Place, Work, Folk
Place, Work, Folk is a fortnightly column in The Hindu Sunday Magazine by Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava, which is inspired by Patrick Geddes and analyzes current urban issues in India and beyond.
Publications
The Village Inside / The Slum Outside
Bringing knowledge and skills from their villages, generations of Dharavi residents have pushed the slum outside of their homes, streets and neighbourhoods. Isn't it time we recognize and support their efforts? We compile and republish two texts originally published by New Village Press in New York and Strelka University Press in Moscow.
The Golden Thread
One among the many ways of watching Nishtha Jain’s exquisite documentary, ‘The Golden Thread’ (2022), is by following the imagination of urbanist Patrick Geddes.
Marginality, Climate Crisis, and the Right to the City: The future of participatory urbanism in the US
In a global context, populations marginalized because of race, class, gender, creed, etc. are those most incessantly stripped of this right to design the city in their own image within formalized constraints. In this way, the “informal” urban process of self-construction is inherently a product of this same marginality that excludes these groups from “formalized” city-making.
One foot in the city, one foot in the village: the invisible mobility of urban workers in India
An Op-Ed by Rahul and Matias for the Mobile Lives Forum:
Cultura Fertilis_urbz_2018
Opportunity study for a major cultural center in the new central business district of Geneva. Sorry it is in French. It has nice illustrations though! :)
Competition or co-creation?
How design competitions waste time, money and potential. (The Hindu 23.06.19)
Beyond the informal
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’.
Learning from Tokyo
What the world’s largest city can teach us about local development (The Hindu 16.02.2019)
Spreadsheet urbanism
How we locked ourselves in a box (The Hindu 02.02.19)
How cities emerge from the relationship between land and water
All habitats are made up of the sounds of water, as they flow in and out of people, kitchens, bathrooms and sewers (The Hindu 20.01.19)
Doors of Koliwada
Exploring the visual anatomy of Dharavi's fishing village
Colours of Koliwada
Exploring the visual anatomy of Dharavi's fishing village.
Hacking the Cyborg
Can collective intelligence save us from self-destruction? (The Hindu 06.01.2019)
An Italian tale of humanity and modernity
A town which has roots in the Neolithic Age struggles with the ups and downs of modernity. (The Hindu 09.12.2018)
Circulation of Food and Family
the urbz Mumbai team traces back its lunch to the village
urbz in the news
Article in The Asian Age about local development initiatives in Dharavi (Mumbai), which urbz supported.
"I studied for 2 years after marriage"
Radha is a passionate tuition teacher, and she is proud of her contribution to the education of many students. She discusses the importance of education in Dharavi.
"Mumbai Return" - The Catalogue
The future of Indian cities and villages is resolutely networked and circulatory. Revisit or discover the "Mumbai Return" exhibition, just a year after it was shown at Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum. (13.6MB)
The FuturArc Interview
Matias and Rahul discuss urbz's approach and projects with Heather Banerd (direct link).