IN BETWEEN LAND AND SEA: Adaptive Redevelopement of the Indigenous Fishing Villages at Mumbai’s Coastal Fringes

Abstract

Architecture is often understood through the spaces it produces, but its more significant role lies in framing the relationships between people, economies, and environments. When these relationships are disrupted by ecological change and urban expansion, the focus of architecture shifts from form to the conditions that allow communities to endure.

In the city of Mumbai, this shift is most visible along the coastline, where reclamation, large-scale infrastructure, and speculative real estate have steadily eroded ecological systems. Within this changing landscape, the fishing villages of the Koli community, the city's native inhabitants, continue to function as active settlements that support both livelihoods and cultural practices, even as they are reclassified as informal and placed under pressure from redevelopment.

This thesis proposes a framework that responds to the challenges faced by the Koli community through an integrated approach. Ecological restoration is established as the foundation, focusing on mangrove regeneration, wetland protection, and the preservation of tidal flows. Economic resilience is addressed through cooperative infrastructure, including fishing hubs, repair yards, and storage facilities, which strengthen small-scale fishing practices. Cultural presence is supported through plazas, markets, and promenades that keep Koli life embedded within the public realm of the city. Through this lens, the thesis reframes the coastline of the Khar-Danda Village as a shared edge where ecological systems, livelihoods, and cultural practices are sustained together.