Lost Futures from Mumbai’s past

Two hundred urban projects that were never realised, bold and ambitious visions that tell the story of how Mumbai – the world’s first city by population density – could have been today. In Bombay Imagined: An Illustrated History of the Unbuilt City, architect Robert Stephens brings together the most radical ideas that over the centuries have attempted to transform a city that is now the nerve centre of the Indian economy.

A project that stems from Stephens’ passion for antiquarian books and editorial rarities capable of recounting the most hidden sides of Mumbai: from there a research work among archives, libraries and studios all over the world in search of the lost past of a city that was never built. Painstaking research accompanied by archive images, visuals, digital reconstructions, inspiration and descriptive texts that are always clear and engaging.

With Bombay Imagined Stephens indirectly narrates the present of Mumbai, once again confirming the narrative power of city imaging. A Stratospheric Mumbai that we can’t wait to discover.