Work at HUL happens along the following verticals
Research
Engagement
Pedagogy
Collaborations
Outreach
Communication
Administration
*Please hover over the large rectangular images under the digits to see the titles of each section.
*The encircled numbers at the base of each theme are the images related to that theme.
1
Research
HUL’s chief interest lies in understanding how the city functions, from the perspective of the people living and working in its neighbourhoods. It is they who best know the city’s infrastructure, and the gradual as well as drastic transformations that the city undergoes. Through our work we are hopeful of pushing towards an urban consciousness that will see greater inclusion and fair sharing of resources as a norm.
Our strength lies in being able to connect with the national and regional while remaining rooted in the local. The main stages of our research are:
- A spatial understanding of a selected site through mapping
- Literature review on the selected theme / issue
- Multiple visits to the research site to become familiar and to build trust.
- Sample surveys, where necessary.
- Determining the most useful line(s) of enquiry
- Focus group discussion, where relevant
- In depth interviews
- Sharing resources and material with the respondents
- Transcribing recordings
- Deciding on a powerful way(s) of presenting the findings
- Presenting to the HUL team
- Developing the final output
Although each of our projects are set within specific conceptual frameworks that are discussed in detail with those involved, the processes and outputs for each vary according to the skill, experience, perspectives and comfort levels of those working on it.
Details of HUL’s research on different themes and issues may be found in the “What we Do” section of the website.
Interview with Lal Bahadur (Panipuri seller)
Tirthankar Chakraborty
Here we are presenting a part of the interview. This part of the interview shows the trust of the pani pur seller on his owner.
Interviewer- When are you planning to go back home?
LB – I am planning to go back in November. Actually, it is the wedding of one of my cousins. So I will be going for a week. You see my sett does not allow me to go back home much. With the others, it is not so. They can go for a month. But I cannot since he heavily relies on me for making all the fares. So he booked the ticket for the 20th and he also the got the return ticket on the 26th. So I have less than a week to be there.
Interviewer- He got the return ticket for you also?
LB – Yeah. He got it. See he pays for all the journeys. And if I am paying then he repays me back later when I come back from home. That way, he is very nice. I never have to pay for my trips to home.
Interviewer- Do you send money back home? How?
LB – Yes, every month I sent money. I put it in the account.
Interviewer- Do you put it or someone else?
LB – No, sett goes to the bank and puts it for me.
Interviewer- Don’t you think you should learn to do it yourself? What if someone steals from you?
LB – Yes, that is true. But my sett is a good man. He has always been honest with me. He pays me right on the first day of the month. He never delays. Just like I never steal from him.
Young Pathways
Neha Vaddadi
Survey Form for Sanitation Truck Drivers
Harsha Devulapalli
2
Engagement
HUL seldom has a fixed agenda or plan for engagement. We proactively seek and create occasions that facilitate a range of activities through which we identify issues to study, communicate what we have learnt and act on the basis of our fresh knowledge
We are one of the many elements of the city, an organisation among many others, a team of people that lives and works in the city like many others do. It is by knowing about these other lives that we can broaden and deepen our perspective on the challenges of the urban.
HUL’s engagement programme is mainly of three kinds.
- Short term: where we meet and interact with a set of people to share some idea, to know about them and to share our work with them. We also invite people to attend talks by visiting resource persons and other guests. Some of our regular short term engagement programme are the annual event Do Din, Belly of the Beast talks, Chai ho jaai and other meetings.
- Medium term: where the interaction is guided over a few weeks and has a specific goal or objective. This has so far only been attempted with women in the informal economy and with individual elderly women to document the story of their lives.
- Longer term: the most successful long term engagement HUL has had is with the adolescent boys of First Lancer. Former HUL team member Namith Nayak has formed 3 remarkable football teams with them, under 9, under 13 and under 16
100 Years of Production and Design
Exhibition at Lamakaan
Chai Ho Jaaye
Jane Jacob Walk
Football
3
Pedagogy
Most of HUL’s work is pedagogic in nature. There is in house capacity building and peer learning among team members. Trainings and informative talks are also organised for external participants.
