SLUM Lab MADE IN Sustainable Living Urban Model / Issue 9
EDITORIAL SOUTH EMPOWER SHACK TABLE OF CONTENTS Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner From Casablanca To Cape Town: Reimagining Urban Possibilities (8) CONTRIBUTORS (12) CREDITS (14) PHOTO ESSAYS Filippo Romano The Vivigals (57) Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler Bicycle Portraits (103) Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse Ponte City (120) Andres Lepik Afritecture: Building Social Change (24) Dirk E Hebel and Felix Heisel Formal, Informal And Forms Of In-Between (28) Active Social Architecture Early Childhood Development Centers For Plan Rwanda (34) Harald Gründl A Slum Toilet (38) David Morton Chamanculo In Reeds, Wood, Zinc And Concrete (42) Kéré Architecture Designing For Climate: Future African Sustainability (48) Yutaka Sho On Membership (54) Edgar Pieterse Pushing Against The Frontiers Of Urban Studies In (South) Africa (88) Peter Rich and Patricia Theron Mandela' s Yard, Alexandra: Documentation As A Research Tool For Learning About Space And Place (94) Sarah Charlton Housing Dreams And Lived Realities: The RDP Program In Practice (100) Thiresh Govender Home Sweet Resilience: Lessons From Shebeens (106) Liza Cirolia The Architect Can t Save Us: Some Thoughts On The Limits Of Tech Fix Housing Solutions (112) Kristen Kornienko Finding Hope And The Spatial Dimensions Of Human Rights In The Urban Informal Vernacular (116) Introduction (164) The Housing Context (165) Research Phase 1 (166) Swisspearl Workshop (168) Workshop Prototype (174) Research Phase 2 (177) Components Library (178) Two Story Shack Analysis (180) Materials And Structure (182) The Modular System (184) Blocking Out (185) Spatial Analysis (186) The Cluster System (187) Financing Options (189) The Ponte City photo essay appears courtesy of Goodman Gallery Killian Doherty Strengthening Kigali s Redevelopment Through Weak Urbanism (60) Charlotte Lemanski Hybrid Gentrification In State-Subsidized Housing Settlements (136) In Situ Construction (190) The Future (192) Jenny F Mbaye On The Biopolitics Of Hip-Hop Galsen: Contestation Art And Democratized Imaginations (64) Alexander Opper Productive Leakage And The Folding Of The Studio Into The Field (140) Exhibition (193) Jonathan Silver The Geography Of Incremental Infrastructures In An Accra Slum (68) Paula Meth Security And Dignity For All: Informal Settlement Upgrading And Experiences of Violence (144) J M Ledgard The Microscopic Safari: Into The Last Forest Of Nairobi (72) Ben Mansfield Urban Agriculture In Informal Settlements (148) Beyond Entropy Energy And Entropy (76) Laufen Manifesto (80) Astrid Ley, Josefine Fokdal and Peter Herrle From Beneficiaries To Negotiators: How Urban Poor Networks Bargain For Better Housing (152) Zachary Levenson Permanent Temporariness: Relocation Camps In Post-Apartheid Cape Town (156) [in]formalstudio: Marlboro South The Processes Of Engagement Map (159) TABLE OF CONTENTS 10 11
CONTRIBUTORS C O N T R I B U T O R S In Order of Appearance Chapter: Africa Chapter: South Africa Chapter: Empower Shack Alfredo Brillembourg Alfredo Brillembourg is founder of interdisciplinary design firm Urban-Think Tank, and holds a Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at ETH Zürich. Harald Gründl Harald Gründl is founder of the Institute of Design Research Vienna and a managing partner of Viennese design studio EOOS. Jenny F Mbaye Jenny Mbaye is a post-doctoral fellow at the African Center for Cities in Cape Town. Jonathan Silver Jonathan Silver is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Durham and LSE Cities at the London School of Economics. J M Ledgard Jonathan Ledgard is the East Africa correspondent for The Economist and founder of the AFROTECH initiative at EPFL in Lausanne. Stan Engelbrecht Stan Engelbrecht is a documentary photographer and cycling enthusiast based in South Africa. Nic Grobler Nic Grobler is a documentary photographer and cycling enthusiast based in South Africa. Thiresh Govender Thiresh Govender is an architect and urban designer at Johannesburg-based interdisciplinary design studio UrbanWorks. Alexander Opper Alexander Opper is Director of the MTech Architectural Technology program at the University of Johannesburg. Paula Meth Paula Meth is a Senior Lecturer in Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield. Ben Mansfield Ben Mansfield is an independent landscape architect with project experience in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Thomas Auer Thomas Auer is a partner and Managing Director of Transsolar, an engineering firm specializing in energy efficient building design. Heinrich Wolff Heinrich Wolff is co-founder of Wolff Architects and a guest professor in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich. Arturo Brillembourg Arturo Brillembourg is President of Farmington Asset Management and an economist interested in the economics of the urban poor. Hubert Klumpner Hubert Klumpner is Dean of the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich and a principal of interdisciplinary design firm Urban-Think Tank. David Morton David Morton is a PhD candidate in African history at the University of Minnesota and a fellow of the Carter G Woodson Institute of African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia. Beyond Entropy Beyond Entropy is an independent collaborative practice founded by Stefano Rabolli Pansera, who with Paula Nascimento