Urbz Collective Llp

What Urbz Collective Llp does

Urbz Collective Llp is a participatory urbanism, design, and governance practice founded in 2008 and headquartered in Mumbai, India. Operating as a small Limited Liability Partnership with offices in Mumbai, Geneva, Bogota, Paris, and São Paulo (via the urbz Brasil subsidiary established in 2012), the firm specializes in community-led approaches to neighborhood development and institutional spaces. Its core offerings include participatory urban planning, ethnographic research, landscape design, and community engagement processes, delivered through workshops (Urban Typhoon, Handstorm), exhibitions (Koliwada Charcha), and long-form projects (such as the ABCD framework for Dharavi Koliwada). The methodology emphasizes incremental, user-driven development that preserves community social fabric, in contrast to top-down masterplanning.

The firm's revenue model is project-based professional services consulting, with work commissioned by municipalities (e.g., Nantes Métropole on the Hôtel-Dieu hospital complex), international NGOs (IFRC on the Geneva headquarters park), academic institutions (NYU Abu Dhabi), and community governance bodies (Dharavi Koli Jamat Trust). Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is determined through direct engagement with clients. Distribution is entirely direct, with no digital products or commercial channels; marketing relies on content publishing through urbz.net, Instagram, LinkedIn, and earned media in outlets such as The Hindu and Architectural Review. The co-founders, Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava, also lead the Institute of Urbanology as a research arm and have published 'The Slum Outside' (Strelka Press) and 'The Homegrown City' (Verso), reinforcing the firm's intellectual positioning.

The business is founder-led with a small team (1-10 employees) including named partners Samidha Patil (Mumbai), Jérémy Pillet (Geneva), and Fernando Botton (São Paulo). There is no evidence of external institutional investment or funding rounds, indicating organic growth funded by project revenues. Strategic relationships with re:arc institute (funding), Catalytic Communities, and Slum Dwellers International anchor its global practice network.

Name

Urbz Collective Llp

Legal name

Urbz Collective Llp

Website

https://urbz.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Urbz Collective Llp is a participatory urbanism consultancy founded in 2008 in Mumbai, delivering community-led design, research, and governance services to municipalities, NGOs, and neighborhoods across South Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Urban Planning Consulting

NAICS

Landscape Architectural Services (541320)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Engagement & Participatory Planning (BPAHAKAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Regional & Land Use Planning (BPAHAKAE)

Keywords

• Participatory urbanism
• Urban planning consulting
• Community design services
• Neighborhood development
• Urban governance advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Mumbai

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Project-based consulting and research: urbz generates revenue through urban planning and design consulting projects with municipalities, NGOs, and international organizations. Projects include participatory planning processes, landscape design, and community development frameworks.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Urbz Collective Llp provides participatory urbanism, design, research, and governance services for neighborhoods and institutions. It works directly with informal communities (such as Dharavi's Koli fishing community), municipalities, and international humanitarian organizations to deliver community-led urban planning, landscape design, redevelopment frameworks, workshops, exhibitions, and publications. The firm operates from offices in Mumbai, Geneva, Bogota, and Paris, with a subsidiary in São Paulo.

Product overview

Urbz Collective Llp is a participatory urbanism practice specializing in design and governance. They operate as a consultancy offering community-driven urban development services across Mumbai, Geneva, Bogota, and Paris. Their portfolio includes major initiatives like the ABCD of Koliwada (comprehensive development planning), Homegrown Street (community-driven design), and the IFRC Park project in Geneva. They produce publications such as the "Homegrown City" book, conduct workshops like Handstorm, and run exhibitions including Koliwada Charcha. Their work spans project planning, community engagement, landscape design, and urban research, all focused on supporting incremental, user-driven development in homegrown neighbourhoods.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Participatory Urbanism Consulting Core professional service through which urbz delivers community-led urban planning, design, research, and governance engagements for neighborhoods, municipalities, and institutions.
• ABCD (Action-Based Comprehensive Development) Planning Framework Replicable community-led planning framework combining participatory urbanism, community engagement, and incremental development, applied to projects such as Customs House Study Space, Garden of Festivities, Street Lighting, and Water Supply Infrastructure.
• Handstorm Workshops Hands-on community workshop format that brings together residents, artisans, builders, designers, architects, and theorists to design and build useful interventions for neighbourhoods, based on discussions with residents.
• Homegrown City Book Published book by urbz co-founders Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava drawing on learning from Mumbai, Tokyo, and other cities where they have been active for over 15 years, focused on homegrown neighbourhoods and participatory urbanism.
• IFRC Park Participatory Landscape Design Standalone participatory landscape design service delivered for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva, involving staff, neighbours, and partners to design a publicly accessible park.
• Hôtel-Dieu Futures Assignment 6-month participatory urbanism assignment for Nantes Métropole working with Bien Urbaines and Triple Sens to imagine futures for the 250,000 sqm Hôtel-Dieu hospital complex, via visits, walks, discussions, workshops, and fiction workshops with city residents.

