MUMBAI, April 26 -- "No one wants to be an activist," chuckles Alan Abraham, 51, joint principal architect at Abraham John Architects (AJA), an architecture and urban planning firm, founded by his father in 1967. While he applauds the work of prominent environmental and legal activists in Mumbai, he hastens to add what sets him apart. "We call ourselves progressive development specialists. We are developmental experts," he says. For over a decade, much of Mumbai has remained behind barricades as it undergoes infrastructure upgrades. And although Abraham is peeved at how the city's big-ticket infrastructure projects have been taking shape, he hasn't distanced himself from development. "Because the moment you say something (against a public infrastructure project), you are called 'anti-development', and for them (administration), development is only roads. It's so two-dimensional! It's scary," he says. At a time when projects like the proposed revamp of the Mahalaxmi Racecourse and the Versova-Bhayandar Coastal Road (VBCR) have been set in motion by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), citizen groups have pushed back. The Mumbai Architects Collective (MAC), of which Abraham is a part, demanded in February that 298 acres of landscape space - 125 acres at the racecourse and 173 acres of Coastal Road gardens - be designed as a single, contiguous entity, a unified ecological and social asset. The nudge to stop complaining and act came from his wife Anca Florescu Abraham, 44, an interior and landscape designer, who is also Abraham's partner at AJA, in 2012-13 when they founded the Bombay Greenway Project (BGP), a not-for-profit urban design and research platform. Over the years, through its pro bono work, the BGP has focused on turning neglected parts of the city into welcoming open spaces for communities, like the St Stephen's steps in Bandra. Recently, the BGP submitted a proposal to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) suggesting two alternatives to the VBCR, which entails hacking 45,675 mangroves along the corridor. "We have a simple theory. We don't go (to the authorities) with a complaint. We go with a counter-proposal. When you go with a counter-proposal, it puts the onus on them to then explain why they're still going ahead with the project," says Abraham, an alumnus of Rachana Sansad's Academy of Architecture at Prabhadevi. Construction of the 26.3-km VBCR began in January after the BMC received the Maharashtra mangrove cell's nod. However, the Rs.22,000-crore project will require the removal of up to 45,673 mangroves. The project, an extension of the Coastal Road (South) and the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, is expected to reduce the travel time from Versova to Mira-Bhayandar from 2 hours to less than 20 minutes. In place of the proposed elevated coastal road with ten free-flow interchanges and large loops designed for four-wheelers, the BGP presented two alternatives, which would also cost less. One, a coastal redesign with the loop interchanges replaced with compact, signalised junctions, and bus and bicycle lanes. The other is an inland upgrade of S V Road, New Link Road and the Western Express Highway, which would require no mangrove diversion. "This is just a demonstration that better proposals are possible. A project of this scale deserves better scrutiny, transparency, and public participation," says Abraham. "It's my tax money that's being spent. If you were doing up your own house, you'd be really critical of anyone who designs badly. You'd be very careful about how your money is being spent. As a city, we should do the same. It is the responsibility of all the educated people in the city to speak up," Abraham asserts. He says that roads are built for a small percentage of car owners. The push for infrastructure projects, he says, is ultimately a push for real estate in the city. "You're encouraging a lot more car use. So you're going to have a lot more traffic jams as you exit the coastal road, which would then justify future projects for road building. But at the end of the day, you need roads that are good within the city, not in the sea," says Abraham. His wife Anca, who is Romanian, made Mumbai her home 23 years ago after she met Alan in France, where they were both on a scholarship for French speakers. Bandra residents, and parents of a son and a daughter aged 9 and 11 respectively, feel strongly about the lack of accessible open spaces in the city for families to spend time together. Keeping gardens and open spaces locked or restricted, Abraham explains, is "exclusion by design". The open spaces that have thrived in the city, he points out, have been open to all - Azad Maidan, Oval Maidan and Marine Drive. Most transport and infrastructure projects, he says, are designed for a small section of the population, typically a 20-60 year-old male. The design doesn't factor in the needs of students, youth, sports, women, homemakers or the elderly. "Once a person retires, is he going to commute to work or is he going to realise that he needs clean air and open spaces? We have to look at it holistically," says Abraham. "We're fighting it out on many fronts. Since ours was a singular voice, we formed the Mumbai Architects Collective (MAC). We have a 200-strong body of architects. They are largely principals of firms. We have established firms led by Ratan Batliboi, Brinda Somaya, Rahul Kadri and P K Das. They are all well-meaning and active," said Abraham. MAC, established in January, 2022, issued a public appeal to the state government and the BMC in February, flagging the underground construction in the proposed redevelopment of the Mahalaxmi Racecourse which, they said, would be detrimental to one of the largest open spaces in the city. Whether it is gardens, beaches or other public areas, using them alone is key to ensuring they are maintained, he says. "The moment we start using something, we'll start caring for it. You need to improve the usage so that you have better facilities. If you start walking, you'll demand better footpaths," says Abraham....