“Urban density,” Shirish Patel once explained, “is like a pressure cooker. Too much pressure without proper vents leads to an explosion.”
That simple comparison fundamentally changed our approach to social infrastructure spaces and amenities with dense neighborhoods and how the urban form of buildings defines the urban fabric.
The visionary urban planner’s 93rd birth anniversary on March 7 is the opportunity for us to express our gratitude for having had front-row seats for a decade to Shirish Patel’s innovative thinking and unwavering commitment to equitable urban growth .
Our journey with Shirish Patel began serendipitously through a competition called Reinventing Dharavi. Our proposal concerned a Dharavi Community Land Trust, aiming to look at the redevelopment of the informal settlement from the point of view of residents instead of as a “real estate opportunity”. What started as a professional collaboration quickly blossomed into a profound mentorship that changed the course of our careers.
At our first meeting in 2014 – Mr Patel, as we always referred to him – offered insights and an opportunity for collaborative thinking that gave birth to Plural, a think tank on urban research, policy advocacy and urban design.
We often reminisced about his monumental contributions to urban planning – how in 1965, alongside Charles Correa and Pravina Mehta, he proposed creating Navi Mumbai across the harbour from the older metropolis.
“We weren’t just building another city,” he once told us during our weekly Tuesday sessions. “We were reimagining Mumbai itself.” We watched his eyes light up and then saddened when speaking about his tenure as the chief planner for the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra from 1970 to 1974, where he transformed vision into reality.
His contributions went beyond civil engineering and urban planning. He shared with us his journey with other industry stalwarts in creating the Land Research Institute, which was focused on helping farmers with land engineering. Land engineering aims to actively coordinate the harmonious development of the human-land relationship, using engineering means to resolve challenges”.
Since it was founded in 1980, the institute has continued to encourage innovations such as a more efficient solar cooking pot.
Our shared passion for Community Land Trusts formed the backbone of our decade-long partnership. Community land trusts take land off the market and keep it in the trusteeship of the community living there. This ensures that the appreciation in the value of the land is enjoyed not by an individual developer but by the community as a whole.
“Land is not a bar of soap,” was a statement that defined Mr Patel’s view that public land was not a commodity. The Community Land Trust was a model that provided an ideal solution for the age-old question of affordable housing.
We spent countless hours debating how such trusts could democratise land ownership in Mumbai’s densest neighborhoods. This mission continues to inspire our work as a testament to Mr Patel’s unwavering belief that urban development should lift all communities, not just the privileged few.
Working alongside Mr Patel was like having a personal masterclass in urban planning. But it wasn’t always easy. He was very clear and candid in his communication to the point of being brutal. His clarity and forethought often came across in the form of impatience towards people who could not keep pace with his thoughts.
He was a nonagenarian abreast with the latest technology and always ready to learn more about emerging softwares. Many times, he would not wait for a drawing or a correction in formatting and immerse himself in creating it from scratch.
However, even with such a rich trail of experience behind him, he would always lend a completely unbiased listening to the young professionals’ ideas and engage in detailed deliberations without a hint of ridicule or cynicism. His words will always keep us going, “Being sceptical is healthy but cynicism will put an end to learning and eventually ring in the death of a professional,” he would say. “Persistence is the only medicine.”
When Covid-19 hit, our collaboration intensified. The book 6 Metros - Urban Planning and Implementation Compared that we co-authored during those uncertain months represents some of our most treasured memories with Mr Patel. In our bi-weekly morning meetings where he sat on his terrace in front of a traditional Warli wall painting, he thanked technology for us being able to stay connected and work jointly.
His clarity of thought transformed our writing sessions into profound learning experiences for us. Even in his nineties, his mind remained razor-sharp, connecting urban planning principles to pandemic realities with remarkable insight.
Although we addressed him formally. Mr Patel was more than just our mentor – he became family. We have had dinners together, celebrated professional milestones, and he shared wisdom during personal challenges.
We feel fortunate to be entrusted with the responsibility of understanding first-hand the contributions made by philanthropy and the honest impact it can create in the needed areas for health and education in the diverse corners of the country. His belief in our potential often exceeded our own, pushing us to achieve things we never thought possible.
Shirish B. Patel died on December 20, 2024, at the age of 92. The view he showed us will forever shape how we see our cities and our role in creating better urban futures.
Jasmine Saluja and Oormi Kapadia are founder partners of Plural, an urban design and research lab. They are architects and urban designers practicing in Mumbai and Goa.
