Daily Archives: March 31, 2013

The key is self-help

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Many of the reading in class and many of the case studies talk about solutions and succes that comes to slums and the informal.  Often outside intervention is used to help those who are negatively affected by their current conditions. But outside intervention does not always translate into a successful application. Understanding this succes is important to developing future projects of succes. The key trend to understand is that outside intervention has to be smart in its application. What this means is that outside intervention, when done ineffectively results in a wasted allocation of assets and funds. Even though the available capital is being distributed to those in need it often has little effect. The moments when outside intervention is successful is when the outside intervention is seen less as charity being distributed, creating the relationship of those who give and those who take, and instead is intervention creating an environment of self help and empowerment.

“Slum Networking” shows how this is true. What was given to the community was a sewage and drainage system. The drainage system was not a limited resource that would run out. It was not a service that would disappear as soon as the outside intervention exited. It instead gave the the people agency. They had the choice to use personal facilities as opposed to public facilities. Individuals had the agency to buy their own appliance and connect them to the city. The system was successful not because of handouts or charity but was successful because personal agency was delivered to the people of slums.

Agency has more potential then charity. Creating the give and take relationship is always temporary, limited and creates a needy group that will continue to need. Instead creating an open system that the individuals and community as a whole can take ownership of creates a much more successful system and one that can exist indefinitely. This system also gives the community members more of a sense of community and shows that the slums and informal may not need complete overhauls and replacement but would instead benefit from systems that promote self help and self worth.

Himanshu Parikh, “Slum Networking Along the Inodre River”

Linking Through Infrastructure

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One of the re-occurring themes in the readings and discussions in our class has been the boundaries between what we now hesitate to call formal and informal cities. Urban Think Tank’s label for blurring the boundaries between the two kind of cities, which they called Urban Acupuncture, has fascinated me.

A topic which has come up in this week’s readings was the connection between slums themselves; not only blurring the existing boundary, but more importantly, creating a strong network. While slums may seem like random, unorganized organisms, they are actually “the consequence of distorted development.”  (Franco) In fact, based on the natural drainage systems in place, one can see that a lot of slums are developed alongside these kinds of natural infrastructure. It is important to recognize that by emphasizing these kinds of infrastructures and creating connections between the slums, they can be transformed from seemingly scattered areas to actual functioning cities. The government is quickly changing it’s role to become a ‘facilitator’ rather than a ‘provider’. (Franco) That being said, it is also curial that the government includes the residents of the slums and creates an atmosphere where both parties contribute to the development. For example, in Indore, the government gave the land residents long term leases and making their stay on the land legal. The residents then went ahead and built their own toilets which connected to the sewage system implemented by the government. The outcome of such collaboration was one where both parties worked together in order to create a connection between the slums, improve infrastructure, and create a more city-like environment. Another aspect of the residents involvement in these projects is that by knowing how certain things work, they are able to pass down the knowledge, work on repairs, and ultimately be more invested in the improvements. According to Slum Networking Along the Indore River makes a really important statement that among the issues of slums, such as health, education, income generation and physical infrastructure, the implementation of physical structure is the most important and effective intervention, with the most direct results. (Franco)

Such infrastructural interventions also create a lot of different kinds of potentials for social interventions too. For example, in the Antonico Creek Urban Project, the government created a canal to better neighborhood sanitation, etc. Next to the canal, the government decided that they would be able to insert programs for pedestrians and cyclists. Immediately, the improved infrastructure allows for a better connection between slums, creates better living standards within each slum, and creates a social infrastructure. (Davidson)

Works Cited

Davidson, Cynthia. “Slum Networking Along the Indore River.” Architectural Design (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

Franco, Fernando De M. “Filling the Void With Popular Imageries.” Architectural Design (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

Participatory Mapping

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As James Corner notes in his essay, The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention, maps are often static expressions of an area that do not take any sort of change or time into account. In order for maps to become useful tools that can encourage change, they must begin to address the actual conditions within a location. While it is often easy to be reductive when mapping, it is far more valuable to dig deeper into the possibilities that a map can reveal (Corner 213).
Since mapping is never a neutral exercise, and it will always be seen through a particular lens, what is the most productive way to depict a given location, and how can designers question mapping conventions (Corner 221). In such a rapidly changing world, it is necessary to include time in almost any map that is meant to enable change (Corner 226). Additionally, representing a population on a cultural level, which can only be achieved with community participation, will provide an invaluable tool for any designer. There are numerous projects that demonstrate the success of community input in architectural and planning projects, and if mapping is supposedly what is generating these designs, it only makes sense that it would also be driven by local knowledge (Corner 241). By producing a “game board” map, as Corner refers to it, architects would be able to discuss a large variety of concepts proposed by any number of people using one single image as a base. Allowing it to be an open system with a factual base that can be altered depending on need, or desire would invariably create productive designs that consider the culture, and its future.
In places such as São Paulo, there is a desperate need to accurately, yet inventively record the conditions of the informal areas of the city. A simple, aerial view will not suffice, since it cannot accurately represent the character of any given neighborhood. Tracings from satellite images of favelas would simply appear as a jumbled mass of lines with no boundaries, and would not give any insight into the culture or atmosphere. In a location that is in a time sensitive situation regarding urban renewal as well as addressing the ever worsening flooding problems, an accurate and future oriented map is essential to create any new designs.
In the case of São Paulo’s flooding problem, it has become increasingly necessary to divert flood waters to reservoirs throughout the city’s periphery (Franco 2). In order to best decide where reservoirs and accompanying canals and widened streets, designers should create maps that address concerns in each specific neighborhood that will be effected. By doing so, this will allow architects to address specific concerns of the entire community, not simply a government official who has never even stepped foot in the favela before. Architectural interventions in informal settlements must take into account the vast variety that exists even from one neighborhood to another, in addition to the creation of accurate maps that take both the comments of the community as well as the physical and temporal aspects of the area.

James Corner: Agency of Mapping
Franco de Mello: Filling Voids