Koliwada water edge in

monsoon season

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 PANIWALLA:
A Water Strategy for Urban Regeneration
Seyoon Kim, Hoi Ka Karin Lam, Eunryung Lee, Maria Louca

pani walla:  [pan-i-wah-lah] noun

Hindi for one employed in a water related occupation or activity

This project re-envisions the role of infrastructure and proposes mechanisms for its
transformation from a merely transportation, supply or disposal agent to a social amenity
that addresses local cultural specificities and enables economic growth, focussing on water
related infrastrucutre.This micro-scale intervention can be scaled up to provide macro-
scale, long term solutions to Mumbai’s ongoing problems of water drainage and supply.
The proposed system of water armatures and enclaves addresses the duality of a wet city
and a dry one, while engaging with the ecology of public space as it functions with and
without water. A dual interpretation of built form and public space is proposed, as the system
turns upside-down in the heavy monsoon season, accepting that the water problem is an
inherently dual one; a problem of excess and a problem of deficiency.

The inadequate water infrastructure inequities within Mumbai are usually regarded as
solely an engineering challenge and thus one to be addressed by the input of large
infrastructure investments. Such large interventions also often wipe-out the existing low
income communities, altering the integrated social fabric into an economically segregated
one. However, the complexity of water politics in Mumbai as well as the exploitation of this
deficiency by the tanker industry raises the question of what happens once something as
essential to human survival as water is privatized and commodified. Adding to the persistent
water scarcity, seasonal flooding during the monsoon period poses an additional water threat
for the city, which vacillates between draught and flood conditions. The deficiency in water
distribution and sanitation infrastructure in informal settlements, in addition to the vulnerability
of such areas in terms of seasonal flooding, raises serious health and environmental issues
for both informal settlements and the city as a whole. The selected site, namely the fishermen
village in Colaba, is taken as a test site for the application of the system which is designed as
a model that can be adopted by other communities with similar issues.

Through a systemic observation of the ways in which people in Mumbai interact with the
water cycle and appropriate infrastructure, the proposed infrastructure of water collection,
transportation and disposal aims to revolutionize current water usage and consequently
regenerate the urban form around it. Informal settlements become active zones of flood
mitigation for the city as their soaking zones plug into a city-wide, east-west drainage system,
and thus these problematic locales re-emerge into zones of opportunity. Micro-systems like
this can connect to each other to provide flood prevention for South Mumbai. In the process
of this infrastructural upgradation the internal microeconomic systems of such areas are
reinforced while at the same time creation of new jobs and income opportunities is triggered.

Koliwada water edge in

dry season

99
 +
>
>
+

ANALYSIS AND INTENTIONS

FORMAL DISTRIBUTION
The water supply issue is
currently perceived solely as
an engineering challenge.

Water supply issues

In informal settlements,
community taps provide for
water needs. Approximately
13% of these are
contaminated due to the
poor sanitation conditions.

INFORMAL DISTRIBUTION
The deficiency of the
water supply in informal
settlements is exploited by Walk
the paniwallas, an informal
Bike
network that distributes
potable water in the city
utilizing water tankers. Rickshaw

Truck

FLOODING
The urban landscape of
Mumbai radically changes
in the monsoon period. The
water issues are intensified
as the city’s water supply
infrastructure is paralyzed
during the flood season.

+
+ +

This proposal introduces a new layer of community based pani-
wallas that operates in between the existing formal and informal
distribution networks and allows for plug-in locales for both layers.
The layer is also responsive to the seasonal landscape changes
100
in Mumbai (due to Monsoon flooding) and introduces a bilateral
system to improve both the existing living conditions and the city’s
drainage system.
CITY SCALE STRATEGY

Mumbai Colaba

Insert microinfrastructure Connect microsystems into Thicken connection to

large scale drainage system enrich social fabric.

The proposal introduces a micro-scale
infrastructure for informal settlements in Mumbai
that addresses the city’s ongoing water supply
Informal settlements and drainage problems. The micro-system
acts as a catalyst and allows for development
opportunities in the sites for intervention. The
anticipated change is projected in multiple
scales and timeframes of economic and
physical growth.

Annual flooding

Current stormwater drainage

Drainage armature _ macro infrastructure

Proposed Space occupied for vending activities

city-wide intervention Informal settlements _ micro infrastructure
101
DESIGN STRATEGY FOR KOLIWADA Armatures

Flooding zones Proposed drainage pattern Settlement-wide water flow Spatial intervention
Existing Proposed

c Connect+ to city’s networks

+ + +

Formal and informal potable

d + +
Trigger local industry growth
Industry specific interventions
Grey water distribution water distribution plug-ins are become integral part of
<
created along the armature. the inserted infrastructure
<

+ Potable water distribution <

The upgraded public toilets and enhance the existing
+
are located nearby, thus social,vending and fishing
future connection to the city’s activities. Additionally,
c
<

sewage system is facilitated. physical connection along the

Vending activities waterfront to the city’s major
Community well +
tourist i site can allow for the
introduction of new economic
Municipal pipe plug in
activities.

Public Toilet
+
d <
<

School +
<
<
<
<

b a
d
+ + < +

c
+
<
<

Existing fabric <

<
+
<

<
<

<
<

Armature piping +

b
Temple a <
<

+ <
<

<
<

<
<

+
+ + + <
Insert micro-infrastructure Expand system to
<

Local authorities provide for create local network

<
<

the insertion of a community Piping along the armature

well. The upkeep of the space allows for grey-water
is ensured by the insertion of
religious spaces around it.
a distribution sites and a
secondary network of
b
community spaces.

