Daily Archives: March 2, 2013

Crime – Division and Cohesion

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Issues of crime in the global south have been documented to be both high and low in various poor communities. In the case of San Paulo, crime has played a role of division as well as cohesion. The divisive effects of crime, particularly violent crime, has caused a rift to be widened between the informal and the formal cities, leaving the “periphery” communities cut off from the formal, wealth-centered metropolis. This only makes sense, as violent crime increases, those who can afford to leave dangerous areas chose to do so. The result is a worsening crime rate inside the periphery – or so one would think.

The statistics given in “Worlds Set Apart” by Teresa Caldeira indicate that murders per 100,000 people have dramatically dropped in the past 10-15 years, down more than 75% from the year 2000. This is an indicator is progress being made in the poorer communities that must deal with crime and the lack of options to combat it. But what about crime that is not violent? “Crime,” referring to illegal activity in general, can take many forms, and some of which can have beneficial effects.

Caldeira talks about how the existence of violent crime has led to a discussion amongst the inhabitants of San Paulo that has manifested itself in a security-oriented living environment, with enclosures and walls being constructed and spaces becoming more privatized. In the periphery, this has led to a deep and vocalized movement of rap music. The idea of them vs. us and poor vs. rich and good vs. bad has become themes for lyrics that have helped build a culture and cohesive community of people going through the same hardships and dealing with the same issues through the almost spiritual bond of music.

Crime in the form of graffiti has also created a positive effect on the periphery residents. Caldeira notes how some San Paulo graffiti artists have becoming famous and are able to profit from their artwork, even though their trade is technically illegal and can be considered criminal.

An interesting link to this cultural artwork is that of Cairo, Egypt’s young artists that have taken their people’s political protests and emotions and have conveyed them illegally on the public streets of downtown Cairo. As a form of protest that is there until the government can wash it away, the graffiti functions as both a recurring and present-day political speech, while also acting as a reminder of the past injustices the Egyptian people have memorialized as public art. In these ways, “crime” can be seen as serving a purpose in creating communities.

As a political reminder of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the people of Cairo have marked and added to this mural that shows the two-faced corruption of their government during that time.

Recognition, Intervention and Respect: Engaging the Informal

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Although this is seemingly obvious, the first step in transforming informal communities is recognizing the scope and permanence of these urban phenomena in the first place.  The spatially jarring, almost fantastical images of favelas engulfing the boundaries of gated communities in Brazil points to this issue dramatically.  Even though informality in urbanism is expanding rapidly and affecting societies around the globe, economic/social/political marginalization remains a major hindrance to the advancement of social justice in these communities.

The paradox of aid and development lies in the fact that informal communities physically need to be transformed in order to promote the health and wellbeing of residents while simultaneously understanding that these communities are inhabited by individuals who have agency and their own conceptions of space, dignity and development.  Top-down approaches are not necessarily good or bad but require a heightened awareness of conditions on the ground in order to be effective.  While The City of God dramatized the difficulties of growing up in informal settlements in Brazil, it also gave the impression that the culture of gang violence was so pervasive that it dominated life itself.  While hard-hitting and based in reality, the film does not take into account the richness of life beyond gang violence.  Ironically, the film’s main character comes of age by straddling the boundaries of the formal and informal, fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a photographer through strange twists of fate that result from his peripheral relationship to the gang war.  The film culminates in a detached journalistic account of the violence, departing from the first person narrative that characterized the beginning of the film.

Teresa Caldeira identifies the film’s main limitation as giving the false impression that the experience of life in the favela was universally characterized by gang life.  She counters this approach by celebrating grassroots forms of culture such as hip hop and street art that articulate an entirely different conception of marginalization and class/racial division (Caldeira 174).  Her approach recognizes the cries of protest coming directly from the favela as a more genuine form of cultural expression and identity.

Where does the role of the architect and urban planner fit into these questions of culture and identity?  Successful interventions must be critical of condescending grand narrative assumptions about daily life in informality and avoid generalizations while recognizing the need to improve material conditions on the ground (Jáuregui 60).  This mentality suggests that the person behind the intervention have a personal connection to the community in question, similar perhaps to Robert Neuwirth’s project of embedding himself in informal communities.  Even a project as simple as a community well or latrine involves a complex series of questions concerning site, access, existing conditions and the community’s relationship to land itself.  Attempts at blanket solutions, such as giving land titles to entire communities of squatters, demonstrate that there are limitations to approaches that do not correctly assess conditions on the ground.

 

Jáuregui, Jorge Mario. Articulating the Broken City and Society.

Caldeira, Teresa. Worlds Set Apart.

