One Green Mile
by StudioPOD
Lower Parel, Mumbai, India
Project details
Year
2024
Project year
2023
Project website
Location
Team credits
Urbanists
- StudioPOD -
Mansi Sahu,
Mahesh Waghdhare,
Sarfaraz Momin,
Rahul Dalal.
Contributing partners
MVRDV,
AMS consultants,
Enviroscape India,
ARKK Consulting,
Lighting Concepts.
commissioned by
Nucleus Office Parks – A Blackstone Company
One Green Mile (OGM) transforms a 1.8-km stretch in Lower Parel, Mumbai, into a ‘Complete Street’, prioritizing community wellbeing over car dominance. Emerging from a two-year design process with in-depth urban analysis and stakeholder dialogues, the master plan reduces road widths and implements traffic-calming measures, reallocating space for pedestrians and connecting underutilized areas beneath flyovers.
These transformed spaces now feature community parks, including a reading room (Vachanalaya) and a toddler-friendly play cave, benefiting over 100 people, including students and families, each day. Micro-destinations such as plazas and interactive pause points foster community interactions, creating a safe, socially engaging streetscape. OGM enriches the daily experience of over 150,000 commuters, offering a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly environment that reflects Lower Parel’s cultural tapestry.
OGM serves as a model for future projects, demonstrating how reimagining urban spaces can create sustainable, liveable communities.
StudioPOD is a dynamic urban design and planning firm based in Mumbai, India, with a growing presence in Texas, USA. Known for its friendly, collaborative approach, the studio works closely with both private and public sector clients, including local municipalities, development authorities and government agencies. StudioPOD’s projects range from regional strategic plans and transportation solutions to vibrant landscapes and community spaces. Committed to creating sustainable, engaging environments that improve lives, the firm believes in the transformative power of design to build stronger communities and shape a brighter, more optimistic future.
The prize money will fund the design, construction and promotion of the ‘Parklets for Goa’ initiative in India. In Goa’s rapidly evolving landscape, known for its rich culture and tourism, the growing dominance of vehicles has overshadowed pedestrian-friendly spaces. Parklets for Goa will address this by transforming underutilized urban areas into vibrant, engaging spaces. Inspired by the success of ‘One Green Mile’, the project will use tactical public architecture to create temporary parklets that foster social interactions and celebrate local cultural expressions, enhancing Goa’s streetscape.
- Information for the project text was provided by StudioPOD -
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Advisory Committee Statement
‘One Green Mile’ receives the award for Social Engagement for the exemplary way it reclaims urban space for walking in Mumbai, historically challenging for pedestrians. It is praised for benefiting diverse public space users through the addition of playgrounds and gathering places under elevated motorways, providing shelter from the sun and rain. The project entailed extensive stakeholder dialogues and urban fabric analysis, resulting in a master plan developed in collaboration with MVRDV. This initiative significantly improves urban space accessibility for underprivileged people by ensuring safe pedestrian paths.