Quantifiable outcome

• ABCD framework developed with Dharavi Koliwada community through 15 years of participatory engagement
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Dharavi Koli JamatcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partnership with the Koli fishing community's governance body for the ABCD (Action-Based Comprehensive Development Plan) project. The Dharavi Koli Jamat Trust has been entrusted with addressing socio-economic and spatial challenges, functioning as a grassroot level governance body promoting community-centric urban development.
• International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partnerurbz leads a participatory landscaping process for IFRC's Geneva headquarters through workshops, walks, talks and exhibitions. The goal is a publicly accessible park that reflects staff and neighborhood aspirations while honoring the historical presence of IFRC in Geneva.
• NYU Abu Dhabi (Engineers for Social Impact)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Handstorm workshops where students observe water systems and infrastructure in Dharavi Koliwada. Students participate in following water paths and understanding urban infrastructure challenges through community engagement.
• Nantes MétropolecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner6-month assignment working with Bien Urbaines and Triple Sens to imagine futures for the 250,000 sqm Hôtel-Dieu hospital complex in Nantes. The process involves visits, walks, discussions, workshops, and fiction workshops with city residents.
• Bien UrbainesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerA young collective based in Nantes focused on action research, collaborating with urbz on the Hôtel-Dieu participatory planning process.
• Triple SensminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpecialists in collective intelligence methods, partnering with urbz on the Hôtel-Dieu project to facilitate participatory workshops and community engagement.
• Sullivan CarpentryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAustralian carpenters who collaborated with Dharavi's building experts to construct the Customs House study space. An unexpected cross-cultural exchange bringing international artisans together with local expertise.
• Catalytic Communities | Comunidades CatalisadorascoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganizing partners for the World Urban Forum 13 exhibit 'Favela Hub - 100% Homegrown', collaborating with favela communities in Rio and Dharavi to showcase homegrown neighborhoods as sources of insight and inspiration.
• re:arc institutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSelected urbz to kickstart their dream project in Dharavi Koliwada, providing funding and support for participatory urbanism initiatives.
• Institute of UrbanologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded by urbz co-founders Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava, serving as the academic and research arm of their participatory urbanism methodology.
• Slum Dwellers International (SDI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational network of slum dwellers organizations, partnering with urbz at World Urban Forum to promote community-led urban development.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Sasaki Associates: Sasaki Associates is a major international design firm with deep urban planning, landscape architecture, and urban design capabilities. Sasaki overlaps with urbz in urban planning and landscape work but serves a broader client base with much larger teams.
• Snøhetta: Snøhetta is a global architecture and design practice that operates broadly in urban design, landscape, and architecture. It overlaps with urbz in landscape design and public realm projects but serves a much wider portfolio and has institutional scale.

Direct peers

• Gehl Architects: Gehl Architects (now Gehl) is an urban planning practice focused on public life and human-centered design. While larger and more established, Gehl shares urbz's emphasis on participatory methods and works with cities on inclusive urban design.
• Architecture Sans Frontières UK: Architecture Sans Frontières-UK is a charity that uses architecture and design to address humanitarian and development challenges. Like urbz, it partners with communities and NGOs to deliver participatory built-environment projects across multiple geographies.
• MASS Design Group: MASS Design Group is an architecture practice focused on social impact and community-centered design. Like urbz, MASS integrates participatory processes with built environment work, though MASS has a larger team and broader institutional client base.
• Elemental: Elemental is a Chilean architecture firm led by Alejandro Aravena, focused on social housing and community-led incremental development. Elemental shares urbz's commitment to user-driven design and serves similar informal-settlement communities in Latin America.
• Arquitectura Expandida: Arquitectura Expandida is a Colombian architecture practice that combines community engagement, education, and built work. Operating in a region where urbz also works (Bogota/Latin America), it pursues comparable participatory architecture and pedagogy-driven projects.
• Urban Think Tank: Urban Think Tank is an interdisciplinary design practice focused on architecture, urbanism, and social science research. It parallels urbz's blend of academic research, participatory design, and built projects in informal urban contexts.
• Kounkuey Design Initiative: Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) is a participatory design and planning nonprofit working with informal settlements in East Africa and globally. Both practices center community co-design in their methodology and pursue similar project types (community facilities, public space, housing).

Others

• IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development): IIED is a research and policy organization focused on sustainable development, including urban poverty and informal settlements. While not a direct design competitor, IIED overlaps with urbz's stakeholder ecosystem and thematic focus on community-led urban development.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/urbz
• Instagraminstagram.com/urbznet

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Urbz Collective Llp