The homegrown neighbourhood is an expression of local organizational skills and maximum optimization of resources in the creation of built environments. In this series we attempt to understand its chief personnel, their tools and the processes involved in the making of such settlements.

In this article, published in The Architectural Review, Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava discuss the significance of local builders and contractors in preserving the functionality of the neighbourhood. It takes a simple shift in perspective to uncover the driving forces behind the vibrant growth of homegrown settlements such as Dharavi. 

 Social distancing in a participatory process

Based on a multi-year research with the Mobile Lives Forum on the linkages between Mumbai and Konkan villages this essay, first published in the magazine FuturArc, describes an Indian model of urbanization.

urbz is working on the design of a house for a joint family of 38 people, on a plot of 330 Sq.mts (3500 Sq.ft) in the dense urban settlement of Dharavi Koliwada, Mumbai. 

An Insight into Dharavi and the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP)

This essay looks at the theoretical and practical implications of a much used and abused notion in urban planning and development circles, that of ‘informal settlements’.

Residents keep intervening and changing their homes in the process of living, and this contributes to conservation

When pavement dwellers are chased away, which happens often, they have no other option than making a new home on another the sidewalk.