Here's how the newly-elected corporators can help build the perfect Mumbai

2 Focus on pedestrians: We need better gradients for wheelchairs. We could have systems where a physically challenged person can push a button at a signal to cross the road — things that are internationally accepted for universal accessibility.

3 Accessibility: We need better-designed public toilets and we need spaces that are more gender-friendly: more women’s toilets, crèches, and facilities for women. We also need much more greening, continuous tree canopies, shaded streets, and properly landscaped public spaces that actually cool the area and invite people. 

4 Amphitheatres for the public: Ballard Estate has amazing open spaces. There, the internal courtyards should be landscaped, better designed, and opened to the public as amphitheatres, service courts, and hawker plazas — like in Singapore, converted into art plazas with better landscaping.

The Perfect SGNP 
‘Add drinking water taps’
Debi Goenka /// environmentalist

1 Don’t divert funds from conservation: There’s a greater emphasis on toy train and boating projects. Instead, funds should be utilised to making the forest trash-free and removing exotic species. They need to provide clean drinking water and proper signage on nature trails so that visitors can learn about nature.

2 Stop encroachment: Encroachment has been bad in SGNP for years. It is not just the forest people who are present there. For example, there is a library being built inside the core area of the National Park, with official sanctions from the forest department — which is completely illegal. There needs to be a complete stop on such projects.

Debi Goenka believes that there should be more of a focus on adding signage and water taps for visitors than toy trains and libraries. PIC/SATEJ SHINDE

3 Fix management issues: There are invasive exotic plant species found inside the park which need to be removed. We need to stop people who go and wash their clothes inside natural streams and ponds. Every year there are fires that need to be managed better. Fire lines and budgets have to be cleared before February-April, which is fire season.

4 Fix methods of tree plantation: Right now, the saplings being planted are six inches tall. Tree plantation is like having a baby. Afterwards, you nurture it, protect it, feed it. The solution is simple: plant trees that are at least six feet tall so they can survive.

The Perfect Juhu
‘Construct beautiful structures instead of silly yoga statues’
Nitin Killawala /// Director of G7 Architects

1 Round-the-clock waste collection: All 27 wards must have “Decentralised Garbage Treatment Plants” and round-the-clock collection system. You have to transport the garbage 20 kilometres away and the dumping ground is unliveable now. All across the world in civilised cities, you get excellent incinerators which are even tourist spots! All 27 wards must have at least two architects nominated in a committee to oversee infrastructure-related works.

SV road is the ideal network of roads which can help clear congestion around the Andheri-Juhu area. PIC/SATEJ SHINDE

2 Greener spaces: Urgent revival of dense green covers, not just ornamental, on all concretised roads. Ancient trees have been uprooted for urban planning. So now in arterial roads in Juhu, there should be systemic plantations with professional help. 

3 Let the professionals do it: BMC must formulate “Mumbai Design Commission” with no political representatives, by having architects, graphic designers, engineers, and the like, on board. In Delhi, there is a Delhi Art Commission that has control over signages and is a professionally appointed committee by the corporation. So instead of an art commission, a design commission should be there so that we don’t see silly yoga statutes in the middle. 

4 Architecture that’s cultural: I would like to restore such landmarks and public art, which give identity to major roads and character to neighbourhoods. Have some lovely little benches for people to sit on and meet. All public projects must be executed through open architectural competitions. It should have a public audit. Various architectural associations, colleges, groups would need to be seriously involved in order to have their 
full cooperation.

5 Clean the roads: We have broken bus stops and broken light posts. If you don’t have money to redo, don’t let such things accumulate on the streets.

The Perfect Concert Space
‘Build proper washrooms with drainage connections’
Nikhil Udupa /// Founder and director of 4/4 Experiences

1 Proper drainage connections: The problem with Mahalaxmi racecourse is that it does not have great access to washroom facilities. So it would be ideal to have concerts in spaces that have proper washrooms built with the necessary drainage connections. That would usually require funding from the firms who own the particular space and coordination with the BMC. Jio Garden in BKC is specifically made for events so it has a washroom system in place instead of portable loos.

According to Nikhil Udupa, the most ideal concert space in Mumbai so far is Loud Park in Kharghar. PIC/INDIA.ROLLINGLOUD.COM

2 Wider roads for freight and people: As far as Mumbai goes, an ideal concert place is the Loud Park in Kharghar where Rolling Loud happened last year. There were wider roads for cabs, autos and great connectivity to public transports like Metro and local trains. I would like to see dedicated people- and freight-moving corridors in and out of the venue which link up to more public transport in the area. 

3 Built-in power supplies: I would also like to see dedicated power supplies which we don’t have anywhere in the city. Pertaining to Mahalaxmi racecourse, there is nothing. It is just open space. Everything is being built from scratch, including power supply lines and technical assistance that one needs during concerts. 

4 Just like an airport: You need holding areas for cabs, buses and autos as well. Just the way you have in airports. When you have these holding spaces, it saves people a lot of time and effort. Moreover, it somewhat reduces the traffic and congestion that comes with holding a concert in the city. Mahalaxmi has a high-density road which connects the South Mumbai with the north of the city. Plus it is very narrow.

The Perfect Worli Promenade
‘Green the greys’
Pranav Naik /// principal architect at Studio Pomegranate

1 Increase accessibility: Getting to the actual promenade isn’t the easiest at the moment. So there needs to be a better way to access it. If the footpaths along Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Road were widened, the underpasses could begin there, allowing people to pass under both roads without ever having to cross dangerous traffic. That would remove the barrier of crossing the road.

Pranav Naik suggests that the underpasses between the Coastal roads are the perfect place to start with greening efforts. In his drawing, he shows exactly where we could plant gardens. Illustration/Pranav Naik

2 Turn underpasses into public spaces: The underpasses should be designed as real public spaces — with light, ventilation, planting, and activity. They could host art displays, small events, or even Worli’s weekly farmers’ market, turning dead transit spaces into lively urban rooms.

3 Green all the way: There are the gardens that will come up in the 111 acres between the old road and the new road. These gardens can become a buffer space. If you bring in softscape and green the grey areas, the experience will feel much better. Imagine if the inside space is made green and usable first, then you can reduce the outside space slightly and make that green too. Even 20–25 per cent could be landscaped with resilient plants that can handle salt water.

The Perfect Bandra
‘Bring back shaded lanes and identity heritage’
Alan Abraham /// architect

1 Make Bandra humane: I don’t mean recreating the past. I mean keeping the qualities that once made Bandra humane. A neighbourhood where the city remembers its responsibility to people. Open street markets return, the streets feel intimate, safe, and walkable at all hours. That’s my ideal Bandra — a neighbourhood designed for people, not just real‑estate math.

2 Your friendly neighbourhood: I would let Bandra be the comforting neighbourhood it used to be, rather than a network of highways and tall buildings. You want calmer, traffic‑less streets, interconnected gardens, and cycling loops — a simple, local way of moving through a network of parks and public spaces.

3 Have accessible waterfronts: The waterfront should be a true civic living room — a continuous, accessible promenade linking Carter Road, Bandstand, and Bandra Reclamation, which is still inexplicably locked up.

4 More than just the cafés: Bandra is a cultural district, and its heritage lanes should be restored, not sanitised. Old bungalows can become studios, cafés, and public courtyards.

5 Develop more footpaths:  Shaded, level footpaths lined with native trees, with small places to pause and linger, and traffic that slows down by design.

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