U R B A N T Y P H O O N W O R K S H O P

KOLIWADA-DHARAVIMUMBAI MARCH 16-23, 2008

PUKAR - KOLIWADA-DHARAVI - AIROOTS

U R B A N T Y P H O O N W O R K S H O PKOLIWADA-DHARAVI, MUMBAI MARCH 16-23, 2008

Participatory Urban Design & the Future of Urban Communities

We invite creative spirits from India and abroad to brainstorm on the present and future of Koliwada, Dharavi, at a time when the city is planning a massive redevelopment of the whole area.

The Urban Typhoon workshop is a global experiment in participatory design connecting in-ternational participants to grassroots groups and the residents of Koliwada.

The workshop is multicultural, multidisciplinary and multimedia. We invite students, urban planners, architects, designers, artists, sociologists, media artists, political activists, utopists, and other nomads to imagine the future of Koliwada.

The objective is to produce creative alternatives for the future of a neighborhood threat-ened by a redevelopment plan of the government as well as a multimedia testimony to the unique spirit of Koliwada. The workshop itself is a joyous and participatory takeover of the neighbourhood. It combines the city’s historic spirit of activism with the celebratory, indepen-dent and culturally dynamic traditions that the Kolis of Mumbai have always demonstrated. The plan builds on these impulses in the best traditions of a festive exchange with visitors, guests, strangers and locals of all shades and hues.

Koliwada-Dharavi in Mumbai

Dharavi’s Koliwada is a traditional fisherfolk community. Dharavi is one of the largest informal settlements in Asia. It is also a highly diverse residential, commercial, and indus-trial area with some of the highest population density levels in the world. Koliwada’s village like character has been preserved even in the midst of the dramatic urban and demograph-ic changes that Mumbai has experienced in the last century.

Mumbai, the “maximum city”, epitomizes the transformation that the Indian sub-continent is experiencing at a time of extremely rapid economic growth, urbanization, and rural-urban migration. The largest city in India, Mumbai is also its financial and commercial capital, making it a strong magnet for global real-estate investors.

Dharavi is a 223 hectare informal settlement situ-ated in the heart of greater Mumbai (left). The Koliwada (above) is an approximately 40,000 sqm area populated by about 15,000 adults living with their children (below). The Kolis first settled in Dharavi when the Mahim Creek was full of fish. This time is long gone and a busy road now re-places the shore.

Dharavi was developed on marshlands in the periphery of Mumbai. It has historically been a point of entry to the city for migrants from all parts of the country. This 223 hectare set-tlement home to at least half a million people finds itself today at the centre of greater Mumbai. Situated a stone’s throw away from the Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai’s new financial centre, Dharavi is worth several bil-lions dollars in real-estate value.

A recent attempt by the metropolitan govern-ment of Mumbai to sell the land to private developers (The Dharavi Redevelopment Project) has been loudly decried as being undemocratic, as it leaves locals completely out of the decision-making process, despite some dispositions for the in-situ resettlement of longer-term residents. The government is now trying to address the main flaw of the DRP, which is the fact that it is not based on any type of solid study of Dharavi -in physi-cal, demographic, social or economic terms.

Koliwada is at the forefront of a battle for self-determination that concerns all of the residents of Dharavi and ultimately all the slum dwellers in India. After having been completely ignored by the government and public institutions for generations, the resi-dents now claim the right to develop their neighborhood on their own terms. After all, Koliwada existed even before Mumbai was called Bombay by the Portuguese.

The residents of Koliwada are inviting archi-tects, urbanists, sociologists, economists, activists, artists, musicians, and other cre-ative types from all over the world to brain-storm together with them on the future of their neighborhood and community.

Objectives of the Urban Typhoon Workshop

The Urban Typhoon workshop offers a space for students of the city and practitioners from India and abroad to brainstorm on the future of Koliwada and through it, alternative communities around the world.

Workshop participants will investigate the cultural identity of Koliwada in the metro-politan, national, and global contexts. Par-ticipants must have the workshop’s “client” in mind, that is the community of Koliwada and other communities facing similar issues around the world.

The workshop will raise the awareness of the government and the general public about the importance of preserving the rich urban tradi-tions of the communities in Dharavi. It should also lead to a better understanding of the political potential of counter-cultural groups such as those active in Koliwada and Dhara-vi. Participants will produce a multimedia and multidisciplinary portrait of Koliwada, Dharavi today. What are the differences between neighborhoods such as Kumbharwada and Koliwada in Dharavi? What are the connec-tions between the historical street layouts of Dharavi and the traditional organization of urban space in Indian cities? What role do communities play in the history of urban activism in India?

In addition, the workshop will produce al-ternative proposals for the urban design of Koliwada and Dharavi. These proposals will be published online, and be reviewed by the public. Participants will take into consider-ation the local character of the neighborhood and the interests of the stakeholders and the broader context of Mumbai. The workshop’s outcome will help local community groups and progressive governments to elaborate new strategies, mobilize broad constituen-cies, and engage in participatory design practices.

Urban Typhoon is an experiment in global team working and participatory design. Workshop units must integrate the residents of Koliwada into their research and work at all times. All units will show the work they produced to the public during an all night presentation on March 22nd 2008. Various occasions will be provided during the work-shop for informal interactions between the participants, such as dinners, residential stays, visits, get-togethers and so on.

Workshop Organization

Workshop leaders choose a theme for their unit and guide participants through the pro-cess while leaving them full creative freedom. Each unit has a set number of participants (between 5 and 10). Each unit can work as a team or be subdivided in smaller teams. Ultimately all participants follow the same objectives and all are free to collaborate with each other across units. Participants are not required to choose a unit that corresponds to their field of study unless it is specifically asked by the unit organizer.

Units are cross-cultural and cross-genera-tional. Each unit has both local and interna-tional participants. The output of the work will be both in Marathi and English.

Upon registration, participants are required to select which unit she or he would like to join by order of preference. If possible, partici-pants should bring a laptop. Indian students are kindly asked to provide home stay to international participants whenever possible.Participants willing to sleep in Koliwada will in principle be able to do so.

Organizers

The Urban Typhoon Workshop Koliwada is a project of PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowl-edge, Action and Research), which is an urban research collective based in Mumbai. http://www.pukar.org.in

It is organized with members of the Koliwada community as well as independent research-ers and activists.

For more info:

info@urbantyphoon.com http://www.urbantyphoon.com

The images in the two preceeding pages are from the Urban Typhoon Workshop 2006, which toke place in Shimokitazawa Tokyo, Japan.