PRODUCTION-ORIENTED URBANISM
Karan Bakre Poom Supakijjanusan Nitesh Khatod
Redefining the neighbourhood in Mumbai
MUMBAI Today, in a service based economy, the developing world is struggling to manage its design, production and dispatch operations. As speculative real estate development
increasingly
pushes
production
towards the hinterland, larger quanta of energy, time and money are expended in just connecting the different centres of a productive sequence. Historically,
Mumbai
has
been
a
production
oriented city, through its role as a cotton producing powerhouse and the closest Indian port to Europe. Mumbai developed rapidly in post-colonial India and soon became the most sought after location to work in, especially for the Indian middle-class. However, the burgeoning influx of people into the city, created both housing and employment shortages. A large proportion of the migrants were forced to stay in poor quality informal settlements. Navi Mumbai was commissioned by the Maharashtra government in 1972, to help decongest Mumbai City.
Diagram of Greater Mumbai Metropolitan shows a potential of using water infrastructure to connect City of Mumbai to JNPT and Panvel
The closure of the cotton mills and subsequent decline in activity along the Eastern Waterfront placed the onus of production and freight transit on Navi Mumbai. Without inner city production, Mumbai depends on congested roads and railways to receive goods from Navi Mumbai. The three projects in this work revitalize the post-industrial Eastern Docklands and Girgaon Mill Lands (being located at the intersection of financial centres, specialized services and production markets within Mumbai City) to address two key economic drivers - production and movement.
PRODUCTION Over the last quarter of a century, Mumbai has tended a move towards a service based economy, shifting most of its industries beyond the extent of Navi Mumbai. There exist several logistical difficulties when production companies have their design development, manufacture and dispatch units located at different points in the city. Additionally, with online shopping, bulk orders and the ambition to expand, this work aims at bringing new inner city production centres into Mumbai City, where the bulk of the market, design and innovation practices are. With the closure of industrial production in Mumbai City, a huge workforce is deprived of its livelihood. Most of this workforce, which is chiefly artisanal, is employed in small-scale informal production and recycling. With many service based companies in India making use of such artisan based labour, this sector is of particular value. Extending formal support to established informal production and utilizing the flexible and adaptable characteristics of the informal is highlighted in the projects.
MOVEMENT With a new port in JNPT and a new freight goods node in Panvel (both in Navi Mumbai) receiving the bulk of cargo and raw material, moving and managing goods between the two legs of Mumbai is becoming increasing difficult, costly and time consuming. The 3rd tier/ service sector is catered to by moving goods via congested road routes which account for annual losses of $1 Billion. The lack of east-west connections within the island city makes it problematic to move goods from one side to the other. This work uses water as a mode of infrastructure, coupled with a new set of collection and distribution hubs in Mumbai City to efficiently and economically manage movement of goods. East-west connections across Mumbai City are strengthened by setting up new production centres along the lines of movement.
3 TESTING GROUNDS The post industrial lands of the Eastern Docklands and the Girgaon Mill Lands, being located at the i n t e r s e c t i o n o f f i n a n c i a l c e n t re s , s p e c i a l i z e d s e r v i c e s a n d p ro d u c t i o n m a r k e t s w i t h i n M u m b a i c i t y, c a n b e re q u a l i f i e d t h ro u g h t e s t i n g t h e s e a r g u m e n t s .
F ro m C o m p o u n d s t o N e i g h b o u r h o o d F o r m a l - I n f o r m a l Tr a n s i t i o n Neighbourhood as the mill
Diagram of City of Mumbai shows three different tests in relation to the East-West Corridors
