Background

Jurgen Habermas describes Communicative Action, as an important type of social action, in which the actors in society seek to reach common understanding and take coordinated actions by reasoned argument, consensus and cooperation rather than strategic action, strictly in pursuit of their own goals (Habermas, 1984, p.86). He emphasizes public participation, sharing of information with the public and reaching consensus through public dialogue as integral parts of this type of social action. The process of Communicative Action can give rise to various types of methods, which can be crucial in informing the nature of planning interventions.

The studio intends to explore the concept of Communicative Action and what it would mean in the context of creating local area plans in consultation with local communities located in the city of Mumbai. Since different kinds of actors have varied nature of stake in the making of our urban environment, the studio would first identify the kinds of actors / agencies, both, internal and external, which have a stake in the study area, record and understand their aspirations, issues and concerns.

Local Area Plan, Mumbai

The draft development plan of Mumbai, which was scrapped due to a huge public outcry on errors and inaccuracies, had for the first time proposed the idea of Local Area Plan (LAP). This was proposed in order to enable ease of implementation of the development plan. This second tier of planning process was envisaged as an intermediate level of planning which would address place-specific issues of the city. The type of areas that were identified under this initiative were:

1. Redevelopment plans for large slum or resettlement areas e.g. Shivaji Nagar, Malwani, Golibar, Asalfa Village in L Ward, etc.
2. Redevelopment plans for urban renewal, e.g. Null Bazaar, Chira Bazaar.
3. Plans for areas undergoing Land Use changes e.g. from industries to office or residential use e.g. Parel Mill Land area in G/S Ward, industries in Saki Naka K/e Ward &Mulund-Bhandup in S & T Ward.
4. Plans for Transit Oriented Development around existing and proposed transit stations / hubs e.g. Dadar-Parel area in G/s & G/N Ward, D. N. Nagar in K/W Ward, and Ghatkopar in N Ward.
5. Urban design guidelines in certain sectors, including heritage precincts and buildings.
6. Designs and development of distinctive public spaces and streetscapes, etc.

After this DP was scrapped, the revised draft development plan was again released for suggestions and objections on the 27th May 2016. This revised draft DP had completely removed LAP citing reasons such as lack of adequate institutional infrastructure and that it would result into several DCRs within the city.
The masters studio acknowledges the importance of LAP and intends to explore what it would mean in different contexts. The studio attempted at exploring a method through which existing stakeholders can be made a part of the LAP at every stage of the project, starting from documentation to actual implementation. Moving out of a profit driven and an exclusive model of development was also one of the intent of the LAP studio.