implemented we would have had to destroy the structure Paul had just built. This didn’t feel right. The structure is sound and Paul invested money into it. Plus we are strong believers in incremental development.

It is far more challenging for academically trained architects to use a piecemeal approach but we believe that if we can somehow become a good interface between improvised construction methods and a design-orientated approach, it would be a soft of magic formula for meaningful interaction between residents/users and professionals in urban development. The trickiest part of the formula is finance: as we also just found out, it is easier to find money for big projects than smaller ones.

In any case, after talking to Paul we decided that whatever we would build on the site would  be in addition to what he has already built. The pallet rack system we had been working on initially is after all perfectly adaptable to the process. The buena vista tower for instance can be built on a smaller plot. In addition, the incremental approach requires a more adaptive type of creativity. We are now thinking about consolidating the existing structure and turning the roof into a terrace.

This is the site where we want to build a bookstore and cafe. The roof of the building behind can become a large terrace.

One idea that emerged from our recent conversations is that of a library/bookstore with books in all the languages of Dharavi and a deadly selection of architecture, urbanism, anthropology, philosophy books that would attract people from all over Mumbai. On top of the bookstore, we also visualized a small Irani-style cafe! More on that later. We are now finding out if it makes sense to build it with pallet racks or if we should just do it with bricks.

Meanwhile conversation is going on about our work in Dharavi. Below is a photo of Stefano Boeri discussing  the social club project and airoots’s 22 learning from Dharavi to which he contributed. This happened in his class at the Politecnico de Milano, following a presentation of the Social Club project by URBZ’s Francesco and Alberto. Also present were Urban Typhoon participant and Studio Marc founders Subhash Mukerjee and Michele Bonito, and URBZ mentor Yehuda Safran, from Columbia University (that’s his foot in the picture!).

URBZ Fellows Francesco and Alberto getting feedback on social club project from Stefano Boeri at his class in Politecnico de Milano. On the bottom-left corner, Yehuda Safran’s foot!