Here is a list of a few of specific pedagogic programme
For the HUL team and interns
Lectures and workshops on research methodologies and practical demonstration and classes on mapping (QGIS)
For registered research scholars
Mentoring of national and international research scholars
Assistance with field work, framing enquiry and dissertation writing
Workshops and Conferences
HUL conducts workshops for external participants such as workshop on Research Methodology at CESS, Mapping workshop by Arun Ganesh
For neighbourhood adolescents and youth and schools
Mapping, language, communication and computer skills (Mapping with kids of First Lancer, Rasoolpura Community Engagement, Government Girls High School, Ahmednagar)
For other organisations and institutions
Periodic theme based urban course modules on request for Vidyaranya, TISS Mumbai, Davidson College, USA
Formal teaching
HUL Director Dr. Anant Maringanti frequently teaches semester long courses at NALSAR, TISS, AUD and HCU among other educational institutions
Capacity Building Programme for Safa Baitul Mal
Safa Baitul Mal Welfare and Charitable Trust (SBM) is a charitable, social and educational institution that attempts to reach the disadvantaged and marginalised sections of society, understand their circumstances and assist them according to their needs, taking special care to keep their dignity intact. SBM also nudges individuals and communities to become self-reliant in a spirit of love and harmony.
Underlying SBM’s request for a Capacity Building Programme was the concern that years of support do not seem to have impacted the quality of life of host communities.
The programme started with an Orientation of two days (16 17 Jan 2020), followed by 8 sessions of 2 days per week between 5th February and 25th March.
The objective of this Engagement cum Pedagogic programme is to help the SBM team develop
* Perspectives in urban development
* Relevant understanding of economic, social and legal systems
* Gender sensitivity
* Better awareness of the challenges that their host communities encounter
* Effective ways of dealing with the administration
* Simple and convincing means of communicating with community members
* Opportunities for people to interact with each other and with SBM staff so that bringing about positive change becomes a shared responsibility
* Low cost resource materials for the organisation and community members to gain fresh learning experiences
* Systematic framework for documenting the work they do
* A framework for evaluating the impact of development and other works undertaken by them.
Each session comprises the following segments:
Lectures and QA, Guest Talk, Group Discussion, Written Assignment, Mapping and Sharing
The main themes / areas of work are
- Neighbourhood (mapping)
- Work and Wages
- Housing
- Water
- Waste
- Technology
- State and Local Governance
- Nutrition and Health
- Women as Agents of Change
- Data
- Conflict Resolution
- Geriatric Care
- Community Engagement
The expected outputs from the workshops are: Reports, Exhibits, Posters, Maps, Data Sets, Case Studies, Sketches and Photographs.
TISS Winter Institute, 2019
The HUL-TISS Winter Institute is an annual collaborative event between Hyderabad Urban Lab Foundation and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai as part of the Tacit Urban Research Network (TURN) programme. Students of First Semester Urban Policy and Governance come to Hyderabad for a 12 day intensive workshop that comprises, talks, discussions, team work, field visits and much else. TISS Faculty members and the HUL team guide the students. This year, the students from TISS explore incrementally as a strategy for negotiating life, livelihoods and space in cities. The workshop is being held at the American Corner, St. Francis College on weekdays and at HUL on weekends.
Urban 101 Workshop at St. Francis College
Visit to Nanakramguda
Rasoolpura Community Engagement
TISS Winter Institute
Ethics of Enquiry on the Ground (Workshop)
Dunu Roy
Visualisation Workshop
Neha Vaddadi
Government Girls High School, Ahmednagar
CESS Workshop
Mapping with Kids of First Lancer
Davidson College
4
Collaborations
It is part of HUL’s mandate to create common resource pools of ideas and an effective way of doing it is through collaborations with individuals and organisations.
