LEARNING FROM THE INFORMAL CITY:
How Socio-Spatial Hybridity may facilitate housing opportunities for the poor within the Formal City
LEARNING FROM THE INFORMAL CITY: How Socio Spatial Hybridity may facilitate housing opportunities for the poor within the Formal City.
South Africa has been witness to some of the most imbalanced distribution of land and wealth in the world, having been subject both to colonialism and apartheid, resulting in the inherited social justice crisis we are attempting to solve today. The inequality within our society is manifested through a number of channels, such as social, economic and spatial. For the extent this paper, I will limit the exploration to a socio spatial spectrum, that is, the result which spatial dynamics have on a social scale. The extent of poor spatial equality can be observed through the duality of the Informal and Formal city, as described by Rahul Mehrotra, which will be further explained and challenged1. As explained by Alejandro Aravena, in his lecture at the Future is New Forum, the starting point, when attempting to solve any issue, is not with a blank paper and ink, but rather with asking the correct question2. Thus, the question which this paper aims to answer is the following: how may socio spatial hybridity facilitate housing opportunities for the poor within the Formal city?
In beginning to tackle this question, it’s crucial to understand what exactly it is asking. Thus, I will start with unpacking every element of the question, followed by research of the recent social housing Prospectus released by the City of Cape Town, as well as Alejandro Aravena’s Incremental Housing project in Chile.
Socio Spatial perspective refers to the manner in which social structure and the built infrastructure interact with one another on an urban scale3. Thus, the manner in which the latter responds to the former, suggests its degree of efficiency on both levels. When observing the socio spatial fabric of the cityscape, one may distinguish between that of the city centers in comparison to that of the peripheral nodes. Specifically, when looking at Cape Town’s socio-spatial fabric, as an example out of the many cities which face social injustices, the disparity between quality of life
1 Rahul Mehrotra. “Foreword”. In Rethinking the Informal City, edited by Felipe Hernández, Peter Kellett and Lea K. Allen (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010), xi
2 Aravena, Alejandro. “Infrastructure”. Keynote Speaker, Future is Now Forum by Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, June 1, 2017.
3 W. Soja, Edward, “The Socio Spatial Dialectic”, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 70, Iss. 2, (1980).
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal Citychanges drastically in proportion to the distance from the city center. When observing it in a binary manner, one may distinguish the two types of socio spatial situations as ‘Formal’ and ‘Informal’4 .
As explained by Felipe Hernandez and Peter Kellett:
In theory, the term ‘formal’ is taken to represent the ordered city in terms of urban and architectural shape […] while the ‘informal’ is understood as the opposite: the shapeless areas of the city where economic and socio-political structures are particularly unstable.5
Thus, a clear distinction is prescribed between that which is present in the city centers, the designed, built up, economy driven Formal city; and the temporal, recycled, necessity driven Informal city. Following on from this, Rahul Mehrotra expands on the two in a more descriptive manner. The Formal can be understood as that which is static, permanent, a ‘two dimensional’ entity. In contrast, the Informal is seen as kinetic, ‘a city in motion’, an incremental three dimensional construct, constantly reinventing itself to suit its environment. The kinetic city is therefore informed by a local logic, an urbanism which happens as a direct response to its surroundings, as opposed to the result of ink on paper, which allows for a much richer sensibility of spaces6. However, the schizophrenic nature of our contemporary city contradicts this distinct detachment between the two. The presence of the kinetic within the walls of the Formal city is clearly visible by the street vendors, festivals and dwellers7. This, a
Figure 1 Comparison between Informal and Formal settlements in Khayelitsha. Edited by Author. Photograph by Johnny Miller.
4 Felipe Hernández and Peter Kellett. “Introduction: Reimagining the Informal in Latin America”. In Rethinking the Informal City, edited by Felipe Hernández, Peter Kellett and Lea K. Allen (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010), 1.
5 Ibid.
6 Rahul Mehrotra. “Foreword”. In Rethinking the Informal City, edited by Felipe Hernández, Peter Kellett and Lea K. Allen (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010), xi.
