20/08/2026
This week for SKLT Dialogues, we are excited to welcome Samidha Patil and Kareena Kochery, to lead our ninth session: “Learning to Design from Dharavi''.
About the Speaker:
Kareena Kochery is a Landscape planner, researcher and co-director of the urbz collective Mumbai. She specialises in Cultural geography, with a focus on animal geography. As a landscape planner, she is involved in advocacy for the ecological planning of river basins and is committed to working on community-led environmental planning projects.
She has worked closely with local communities, state and municipal officials and global organisations to develop interventions and frameworks sensitive to the interrelationality of urban culture, landscapes, built environments, ecology and economy. The immersive, participatory nature of her work has helped her develop skills and tools to bridge gaps between design-led and community-led planning, which remains an important goal for her.
Samidha Patil is an architect, urbanist and co-director of the urbz Collective Mumbai. She specialises in urban housing, equity and social justice. She brings in elements of participation in architectural projects to develop community-centric designs. For the past 10 years, she has worked with several communities, municipalities in India and international organisations globally.
Her work is at the intersection of urban planning, environment and governance. She has worked closely with state and municipal officials of multiple smart cities in India to develop urban-scale interventions and development frameworks related to urban mobility, housing, environment, ecology and economy. As an urban researcher, she works on several research projects, ranging from adequate housing for the urban poor to climate change to mobility.
Date: August 20, 2026
Location: IT Lab, SKLT College of Architecture
Time: 12:45 pm
