”Our infrastructure systems, public well-being, and environmental health are deeply interconnected— yet they continue to be managed in isolation. It’s time to bridge these gaps.
On 25 June 2025, the BLR Design Centre, in collaboration with Purpose, hosted a workshop on Reimagining Urban Waterscapes of Bengaluru as part of our Building a Resilient Bengaluru campaign. The session marked the start of a city-wide conversation on transforming stormwater drains (rajakaluves) into resilient, inclusive public spaces that both manage water and enrich everyday life.
The workshop brought together residents of flood-prone areas, community organisers, and professionals in water management, ecology, and design. Their stories revealed the lived realities of these spaces, from vulnerabilities during flooding to tensions between institutional priorities and community needs.
Through interactive exercises curated by Purpose under its People First Cities initiative, participants stepped into the roles of residents, civic officials, and designers—mapping priorities, uncovering connections, and surfacing practical suggestions for the way forward. The dialogue underscored that resilience must be built collectively and empathetically.
Presentations from government agencies, civil society organisations, and neighbourhood groups highlighted ongoing efforts—from large-scale rejuvenation projects to grassroots initiatives—showing how diverse approaches can complement one another under a shared vision.
With the recent approval of the $426 million Karnataka Water Resilience Project, which aims to restore and reconnect Bengaluru’s stormwater network, this conversation is more urgent than ever.
This workshop is both a starting point and an invitation: to see our waterscapes as shared public assets rather than forgotten backwaters, and to work together towards resilient, inclusive, life-affirming urban waterways.
Research and Curation of the Workshop
The objective of this workshop was to begin reimagining these stormwater drains not as problems to be engineered away, but as living systems that can be understood, protected, and transformed into resilient public spaces. By bringing together residents, community organisers, civil society organisations, designers, and water professionals, the session created a platform to share experiences, map stakeholder priorities, and reflect on pathways for collaboration.
The Reimagining Bengaluru’s Waterscapes workshop was conceived by Mod Foundation as a research-led and participatory platform within its broader Building a Resilient Bengaluru campaign. Drawing upon years of interdisciplinary research undertaken through the K100 Citizens’ Waterway Project, the workshop was carefully curated to bridge technical knowledge, community experience, and design thinking in addressing Bengaluru’s growing water and flood resilience challenges.
The curatorial framework was informed by an understanding that Bengaluru’s stormwater drains (rajakaluves) are not merely engineering infrastructure, but socio-ecological systems shaped by history, governance, and everyday urban life. Extensive background research on the city’s hydrological evolution, institutional frameworks, and community-led interventions informed the workshop’s five-part structure, progressing from contextual framing and empathy-building exercises to case study presentations, collaborative dialogue, and collective reflection. This sequence enabled participants to move from understanding systemic challenges to identifying actionable pathways for change.
Developed in collaboration with Purpose, the workshop employed participatory design methodologies that encouraged residents, practitioners, civic agencies, and civil society organisations to collaboratively examine competing priorities and co-create shared solutions. Rather than producing a fixed blueprint, the workshop sought to establish an ongoing process of dialogue and knowledge exchange.
The anticipated outcomes extended beyond the event itself, including the development of community-informed recommendations, participatory governance frameworks, stronger institutional partnerships, and a replicable model for reimagining urban waterways as resilient, inclusive, and publicly accessible ecological infrastructure across Bengaluru.
See a detailed report of the workshop and our larger Building a Resilient Bengaluru project below.