102
 Ancillary
connections

b a c
Ground-level intervention

2
3 4

1. Community well
2. Water tank 1
3. Community pipe
4. Municipal pipe (future)

Underground intervention

The intervention proposes a system of public spaces that are varying
in size and programmatic intensity. The initial site strategy allows
for the allocation of program according to the proposed drainage
pattern and identifies the locations where the system can potentially
plug into the city’s existing formal drainage and water supply
infrastructure. Additionally, it allows for the plug in of the informal
paniwallas (water suppliers) in order to address the potable water
needs until a city scale system is developed.
103
 TRANSFORMATIVE URBAN SPACE Main artery

c
e
c
d b

d
b’
c
a

c
The final phase of the waterfront
development in Koliwada proposes
the insertion of a spine of spaces
along the water that attempts to
place the fishermen’s village into
the broader context of Colaba. In
this sense, a trajectory is traced
connecting the Gateway of India a’
(one of the most iconic landmarks
of the city) to the urban village
of Koliwada thus triggering a
possibility for the emergence of
new industries related to tourism.

d Section aa’

Community center Grey water

Fishermen’s dock public restrooms distribution Fish market
104
 Gateway of India

Koliwada

October
March

April

July

September

November
June

August
February

May

SITE-CITY CONNECTION
The radical change in the urban landscape of Mumbai during the
Monsoon period highlights the necessity for design that is responsive
to a shifting reality of both water excess and water deficiency. In this
context, the system is designed as a fluctuating urban space that
adopts to the hydro-reality of the city. The space is continuously
redefined according to the presence (and thereafter the absence)
of water. At the same time, the definition of a wet and dry zones
reverses and becomes ambiguous with the seasonal shift.

d Section bb’

Street becomes a system of two folded layers. The folds

Community center allow effective drainage and facilitate soaking. Periodically
New housing typologies public restroom Temple Soaking ground the folds make space to accommodate program.
105
SITE REDEFINITION IN CITY CONTEXT

c
d

Family relocation in local setting

FLUCTUATING LANDSCAPE
The design explores the possibilities for Slum dwellers
alternating space configurations in the wet
and dry seasons. While in the wet season
space is experienced as a series of small
pockets of activity (dry zones), in the dry Provision for
season, the space and activities are re- temporary housing
configured in a linear fashion. As the city
fluctuates from wet to dry, activity patterns NGOs
and spatial experiences also shift to further Public toilet upgrade
animate the space. [Slum sanitation organization]

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
The proposal operates as a connective layer
Local organizations
between all levels of community, regional,
and authorities Street widening Porosity
federal and international organization agents.
Realizing each component of the intervention
requires cooperation between two or more
agents. In the local level, the intervention
becomes an incentive for community
organization. This self organization allows for
a reform in community management, while Federal and Introduction of artery piping
at the same time encourages the inhabitants international aid
in developing local government modules. Existing drainage system

106
 e

Introduction of wet rooms introduction of new typologies

[housing and development corporation]

Connection of dwellings to the system

[Income]
Enhancement of fishing industry

[Paniwalla plug in]

+ Provision for public space
[Education]
Provision for community facilities

Iintroduction of soaking grounds

Water/slum drainage edge development

[Municipal connection plug in]

Connection to city network [Flood mititgation]
City-wide drainage upgrade
107
108
REFERENCES:

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Megalopolis. Water and Sanitation Program south Asia Mumbai India
• Urban Age,(2007) Urban India:Understanding the Maximum City. London School of Economics and Political Science.
• Marhur A., Gunha D. (2009) Soak, Mumbai in an Estuary New Delhi, India: Rupa and Co. Publishers
• Bunschoten R., Hoshino T., Binet H. (2001), Urban Flotsam: Stirring the City, Rotterdam, Netherlands: 010 Publishers
• Murthy, R., Rao Y. R., Inamdar R., (1998) Integrated Coastal Management of Mumbai metropolitan region, Goa, India National Water
Research Institute
• City Profile Series. (2005) Mumbai, India: Disaster Risk management Profile
• Kirkwood N., Cooper N., Maximum Mumbai, Minimum Mumbai: Repositioning the Cotton Textile Mill Lands Girangaon, Central
Mumbai, India, Boston Massachusetts: Harvard Graduate School, Department of Landscape Architecture.
• CRIT, (2007) Housing typologies in Mumbai: Mumbai, India: Collective Research Initiatives Trust.
• Risbum R,: The case of Mumai, Inida, New Delhi, India School of Planning and Architecture
• Ananthakrishnan, M. (1998). The Urban Social Pattern of Navi Mumbai, India. Blacksburg, Virginia : Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University
• Gov. of India Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty. (2009). National Policy on urban street vendors, New Delhi: India
• Date, V. (2001), Open spaces in Mumbai. In Mukherjee D. N. (Eds.), Understanding our civic issues. Mumbai, India : The Bombay
Community Public Trust.
• TISS and TUVA (1998). A Census Survey of Hawkers on BMC Lands- Draft Report. Mumbai, India. : Hawkers Association In Mumbai.
Retrieved in http://www.karmayog.com/hawkers/tisshawkersurvey1998.htm
• Saha. D. ( 2008) CONDITIONS OF `DECENT WORKING LIFE´ OF STREET VENDORS IN MUMBAI. Mumbai, India. : Tata Institute of
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