Head: Workshop creates group to study city heritage

Surekha S

A group of 35 people from Mumbai and other cities in the country, the US, Japan and Germany came together to study the heritage structures and bazaars in the city. These people were brought together by Urbz Mashup, a four-day workshop organised by Urbz, a group that aims at facilitating exchange of ideas and information towards better urban planning and development.
The participants, comprising mainly of architects, designers and photographers, visited Chor Bazaar, Nal Bazaar, Crawford Market, Bhuleshwar and other places for three days studying the heritage structures, the working of the bazaars as also the life of the people there.
On Sunday, they presented their findings and ideas in the form of audio-visuals, sketches, presentations and so on. "Many a time, out of such workshops some ideas of re-development or restructuring emerge that are very interesting," said Rahul Srivastava, organiser, Urbz Mashup.
The participants, who met at the JJ School of Architecture on 29th October, had a two-hour discussion there before they took off in groups for their destinations. Stephanie Carlisle, a graduate of architecture, who has been studying the flyovers of the city, said: "When you look at a map of the city, you can only see the flyovers, but there is so much activity going on below it which is not visible in the maps," she said.
Her group's presentation looked at the different ways the spaces below the flyovers can be used. They put forth an idea of using the space below flyovers as people's space -- for some activity or the other on a regular basis.
Varsha Deshikar, 23, a student of fine art from Bangalore, came for the workshop to understand the fast changing dynamics of a city. "Bangalore is changing rapidly. There are malls and multiplexes springing up everywhere and it is very disturbing," she said.
Geeta Mehta, founder member, Urbz group, said, "A group that studied the Chor Bazaar, looked at why certain streets have a very sparse woman population. Another group studied the heritage value of Edward Talkies. The group that studied the Crawford Market, looked at the architectural importance as also the network of trees in the area, and how the area can be upgraded and improved without necessarily redeveloping it completely," she said.