Slum(e)scape: Not Baling Out But Taking on the Challenge
From South America to Africa, a new way forward for sustainable development projects
Francesca de Filippi
Nairobi slums, source wikipedia
Urban migration patterns and globalized environmental and energy crises are increasingly occasioning closer interdependence between different parts of the planet. At the same time a structural basis for this shared interest in land and environmental rehabilitation is needed when contexts are examined.
It is therefore fundamental that future generations of architects commit to making a practical contribution to solving the problem of marginal urban areas, specifically combating attitudes which all too often see architecture as something purely extravagant and gratuitous, operating in metaphysical contexts blessed with infinite resources and unlimited options.
Dedicating attention to situations at the limit, characterized by a multitude of restrictions, puts architecture to the test, engaging it in the contradictions that emerge from the major processes of territorial transformation
This is not always the case, quite the opposite. Dedicating attention to situations at the limit, characterized by a multitude of restrictions, puts architecture to the test, engaging it in the contradictions that emerge from the major processes of territorial transformation.
We are all agreed on the common future of urban areas: according to UN data, in the next 30 years the world’s growing population will be concentrated in low-medium income cities, and an increasing number of the world’s poor will be living in urban agglomerations.
In developing countries, where the cities are largest, from 43% to 78% of the population lives in serious conditions of urban marginality.
For the most disadvantaged members of society, slums – informal, unplanned settlements viewed as illegal due to their lack of legal property deeds – represent the only way to satisfy their needs. Constructing illegal, therefore invisible, spaces is often the only way to get hold of resources which would otherwise be inaccessible: land, water, electricity, work. Slums are synonymous with overcrowding and high population density: very little space per inhabitant and a high rate of occupation.
They are almost always located on land not suitable for building purposes in discarded parts of the official city, in areas at risk of landslides or flooding, in the vicinity of industrial plants or rubbish dumps. Living in a slum means lacking even the most basic services: health, drinking water, refuse collection, electricity, transport and infrastructure are but a mirage. The housing, built illegally or inadequately, is below the minimum standards for residential areas defined in the city’s building regulations, and is often made of materials which are non-permanent, waste matter or recycled and certainly unsuitable for the climate and location.
One of the main aims for today’s gurus is how to make the architects of the future aware of issues with a high social and ethical content, in order to elicit and open the way for potential new professional scenarios
Slums are places of poverty and social exclusion: poverty in terms of income and lack of opportunity to improve one’s quality of life, often exacerbated by the concentration of vulnerable social groups, and the presence of high levels of crime and other factors of social decay.
From our point of view, living in our orderly cities, what is missing is a review of the nature of urban marginality: rather than being seen as a place to escape from, slums should be seen as a challenge, a genuine “Slum(e)scape”. This means identifying new opportunities for development, alternatives to the established city model which are people-centred and based on social inclusion, space and architecture for all. It means using marginal areas to create new urban models which are low-entropy from a social and environmental point of view, different from the dominant urban models. This is what is meant by “Slum(e)scape”, the title of the session scheduled for 1 July in the Democracy section of the UIA 2008 XXIII World Congress of Architecture.
We need to start viewing processes of globalization not only in terms of criticizing the cultural homologation and economic marginalization they give rise to, but also as an opportunity for new ways of putting down roots, new examples of innovative social construction. The critical areas most frequently addressed regard the way in which development is planned, namely how to implement individual local projects. Fundamental issues include how to regulate property rights, design areas for building, provide adequate infrastructures and services at a fair price, construct public transport systems and services, ensure the provision of water and public hygiene and health services, establish appropriate building rules and regulations, offer an alternative to the creation of new slums, involve the private sector and create jobs.
Moving forwards we must reflect on how to mobilize resources and investments to support local action. In this context it is necessary to examine how networks can be forged and strengthened, and how to support local poverty-reducing strategies. Another fundamental factor is involving the population by means of participatory processes.
Naturally we must not forget to ascertain how to control transformation and legalization processes without diluting and losing sight of the few, but strong values which characterize slums: people’s participation in the city, collective design of urban areas, adaptability and genuine creativity.
To date those most focused on these objectives have been the members of the UN task force involved in creating strategies to improve living conditions in slums, as well as representatives of the World Bank, members of academia, architects and town planners engaged in networks researching urban issues in developing countries, with great experience in the field. One of the main aims for today’s gurus is how to make the architects of the future aware of issues with a high social and ethical content, in order to elicit and open the way for potential new professional scenarios.
For the record, round the table on 1 July there will be Neelkant Chhaya, director of the CEPT of Ahmedabad, India, Pietro Garau, lecturer at the first School of Architecture in Rome and coordinator of the UN Task Force, and Geoffrey Payne, housing and urban development consultant from London. And also Marc Gosse, emeritus professor at the Institut Supérieur d’Architecture La Cambre in Brussels and founding member of N-AERUS (Network-Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South), and Rodney Roy Harber, professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Housing, University of Natal in South Africa.
Ivo Imparato, from the World Bank, will tell of his experience as a consultant to the Cities Alliance programme for Latin America, the Caribbean and Brazil, together with Laura Machado de Mello Bueno, professor at the FAU PUC Campinas in Brazil, who has worked on urbanization projects in the favelas for many years. Lastly, Naison Mutizwa-Mangiza, Chief of the Policy Analysis Branch, Monitoring & Research Division of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, from Nairobi, will talk about the difficult situation in Kenya.
But not just words. The session also includes an exhibition which will illustrate rehabilitation projects, selected by means of a competition. This will be staged in a specially designed area made of bamboo and featuring renewable energy sources: a huge photovoltaic ‘sail’ made of and supported on a network of bamboo and metal joints, with the area behind it acting as a passive solar greenhouse which can be regulated from a hygrothermic point of view.
The structure aims to demonstrate the potential of a cheap, highly sustainable building material with excellent physical and mechanical properties. To show that the desire to escape from the slum can be replaced with a challenge, and the challenge can be won.
