Katia Savchuk spent a year and a half documenting the work of grassroots organizations improving shelter access for poor communities in urban India.  She also helped organize Urban Typhoon Koliwada, a workshop that engaged residents of Mumbai’s largest informal settlement in planning the future of their neighborhood. Katia co-founded and writes for Polis, a collaborative urbanism blog. She has contributed to Let’s Go travel guides, PBS MediaShift, Environment & Urbanization and Palo Alto Weekly. Katia was born in Kiev, grew up in San Francisco, and has enjoyed traveling in El Salvador, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain and Ukraine.