7 Ibid, xiii.
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal City
spatial response to social needs in society. Thus, the construct of socio spatial hybridity comes into being, making use of the term hybridity, as explained by Bhabha as
Hybridity is no longer the sign of the ‘inappropriate’ which implies the existence of a prior, original and pure culture, but a sign of cultural productivity which undermines the ideas of both originality and purity.8
This definition of hybridity completely dismisses the binary idea of two items coming together to make a third one, but rather understands it as a construct of an ever mutating and adjusting situation, as affected by its circumstances. In the case of socio-spatial hybridity, the spatial characteristics of a place mutate as a result of the surrounding social circumstances9 For example, on a small scale, demand for groceries in a community may result in the opening of a corner store, whilst on a larger scale, increasing population rates result in the need for more housing. However, socio spatial hybridity goes both ways, as, in the same way that social circumstances have physical spatial effects, spaces have effect on social circumstances. A space which is conducive to learning, such as a library, creates opportunities for people, the same way successful public spaces allow for social interactions. Thus, when looking at the spatial justice issue which is ever present in Cape Town and its surrounds, we are not simply looking at physical space, but at the social effects it has on its environment.
Cape Town is still witness to the inherited spatial segregation that came about from apartheid. Forcibly removed from their previous homes closer to the economic center, black and colored people were relocated to external settlements further out. Far from economic opportunities, people are reduced to wasting approximately 50% of their income for transport, in order to be given similar work opportunities to those who live in the center. As a result of increasingly steep urbanization, the rising population rate and the lack of provision of formal housing structures for the masses, people have had to resort to building their own ‘informal’ shacks out of recycled
8 Felipe Hernández, Bhabha for Architects (London: Routeledge, 2010), 68.
9 Ibid.
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal CityFigure 2 Maps showing Monthly Income, Race and Density in the greater Cape Town area. Edited by Author.
materials. As previously explained, the kinetic quality of this type of spatial occupation stems from a local logic which is directly influenced by the immediate surroundings, and thus directly responds to the needs of the people, acting as a survival strategy10. This densely knitted urban pattern is thus a spatially efficient example of physical occupation at both a residential and urban scale, disregarding the quality of life. When observing the difference in spatial occupation in Cape Town and its surrounds, it’s crucial to not only look at the numbers, in terms of spatial density, but at the income bracket of those specific places, as well as the people who lives there. Thus, below are three maps, two of which are form 2011, and the density one from 2015, showing the correlation between race, income and density in the area.
From these maps it is evident that the areas which are predominantly black inhabited tend to also be the areas with a denser population, with over 3000 inhabitants per km2, as well as being within the lower income bracket, ranging from the minimum to R19 600 per month. In actual fact, these areas are the townships, the biggest one being Khayelitsha. As a result of this urban condition, people have
10 Rahul Mehrotra. “Foreword”. In Rethinking the Informal City, edited by Felipe Hernández, Peter Kellett and Lea K. Allen (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010), xiii.
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal Cityfound themselves in economic circumstances which they struggle to get out of. For this reason, it’s crucial that the City of Cape Town result to measures which facilitate the opportunity for economic prosperity for people that, as a result of apartheid, are currently marginalized from such opportunities.
Thus, the question comes into being how can we learn from the local logic of the kinetic city in order to provide better opportunities for the marginalized within society, with the use of socio-spatial hybridity to facilitate better housing opportunities in proximity to the economic centre?
The first step in learning from the kinetic city is in recognising its value. The temporal aspect of it is a result of its necessity driven production, which, as a consequence, begins to form the basis of a sustainable urban scheme, as a reaction to its immediate environment. The main issue which one finds when looking at the urban fabric within the city centre and its immediate surrounds, such as Woodstock, is the presence of gentrification. The money being spent by private investors as well as from the City to improve areas of the city is directly correlated to gentrification and the increase in living costs in the given area. Thus, any new housing scheme implemented is followed by a parabolic increase in property value, thus excluding those who are within a lower income bracket. In order to mitigate the effects of gentrification, Margarita Greene and Eduardo Rojas, in their essay Housing for the Poor in the City Centre, explain three approaches which the government may adopt to counter the effects of gentrification. The first assumes the goodwill of private investors to provide low cost housing without the monetary benefits which they would get from an otherwise straightforward residential investment. The second approach asks of developers to put aside a portion of their investment for social housing, maintaining a portion at standard market price, in order to generate the profits necessary to run the development. The third requires the financial input on behalf of the government in order to subsidise housing for those within a specific income bracket11. All three of these approaches are rehabilitation programmes which
11 Margarita Greene and Eduardo Rojas. “Housing for the Poor in the City Centre: A Review of the Chilean Experience and a Challenge for Incremental Design”. In Rethinking the Informal City, edited by Felipe Hernández, Peter Kellett and Lea K. Allen (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010), 101.
