Prior to Parikh’s improvements in Indore, nearly 30 percent of the slum houses were unfit for human habitation. Additionally, the city’s sewer system, installed in 1936, only served five percent of the population and ten percent of the city. All city sewage and solid waste were discharged into the Khan and Saraswati rivers, and most of the slum communities were organized on the banks of these two rivers. Parikh proposed a new infrastructure path for services like sewage, storm drainage, and water supply utilizing the natural river course. The program involved building gravity-based systems of sewage and storm drainage, the planting of gardens, and the surfacing of roads. In addition, 120 community halls were constructed for health, educational, and training activities. In structures such as these community halls, Parikh advocates for “mindful buildings,” based on simplicity, frugality, and multiplicity. The provision of these basic services had a profound effect on the city. Incidences of illness decreased noticeably, and incomes climbed by a third.

Through this work, Parikh has shown a reliable and relatively simple method for improving life in slums. Currently, Parikh spends most of his time in India on developmental work, teaching intermittently. 

We had a chance to speak with Himanshu on our podcast, Social Design Insights. Listen to the episode below.

The post Himanshu Parikh appeared first on Curry Stone Foundation.

In addition to their physical work, Urbz also endeavors to change the word ‘slum,’ and how it is received; ‘slums’ are not apocalyptic, crime-infested, disease-ridden sewers, but ‘homegrown neighborhoods’ that lack adequate infrastructure. The extent to which they lack such resources is often a case of deliberate political manipulation.

Urbz confronts the most daunting problem facing slums: the value of their real estate. Often, well-meaning city planners inspired to create ‘humane’ living conditions collaborate with profit-minded developers to execute the most common form of slum rehabilitation: level & relocate. Nowhere is the specter of this method more omnipresent than in Mumbai’s Dharavi – often misunderstood as Asia’s largest slum and home to somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people. 

Located near the center of Mumbai and surrounded by posh neighborhoods, Dharavi would be worth billions to private sector developers seeking to build new housing, malls, etc. The people of Dharavi, therefore, become a problem for developers and are seen as hindrances needing to be relocated for development to take place. Urbz is part of a vanguard seeking to help the residents of Dharavi by bringing recognition to the local construction practices and pushing back against the economic and political forces driving relocation. 

One such effort can be understood through the ‘homegrown street’ project, which recognizes the talent and skills of local builders in homegrown settlements by providing a space for showcasing their ideas and design imagination. Putting preconceptions aside and using an ethnographic lens that works with the language of architecture, the project explores the design imagination of local artisans who, day after day, build thousands of tiny houses that accommodate the multitude of low-wage workers sustaining the city’s service and manufacturing sectors.

The post Urbz appeared first on Curry Stone Foundation.

Now that cities have been established and developed, U-TT argues that it is time to depart from outdated, urban-centric, nineteenth and twentieth-century architectural models. Instead, the current focus of architecture should be using design to improve unbuilt environments. For example, in the twentieth century, organizing low-­income neighborhoods in vertical towers proved to be a general failure. Thus, U-TT has prompted an exploration into using the vertical to address dense slum conditions and urban neighborhoods. 

To residents of New York or Tokyo, the notion of building vertically is a familiar concept. However, in many slums/barrios/favelas around the world, builders lack the heavy equipment or capital to build vertically. U-TT approaches the use of verticality in a new light; residents are the organizers of their own space, and these spaces remain open to constant modification. By using new approaches to incorporate verticality into the redevelopment of unbuilt environments, it has the potential to become a tool for the community to create new spaces and open areas for new businesses, recreational facilities, and more.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, U-TT created an alternative teaching platform, called “Dis_Local”. The work is driven by the idea that good products and processes will only arise when the discourse that births them consists of both words and actions. 

In the past couple of years, U-TT has started to adapt to the new conditions post-COVID and to refocus on building a global practice, beginning with development projects in South America and expanding to South Africa, Uganda, Columbia, the USA, and Norway. 

We had the chance to have an amazing two ­part discussion with Alfredo and Hubert on our podcast, Social Design Insights. Listen to the episodes below.

The post Urban-Think Tank appeared first on Curry Stone Foundation.

Communities are no longer ‘beneficiaries’ of charity in the paradigm created by Goonj, but rather workers who are paid in a non-­monetary form of currency. Goonj’s work has also led to systematic changes in disaster relief and rehabilitation work across India, addressing taboo issues such as menstrual hygiene to reduce stigma and increase access.  

Goonj has established a culture and mechanism of sustained mindful giving, grounded in dignity and empathy, for vast stocks of everyday necessities. It collects underutilized urban materials (like clothes, books, kitchen items, etc.) and processes them, sorting, repairing, repurposing, cleaning, and carefully curating them into need-based socio-geographically appropriate family kits comprising items such as clothing, toys, utensils, footwear and more.

Goonj’s innovative approach has spread throughout 31 states/UTs in India and has handled over 13,000 tons of material in 21-22 FY. Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, Goonj escalated its urban and rural network to rapidly deliver more than 1 million family/relief kits between April 2020 and March 2022 to severely affected families in the most neglected communities, working with a strong on-ground partner network.

Anshu Gupta was awarded the Magsaysay Award for his work on transforming the culture of giving in India and for highlighting material as a sustainable development resource for the socioeconomically disadvantaged. He was listed in Forbes Magazine as one of India’s most powerful rural entrepreneurs. We had a chance to speak with Anshu about Goonj’s remarkable program on our podcast, Social Design Insights. Listen to the episode below.

The post Goonj appeared first on Curry Stone Foundation.

Himanshu Parikh discusses the evolution of cities and slums, and how a historicist read can lead us to new engineering innovations.

Himanshu Parikh is a Curry Stone Foundation Social Design Circle Honoree. Read more about it here.

The post 32 | Slum Networking, Explained. appeared first on Curry Stone Foundation.

Anshu Gupta of Goonj discusses his unique methodology for community development: clothes as currency.

Goonj is a Curry Stone Foundation Social Design Circle Honoree. Read more about it here.

The post 31 | Clothing, Currency and Community appeared first on Curry Stone Foundation.

Urban­-Think Tank is a Curry Stone Foundation Social Design Circle Honoree. Read more about it here.

The post 29-30 | The New Informal City, Part 1 & 2 appeared first on Curry Stone Foundation.