Urban Designer | Urban Planner | Policy Researcher
October 2024
FINALIST - RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM
Land Use Solutions for Decarbonization and Resilience'
As part of the 2024 Berkeley Energy & Resources Collaborative (BERC) Fall Symposium hosted a research expo on October 11, 2024 to showcase UC Berkeley student research projects and creative solutions for sustainable land management in response to the climate crisis. Submissions demonstrated diverse research approaches, whether they involve participatory methods, community-based initiatives, interdisciplinary studies, or new applications of established methodologies.
Project details:
My research was situated in the outer boundaries of the growing Metropolitan of Mumbai and highlights a unique, yet challenging aspect of its urban- the presence of small, water tanks dispersed across the urban landscape. Historically built 300 years ago by several rulers along the trade routes, the new municipal corporation is grappling with ideas of how to deal with its growing urban pressures. Bringing the water bodies to centrality and axiality under the new urban planning schemes of lake redevelopment and beautification. My research argues that the historical purpose of the lakes was community-centric, and offered a decentralised spatial positioning within the larger city-scale. The definition of an ‘urban lake’ is challenged and examines lake governance, funding and politics to shift the discussion from lake development to lake and land-use as a connecting lake system.
March 2025
PUBLISHED BOOK CHAPTER
Land Use Solutions for Decarbonization and Resilience'
The book presents a holistic view of play in Mumbai and its importance in children’s lives. The chapter examines the intersection of an informal settlement and a highway and the nature of play for children living in the settlement.
Book Chapter Abstract:
The intent of the paper is to analyse the role of knowledge centres for children from marginalised communities (slum children, children of construction workers, etc.). The street is the familiar landscape for play in Mumbai, with children utilising street infrastructure such as ramps, drain pipes etc. as playscapes. The everyday experience of play for these children entails unsafe avenues like playing along highways and expressways as spillover spaces adjacent to their settlements. The defining attribute for playscapes for these children is ‘open’ accessible spaces between routes of home and school, often found along open streets/highways. Most knowledge centres are, on the other hand, located within sanitised urban precincts which generate sanctuaries of privilege and exclusive environments, away from informal settlements. The chapter examines knowledge centres in Mumbai as playscapes facilitating ‘learning through play’.