Ⅰ Think about slum issues ——Urban Design
If we really attach importance of slum issues……
Author: Yihan He(Jason)
Abstract
I have been researching some weak groups and negative issues since I had the primary knowledge about design, I think that should be a social concern for every person who has compassions and responsibilities. Because there are approximately 146,800,000 people still living in slums and unstable settlements in the same time which is occupied by one six of the world population(881,000,000). A quite amount of people haven’t had a delicious meal, a warm house, a clear community and a healthy life.
Aerial view of Mumbai by Johnny Miller, Unequal Scenes – Mumbai
Introduce the slum
Slum is social phenomenon which has been always existed in the society. Figuring out the definition of the slum can help us how to solve challenges in society. It has some unique characteristics of unsafe, informal settlements and even lack of water, electricity and toilets. In slums, there are so many broken houses with weak structures. When it comes to extreme weather like flood and typhoon, the slum house will be destroyed instantly. Thus, they are forced to rebuild their homeland every year.
About the first example, I would like to talk mainly about slum in India when I researched this topic in one of my projects. Because of the bad living condition, they had to immigrate to move to high-quality environment. This could be a regular phenomenon because everyone does not want to stay in a bad, dirty and poor place to live here forever. Sometimes, when slum people haven’t moved outside to a new home, the government will force them to move out which is called eviction. What’s more, as a designer, we would like to give them a cheaper, more sustainable, moved spaces to live. All of these currencies and situation are forced to happen. Smruti Jukur Johari put forward an opinion that why not give local people opportunities? She means we can only change affordability, but we can’t change aspirations. People living in poor area not only fight with their rights such as speak themselves, but they can improve their living infrastructures if we help them construct. What makes me surprised is they used simple and rough items to test and demonstrate their houses. It means they can create their own ideal house like loft.
This is just a small point in architecture. As a professional in urban designer, we need to figure out what they are lack of. There are four things they want to own: clean water, toilets, decent roads, stable living environment (not to be evicted).This is the second example: Mikuru. For instance, if we want to bring the bus to be operated in slum areas, we need to consider about the function of the slum road.
TED of What if the poor were part of city planning? | Smruti Jukur Johari:(118) What if the poor were part of city planning? | Smruti Jukur Johari – YouTube
We need to notice the regional detail in those slum areas if we really want to help them.
This is just the part of infrastructure in urban design which is just the surface in urban design, I’ll talk about how important we need some spiritual dependence in urban development in the next blog.
