How we locked ourselves in a box (The Hindu 02.02.19)

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. 

urbz founders Rahul Srivastava and Matias Echanove reflect on community-driven placemaking in the Indian metropolis.

Read on Azure magazine

Dharavi’s massive redevelopment project aims to turn it into a ‘world-class’ neighborhood, but this vision risks erasing its unique identity and thriving homegrown economy. Instead of replacing it with glass towers and luxury spaces, Dharavi could be a model for a ‘world-grown city’—one that values its community-driven development while staying connected to the global economy.

Living Euljiro is a film directed by Liron Shalit. Liron has been creating award-winning short documentaries since 2017, exploring themes such as social issues, human rights, disability, natural disasters, and urban life. Since relocating to Seoul in 2022, he has focused on documenting disappearing spaces and communities, capturing the distinctive culture of Euljiro and the stories of the people who live and work there. 

Every kaccha house transforming into a pukka house is a story worth telling – one which is extremely significant to residents and the development of the city at large.

Local newspapers doubled, tripled and eventually quadrupled with classifieds about the shiny, affordable, chic new buildings with swimming pools coming up in every empty corner.

Not all is worthy of the bin! Our latest column in The Hindu explores features of Indian urbanism that could inspire cities around the world. (The Hindu 24.09.2017)

Cities around the world are acknowledging that local expertise, knowledge and skills are an effective mechanism to generate ideas, plans and strategies that can be implemented by themselves or by civic authorities and planning agencies. Earlier this year, urbz was part of such an endeavour where we conducted Urban Typhoon workshops in Kochi, India. It was an enriching process working with local people to generate programmes and plans for the improvement , transformation and preservation of neighbourhoods. People’s energies and collective capacities came together to become a powerful force that is promising for the future of Kochi.