1. FROM COMPOUNDS TO NEIGHBOURHOOD Charcoal & Grain Depot and Unit 5, Mumbai Eastern Waterfront This work tests the potential of a new inner city p ro d u c t i o n n e i g h b o u r h o o d i n M u m b a i t o e ff i c i e n t l y o r g a n i s e d e s i g n , m a n u f a c t u re a n d d i s p a t c h o p e r a t i o n s of service based industries. In doing so, it also sets up a distribution hub for the management and movement of goods between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai using w a t e r b a s e d i n f r a s t r u c t u re . M o v e m e n t i s u s e d a s a d e t e r m i n a n t f o r re s t r u c t u r i n g a n d re - q u a l i f y i n g t h e p o s t - i n d u s t r i a l E a s t e r n Wa t e r f ro n t i n M u m b a i C i t y t o a c c o m m o d a t e a m i x e d u s e d p ro d u c t i v e e n v i ro n m e n t . T h e i n t e r v e n t i o n s p ro p o s e d u s e t h e m a i d a n , c o u r t y a rd a n d v e r a n d a a s o r g a n i z i n g e l e m e n t s t o c re a t e m i x e d u s e t y p o l o g i e s . T h e s t e re o t y p i c a l i n d u s t r i a l s e c t o r consisted
of
p ro d u c t i o n
compounds;
spaces
of
e d u c a t i o n , d e s i g n , m a r k e t i n g a n d re s i d e n c e w e re s e p a r a t e d f ro m i t . T h i s s c h e m e a r g u e s t h a t t h e c o n t e m p o r a r y p ro d u c t i o n n e i g h b o u r h o o d n e e d s a m u l t i - s y n e r g i s t i c s p a t i a l e c o l o g y t h a t p ro m o t e s t h e s e c ro s s o v e r s . - K a r a n B a k re
2. FORMAL - INFORMAL TRANSACTION Darukhana, Mumbai Eastern Waterfront T h i s p ro j e c t a i m s a t re s h a p i n g t h e e x i s t i n g f a b r i c i n D a r u k h a n a , b y l i n k i n g i t s l o c a l e c o n o m y w i t h b ro a d e r e c o n o m i c s y s t e m s i n M u m b a i C i t y. S i n c e t h e p o s t - i n d u s t r i a l e r a , t h e D a r u k h a n a c o m m u n i t y h a s b e e n re l e g a t e d f ro m i t s ro l e i n t r a d i n g o p e r a t i o n s t o o n e d e p e n d a n t o n i n f o r m a l p ro d u c t i o n . W i t h a d e c re a s e i n l o c a l p o r t a c t i v i t i e s , t h o u s a n d s o f i n f o r m a l l a b o u re r s a re n o w e n g a g e d i n s h i p b re a k i n g c o m p a n i e s . A l t h o u g h i t b r i n g s t re m e n d o u s b e n e f i t s t o t h e i n f o r m a l a n d a n u m b e r o f d o w n s t re a m i n d u s t r i e s , s h i p b re a k i n g l e a d s t o h a z a rd o u s h e a l t h a n d e n v i ro n m e n t a l p ro b l e m s . W i t h i t s w a t e r f ro n t l a n d s c a p e , t h i s a re a i s a l s o f a c i n g d e v e l o p i n g p re s s u re f ro m p r i v a t e p ro p e r t y i n v e s t m e n t . I n o rd e r t o re d e f i n e t h e ro l e o f t h e Darukhana
c o m m u n i t y,
this
work
s c a l e s u p l o c a l p ro d u c t i o n t h ro u g h formal it
support
t h ro u g h
with
and
s t re n g t h e n s
p ro m o t i n g
c ro s s - o v e r s
institutions,
t h e re b y
c re a t i n g
a platform for economic exchange. W i t h i t s s t r a t e g i c l o c a t i o n , t h e re
is
a p o t e n t i a l t o c re a t e a n i n t e g r a t e d f a b r i c t o e n a b l e d i ff e re n t a c t o r s t o c o e x i s t a n d w o r k t o g e t h e r i n m o re s y n e r g i c w a y. - Poom Supakijjanusan
3. NEIGHBOURHOOD AS THE MILL Lower Parel Chawl Typology, Central Mumbai “Rhizome is a place of encounter, a place of interaction and a place of mutual and independent growth�- Prof. Joseph Vogl, (Derivative from Deluze and Guattari). With large industrial clusters becoming obsolete, an even larger
s e c o n d a r y s y s t e m o f d o w n s t re a m i n d u s t r i e s a n d i n f o r m a l l a b o u r c o m p l e t e l y d e p e n d e n t o n t h e i n d u s t r i a l u n i t g o e s o b s o l e t e . T h i s p re c i s e l y, i s t h e c a s e w i t h t h e M u m b a i M i l l c l u s t e r s . T h i s w o r k t e s t s t h e c o n c e p t o f b re a k i n g a w a y f ro m l a r g e s i n g u l a r p ro d u c t i o n s y s t e m s a n d m o v i n g t o w a rd s a m o re autonomous,
dispersed
system
of
re s t r u c t u r i n g t h e n e i g h b o u r h o o d a s t h e m i l l ( l o c u s o f p ro d u c t i o n ) i t s e l f . T h e work
concentrates
on
re s t r u c t u r i n g
the old Chawl housing typology (mill workers
housing)
housing
perimeters
f ro m to
s i n g l e - ro o m a
strategic
e l e m e n t t h a t re - q u a l i f i e s t h e p ro d u c t i v e n a t u re o f t h e n e i g h b o u r h o o d . N e w t y p o l o g i e s p ro v i d i n g s u p p o r t i n g f a c i l i t i e s t o t h e c h a w l h o u s i n g c l u s t e r s , a n d w i t h i n t ro d u c t i o n o f n e w w o r k s p a c e s a n d i n s t i t u t i o n a l s u p p o r t t e s t t h e p o t e n t i a l o f s t re n g t h e n i n g t h e p ro d u c t i v e c a p a c i t y o f t h e n e i g h b o u r h o o d . I n s u c h a s c e n a r i o , t h e l a r g e m i l l s t r u c t u re s f o r m s a n i n t e g r a l p a r t o f t h e p ro d u c t i o n c y c l e , b u t n o t n e c e s s a r i l y t h e o n l y p ro d u c t i o n e l e m e n t . - Nitesh Khatod