The Notion Of Urban Space Beyond The Physical

urbz is an experimental action and research collective specialized in participatory planning and design. Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava are co-founders of this platform for experimental urban research and action, with collaborators in Mumbai, Goa, São Paulo, Bogotá, Seoul and Geneva. The work of urbz has been exhibited at Dr. Bhau Daji Lad City Museum, Mumbai; MoMA, New York; MAXXI, Rome; MAK Vienna; The Centre for Contemporary Art in Bordeaux, the Istanbul Design Biennial; the Chicago Architecture Biennial; and the Sao Paulo Cultural Center. Rahul Srivastava studied social and urban anthropology in Mumbai, Delhi and Cambridge (UK). Matias Echanove studied government and economics at the London School of Economics, urban planning at Columbia University and urban information systems at the University of Tokyo.

- Shriti Das

The story of urbz and its co-founders started at a week-long workshop in Dharavi, Mumbai. The organisation works across the globe with people, places and cities. And much of their work is shaped from inferences that are derived from Mumbai. While cities like Mumbai are challenging to work with and within, it showcases a language of urbanism that is a complex yet significant premise in work of urbz. Their work has travelled from Mumbai to Sao Paulo, Bogota, Seoul, Geneva, Montreal and back to Mumbai wherein they have conducted workshops involving public participatory planning from their experiences in Dharavi. Their first project, the Dharavi workshop entailed planning and producing a counter-narrative to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. The Dharavi residents aimed to establish that the settlement is not a slum, but a village. Its original inhabitants are the ‘koliwadas’ and the village has grown and accommodated multiple roles and functions. The organisation’s first learning from the project was that participatory planning is not a novel idea or invention but citizens at various levels and scales are already involved and perceptive. It is interesting to note details of how people are participating and building on existing frameworks to ideate or create something beyond those realms.