urbz’s inception in 2008 is deeply rooted in the urban realities of Mumbai. What started as a 5-day workshop with the residents of Dharavi Koliwada eventually led us to establish our office in the neighbourhood. Since then we have been engaging with local residents, building contractors and artisans through action research, ethnographic studies, participatory urban planning, design and architecture.

Our innovative work in architecture and planning, which takes as the starting point the user, the resident and the locality has been exhibited in the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Istanbul Design Biennale, the Chicago Architectural Biennale and the Lille Design Festival, Lille. More recently we produced models that are a part of the permanent exhibition at the M+ Museum in Hong Kong.

While our work derives from a rootedness in locality, we also adapt this knowledge to other Indian cities. We have worked with Municipal Corporations, citizen groups and public institutions in Kochi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Delhi. urbz practice relies on the savoir-faire of an international team with more than a decade of worldwide experience, and a strong network of offices in Mumbai, Bogotá, Goa and Paris.