Dharavi an Urban Ecology of Recycling, Living and Working

Agarwal, Vitul; Borsi, Katharina; Collett, Tim

Abstract

This paper provides an in-depth typo-morphological analysis of Dharavi’s 13th Compound to expose the spatial specificity through which this socio-spatial ecology of living, working, and recycling is supported. It maps the process of recycling and patterns of inhabitation graphically, and analyses how the permeability of the urban tissue and the flexible definable thresholds between the inside and the outside engender and support the coexistence of living and production. The research has identified several typological and morphological concepts, such as a porous ground level, facilitating exchange and interaction; active roofs, which create social and workspace; a sectional stratification that allows both inhabitation but also material and production flows and progressive construction using recycled and scrap materials. The paper argues that these spatial concepts perform as a productive multi-scalar ecology of living and working from which lessons can be learned. These lessons can be adapted in the design to propose reuse, recycling, and live work as sustainable way forward in construction and architecture.

Citation

Agarwal, V., Borsi, K., & Collett, T. (2025). Dharavi an Urban Ecology of Recycling, Living and Working. Athens Journal of Architecture, 11, 1-38. https://doi.org/10.30958/aja.X-Y-Z

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 19, 2025
• Publication Date: 2025
• Deposit Date: May 20, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 18, 2025
• Journal: Athens Journal of Architecture
• Electronic ISSN: 2407-9472
• Publisher: Athens Institute for Education and Research
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Pages: 1-38
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.30958/aja.X-Y-Z
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/49268608
• Publisher URL: https://www.athensjournals.gr/architecture/2023-5537-AJA-ARC-Agarwal-02.pdf
• Related Public URLs: https://www.athensjournals.gr/ajhis