meeting in london

hello everyone!

welcome to the urbanbody: mumbai weblog...!

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reid cooper, nimish biloria, wendy d'sa and chintan gohil met at a little pub in clerkenwell in london for a short brain storming session...here are some thoughts from the session...



- clarify/augment the TERMINOLOGY 'SLUM' to a much more appropriate one in conjunction with the informal
economy generator...this needs to be resolved in conjunction with the main aim/focus of the work...

- identify which AREAS IN MUMBAI would we be analyzing...there are many large 'slum' or informal
settlement concentrations apart from the infamous dharavi in mumbai...

- main AIM(s) and THEME(s) need to be derived ASAP (preferably by second week of november) via
brainstorming sessions and based on personal as well as pedagogical research interests...

POSSIBLE THEMES discussed in our meeting were:

gender
emergence/non linear modeling techniques
informal settlements
informal economy
cultural and socio-political networks
boundaries between emergence and design
human rights
urban migration
morphogeonomics

- fine tuning/merging/mutation of concepts for further enrichment on a group basis > outlining the
collaborative benefits.

- exploration of POSSIBLE ANALYSIS PROCESS(es) based on the aim/desired result

- Identification of the DESIRABLE OUTCOMES/END PRODUCTS - book, exhibition, educational tools, sollutions/ suggestions on the ground level/possible continuation of the academic as well as on ground projects

TASKS- THE NETHERLANDS:

- organizational logistics to be set in place

- THEME needs to be established

- TIMELINE needs to be detailed out (we were concerned about the beginning of hot weather in late feb, also
university holidays etc. need to be considered while planning the visit if we intend to involve the ones based in
bombay)

- identification and contact with possible COLLABORATORS/CONTRIBUTORS: academics/NGOs/ indian governmental or semi-governmental bodies(?)

- peripheral issues such as accommodation, travel etc to be handled by the TU Delft

- EDUCATIONAL PLAN: studio initiatives/agendas/student selection/information-resource list to be set up


TASKS- INDIA:

- FAMILIARISATION with the indian context: historic, contextual, socio-cultural, demographic, political, economic etc.

- setting up LOCAL CONNECTIONS to enable the above mentioned familiarization process

- arranging lecture sessions, workshops and on-ground research assistance with the local authorities, students, researchers

- further fine tune, communicate and augment analytical strategies in accordance with ground based information

- data gathering/Information mapping to be conducted

- Further research/studio initiatives to be set up amongst the Indian and the Dutch universities for processing the gathered information network


so lets establish priorities and determine who is taking care of what, so that we can get going!