krvia, tiss, udri, yuva

A compilation of visions, programs of the four fronting institutions and agencies that are instrumental in framing as presented a citizen’s agenda for the Mumbai Development Plan 2014-‘34.

To locate them geographically at the southernmost end of the city is UDRI, with YUVA Urban organising themselves in Dadar, TISS campus is on the eastern edge of the city in Deonar while KRVIA houses itself in Juhu. All to a degree have or are doing projects in their respective neighbourhoods and around city limits. There is mutual engagement in terms of projects and joint exercises but resulting to domain expertise KRVIA/ UDRI and TISS/ YUVA Urban collaborative projects are the norm of submitting for city ideas or proposals. Combining design and planning with social policy the collective to stage out the city plan seems to have covered most aspects of what an ideal planning exercise could contain. Testing the group for their skill set and biases they bring to the table is the prolonged task of observation with the monitoring of the planning process.

The effective questions are as follows -

_

KRVIA _ The Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies (KRVIA), an initiative of the Kamla Raheja Foundation and the Upanagar Shikhshan Mandal, is one of the premier schools of architecture in Mumbai. It offers a Bachelor’s in Architecture degree (B.Arch) that culminates with a Design Dissertation and a term of practical training and two full time Masters courses (M.Arch) - Masters in Urban Design and Masters in Urban Conservation. All of these courses are run under the aegis of the University of Mumbai. Additional to these the college awards research fellowships with the objective of contextualising the production of architecture in the broader cultural context of the city and perhaps suggest new trajectories of development. The Design Cell is the research and consultancy division of the KRVIA and was started in 1995 with an intention to connect the theoretical and research agendas of the school with the practice of architecture and development in the city. Composed of student, faculty and external consultants, the Cell interacts with various agencies concerned with development and explores methods of understanding and intervening in the metropolis. Over the years there have been many attempts by the school to engage with other colleges and universities from within the country and around the world. These have so far included some premier institutes from the United States and Europe. Recently however the school has realized that while these exchanges helped us situate ourselves within a larger disciplinary debate, questions from within, posed along with institutions sharing similarities of context and history were lacking. With this in mind the school have consciously extended our exchange programmes to national premier institutions.

_

TISS _ Tata Institute of Social Sciences is a social sciences institute with its main campus based in Deonar, Mumbai, India. TISS also operates out of campuses in Hyderabad, Guwahati and Tuljapur. TISS was established in 1936, as the Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work, the first school of social work in India. It was renamed to its current name in 1944. It was recognized as a Deemed University in 1964 by the University Grants Commission of India. TISS started out as a small institute offering a post-graduate diploma in Social Work, but has since expanded continuously in terms of educational programmes and infrastructure. The first director of the institute was Dr. Clifford Manshardt, who aimed to establish a post-graduate social work school of national stature that would engage in a continuous study of Indian social issues and create meaningful interventions. Over the years, the Institute has, among other thrusts, made a significant contribution to policy, planning, action strategies and human resource development. It has done so in several areas, ranging from sustainable rural and urban development to education, health, communal harmony, human rights and industrial relations. TISS has earned recognition as an institution of repute from different Ministries of the Government of India and various State Governments, as well as international agencies such as the United Nations, and the non-government sector, both national and international. TISS Mumbai has several Schools, Centres with Faculty teaching, researching and publishing.

The Schools and Centres are as follows:

_

UDRI _ The URBAN DESIGN RESEARCH INSTITUTE is a forum that supports interaction among architects, urban designers and professionals from such related fields as urban economics, sociology, planning, conservation and history. As a public charitable trust established in 1984, UDRI aims to enrich the understanding of the urban environment and works towards its improvement. UDRI’s objectives have been:

The UDRI and its consultant teams have a strong understanding of urban management, law, conservation, planning, design, and history. While our training and experience is drawn from India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia, the UDRI remains dedicated to strengthening Mumbai by protecting our urban environment. UDRI strives to achieve this through sponsoring research and documentation projects, publications and public lectures, exhibitions and seminars, as well as running a resource centre focused on the study of Mumbai. The UDRI strives to improve Mumbai’s physical environment in three ways: a) Involving urban communities in civic improvement and planning projects, b) Enriching the discussion on our city’s future and c) Helping professionals serve Mumbai more effectively. With a talented staff and committed leadership, the UDRI has organised its operations around the following programmes and services since 1993: Research Projects, Resource Centre, Publications and Public Events.

_

YUVA Urban _ The birth of Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), a voluntary development organisation, in the year 1984 marked the beginning of a journey of empowering the oppressed and marginalised in urban areas and later in rural areas. Since 1984, YUVA has questioned social structures along the side of the poor, with the aim of empowering them to participate in a process of meaningful change. Understanding and intervening in issues of urban poverty, environment and governance in the city, state and national levels were undertaken by YUVA Urban since its beginnings while working with the youth in the worker’s colony of Jogeshwari in North West Mumbai. Almost 27 years after, YUVA Urban continues to focus on engagements with youth, women and children to protect and promote the rights of the urban poor to housing, basic services, education, livelihood, social security, and public participation. Over the years, YUVA Urban has implemented projects and interventions which ranged from action organisation to creation of alternatives, from training and capacity building to formation of people’s organisations and institutions, and research and policy work to lobbying and advocacy. YUVA Urban’s endeavor to engage holistically on social issues accounts for its broad range of activities that span from action organisation in communities to international solidarity action. While the range of interventions become wider and broader over the years, the focus of YUVA Urban’s programmes remain the same—enable vulnerable groups to access their rights and address human rights violations in the cities. YUVA Urban works to build linkages between the direct experiences of communities and the larger context of the cities, states and countries. YUVA Urban strengthens the capacities of communities to understand and respond effectively to the local development issues, and encourage new formations—such as community action groups and groups of women, youth and children—to engage in development.

Our Core Values - In all of YUVA Urban’s programmes and activities, the organisation never ceases to conduct itself according to it’s five non-negotiable postulates:

 
2
Kudos
 
2
Kudos

Now read this

mapping apprehensions

SABAH # Towards preparing for the submission for the PLU by the 15th sep, the groups in M-East had met on the 14th August in TISS. The meeting was attended by representatives of gaothans and koliwadas of M-East who raised the issue of... Continue →