Great Streets in Mumbai

Through the study of streets in Mumbai; conceptually it would be unfolded that how the concept of living  life changes depending upon the changing time and space thereby change in the social , cultural and economical environments and how this total change influences human life  and  activities. Realizing and understanding these changes means actually working out design criteria’s for new man made environments. 

There are going to be a series of lectures to understand the process of critical mapping of  evolution of streets in the city and will be followed by a workshop  from 28th April until 3rd May. The outcome of the workshop will be exhibited at Horniman circle - one of the historic open spaces of the city. 

Strolling through the Streets of Mumbai!

At present staying in Navi Mumbai and have stayed and travelled to other parts of the country I have been observing the growing urbanization and increasing congestion, I want to pause and understand the true essence of life in our Indian cities. 
During my tour to Madrid , Paris , Hongkong, Beijing I could observe the best of open public piazzas in the city. Since then, my eyes are looking for similar spaces in the city of Mumbai.Walking on  the streets of D.N.Road with the small shops is a very lively experience. I wonder why I like walking through tulshi baug street and along vishram baug Wada to Appa balwant chowk?  And why do I feel like an alien on the streets of vashi? What is it that instigates this feeling? Need for a great street which does not have vehicles but has only people walking on the streets ,probably some cafes......Streets where people interact with each other and has paving patterns which are interesting to look at. Probably a balloonwala, panipuriwala ......

I am not romanticizing but this kind of a place is actually present in Granada, Madrid, Paris, Beijing square, shanghai and also in our old Indian cities like manekchowk in Ahmedabad, chau par in jaipur, any plaza in a temple complex eg: Dakor ,along the ghats in haridwar.....

A friend in the U.S. once exclaimed, " Oh the cows and cars are on the same street in India". Very true, I say! The complexity of the open spaces in Indian cities is intense due to the co-existence of  the pedestrians, hawkers, cows and the vehicular traffic, parking and so on thus making it very challenging yet extremely dynamic.There exists a component of simultaneity on the Indian streets, bazaars, vegetable markets which needs to be explored and studied in detail to get a thorough understanding of what Indian cities are truly made up of?