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal City
attempt to target the socio spatial fabric of the city. Aside from the strategies which the City of Cape Town has implemented in the past, in September 2017 they released an Affordable Housing Prospectus with developments based in Woodstock, Salt River and the Inner City12.
The City of Cape Town, in collaboration with the city’s Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA), in an attempt to solve the spatial inequality issue, foresees a transit orientated development (TOD) of residential areas in strategic locations, close to transport corridors and nodes. The city has made available 11 sites, 5 of which are to be used for affordable housing, with a main focus on social housing, 3 are for Social Housing Institutions, 1 is allocated for future social housing, and the remaining 2 are to be developed for transitional housing13
Figure 3 Map Showing location of available sites for Affordable Housing Prospectus.
With a strict set of requirements laid out within the Prospectus, developers are now able to bid for each of the sites until January 2018, when the Bid Evaluation
12 City of Cape Town and The City of Cape Town’s Transport and Urban Development Authority. Woodstock, Salt River and Inner City Precinct Affordable Housing Prospectus, no author. Cape Town, 2017.
13 Ibid.
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal CityCommittee will eventually award each site to the respectful successful proposals. What makes this Prospectus unique and innovative is the guidelines that have been laid out for the designers and developers of criteria which needs to be met. These design parameters include the maximisation of social housing units within the required income bracket, with a minimum number specified for each site, innovative design in order to allow the integration of mixed income communities, with emphasis added to mixed use developments. Furthermore, there is a highlight on sustainable design, both in terms of green technologies, as well as long-term financial sustainability, to ensure the feasibility of the success of the development, over a minimum predicted 30 year period14 Each individual proposal will be scored according to the prescribed requirements, with preference given to those which go beyond the minimal requirements, to insure the most successful and innovative strategies. What is imperative in all strategies is that they focus on maximising urban efficiency, social equality and economic development, primarily for those who currently are at a disadvantage with regards to such opportunities. Thus, it’s crucial that denser developments materialise closer to the important transport nodes and corridors. It is estimated that this Prospectus will be able to bring in approximately 4000 housing opportunities within the prescribed sites15.
The issue which arises from this Prospectus is the possible approaches to the design which individual bidders may take. Due to the fact the City of Cape Town has not prescribed any design guidelines, but has rather left the developers and designers complete freedom, has both its pros and cons. Although it allows for innovative design strategies, there is the possibility that private developers will be quantity led, as opposed to quality led. The issue which we see all over the world with unsuccessful social housing is that it doesn’t address the local and the individual. What has become convention is the stock low cost housing unit which occupies minimal space and gives its dwellers the absolute minimum required to survive. Not only is this an issue in South Africa, for example with RDP housing, but it’s the case all over the world. As Alejandro Aravena suggested in his lecture, on top of that which is in place in order to respond solely to the needs of the people, we need to put in place 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid.
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal CityMultifunctional Platforms, which react to the desires and prosperity of people. Thus, we must broaden the spectrum of what is considered to be one’s basic needs, in order to include space for opportunities16.
For this reason, we need to look at the kinetic city, and how the client, the designer and the builder are the same person, and what comes about as a result of that. Given, with the limited funds that people have available, limited resources and limited space, the results are structurally unstable and sanitarily unsafe. However, the effective use of the minimal space, in terms of function and density, is what we must study when designing homes for these very people. The most crucial thing that one can see from first glance is the fact that no two shacks are the same. Each and every shack is a representation of the needs and desires of the family that lives within it. So, how can we expect to be able to find spatial justice when we provide different people with identical homes? In my opinion, this is not possible, and no matter how many times one tries to find a single design which will suit everyone, none will ever be found. Each family, each individual, has different aspirations. A home should be a safe place where the aspirations begin to take place, thus, its environment must be conducive to it. For this reason, flexibility of space is crucial. This, directly inspired by the temporal nature of the kinetic city, which reshapes itself and adjusts itself to the needs and desires of the people, is an approach which may be taken in the design of social housing, both for the current City of Cape Town Prospectus, as well as all over the world.
16 Aravena, Alejandro. “Infrastructure”. Keynote Speaker, Future is Now Forum by Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, June 1, 2017.
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal City
Figure 4 Photograph of a family standing in front of their home.
Figure 5
Figure 6 Photographs showing Quinta Monroy before being inhabited, and once inhabited.
