Mapping Mumbai:University of Michigan Mumbai Studios Spring and Fall 2005

“Mapping Mumbai” is available for reference at UDRI Resource Centre.

INTRODUCTION

Rahul Mehrotra May 2006, Mumbai
This document records the multiple explorations carried out in the Spring and Fall of 2005 by the students in the Graduate Studios at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. The Studios focused on Bombay and in particular on the Backbay area in South Bombay which is emerging as perhaps one of the most contested urban spaces in the city. This prime space in the city, has slipped out of the perception of most citizen as a potential public space and an image center for the city, severe contestation and incremental distortion have left the space sliced into bits that have no clear ownership resulting in gross misuse of the space. The city has literally turned its back to what could potentially be perhaps the most prime public space in the city. Thus, the agenda of the studios were to understand this condition and explore what potential strategies could be employed to reweave this space into the urban fabric of Bombay. The Spring Studio focused on a Mapping exercise of the context of the site and the city in general. This was followed by a Studio in Fall 2005 focused on the Backybay site in particular.