Urban Inhabitants
Authors Note: A major portion contributing to the growth of the cities is due to migration from villages. Don't you think it is essential to develop cities to cater for this Populus?
Why are slums formed?
The demographics of the urban poor in the developed world continue to soar due to high urban-rural migration and natural population growth within the urban areas. This coupled with inadequate resources, social exclusion of the poor and inordinate land their deplorable living condition continue to worsen. The term coined is called urban poverty.
The frameworks for planning standards and urban development systems put in place are inadequate in managing the needs of their built environment. Hence the urban poor continue to manage their own built environment without professionals akin to being referred to as “Architecture without Architects”.
Why do they migrate?
Globalisation leads to an increase in job opportunities within cities. This led to mass migration from villages in hopes of better financial opportunities to provide to the loved ones back home.
Self-built homes were a way of providing low-cost shelter and living within city limits. Unused plots of land, close to existing services such as electricity and sewage lines were taken advantage of.
What are the kinds of housing they live in?
Potla:
- These are temporary structures made from scavenged material, primarily tarpauline.
- They are prone to infestation, flooding and theft.
- Often used by migrant families
Kutcha
- These are made with tin sheets on a semi permanent base.
- Tin or GI sheets are light hence a type of shelter preferred by builders for their workforce.
- Although better than Potla’s they are extremely temperature sensitive
Semi-Pucca
- As residents stay over long periods of time they fortify their existing homes with single-layer brick walls, basic foundations and tin sheets.
- They often have some security over the other two and are often rented out to bachelors and extended family.
- Due to thin tin roofs, they are prone to heating
Who lives in these slums?
About 30–40% of the people living in slums live below the poverty line while the rest can save and some even live comfortably. The occupations range from drivers, masons, and vendors to tea stall owners and people doing odd jobs. They either migrate with their entire family to the city or leave everything behind and migrate.
Bachelors often have difficulty finding residence due to certain social norms and tend to rent spaces among other bachelors. The typical rent for an apartment in Mumbai is 5000 (60$)rupees per month and the average salary is around 3000(35$) rupees per month. Hence the rent is split evenly through 5–6 roomates. Families on the other hand are forced to find an alternative as they cannot afford to rent the apartment. The end up setting Potla’s on the roadside or come home to tiny quarters (21sqmts) where they live with the extended family (7–9 members) neither of which isn't a pleasant alternative. [1]
Relocation
Vastrapur Relocation
The lake, Vastrapur is located in Ahmedabad, India. The region without any development plans lead to encroachment around the lake eventually leading to a slum of over 700 individual houses. As the region became a prominent real estate a relocation project was initiated by the government.
The relocation of slum dwellers of Vastrapur was considered successful as many were able to get permanent residence within the city with amenities such as sanitation and water along with proximity to schooling and healthcare.
How can a design process be initiated in slums?
Architecture is defined as the art or practice of designing and building structures, especially habitable ones. This can be broken down into 2 perspectives, the process as well as the product. The process of architecture includes various mediators within which each executes their clearly defined roles. On the other hand, in the process of self built environment where the poor solely take up multiple roles, what they built is often perceived as a substandard environment.
For the conventional approach, the actors involved are the Architects, clients, the users and the legislator each with their defined role. The client is responsible for providing the background and the material resources. The user and the legislator provide a large set of requirements. The architect’s design reflects the constraints of the client, the user’s need and the building legislation and site conditions. The user and the legislator's constraints tend to be quite rigid whereas the the client and the architect can be more flexible in their process.
Self-built structures although they understand the user's need, are cost effective and the construction aspect quite well can tend to be chaotic and lack necessary technology whereas a conventional approach although efficient and designed to sustain long durations of time can end up isolation the user. Participatory architecture could help patch this shortcoming.
How to make participatory architecture work?
Based on certain tests carried out in a slum redevelopment in Nairobi, Africa the following could be implemented.
- Involving the residents in the design process by showcasing physical models, Augmented reality, and on-site chalk layouts.
- Develop the resident's skills to help with the construction, lowering costs. (In the case study of development in Nairobi, 75% of household women constituted the workforce) [2]
- Understand their material availability and with local talent identify the best use case of their local material. (This can include electricity pole, tarps, GI sheets, mud bricks and much more)
Alternate way to develop slums
Ownership
A house becomes a home when the residents take responsibility for their built environment. Slums existing on encroached land, with a risk of eviction at any moment inhibit residents from investing beyond the bare minimum in their homes. They would rather invest in carryable items such as jewellery.
It has been theorised that giving the residents ownership over their plots would automatically observe development and increase responsibility among residents without any additional costs.
Private-Public Partnership (PPP) [3]
This partnership often implemented by many countries leverages the efficiencies of the private sector while ensuring the interests of the public sector sharing the risk among themselves. Pradhan Mantri Avyas Yojna(2015) India, worked on National Urban housing and development.
Apart from this, other schemes such as Public-private community partnership (PPCP) and Rajiv Awas Yojna (RAY) could also be implemented.
References
[1] Rehabilitation process due to urban development projects: case of Vastrapur Lake in Ahmedabad city (Niyati Thakar)
[2]Architecture for The Urban Poor: A Case of a Participatory Slum Upgrading in Nairobi, Kenya (Joseph Mukeku)
[3] Leveraging Public-Private Partnership in Creating Affordable Housing in India (Jit Kumar Gupta)
