Bombay Imagined: An Illustrated History of the Unbuilt City by architect Robert Stephens, is a collection of 200 unrealised urban visions of the city. The book is a mix of anecdotes originating from as early as 1670 to the present day and features contemporary speculations, archival drawings and artistic overlays that explore the city’s past  — from futuristic ideas of aerial taxis to an airport in Gorai to the recently scrapped plan for the Peddar Road flyover. The book is a visual treat combined with interesting takes on the perceptions that have shaped the city into Bombay as we know it. You can read an except from the book here.

About the author:
Robert Stephens is a principal architect at RMA Architects. He is part of the core team at RMA responsible for recent additions to Mumbai’s built environment, including the CSMVS Visitors’ Centre (2011) and Children’s Museum (2019) at Kala Ghoda, and the under-construction Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Crematorium at Worli. In 2016, he founded Urbs Indis, a studio that narrates lesser-known civic histories through the juxtaposition of archival material with contemporary aerial photographs of urban India. Bombay Imagined is his first book.

Details:
Self-published
7.5” x 11” (Landscape) | First edition of 1500
ISBN: 9-788412-274752
Printed at Indraprastha Printer, Mumbai
460 pages | Hardcover