curated the first Angola Pavilion at the 13th Venice Biennale of Architecture. Liza Cirolia Liza Cirolia is a researcher and coordinator of the Sustainable Human Settlements CityLab at the African Center for Cities in Cape Town. Astrid Ley Astrid Ley is a post-doctoral researcher in the HABITAT Unit at the Technischen Universität Berlin and visiting Senior Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Andy Bolnick Andy Bolnick is founder of Cape Townbased informal settlement upgrading NGO Ikhayalami. Andres Lepik Andres Lepik is Director of the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München and curated the recent exhibition AFRITECTURE: Building Social Change. Dirk E Hebel Dirk Hebel is an Assistant Professor of Architecture and Construction at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore and was the founding Scientific Director of the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development. Felix Heisel Felix Heisel is a researcher in the Chair of Architecture and Construction at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore and was a lecturer at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development. Active Social Architecture Active Social Architecture is a Kigali-based architecture and design firm founded by Tomà Berlanda and Nerea Amorós Elorduy. Kéré Architecture Kéré Architecture is a Berlin-based architecture office founded by Diébédo Francis Kéré. Yutaka Sho Yutaka Sho is an Assistant Professor at the Syracuse School of Architecture and founder of interdisciplinary design firm General Architecture Collaborative. Filippo Romano Filippo Romano is a documentary and architecture photographer and member of the agency Luzphoto. Killian Doherty Killian Doherty is founder of design and research studio Architectural [Field] Office and a lecturer at KIST Rwanda. Edgar Pieterse Edgar Pieterse is the South African Research Chair in Urban Policy at the University of Cape Town and Director of the African Center for Cities. Peter Rich Peter Rich is a principal architect at Peter Rich Architects in Johannesburg. Patricia Theron Patricia Theron is an architectural technologist at Albonico & Sack Metacity in Johannesburg. Sarah Charlton Sarah Charlton is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Kristen Kornienko Kristen Kornienko recently completed a doctorate at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Mikhael Subotzky Mikhael Subotzky is a Johannesburg-based photographer and associate member of Magnum Photos. Patrick Waterhouse Patrick Waterhouse is an artist and Editorin-Chief of Colors Magazine. Charlotte Lemanski Charlotte Lemanski is a Senior Lecturer at University College London and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. Josefine Fokda Josefine Fokda is Senior Researcher in the HABITAT Unit at the Technischen Universität Berlin. Peter Herrle Peter Herrle is a Professor of International Urbanism and Director of the HABITAT Unit at the Technischen Universität Berlin. Zachary Levenson Zachary Levenson is a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. [in]formalstudio: Malboro South [in]formalstudio: Marlboro South is a design and research initiative conceived by Thorsten Deckler and Anne Graupner of Johannesburg-based architectural practice 26 10 south Architects, and Alexander Opper from the University of Johannesburg. Scott Lloyd Scott Lloyd is founder of design and research studio Deliver and coordinated the Empower Shack project for the Brillembourg & Klumpner Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at ETH Zürich. CONTRIBUTORS 12 13
WHILE A POSITIVE FACTOR IN POVERTY REDUCTION, URBANIZATION REQUIRES CAREFUL PLANNING AND INNOVATIVE HOUSING DESIGNS CAPITALIZING ON LOCAL RESOURCES AND PRACTICES. EFFORTS TO DO SO HAVE LARGELY FAILED IN THE FAST GROWING CITIES OF ETHIOPIA IS NO EXCEPTION. By Dirk E Hebel and Felix Heisel The Formal Besides its strong efforts concerning future urban development, Ethiopia is missing a robust national urban housing strategy, which addresses the incredible housing shortage combined with the overwhelming poverty rate of its inhabitants. In 2004, the so-called Grand Housing Development Program was initiated to intervene in the ever-increasing demand for housing. This formal, top-down program aimed to develop 200,000 new housing units within five years in order to address half of the housing backlog, with cooperatives, real estate developers and individuals expected to fill the remaining gap. Only a fraction of the original plan has been realized, however, and contrary to those initial ideas, development has tended to consume an enormous amount of urban land, introducing an inflexible typology while neglecting the importance of the surrounding space as a social and economic base for its inhabitants. The allocation of future tenants was enacted via a lottery system. It came as a surprise to the housing agency when only 45 percent of lottery winners appeared to sign and collect their houses. The majority of the urban poor in Addis Ababa simply cannot afford to pay basic infrastructure costs for services such as water, electricity, or garbage removal all items of a catalogue for formal settlements. Their daily income is usually generated from informal and local businesses, which are vanishing constantly due to the renewal approach of the condominiums. Higherpriced supermarkets are replacing local markets, raising costs and eating up the profits residents might