session 9

Playing in the City: A discussion about the “Cult of Play"

by Martina Maria Spies and  Pritika Akhil Kumar

on Friday, March 28, 2025, at 6:00 PM IST

venue:
School of Environment & Architecture
CKP Colony, Eskar Road, Borivali West, Mumbai 400 091

Despite its positive impact on the cognitive, emotional and physical development of children, the need for free, safe and hygienic play has often been neglected in the development of India’s megacities. This is especially true in the case of Mumbai, which under the pressure of increasing urbanisation, tremendous socio-spatial inequalities, and densification, has always provided its youngest citizens with limited and ever-diminishing opportunities for play. Against this backdrop, the book, “Cult of Play: The Culture and Development of Children’s Play in Mumbai & Beyond,” examines the status quo concerning play in Mumbai and the different cultures of play produced by its complex urban fabric. By presenting diverse perspectives from a range of notable voices from varied backgrounds, it builds the case for the necessity of play spaces for children, especially in Mumbai’s informal settlements. 

Building on a research project by Anukruti, Cult of Play presents ideas for a spatial system — a design tool — designed through on-site explorations in collaboration with children living in informal settlements in three diverse neighbourhoods of Mumbai. This tool creates  opportunities for play within the community itself, on the doorsteps of the houses, surrounded by the community and flowing into the interiors of their homes, without any restrictions of time. During this session, the editors of Cult of Play will discuss the importance of play in Mumbai’s urban environment and how children themselves create opportunities for play using the unlikely tools available to them. 

about

Martina Spies is an architect, designer and activist. After gaining experience in international offices such as Shigeru Ban in Japan, COSTFORD, Vastu Shilpa Consultants and HCP in India, Martina, along with her father founded the organisation, Anukruti, in 2013. Through her work at Anukruti, she designs and builds playgrounds for children in Mumbai. So far, several permanent and temporary play spaces have been built within different informal settlements in the megacity and beyond. Martina has been the head of several research projects like Ground Up – A Dwellers’ Focused Design Tool for Upgrading Living Space in Dharavi, Mumbai within one of the densest and most complex informal settlements in the world. Martina has been a successful curator of two international exhibitions titled, Dharavi: Places and Identities and Let’s Play! Children as Creators of Informal Playspaces. She founded the studio, RaumGlück, based in Austria, and is building more joyful spaces for children within India with great joy and enthusiasm. 
 
Pritika Akhil Kumar is a practicing architect, researcher, designer, and entrepreneur based in Chennai, India. She primarily explores the themes of democracy and identity in public space through participatory interventions. A graduate from the University of Sheffield (2017), Pritika has worked with several notable Indian and international organisations on varied topics related to the urban environment. In 2020, she founded the design and research collaborative, Co:Lab, through which she works on varied projects spanning varied fields of design including architecture, urbanism, interior design, graphic design and product design. She has developed several research projects such as Urban Spaces of (Re)Use and A New “Public” for and with Communities — Collaborative Urban Interventions in Marginalised Neighbourhoods and has also presented her work at several notable international conferences. 



This lecture series is supported by the Urban Centre Mumbai. It is open to everyone across the world.