A look at the upcoming forest trail at Mumbai’s Malabar Hill

Rahul Kadri of IMK Architects on why an upcoming elevated walkway in Mumbai is a step towards restoring India’s degrading urban forests

Think of Mumbai and what comes to mind? Traffic, skyscrapers, local trains and perhaps the beaches. But its posh Malabar Hill locality will soon be home to an altogether more verdant experience: the Malabar Hill Forest Trail, an elevated walkway. An initiative by the Malabar Hill Citizens’ Forum and the Nepean Sea Road Citizens’ Forum, an approximately ₹10 crore project, is being designed by IMK Architects. “Over the past six decades, our firm has worked on projects across various typologies such as residential, commercial, healthcare, educational, self-redevelopment projects, urban planning, and townships. In terms of urban design, we have largely worked on projects that involve the improvisation of infrastructure like footpaths, parks, etc. The forest trail project is particularly different because it is a very simple intervention that connects citizens to 12 acres of forgotten forest land,” says Rahul Kadri, partner and principal architect at IMK Architects. At present, tenders are being invited and Kadri aims to complete the project in 9-12 months. Excerpts from an interview:

The Malabar Hill Forest is a roughly 12-acre green pocket of land in the midst of Mumbai’s densely populated urban landscape. It is home to a diverse mix of flora and fauna — from trees like gulmohar, wild almond, copperpod, mango, coconut, raintree, jamun, and jackfruit, to several species of birds such as the rose-ringed parakeet, hornbill, coppersmith and brown-headed barbets, magpie-robin, golden oriole, and peafowl, as well as snakes such as the Indian cobra.