Papers
Learning From Favelas: the poetics of users' autonomous production of spaces and the non-ethics of architectural interventions
Ana Paula Baltazar and Silke Kapp MOM (Morar de Outras Maneiras), September, 2007 [link] |
"This paper introduces the spontaneous, dynamic and autonomous process of production of the space of Brazilian favelas. It first draws a distinction between favela and its usual English translation-shantytown or slum-, emphasising the informal and autonomous process of its production. Then, it discusses the usual institutional interventions by the Government, Academy and NGOs, designed by architects and urbanists, which completely ignore the dynamic and autonomous logic of the space of favelas. The article concludes with a provocative proposal for architects to learn from favelas instead of imposing their traditional processes and products on them, which is illustrated by the `interface of spatiality' designed by the research group MOM (Morar de Outras Maneiras)."
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The Ingenuity Gap: Can poor countries adapt to resource scarcity?
Thomas Homer-Dixon University of Toronto Population and Development Review, Volume 21, #3 September 1995, pp. 587-612 [link] |
"As human population and material consumption increase in coming decades, scarcities of natural resources will increase in some regions. Will societies be able to adapt? The present article builds on three key insights derived, in part, from "new growth theory" in economics. First, ideas are a factor of economic production; second, not only can ideas for new technologies contribute to production, so can ideas for new and reformed institutions; and, third, the generation and dissemination of productive ideas is endogenous, not just to the economic system, but also to the broader social system that includes a society's politics and culture. The article argues, therefore, that to understand the determinants of social adaptation to scarcity, analysts should focus on the society's ability to supply enough ideas, or 'ingenuity.'"
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Planned City Extensions: Analysis of Historical Examples
United Nations Human Settlements UN-Habitat 2015 [link] |
"This document, through the analysis of ten existing cities, draws lessons that can be useful for future urbanization. The cities presented are apparently very different: they are in developed or developing countries; they were been built in the 17th or 20th centuries; they are neighbourhoods or complete cities; they house the rich and the poor. However, they also have common aspects that serve to define and explain an approach that can guide future urbanization so as to generate cities that are sustainable, socially inclusive, and economically viable."
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"While working with local slum dwellers, a group of architects from the University of Buenos Aires found there was a dearth of material on how best to develop a self-built community, as well as of sources outlining local codes, agencies, and basic rights for inhabitants. The university’s Secretariat of Community Action, formed to strengthen ties with the community through projects, training, advisement, and field work, designed a fully illustrated and annotated Urbanism Manual for Precarious Settlements. Distributed for free, the manual is a compilation of urban, legal, and other invaluable tools to create a healthy, adequate urban environment."
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The Construction of Home in the Informal City
Peter Kellett Critical Studies, Transculturation. Cities, Spaces and Architectures in Latin America. Edited by Felipe Hernández, Mark Millington and Iain Borden, pp. 22-42(21) Rodopi, 2005 |
"Although there is considerable diversity between settlements, most share three key characteristics. Firstly, these environments are conceived and constructed by the occupants themselves independently of external controls or professional advice; secondly, occupation and construction frequently take place simultaneously; and thirdly, such places are usually in a process of dynamic change and demonstrate considerable ingenuity and creativity within limited resource constraints...Far from the common image of inadequate, chaotically organised places it will be argued that these environments respond to clear, culturally embedded ideas about how cities and dwellings should be configured."
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The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements
United Nations Human Settlements UN-HABITAT 2003 [link] |
"The Challenge of Slums presents the first global assessment of slums, emphasizing their problems and prospects. It presents estimates of the numbers of urban slum dwellers and examines the factors that underlie the formation of slums, as well as their social, spatial and economic characteristics and dynamics. It also evaluates the principal policy responses to the slum challenge of the last few decades. The report argues that the number of slum dwellers is growing and will continue to increase unless there is serious and concerted action by all relevant stakeholders."
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SLUM Lab: Informational Toolbox
Urban Think-Tank & SEHAB Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning & Preservation 2008 [link] |
"This book documents part of an evolving conversation between S.L.U.M. Lab researchers, governmental organizations engaged in upgrading, human rights activists and academic institutions. This publication was produced in cooperation with the prestigious Sao Paolo Housing Secretariat SEHAB and Urban-Think Tank to present a catalog of projects that work as a toolbox of ideas, with the aim of integrating precarious communities and the formal city through urban and land regulation, access to infrastructure and improvement in environmental, habitability and health conditions."
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Architecture as Instruction: Paradigmatic Interventions in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro
Janeiro Noah Zaccaglini Senior Capstone Project, Vassar College 2013 [link] |
"The purpose of this project is to explore architectural and design related interventions as a
way of both integrating favelas into the formal city and improving quality of life. This design
experiments with the idea of informal architecture as illustrated in the introduction, as well as the
idea of extremely dense informal urban spaces. The design attempts to meld these two into the
existing framework of favela development and contemporary state actions and programs in a
way that is realistic and potentially feasible."
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Snakes in Utopia: A Brief History of Sustainability
Brian Edwards, Chrisna du Plessis Architectural Design; 71; 8-9 Green Architecture 2001 |
Social sustainability: creating places and participatory processes that perform well for people
Natasha Palich, Angelique Edmonds Environment Design Guide 2013 [link] |
Social sustainability is about ensuring the sustenance of the diverse social relations that exist in healthy communities. Creating the physical, cultural and social places that support well-being and a sense of community involves a process of engagement with the people who inhabit those places.
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Squatter settlements: Their sustainability, architectural contributions, and socio-economic roles
Cedric Pugh Sheffield Hallam University, School of Urban and Regional Studies, UK 2000 [link] |
"In terms of wide-scale human welfare and sustainability, the conditions of life in urban squatter settlements have enormous significance. They comprise some 30-70% of the housing stock in many cities and towns in developing countries. Their scale is attributed to the inadequacies of housing finance systems and land development, along with the pressing realities of demographic growth and mass poverty."
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"It will be difficult to meet the extraordinary challenges that our urban areas face as a result of the massive population shift from villages to cities. We need to plan for transformative change, include people in the planning, and educate for urban complexity. The projects included in Design with the Other 90%: Cities explore new social, spatial and economic structures. It is critical we find ways to share information — the urban success stories, the efforts to implement and sustain promising initiatives and their impacts over time."
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Articles
“Sustainable Urban Design: lessons to be taken from slums”
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Tim Smedley The Guardian, 2013 |
"How Innovations from Developing Nations Trickle-up to the West"
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Michael Fitzgerald Fast Company, 2009 |
"Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't: What is the Moral Duty of the Architect?"
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Charlotte Skene Catling The Architectural Review, 2014 |
“Architecture Must Be Defended: Informality and The Agency of Space”
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Camillo Boano Open Security, 24 April 2013 |
“The White-Savior Industrial Complex”
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"Over Innovation Makes U.S Firms Suck at Sustainability"
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Jens Martin Skibsted Fast Company, 2014 |
"The Social Factor in Sustainable Architecture"
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"Social sustainability: the “how” of human experience"
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Angelique Edmonds ArchitectureA, 2013 |
"Learning from Cairo: What Informal Settlements Can (and Should) Teach Us"
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"Learning From Favelas"
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Anna Foppiano Abitare, 2012 |