enjoy from renting out their housing-lottery win. The strong social ties and unique historical mixture of income groups in single neighborhoods has been threatened by homogeneous typology planning, leading to social and spatial segregation a trend that will only worsen with increasing rural in-migration. Future housing programs must focus on these socio-political issues. The Informal As a start, the informal settlements in Addis Ababa must be recognized as an integral part of the city s fabric, with a wealth of hidden potential. Despite the massive formal efforts to reduce the housing shortage and provide new infrastructure, the majority of inhabitants of Addis Ababa still live in informal settlements. UN-HAB- ITAT estimates an astonishing 80 percent of all dwellings in the city are in slumlike, sub-standard condition 1. Most of the housing stock consists of so-called kebele houses nationalized dwellings from the time of the Derg regime, which are rented to the urban poor. Although incredibly cheap, these buildings are 40-year old mud constructions without access to basic infrastructure. Faced with the need for shelter, Addis Ababa s inhabitants have thus started to provide for themselves. Housing stress results in a number of different phenomena in Addis Ababa. Apart from overcrowding, it prompts self-help emergency solutions in the form of extending and subdividing existing houses. The mushrooming of moonlight houses known as chereka bet in the fringes is another important consequence. The name moonshine house relates to the time of construction: at night, under the light of the moon. In theory, these houses are built overnight on government land, with the goal to look finished and old in the morning, as if they had always been there. While officials very often stop illegal construction sites, the government rarely tears down a finished chereka bet unless the land needs to be used immediately for a different, formal purpose. In 2002, such informal constructions occupying land illegally were estimated to cover roughly 2,000 hectares of land, accounting for 4 percent of the city area and 7 percent of the built up area 2. In the period since, this number has increased quickly. To build a chereka bet, the future owner usually buys a small plot from a farmer. This transaction is of course illegal and merely a sale of user rights between the involved parties, since all land in Ethiopia is government owned. Next, the occupant will collect the necessary building material and hide it on site. While mud and stones can usually be found on the spot, the eucalyptus for the structural frame will be bought (although described as fire wood). Doors, windows and corrugated iron sheets can all be found recycled at Mercato, the biggest open air market in Africa, or any of the recently cleared informal settlements in the city center. As such, the construction uses only local and affordable materials. The construction of a chereka bet is a social event in the community. Skilled carpenters and builders, as well as neighbors, usually come together to help erect the structure within one night. Knowing that one day the favor will be repaid in some way, this labor is free of charge. Over time, former farmland has evolved into settlements, extending private housing construction to informal town planning with roads, public spaces, churches, schools and infrastructure such as wells and sewage all built in the moonlight. This effort, next to other forms of self-provided housing, highlights the incredible need that exists. But more importantly, the potential that can be found in the informal sphere, providing labor, skill, local knowledge, time and private capital to build cities. The In-Between Addis Ababa s housing market operates on two extremes. While the formal provides security of tenure and infrastructure, housing is unaffordable for the majority of tenants and provision too slow to close the gap between demand and supply. The informal, while demonstrating an incredible potential to solve existing problems, is providing housing with illegal methods. 29
Constant insecurity of tenure is resulting in low quality construction and missing infrastructure development for the majority of citizens. Alternative approaches to urban planning could operate in-between those extreme positions and place a premium on empowerment. The idea here is to enable people to shape their own immediate environment in a sustainable and responsible way. The urban system is thus future tenants. So far, four different prototypologies were developed, each two stories high, in order to produce a catalogue of possibilities and alternatives to the current tendency of multi- and high-rise structures. In addition, urban neighborhood layouts were developed, proving that similar densities as the Grand Housing Program could be reached with compact standing, double story units. tural values of different societies are left behind. By accepting their uniqueness and formulating an alternative aspiration to go with the term modern, not only Ethiopia, but many other developing territories, would have the chance to learn from their existing, intense urban density. This could be used as a starting point to develop a reverse modernism, where the so called North would start learning from The moonlight construction of a chereka bet informal dwelling The Sustainable Urban Dwelling Unit (SUDU) typology IN THEORY, THESE HOUSES ARE BUILT OVERNIGHT ON GOVERNMENT LAND, WITH