08 July,2017 08:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Benita Fernando
Urban Design Research Institute releases Mumbai Reader 2017, a 480-pager on pressing infrastructure and development concerns in the city
(From left) JJ College of Architecture principal, Rajiv Mishra; former municipal commissioner of Mumbai, DM Sukthankar, and UDRI executive director Pankaj Joshi
The Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) released its 11th edition of Mumbai Reader, a compilation of contemporary views on the city by experts and professionals articulating their experiences of Mumbai. The launch, held on Friday at the Sir JJ School of Architecture, was accompanied by the announcement of the winner of the annual Charles Correa Gold Medal.
The Mumbai Reader 2017 was launched by D M Sukthankar, former municipal commissioner of Mumbai and former chief secretary of the Government of Maharashtra; Rajiv Mishra, Principal, Sir JJ College of Architecture; and Pankaj Joshi, Executive Director, UDRI. The reader, available for purchase at UDRI's Kala Ghoda office for R600, has writings by noted civil engineer Shirish B Patel, architect Rahul Mehrotra, RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi, Bombay High Court Justice Gautam Patel, among others.
The 480-pager touches upon pressing infrastructure and development concerns of the city such as the docklands, the proposed Development Plan, threat to open spaces and flooding during the monsoon. It led Sukthankar to state that the reader is "an excellent chronicle of the dynamic changing scene of the city."
Charles Correa award
Alongside this launch, the Charles Correa Gold Medal, instituted by UDRI in 2000 for the best design dissertations from architecture schools, was conferred upon architect Aashna Shah, 23, a graduate from Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies.
Shah's dissertation was chosen from among 32 submissions from all over the country by a closed-door jury comprising leading architects, such as Brinda Somaya and Ratan Batliboi.
Her proposal, titled The Subaltern and the City, looks at how nomadic communities, such as the Pardhi and Wahgri, in the city can be provided a platform to express themselves.