A scheme which uses this strategy as its core idea is the Quinta Monroy incremental housing project by Alejandro Aravena and his firm ELEMENTAL, built in Chile. The brief required housing for 100 families which had illegally been occupying the primly located land for 30 years. With an extremely limited budget of $10 300 per family, a fully built dwelling would end up at 36m2, virtually unliveable for a family. Thus, Aravena approached the brief with a triad of self specified requirements, which he calls the ABC of Incremental housing. That is, trying to find a balance between low rise, high density, without overcrowding, with possibility of expansion. He therefore saw this as an opportunity to give the people freedom of design, by only building half of a good house, allowing the inhabitants to further develop their property in whichever way would suit them best. Thus, the full dwelling size increased from 36m2 to 72m2, with the built unit consisting of services, kitchen, bathroom and stairs. The system, built in blocks of two flats on top of one another, allows for horizontal growth at ground level, and vertical growth on the upper level, with no shared entry spaces to any of the individual dwellings, allowing for stacked living whilst maintaining a level of privacy.17
17 “Quinta Monroy.” Elemental. Accessed November 10, 2017. http://www.elementalchile.cl/projects/quinta monroy/
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal City
Drawing by Aravena of concept behind Incremental Housing.
In conclusion, I would like to recall the question how may socio spatial hybridity facilitate housing opportunities for the poor within the Formal city? Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to the question, but rather a direction of thought, which is that of attempting to inform spatial design by social factors, by a way of socio spatial hybridity. By doing this, we begin to see how the local logic which is present in the kinetic, Informal settlements starts to make sense in terms of design efficiency, straying from the typical necessity driven stock social housing unit, and beginning to give the dweller the freedom of design, in order to allow for a conducive space where families can prosper and fulfil their human desires.
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal CityBIBLIOGRAPHY
Felipe Hernández, Bhabha for Architects (London: Routeledge, 2010)
Margarita Greene and Eduardo Rojas. “Housing for the Poor in the City Centre: A Review of the Chilean Experience and a Challenge for Incremental Design”. In Rethinking the Informal City, edited by Felipe Hernández, Peter Kellett and Lea K. Allen (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010)
Zeuler R. Lima and Vera M. Pallamin. “Informal Practices in the Formal City: Housing Disagreement and Recognition in Downtown São Paulo”. In Rethinking the Informal City, edited by Felipe Hernández, Peter Kellett and Lea K. Allen (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010)
Rahul Mehrotra. “Foreword”. In Rethinking the Informal City, edited by Felipe Hernández, Peter Kellett and Lea K. Allen (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010)
Felipe Hernández and Peter Kellett “Introduction: Reimagining the Informal in Latin America” In Rethinking the Informal City, edited by Felipe Hernández, Peter Kellett and Lea K. Allen (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010)
“Quinta Monroy ” Elemental. Accessed November 10, 2017. http://www.elementalchile.cl/projects/quinta monroy/ City of Cape Town and The City of Cape T own’s Transport and Urban Development Authority. Woodstock, Salt River and Inner City Precinct Affordable Housing Prospectus, no author. Cape Town, 2017.
Aravena, Alejandro. “Infrastructure”. Keynote Speaker, Future is Now Forum by Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid, June 1, 2017.
W. Soja, Edward, “The Socio Spatial Dialectic”, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol 70, Iss. 2, (1980).
TABLE OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1 COMPARISON BETWEEN INFORMAL AND FORMAL SETTLEMENTS IN KHAYELITSHA. EDITED BY AUTHOR. PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHNNY MILLER. http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/06/africa/south africa apartheid drone photography unequal scenes/index.htm L 2
FIGURE 2 MAPS SHOWING MONTHLY INCOME, RACE AND DENSITY IN THE GREATER CAPE TOWN AREA. EDITED BY AUTHOR. https://dotmap.adrianfrith.com , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cape_Town_2011_population_density_map.svg 4
FIGURE 3 MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF AVAILABLE SITES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROSPECTUS. 6
FIGURE 4 PHOTOGRAPH OF A FAMILY STANDING IN FRONT OF THEIR HOME. http://www.designindaba.com/articles/creative work/alfredo brillembourg rebellious architect tackling south africa’s housing 8
FIGURE 5 DRAWING BY ARAVENA OF CONCEPT BEHIND INCREMENTAL HOUSING. https://arcspace.com/feature/quinta monroy/. 9
FIGURE 6 PHOTOGRAPHS SHOWING QUINTA MONROY BEFORE BEING INHABITED, AND ONCE INHABITED. https://arcspace.com/feature/quinta monroy/ 9
Camilla Allan Learning from the Informal City