urbz was founded in 2008 by Matias Echanove, Rahul Srivastava and Geeta Mehta in Mumbai and now has offices in Mumbai, Bogotá, Geneva and Paris.

We believe that residents are experts of their neighborhoods. Their everyday experiences constitute essential knowledge for architecture, planning, urban development, and policy-making. We are committed to information sharing and public participation. Bringing together local and global knowledge, we produce innovative models in architecture, planning, and policy-making.

Our diverse team of architects, designers, urban planners, anthropologists, economists, and policymakers bring various skills to shape a project from many different perspectives. We engage and work in cities through a user-generated approach using the existing condition as a starting point for future development. We do this through a combination of research, workshops, plans, construction projects and exhibitions.

Our clients include Kochi municipality, Geneva State, the City of Geneva, the City of Lausanne, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red-Cross and Red-Crescent Societies (IFRC), New York University (NYU), German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), AREP, Mobile Lives Forum (SNCG) and Tata Sons.

urbz has been invited to the Design Biennal, Istanbul (2008),  MoMA in New York (2013 & 2014), MAK in Vienna (2015), Chicago Architecture Biennale(2015), CAPC in Bordeaux (2016), HDA in Graz (2016) and the MAXXI in Rome (2016), The Art Center at the International School of Geneva (2016) and Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai (2017).