Kareena Kochery is a Landscape planner, researcher and partner of the urbz collective Mumbai. She has studied and worked for the last 18 years across India, the Netherlands and Geneva. She graduated with an MSc. in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning from Wageningen University and Research Institute, Netherlands. She specialised in Cultural geography, with a focus on animal geography. As a landscape planner, she is involved in advocacy for the ecological planning of river basins and is committed to working on community-led environmental planning projects.
She has worked closely with local communities, state and municipal officials and global organisations to develop interventions and frameworks sensitive to the interrelationality of urban culture, landscapes, built environments, ecology and economy. The immersive, participatory nature of her work has helped her develop skills and tools to bridge gaps between design-led and community-led planning, which remains an important goal for her.
Articles
Following the Water: NYUAD returns to Dharavi Koliwada
The Handstorm workshop in Dharavi, with the Engineers for Social Impact from NYU, Abu Dhabi took place for the second time this year in October, 2025. We walked through the lanes of Dharavi Koliwada, observing Water in the diverse and unexpected paths that it took to and from people’s homes. Students diligently followed the water, listening carefully to the stories it had to tell.
Inhabiting the night: Light infrastructure in an urban village
As part of the ABCD project, street lighting emerged as an urgent need for the residents of Dharavi Koliwada. A need that was addressed through a year-long collaboration between urbz, the Dharavi Koli Jamat, local electricians and residents. Read about how the process unfolded and what comes next.
Reclaiming Landscape - Collective Memory and the many lives of Dharavi Koliwada
Koliwada in Dharavi, connected to the Mithi River, embodies a unique amphibious landscape shaped by traditional practices,
ecological stewardship, and community resilience amidst urban challenges. The Garden of Festivities project highlights the
settlement’s fight for sustainable coexistence with Mumbai’s shifting coastal terrain.
Garden of Festivities - Ecological regeneration in a concrete jungle
‘The Garden of Festivities’ is a project that attempts to unite livelihood concerns with an ecological imagination that grows from the Kolis collective, ancestral knowledge and expertise. The project's first step is a participatory landscape intervention on the last remaining commons within a habitat they are struggling to preserve.
Customs House - Continuity and Transformation in Dharavi Koliwada
As part of the ABCD project, we have been busy transforming a historical site in Dharavi Koliwada into a study space. We recount its history and revival.
Hands across the ocean: An unexpected collaboration between Australian carpenters and Dharavi’s building experts.
Dharavi Koliwada was abuzz with news of the 8 Australians helping to build the Customs House study space for students. From ferrying huge blocks of basalt stone to putting together a teak wood chair, the team from Sullivan Carpentry did it all.
Amphibious Habitats: breathing in air, breathing out water
Koliwada's are fishing hamlets in Mumbai city and unlike most settlements, they extend beyond terrestrial boundaries. The waters of rivers, creeks and seas, all form part of an amphibious habitat that is integral and deeply familiar to the Kolis.
A Koliwada in Dharavi
This article presents the Koliwada in Dharavi through the evolution of its built and natural environment, tracing the Koli's fight for their land, how the community is leading the development of their neighbourhood and our role in it.
re:arc selects urbz!
Following up on the biggest news we had in our yearly update, we want to share more about how we got to kickstart our dream project in Dharavi Koliwada. Here we go.
2024 - Here we are !
We take a moment to reflect on urbz's achievements in 2023 and our objectives for 2024. We started in Mumbai in 2008 where we are busier than ever. Over the years we expanded our activities to Goa, Bogota, Geneva and now Paris. For 2024, we make the good resolution of communicating better and more frequently with our friends and followers!
Works
Homegrown Street
We are taking the Design Comes as We Build project to the next level - the Homegrown Street!
Dharavi works
Dharavi Works is a series of projects designed in Mumbai by urbz in partnership with local inhabitants and contractors.
Habitat 100: A chawl redevelopment project
We are excited to be working on a new architectural project in Dharavi Koliwada. Our friend, collaborator, and contractor Joseph Koli, approached us to work on his latest project - the redevelopment of a chawl owned by brothers Vithal and Bhaskar Koli.
1000 Voices
1000 Voices is a project that aims to document and understand Dharavi, Mumbai, through the perspective of people who, through their presence and activities, reproduce this fascinating homegrown neighbourhood day after day.
Fiction in Urban Practice
Fictional imaginaries help us move towards an important starting point in urban practice - 'recognition'. A way of seeing that transforms our understanding of urban spaces.
ICRC Campus
urbz planned a makeover of the campus of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, where approximately 1,500 employees are based. With around Around 20,000 employees in over 100 conflict zones worldwide, the ICRC is one of the most important humanitarian organizations in the world.
