Rahul Srivastava is a co-founder of urbz and The Institute of Urbanology. He studied social and urban anthropology in Mumbai, Delhi and Cambridge (UK). His previous publications include an ethnography of urbanized nomads around Mumbai, a novel published by Puffin, (Penguin, India) and 'The Slum Outside', a commentary on Dharavi, co-written with Matias Echanove and published by Strelka Press. He continues to write extensively on urban issues with Matias, with their next major publication signed up with Verso, London. He brings his background in anthropology and visual ethnography to urbanology, the practice that energises much of urbz's work in Mumbai and elsewhere.
Articles
The Village Outside
Behind the famed Renaissance hotel by the Powai lake is a small, homegrown village called Paspoli which is home to the workforce of the hotel.
Warli in Dharavi
While Warli art has become as gentrified as an art gallery in a heritage urban precinct, the reality it represents is hugely significant.
Update on Shivaji Nagar's Masjid Project
The new mosque will be built on the site of a 30 years old mosque nestled in the dense middle section of the neighbourhood.
The Homegrown Cities Project
How local, community owned and managed housing co-operatives, can be a vital step towards improving the neighbourhoods, bringing good quality civic infrastructure and making the city genuinely ’slum-free’.
Designing from Something (When Tabula Rasa is Not an Option)
The tool-house as starting point for designers to learn from local skills, practices and aspirations.
Complex is Beautiful
In Rio “pacification” is a code word to describe the invasion of neighborhoods by squads of policemen walking around their guns pulled out, ready to shoot.
Handstorm in Shivaji Nagar!
All you need to bring along are your hands, a desire to produce something useful and beautiful which you feel the residents would love to use and loads of enthusiasm.
Morden Mumbai: Revisiting BDD Chawls.
Tracing the history of the BDD chawls and what its location and typology mean for future development of the city.
The Homegrown Cities Initiative: Update
After a handstorm workshop to make a variety of user-oriented objects and with a pilot house on its way, a report about the updates of the Homegrown Cities Initiative
