Unprepared: lessons from the informal economy

date: 2011
location: Mumbai

local partner: Studio-X Mumbai
lead designer: Bas Princen
presentation: 2011

Though their reality is harsh, slums demonstrate people’s capacity to improvise, self-organize and create value regardless of circumstance and institutional wellbeing. As people self-coordinate around common goals, they show that improvisation, as a means of coping, can have structural implications that can be surprisingly sophisticated and robust.

Led by Bas Princen and in partnership with Studio-X Mumbai, the Droog Lab will seek to engage with the informal economy to see what lessons might be learned for the future of design.

Project team
Renny Ramakers, director (Droog)
Rajeev Thakker, partner (Studio-X Mumbai)
media partner: Radhika Desai (DOMUS)
Bas Princen, leading designer
Quaid Doongerwala and Shilpa Ranade (DCOOP Architects), designers
Ishan Khosla, designer
Eric Klarenbeek, designer
Jorge Manes, designer
Ranjana Dani, consultant (MIT Institute of Design, Pune, India)
Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava (URBZ), consultants
Rohan Shivkumar (architect, researcher)
Lilet Breddels, consultant (Archis/Volume)
Agata Jaworska, editor (Droog)
Andrew Brash, intern (Droog)
Studio-X: Adrienne Thadani, Nicola Antaki

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