2.2.3 Ground Floor Elements used on ground level directly affect slab’s front-back orientation and also the characteristics of areas at the front and back. Serialized maisonettes on ground floor define the characteristics of the outdoor environment and give room for prospective knowledge clusters in case they are used as live-work units. 3. IT TAKES ONLY ONE BRIDGE While implementing these tests on site, the ambition is not to be disruptive to the community. Phasing the project in order to efficiently relocate the affected people becomes extremely crucial in this regard. Zeca Island stands out to be the most preferred location to initiate the development of new housing in phase one. Once it is realised and people from the dilapidated areas are moved to Zeca Island, land can be opened up within the Coque community for further interventions. Hence, to support the strategy of housing, building new infrastructure in the form of bridges holds the key. Improving existing transportation infrastructure and enhancing the connectivity of local mobility system for pedestrian, bicycles and vehicular movement in the city’s centre by new bridges can improve connectivity in a larger scale, between different parts of the city. In relation to this, the proposal promotes the formation of a sequence of bridges at four locations. This sequence would not only be instrumental in phasing of the project but also provide connectivity to and from the site which currently stands disconnected due to the presence of estuaries. But, for the reasons explained earlier, this sequence needs to start with the bridge to Zeca Island followed by the others. 3.1 INFRASTRUCTURE OF TRANSFORMATION The proposal includes four bridges of different scales. Two bridges connecting Zeca Island; a vehicular and a pedestrian bridge. The vehicular bridge will allow better connectivity to and from the area. The pedestrian bridge will offer a connection between the Coque community and future development of housings in the centre of Zeca Island while introducing educational centre for sustainability and the protection of the natural ecology in the south part of the island. Two other bridges – one for cyclists and another small scale vehicular bridge would allow better connectivity to the centre of the city and the bio-medical cluster. These connections might enable the extension of the bio-medical cluster to the south area and introduce new options for employment for the community. 4. SEQUENCE OF DEVELOPMENT RATIONALE: The project will be financed by the Federal government of Brazil via Minha Casa Minha Vida programme. Besides social housing, communal facilities and environmental education centre have also been proposed. The state alone cannot bear the expenditure for all this development as it will over burden the government treasury and hence would need the private investors to contribute. Thus, along with causing minimum disruption to the community and improving connectivity to the city, one of the most crucial factors is to encourage private sector participation. Therefore the first step is to build the vehicular bridge to Zeca Island. It will represent the commitment of the local government to bring about an urban transformation in this area. This will automatically catch the attention of the private sector and encourage them to invest in this project. Also, Zeca Island stands out as the closest option to relocate people from the precarious housing settlement in Coque. Instead of pushing the disadvantaged population to the peripheral land, Zeca Island allows them to be in the city centre - close to their jobs and other social and cultural amenities. The next step is to develop the land that will be freed-up inside the Coque with the help of private developers. But the challenge here would be to guide them in creating a social mix instead of building high-income housing enclaves without any kind of urbanity. For this, we suggest the Federal Government (land is a ZEIS and belongs to federal government) with co-operation from the local government should provide strategic guidelines to the private investors and ensure that they abide by the rules. The tests that we've done can help the government in framing these guidelines. Further, a civic spine must be built on the other part of the site which again accommodates housing in a precarious condition. This spine will reinforce and improve the civic life in the neighbourhood and attract more private investors to invest in Coque. The challenge of financing the construction of these non-profit making facilities can be addressed through the surplus gained from the development in Coque. Lastly, eastern waterfront becomes a good location to place businesses due to its rich connectivity - the metro station, the main vehicular arteries, and proposed river bus station - and is also in a close proximity to the bio-medical and ICT clusters. These businesses will help in productively opening up the Coque to the The city. The aim is not to create isolated ghettos like the existing Forum but to encourage mixed service ecologies to flourish in this area. The prospective businesses will be well-supported by the housing built in the Coque region, as it would provide homes to the qualif ied employees working in these service industries to the unskilled labour engaged in activities serving them. The sequence: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Zeca Island Housing strategy in Coque The civic centre The development of eastern water front