URBIZEN

Village houses may be artists' delight, and cement structures in villages may look like incongruous ugly dots in a picturesque landscape. But while urbanites may feel that village houses should retain their traditional appearance - and therefore be made of wood, stone, mud etc. - villagers themselves are quick to point to the irony in this: the well-meaning urbanites themselves have long ago abandoned traditional housing! Low cost, aesthetics, preserving traditions, and living in climatically suitable houses are all fine notions, but the durability of homes is also an important consideration. A mud house with a thatched roof needs continuous maintenance, whereas a brick and cement house is far sturdier, and has a longer life span. And villagers are as interested in the longevity of their homes as their urban counterparts. But a traditional rural residence has important advantages - it is almost always based on adaptations to the local environment, and is often built with the labour...

This is one of the few web-sites dedicated to South Asian architecture and architects. Though in it's nascent stages of development, I think it holds the potential to be the spearhead of an oncoming change. Web-sites and resources like these are quite necessary and useful to make people aware about contemporary and future movements in the South Asian region. "LAYER finds its roots in diversity. It was born out of a common desire to launch a platform for interaction, exposure and participation of South Asian designers, at all stages to experience and share their ideologies, which will help evolve the present status quo. LAYER indulges in all aspects of design and art. The nature of exhibitions, curational strategies and publications, demands new interrogation and reconsideration. This is fueled by the fact that in recent years, worlds of art, architecture and design have outgrown their modes of representation and production, and have started to cannibalize neighboring discip...

This is a very good starting point for people who are interested in the super-adobe building system developed by architect Nader Khalili of CalEarth Institute. It is a two-page manual on how to build your own super-adobe shelter, complete with diagrams and photos. http://www.calearth.org/Emerg_files/KhaliliEmergShltr.pdf

Shigeru Ban is known for his achievements with paper: he is to paper what Le Corbusier was to concrete, or Norman Foster is to steel. The technique is simple, environment-friendly (being made from recycled paper), and inexpensive. The cardboard rolls that you see everywhere can be made to good use for temporary and semi-temporary shelters. But the idea of building with paper seems riddled with problems - it is flammable, vulnerable to water, weak and temporary, but Ban turns all these arguments upside down: "How long do you think concrete lasts? It has many problems and it's very difficult to replace or fix. If a paper tube is damaged it can be replaced by a new one. The lifespan of a building has nothing to do with the materials. It depends on what people do with it. If a building is loved, then it becomes permanent. When it is not loved, even a concrete building can be temporary. And the strength of the material has nothing to do with the strength of the building. It depend...

An article I read in SF Gate, led me to think about innovations in disaster relief shelters and their actual practical usability within the context of culture, politics and economy. How does theoretical architectural innovation in diasater relief shelter fit in with the realities of the situation, with political will, and above all, peoples need? Architects, engineers and designers have spent years bent over their drawing boards trying to come up with the most ideal solution for providing shelters for a people left homeless in a diaster (natural or unnatural). But somehow the results don't justify the hours and years spent by a people considered the most creative. "As many experts on emergency housing have pointed out, temporary post-disaster communities often put down roots and stick around. From the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro to Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, decent temporary structures often end up functioning as woefully inadequate permanent dwellings that sometime...

A new report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme warns world governments of a worsening urban housing crisis if they cannot come up with the money to build 96,150 houses per day for an additional 2 billion city-dwellers by 2030. Continue reading ...

This is an appeal from "Architecture for Humanity": "On October 8th a 7.6 magnitude earthquake rocked the region near Kashmir, less than 65 miles from Islamabad, Pakistan. Three major cities were completely destroyed: Muzaffarabad, Mansehra, Balakot and hundreds of villages are still unreachable by the rescue teams. The death toll currently stands at 41,000, with over 70,000 injured. An estimated 3.3 million who have lost their homes. There are critical concerns that the lack of treatment for many of those injured, combined with shortage of water and sanitation facilities will lead to increased fatalities. The area that was hit is quite mountainous, difficult to reach and in less than three weeks the typical harsh and cold winter will descend on the region. The real need is not only in relief and recovery but the transitional and long term shelter needs of those displaced - shelter that must be earthquake resistant for the future. Many more will die due to inadequate pro...

