Karam Bele, a retired employee of Bank of India travels regularly on the Konkan line between Mumbai and Roha to see his son who works there

Last year, when Rahul Srivastava and Matias Echanove, co-founders of urbz, a Mumbai-based collective of urban researchers and architects, visited Ukshi village in Ratnagiri with a five-member team, they came across a home with an unusual layout. A living room led to a long corridor with three rooms on either side, occupied by six brothers and their families. “Living in a Mumbai chawl inspired them to rebuild the house on the same pattern,” says Srivastava.