A few research collaborations have resulted in studies and reports (ADAPT, Shakti Foundation, Minority Commission).
HUL offers internships to post graduate scholars of associate organisations like AUD, IIHS and TISS
We also co host and co organise conferences and seminars with universities and other research organsiations (University of Washington, Seattle, Ambedkar University Delhi, Hyderabad Central University Rural urban entanglements)
At Do Din there are several planned and organic collaborations with visiting resource persons, other organisations and artists and performers.
HUL conducts multiple collaborative events with Lamakaan through the year.
One of the prominent current collaboration of HUL is a multi institution multi themed research project called Tacit Urban Research Network with TISS Mumbai, CPR Delhi and IIHS Bangalore
100 Years of Design and Production
Exhibition at Lamakaan
100 Years of Design and Production, 1919-2019
on the occasion of World Design Assembly
in collaboration with Ministry of Industries and Commerce, Government of Telangana
At the invitation of Ministry of Industries and Commerce, Government of Telangana, HUL conceptualised and curated an exhibition for the World Design Assembly on “100 years of Design and Production, Hyderabad 1919 to 2019.
This exhibit was on display on the 11th and 12th of October at Novotel HICC along with several other stalls on the theme of Humanising Design.
Day 1: Action and Dialogue Meet- Water and The Metropolis: Building Perspective
Day 2: Rainwater Harvesting Mela
New Updates are coming up!
Day1: Action Dialogue Meet- Water and the Metropolis: Building Perspectives
Day2: Rainwater Harvesting Mela
- Please click on the Science and The City box below to get the details of the collaborations
TURN Workshop
TISS Winter Workshop
Unpacking Place
5
Outreach
Like other young organisations HUL takes pride in its accomplishments. However we remain aware that ideas, no matter how unique they are, mean little as long as they remain confined to an insular group of allies and associates. The real impact of good work can happen only when tested against criticism of strangers and when it can incorporate feedback and suggestions from diverse quarters.
HUL tries to do this by sharing its research outputs with academics and non academics alike, by exhibiting its work, by community walks and through formal and informal conversations, performances and participation in community activities in the city.
We made Hand Sanitisers at HUL
Hand sanitisers are vanishing both from supermarket shelves and online portals.
After speaking to a few medical practitioners and chemical experts and by following WHO directions we decided to make our own.
Led by Dr. Anant Maringanti and HUL team members, Meenakshi and Shriya,we have stocked it in 100 ml litre plastic bottles that are easily available, and hope to share it with street vendors, drivers and with households that do not have adequate water supply.
For those who wish to make their own sanitisers please note:
Ingredients: Rubbing Alcohol (1), Aloevera Gel (2) and Glycerin (3). 1 and 2 has to be mixed in a large/medium sized vessel in 2:1 ratio. Add one spoon of glycerin into the mix
Urban Break-Musical Night
Neha Vaddadi
Belly of The Beast
Busking on First Lancer
YK Antiques
6
Communications
As stated already HUL’s work extends beyond mere production of knowledge related to the urban. Equally important are the means by which this knowledge is made applicable and usable.
All Verticals and all Themes generate outputs which HUL attempts to share through visual, textual and animated formats.
We communicate through maps, audio and video documentations, publications and films on an ongoing basis and occasionally during exhibitions, events and workshops.
We also use the prevailing social media platform to communicate our work and views.
Visualisation Workshop
Neha Vaddadi
7
Administration and Accounts
All administrative work which includes accounts, management, supervision, maintenance of office and logistics for workshops and events are overseen by the directors with the assistance of external auditors, part time help and the HUL team.
If each individual can contribute to a system of checks and balances, there is less likelihood of lapses in general. For basic and for specific requirements alike, from hand wash in the bathroom to ink in the printer cartridge, to dead or dying plants or fish, whoever notices first reports to the closest authority so that action may be taken.
HUL Team at Administrative Work