These shelter boxes have been sponsored by Rotary International and contain the basic tools needed to survive in a disaster region, a rugged 10 person tent, 10 sleeping bags, shovels, medicine box, cooking aids. Visit: http://www.shelterbox.org/f_intro.html

ITDG - Intermediate Technology Development Group has released a technical brief on earthquake housing. Click here to view the Technical Brief . For more information on other services provided by ITDG visit: http://www.itdg.org/

The UN-HABITAT has come out with it's latest Disaster Management Report. And important part of the report is the tools prescribed by the UN. These tools seek to help develop practical applications for broader concerns in settlements crisis management. They look at issues such as gender, land tenure and sustainable development and work to equip practitioners at all levels - in the international system, in national and local government and in civil society - to implement programmes in post conflict and disaster settings that promote the broader aim of sustainable relief. The link: http://www.unhabitat.org/programmes/rdmu/tools.asp

Shabbir Kazmi of "Project Lifeline" is initiating an effort to provide drinking water and water for sanitation in creative ways. Old shipment containers are being refurbished to transport and supply water to the disaster prone areas. To find out more about "Project Lifeline" and ways to help, visit: www.project-lifeline.org/

Builders Without Borders is an organization that can prove very effective in disaster housing through their technology, resources, training and volunteers. "We are an international network of ecological builders who form partnerships with communities and organizations around the world to create affordable housing from local materials and to work together for a sustainable future. We believe the solution to homelessness is not merely housing, but a local population trained to provide housing for themselves." Housing is a human right - yet increasing numbers of people are homeless, due to war and environmental disasters. In Kosovo alone, an estimated 100,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, while recent flooding in Vietnam has left 2 million homeless. After initial disaster relief, longer-term solutions such as transitional housing are required, as well as the restoration or replacement of homes in devastated areas. Permanent housing is also needed for the chronically underhou...

A new report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme warns that unless governments around the world take action the world faces a massive urban crisis as housing shortages could lead to mega-slums. According to "recent estimates, more than two billion people would be added to the number of city dwellers in developing countries by 2030. To meet the needs of that additional population, some 35 million new housing units would have to be built every year for the next 25 years. "But unless adequate financial resources are invested in the development of urban shelter and services, including clean water and sanitation, billions of people will be trapped in poverty, deplorable housing conditions, poor health and low productivity, making today's enormous slum challenge even greater." Full article here: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0914-03.htm

By Abheek BaruaSeptember 05, 2005 Life gets evermore surreal in this city. Two buildings have collapsed over the last fortnight in the heart of the city, killing more than 10 people. One had been certified as being perfectly safe by civic authorities some days before its implosion. To be fair, the authorities had warned of the precarious conditions of the other building but residents did not bother to vacate. The price per square feet of floor space in these neighbourhoods (dotted with buildings of similar vintage and decrepitude) is apparently between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,500, a price that up-market localities in Delhi or Bangalore would fetch. These disasters come in the wake of the deluge of July 26 and its aftermath. The devastation that the tsunami-like waves that flooded the northern suburbs had started, rat droppings carried forward. Hospitals were spilling over with leptospirosis patients, a disease the transmitted from rats to humans as they came into contact with rat faeces, wad...

NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON URBAN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AND SPACE FOR THE POOR October 15,16 2005 Mumbai MASSIVE RALLY ON OCTOBER 17TH IN MUMBAI Dear Friends,Greetings! The recent massive demolitions in Mumbai and the struggles all over have brought the issues of displacement & destitutionalisation in the name of urban development and renewal, again to the forefront. This process is not limited to Mumbai alone but has been fast spreading to all other metros, medium cities and towns. The denial of space for the poor and the massive violations of human rights have led to deprivation not only of shelter but also of services and livelihood, which has necessitated an in-depth sharing of ideologies and perspectives, strategy & experience, as well as an alliance building across the country. It is in this context that a NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON 'URBAN DEVELOPMENTAL PLANNING AND SPACE FOR THE POOR' is being organised in Mumbai on the 15th & 16th October 2005. A massive ral...

