To design for the historic Koli fishing population in Worli, and for emerging mixed-income communities, we must take Mumbai’s larger ecological processes into account.

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Worli Koliwada is located at the edge of Mahim Bay, an estuary suffering from increasing pollution at the mouth of the Mithi River that spreads several kilometers into the Arabian Sea. The fish and crustacean populations that the local Koli fishing community depends on for income—Pomfret, Surmai, Prawn, Crab, Bombay Duck—are in decline from this pollution, and the entire coast is vulnerable to a 3-meter rise in sea levels over the next 100 years.

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Mangrove Metropolis proposes an ecological restoration strategy for Mahim Bay, with design elements that can be reshaped and recombined for other parts of the Mumbai coast.

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The Worli Koliwada peninsula connects to this larger strategy, combining suggestions from Open Mumbai with a new vision that specifically addresses coastal protection, fish habitats, resilient housing, and long-term socio-economic health.