THE GOAL TO LOOK FINISHED AND OLD IN THE MORNING, AS IF THEY HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE. The Sustainable Incremental Construction Unit (SICU) typology understood as a key player contributing to capacity building. Moreover, the term modern takes on a new meaning no longer simply describing an architectural feature, typology, or material choice, but rather defining qualities of space and life. A modern Addis Ababa, according to this thesis, would be a city for the people and their unique cultural and social conditions. It would empower society to activate its own financial as well as intellectual resources to develop the country and nourish small production facilities within the city. It would not shop elsewhere for an urban image associated solely with the service sector and commodity consumption. This would be modernization from within and in-between. An Alternative Approach In 2009, the newly founded Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development began a long-term research project investigating the possibilities of double story urbanism, by activating local building materials, skills and the economic resources of An Ethiopian saying states that your next door neighbor is more important than a distant relative 3. Knowing your neighbor and sharing resources are substantial preconditions to building any society. Unfortunately, social ties usually decrease with growing wealth and its associated architectural representation. In this sense, the globalized high-rise typology appears to be a political as well as economic success story, whereby unique social and cul- the South. In our opinion, a low-rise environment could play an important role as part of the three-dimensional network of spaces necessary for such a development. The four typologies each focus on a special material or socio-political system. While the Sustainable Urban Dwelling Unit (SUDU) concentrates on loam as its major building material and introduces a ceiling and roof structure built in a vaulted geometry without using any formwork, the 30 31
The Sustainable Rural Dwelling Unit (SRDU) typology TO BE ABLE TO MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF BEING A CITY RESIDENT, FOR MANY NS TODAY, MEANS YOU HAVE TO FIND WAYS TO NOT CONSOLIDATE, TO NOT DEFEND, TO NOT HAVE YOUR SECURE LITTLE NICHE. AbdouMaliq Simone Urban Sociologist Sustainable Emerging City Unit (SECU) was constructed completely out of compressed straw panels. The Modular Urban Living Unit (MULU) took the idea to use disregarded shipping containers as the basic material for a whole neighborhood, a valid resource for the building industry in an import-oriented economy. Finally, the Sustainable Incremental Construction Unit (SICU) questions the role of the architect. The project provides only basic building elements such as foundations, structural two-story framing, a stair, a roof, and rudimental infrastructural access to fresh water and sewage or a septic tank. At this stage, the structure can be handed over to the client, who can decide to finish the house according to their specific needs and financial possibilities, leveraging their own networks of helpers, skills and material acquisitions. The house would grow with its owners, subject to official supervision to ensure compliance with rules concerning height, material choice, safety regulations and daylight exposure (for instance). The aim of the research project is to create an alternative approach to formal public housing schemes, allowing homeowners to identify with their immediate environment and avoid relocation from areas in which their families have resided for decades and where they can access economic opportunities and necessary social structures. At the same time, the project is also seeking to address rules and regulations that will guarantee safe and adequate structures, such as those controlling foundations, height, accessibility during emergencies, and either centralized or de-centralized energy and water services (possibly in neighborhood cooperatives). The project therefore spans the full responsibility of an architect, from mere construction, to also developing regulatory processes to guarantee the desired development of urban settlements without destroying the aspirations of inhabitants. Even more ambitiously, the project extends the responsibility to develop sociopolitical instruments for the provision of housing from governmental programs all the way to small and private investors. Providing incentives to private house builders and additional governmental agencies to construct small and easy to handle housing units could not only help the Grand Housing Development Program achieve its goals, but also shift the image of Addis Ababa back towards a heterogeneous structure. Diversification strategies should include support programs for alternative building materials, as well as new business and financial plans to activate public as well as private capital in a hybrid approach. 1 UN-HABITAT, The Ethiopia Case of Condominium Housing: The Integrated Housing Development Programme, 2010 (2011). 2 See Jan Fransen, Kassahun Samson and Meine Pieter van Dijk (eds), Formalization and Informalization Processes in Urban Ethiopia: Incorporating Informality (2010). 3 Felix Heisel and Bisrat Kifle, _Spaces Documentaries _ (2013) at http://www.spacesmovie. com 32 33
FREEDOM WOULD BE MEANINGLESS WITHOUT SECURITY IN THE HOME AND IN THE STREETS Nelson Mandela