Tailor-made Intervention

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Much of the first world views favelas and slums as places devoid of intellectual activity and creativity. It can be difficult for those unfamiliar with life in informal settlements to understand just how much activity, creativity and ingenuity is truly present and encouraged by informality.
When faced with a series of unique, seemingly impossible to solve problems, humans become intensely creative and begin to experiment in order to find the best solutions. While they may appear messy and unorganized to many, they are, in reality, highly organized and planned with a high level of sophistication.
Additionally, when architects get involved in projects in informal settlements with a completely unfamiliar set of problems to be solved, they are also forced to break free from conventional design and planning techniques. The most difficult task that designers and planners have to face in situations of urban renewal and growth is that of instigating social change. Informality is often stigmatized in our society, thus in order truly create positive change, aiding social growth must be at the root of the solution. This is a particular necessity in cities such as São Paulo, where the wealthy live in complete separation from the poor, and barricade themselves into secure, gated communities, in order to completely ignore the reality of their city’s situation (Caldeira 168).
Additionally, there is a necessity for a high level of adaptability and networking in possible architectural interventions in favelas in order to improve the lives of the large percentage of the urban population that is currently being ignored. In order for a design to be successful socially, it must asses and address the local conditions specifically. In Medellín for example, the city implemented a system of cable cars that connects disparate parts of the city, allowing for a greater amount of interaction between the formal and informal (Smith 13). This highly site specific design is adapted to the location and the culture of the favelas in Medellín, thus proving to be extremely successful in comparison to a more generic proposal.
In Rio de Janeiro, the redevelopment and urbanization of the favelas was entirely based on solving the major social issues prevalent in the area. Through the creation of public programs, such as libraries, community centers, and athletic facilities at major transit hubs, the architects hoped to discourage the youth living in the favelas from becoming involved in drug trafficking (Jáuregui 63). The concept of social interventions, while common in certain senses in the first world, takes on a different form when used to revitalize an entire favela. It requires innovative and creative thinking on every scale from small interventions such as adding benches or putting a mural in a public space to massive urban infrastructure projects. By strategically planning out the locations of public buildings in a city, the architects hope to sway an entire youth population towards certain socially beneficial activities. This, in turn would have a drastic effect on the future of the city as a whole. The major question is, will this have a lasting impact on the community, or is it simply idealistic?

Jáuregui, Jorge Mario. Articulating the Broken City and Society.
Smith, Cynthia E. Designing Inclusive Cities.
Caldeira, Teresa. Worlds Set Apart.

Getting Results

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With the enormous increase in the population especially in urban areas, we are struggling to find a humane solution to the overcrowded, temporary, and erroneous spaces one third of the worlds population is living in, the slums. Throughout time we have made many attempts at “helping” these people, but it usually ends up destroying their homes, displacing them, forcing them to again, fend for themselves, creating more of a problem than was originally present. But what can professionals do to design for these people, when the shiny skyscraper or clean beautiful city is what we envision ourselves to design.

This is unfortunately what happens a great deal of time, slums are cleared for this expensive great design, in the name of capitalism. This doesn’t have to be though, we can design beautiful things as we want, prove the capitalists wrong, provide a wonderful environment where slum dwellers can create an economy and make money, and help the people live overall better lives. It has been done, and is highlighted in the book Design With The Other 90%: Cities.

Most of the projects outlined in the book are an attempt to provide a framework for success, in other terms giving them a compass or simply pointing them in the right direction, whispering, this is the right way to go. This method provides the framework of the formal, that we believe works, while still providing the means to construct and design the way the people in slums have been accustomed to; piece by piece, typically with found construction materials.

In the chapter Designing Inclusive Cities, Cynthia Smith tells a man she interviewed from the slums that she intended to “find successful design solutions to rapidly expanding informal settlements”, she then goes on to explain that the most promising of these solutions, “were hybrid solutions that bridge the formal and informal city.” (1) Though she claims these are hybrid solutions, I can’t help but understand them as infusing the informal with the formal, rather than a true hybrid, examples of this would be bringing bank loans and social security to those living in the slums of Bangkok (2).

Other solutions such as registering and providing brightly colored and numbered vests to drivers of illegal or unregulated motor-taxis allows the demand to be met for cheap transportation in the slums.(3) This solution seems much more of a hybrid solution than and not simply providing what we deem necessary things like social security and bank loans (thought probably very help for those living in slums).

Participatory planning (similar to the “kit of parts” or “framework” discussed in paragraph three), another great solution to conquering the slum’s problems. In Diadema in Brazil, by the use of these participatory planning methods, its citizens “drew up plans and allocated the resources necessary to drop the murder rate from 140 per 100,000 to only 14 per 100,000 in 10 years. (4)

Another strategic example, not necessarily participatory but one of linkages, was the design for a cable public-transportation system in Medellin, Columbia. This solution allows those living in the poorest neighborhoods to travel safely and gain access to the infrastructure (libraries, business centers, schools, medical facilities, etc. provided in the more wealthy areas of town. (5) This holistic linkage solution allows the city to be incorporated into one united body rather than the slums acting as a parasite to the wealthier portions of town.

These examples attempt to incorporate the slums rather than shun them which is typically the case.The infrastructure most of us take for granted that provides us with knowledge and stability are finally being provided to those who are hard-working but destitute.

1) Cynthia Smith. (Designing Inclusive Cities), Design with the Other 90%: Cities. P. 13.

2) Cynthia Smith. (Designing Inclusive Cities), Design with the Other 90%: Cities. P. 13.

3) Cynthia Smith. (Designing Inclusive Cities), Design with the Other 90%: Cities. P. 13.

4) Cynthia Smith. (Designing Inclusive Cities), Design with the Other 90%: Cities. P. 16.

5) Cynthia Smith. (Designing Inclusive Cities), Design with the Other 90%: Cities. P. 16.