Cotton Green is located in the island city of Mumbai, and is mainly an industrial and commercial
area east of Parel, in central Mumbai, 8 km north of Colaba and located along the harbour line.
The selected site extent covers an area around 1.33 sq.km. with a boundary from Lalbaug
Flyover in the West to the Mumbai Port Trust Godown near the Easter Freeway.
On the East of the Cotton Green station, godowns and old factories are located, owned by
MBPT. It has mills and abandoned structures made for mill workers which are redundant as of
now. The width of roads in the east is greater and under-utilized. East of the station only sees a
lot of heavy vehicles and taxis, making the area problematic for public use.
On the West maximum land is privately owned with few plots assigned for social amenities and
open spaces. There is a mixture of G+5 structures and some High rise buildings along with
defunct mill lands but is also more densely populated than the East. The road network on the
West divides land into larger parcels. The access streets do not fully connect to form a proper
network.
Analysis shows that Western area overlooks limited open spaces and the areas on the East
have more wide roads and empty green cover. Both the east and the west sides do not have
pedestrian streets. The major portion of the West is serviced by the BEST buses, but due to lack
of activity and the presence of the Eastern Freeway there aren’t any bus loops in the East.
Keeping in mind the change of urban fabric in the east the focus is on activation catering to
future public use. There is a large amount of defunct land. The nodal points incur high traffic.
Dead spaces are created due to landlocked parcels of residential complexes. The larger
concept is to Activate the east and Integrate the west. Placemaking will be the primary objective
with pedestrian and user centric development at the forefront and reiterating the existing road
network.
The aim is to create walkable neighbourhoods towards the East, to ensure transport
connections and open spaces to all plots of land, to utilise currently unused plots of land, to
provide the necessary facilities to make a neighbourhood self sustained. The attempt upgraded
the grid to create a more holistic development with reduced road percentage and with micro
and macro level interventions explained.
The overall design concluded with preserving the identity of Cotton exchange building and
warehouses, adding spatial value, connecting the disconnected parcels throughout the site and
providing functions that were missing around the site.