Hassan Fathy was a remarkable man: artist, antiquarian and social reformer to the world's poor. He was slightly built and enveloped by an air of virtuousness, projecting the intellectual vigour, tranquillity and inner calm reserved for the elect. These qualities, accompanied by a twinkle in his eye and a willingness to listen, made him a favourite of students, who responded to him with warmth and humour, and vied for his attention. Fathy's architectural and social ideas were based at first upon his colonial education, and only later moulded by a deep knowledge of his country's long history and in particular its architecture, which had often been controlled by mathematics and mystical geometries. Six general principles guided him throughout his career: the primacy of human values in architecture; the importance of a universal approach; the use of appropriate technology; the need for socially oriented, co-operative construction techniques; the essential role of tradition; and...

Currently I am involved in a project, with Hidaya Foundation , for designing and constructing low-cost housing for the victims of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. As a non-profit organization founded in 1999, Hidaya Foundation has undertaken a mission to implement educational, social welfare, and charitable projects in economically depressed areas of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, USA and Canada. The project involves designing, training and construction of houses for widows and orphans in the regions affected by the disaster. The idea is not only to build structures, but to build communities that are self-sufficient and sustainable. The main principles will be: 1. Use of local materials 2. Use of local labor 3. Training of locals in sustainable building technologies 4. Constructing communities that the people living there can associate themselves with 5. Managing within a very low budget The idea is to involve dedicated and willing volunteers who will learn the technology and train the l...

Ralegaon Siddhi, a success story –In 1975, when Anna Hazare, a retired army man, went back to his village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, he found the village reeling under drought, poverty, debt, and unemployment. He decided to mobilize the people and, with the collective support of all the villagers, he began to introduce changes. Today Ralegaon Siddhi is being taken as a role model for other villages by the Maharashtra government and by other states too. Massive tree plantation has been undertaken, and hills have been terraced to check erosion. Large canals with ridges on either side have been dug to retain rainwater. As a result, the water table in this area is now considerably higher and the wells and tube wells are never dry, making it possible to raise three crops a year where only one was possible before. The village's biggest achievement is undoubtedly in the area of non-conventional energy. All the streets in the village are lit by solar lights, each with a separate ...

The Global Ecovillage Network is a global confederation of people and communities that meet and share their ideas, exchange technologies, develop cultural and educational exchanges, directories and newsletters, and are dedicated to restoring the land and living "sustainable plus" lives by putting more back into the environment than we take out. Network members include large networks like Sarvodaya (11,000 sustainable villages in Sri Lanka); EcoYoff and Colufifa (350 villages in Senegal); the Ladakh project on the Tibetian plateau; ecotowns like Auroville in South India, the Federation of Damanhur in Italy and Nimbin in Australia; small rural ecovillages like Gaia Asociación in Argentina and Huehuecoyotl, Mexico; urban rejuvenation projects like Los Angeles EcoVillage and Christiania in Copenhagen; permaculture design sites such as Crystal Waters, Australia, Cochabamba, Bolivia and Barus, Brazil; and educational centres such as Findhorn in Scotland, Centre for Alternative Tech...

The global need for housing includes millions refugees and displaced persons – victims of natural disasters and wars. Iranian architect Nader Khalili believes that this need can be addressed only by using the potential of earth construction. After extensive research into vernacular earth building methods in Iran, followed by detailed prototyping, he has developed the sandbag or ‘superadobe’ system. The basic construction technique involves filling sandbags with earth and laying them in courses in a circular plan. The circular courses are corbelled near the top to form a dome. Barbed wire is laid between courses to prevent the sandbags from shifting and to provide earthquake resistance. Hence the materials of war – sandbags and barbed wire – are used for peaceful ends, integrating traditional earth architecture with contemporary global safety requirements. The system employs the timeless forms of arches, domes and vaults to create single and double-curvature shell structures that are bo...