2021_Abhilasha Ambhire — SEA Archives

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The claims of everyday street
Claims and its Spatialities
Abhilasha Ambhire, 2021

How do street side temples shape public space in Mumbai, and, in turn, are shaped by it? I situate this question in the backdrop of the seemingly uncontroversial notion that streets and their edges ought to become conduits of unobstructed vehicular and pedestrian flows. I explored this question through the case of Garage Road which forms one of the north-south connections for vehicular traffic between Juhu and Bandra in Mumbai’s western suburbs, and has seventeen small street temples along a stretch of approximately one kilometre. The physical setting for these temples is shaped by an informal settlement on one edge and apartments on the other edge with the presence of numerous garages, tea stalls, eateries and other small shops. These street temples manifest spatially into deities located under trees, shrines located between garages, public toilet and police chowky, and even around street markets and photo frames hung on compound walls. The central idea the thesis focuses on is the relationship about the negotiations that spatially manifest the public space and often are stimulated through the idea of street side religiosity that help to resolve several social, cultural, political and personal constructs. During my field study, I focused on understanding the processes that resulted in the emergence of the seventeen street temples, the actors involved in these processes, ways in which built form was incrementally constituted, and the implications on surrounding spaces and communities. I have chosen to represent the evolution of four temples in the form of graphical stories that illuminate the above analytical aspects. The negotiations underlying the making of public space assume diverse forms such as. Negotiating property appropriation for livelihood generation, negotiating claims over fuzzy boundaries, Negotiating subversion of unruly and unhygienic activities and Negotiations through appropriation and affordance. What do the aforesaid instances of negotiation allow Architects to think about public spaces?

Read also under ‘Claims and its Spatialities’:

Mumbai's street religiosities: spatial negotiations and making of public space

Claims and its Spatialities
Karan Dalal, 2018

Land tenure dynamics and built form

Claims and its Spatialities
Nidhi Mehta, 2021

Architecture of watching

Claims and its Spatialities
Riya Parekh, 2018

Architecture of mass living | retelling of tenurial relationships

Claims and its Spatialities
Ruchita Sarvaiya, 2021

Humanising infrastructure: a study of transit related infrastructure in Mumbai

Claims and its Spatialities
Shrushti Jain, 2018

Objects of the street: understanding articulation of street-space through furniture

Claims and its Spatialities
Vidhi Gandhi, 2018

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