Highlighting conflict in dense urban settlements, designing at the micro level.
Urbanization in developing countries is marked by large increases in population and has consequences such as a sprawl. Delhi is a classic example of an urban sprawl caused primarily by population growth. Urbanized by default Delhi is home to large number of human settlements both urban and rural, many of them still passing through a transitional phase of rapid urbanization and physical expansion. Such ‘spaces’ are known to be as urban villages.
The question then arises on how to deal with such entities. How does one go about their development? How does one integrate them in the master planning process, or should one ? Other questions one would contemplate would be if we are using the right tools to access the problems faced by the residents of these villages and if our design paraphernalia should be customized to recognize and capture these issues. As a part of this thesis project I was privileged enough to explore these nuances and took up Khirki village as my site.As a space Khidki village is fascinating. The Socio-cultural and Demographic dynamism is very intriguing. The place is mix of people residing from different nationalities, Persian, Iranian, South African, Nepalese etc. This primarily happens due to the availability of cheap rent in the area. The result of such Dynamism brings about interesting spaces, I for one wanted to explore this concept further. Because of the intense mix of different socio- cultural entities Khidki has bought about new interests and hobbies, especially amongst the younger generations which also contribute to most of the existing population. In order to map and design for such diversity maybe a unique communication methodology could be adopted. Case in point: Videography. One can argue that as architects we conceptualize space in an omnipresent manner whereas a video format is more ‘in frame’. This approach is briefly displayed in this topic titled ‘The everyday of the production of space’.
Work produced as a part of Final Year Thesis titled 'The Everyday of the production of space' at University School of Architecture and Planning.(2014)
The above video theorizes on how we inherently treat conflict zones. With the help of a few residents, we managed to install a small bamboo installation which did nothing but highlight the space intended for use. The area was next to a garbage dump which residents usually complained for lack of cleanness yet the children of the village would occasionally play beside it nonetheless. Infact that the area had no purpose or no reason for it be kept clean and cleaning it once was just a knee-jerk reaction. The attempt was to formalize an informal space for it to be recognized and maintained by the residents of the community. This part of the video shows how children of the village made space on their own within the enclosure of the bamboo structure. gathering street furniture from nearby surroundings and board games from their homes.
The second part of the video highlights the first cut reaction to an intervention in dense urban scenarios. The scene shows how the village head or ‘sarpanch’ reacts to the intervention. Though hesitant about the success of the intervention at first, he later highlights the impending issues faced by the community at large, including issues of crime, maintenance, infrastructure and upkeep. Eventually however he also becomes a part of the design discussion in how to make the installation better thus highlighting community participation. The issue remains though that one must identify such challenges, properly document them and design in coherence with the residents of the community. Such scenarios are prevalent throughout the globe and are calling out for the need for intervention. As depicted at the end of the documentary my urge is for us now to do something about it.
"The idea was to design around the conflict rather than on it"
