Journal of Architecture

Placemaking through Transformation and Adaptation within Informal Settlements

2020-05-31T12:11:41+01:00

Ershadnagar Resettlement Camp is an existing peri-urban informal settlement located at Tongi, Dhaka which has undergone a transformation process in the past 43 years. Dhaka - the most densely populated city of the world, has always been under extreme pressure to accommodate its ever-increasing number of slum dwellers. This almost 100-acre Ershadnagar resettlement camp had been a government initiative to house the evicted illegal slum dwellers as a part of ‘Dhaka Clean’ project in 1975. From inner Dhaka city, the evicted homeless population was relocated to the vacant land of this resettlement camp without any amenities or shelter provision. Since then, the camp dwellers have gradually developed themselves into a community with helps from government and non-government organisations. Yet major parts of this settlement still suffer from tenure insecurity, dilapidated housing conditions, lack of formal supply of basic infrastructure and services. Therefore, it can be considered as a slum except for some small parts that discretely achieved better living conditions. Although, the word ‘slum’ has derogatory notions attached to it, this paper discusses how the camp area has gained the attributes of a ‘place’ through the transformation and adaptation process of ‘Placemaking’ despite being a slum. Here, both the informal struggles of people and formal organisational initiatives are equally valid. Through the theoretical lens of place and Placemaking, this paper highlights qualitative data regarding the socio-cultural complexity of slums rather than statistical data. From field survey, interviews of inhabitants and development workers and available secondary data; the Placemaking process has been investigated both at the community and household level. While the process of ‘Placemaking’ is observed, the lack of tenure has been identified as a negative catalyst in the process.

Challenges of Upgrading Urban Informal Settlements for Improving Quality of Life

2020-05-31T12:06:17+01:00

There remains a severe scarcity of urban housing for the poor, which are sufficient, safe, and affordable, and assures a good living environment. In today’s global context, this is particularly relevant for 330 million urban households which would increase to 440 million, or approximately 1.6 billion people by 2025. This study aims to identify the challenges resulting from participatory slum upgradation projects that have attempted to improve the quality of life in an informal settlement, in this case, the Rupsha slum in Khulna, Bangladesh. The fieldwork focused on accumulating information on existing threats and challenges regarding the socio-economic and spatial contexts, living condition, local building process based on indigenous adaptive measures, and upgrading scopes of the settlements. On the other hand, the secondary data obtained from literature review focused on relevant policies and frameworks. As found, housing condition in the study area is dismal, leading to poor quality of life in terms of ownership, dwelling condition, health and hygiene, utility services, spatial negotiation etc. This paper proposes Quality of Life (QoL) framework as a means of addressing these challenges by adopting a participatory approach to up-gradation of informal settlements.

Dwelling Unit Prototypes for Rural Bangladesh

2020-05-31T12:04:09+01:00

Almost eighty one percent (81%) of the housing stock in Bangladesh is in the rural areas, of which sixty nine percent (69%) are of informal sector construction. Because of its geographical location, the traditional housing stocks are vulnerable to periodic flooding, cyclone, and other natural disasters, including riverbank erosion. These houses built with organic materials and metal sheets are vulnerable to natural disasters and agents of decay. Comparatively resilient housing stock for the large rural population is a precondition to the growth and improvement of the socio-economic conditions of the people. With the introduction of Modern lifestyle amenities (television, radio, electric lighting and mobile telephone) in the rural areas, the demand for electricity has risen for which neither the informal energy technologies on which these households have traditionally relied upon, nor the rural energy supply from the national grid appeared to be adequate. The health and sanitation conditions of the traditional homesteads, in many cases, are inadequate and have scope for improvement. This study was undertaken under a Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) project where six (6) dwelling prototypes were developed to address these challenges with the objective that these prototypes could be replicated in the rural settings on a larger scale. Of the six (6) units designed, four(4) are discussed in this paper. The general improvements proposed in these prototypes were divided into three categories – constructional improvement for better resilience, supplementary energy technologies to meet growing energy demand and improved health and sanitation of the occupants.

Storytelling and Built Environment

2020-05-31T12:00:25+01:00

Stories are the things that make us human. Stories help us devise better paths for the good of our society by generating interest, understanding community needs, improving communication and interaction, and ultimately empowering people with knowledge and wisdom. Storytelling is generally human-centric. On the other hand, built environment is crafted to cater to human requirements and inevitably involves human interaction. Thus, the built environment shaping storytelling is expected to be related to human factors. A study is required to analyze how the built spaces shape the human emotions and thus, enriching the human experience. This particular paper aims at discovering the relationship between sociological concept of storytelling and built environment of architecture. It can be achieved by translating the intangible expressions and perceptions that a story creates on our minds into tangible form through creating spatial experience and providing a sense of place. The argument of the research is that this relationship between storytelling and architecture is established by three parameters – Knowledge Appreciation, Transformation and Hermeneutics which can be compared to both the contexts of storytelling and architecture. Besides, the uniqueness of the paper resides in defining the methodology that is not only significant in architectural pedagogy, but also very crucial in the practical field.