Retain density and improve quality The Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) program has been working with the community structures in Lotus Park since 2010 to develop a participatory upgrading model that takes cognizance of the current residents needs and improves holistically the quality of life of residents in the area. Personal safety, security of tenure, resilience, the provision of public infrastructure, capacitation of leaders and residents and a continuous monitoring of the development are elements that the program entails. Within this process the Density Syndicate investigates how density can contribute to the social economic empowerment of the Lotus Park community. In comparison to other urban agglomerations, Lotus Park has a relatively high density of 220 p/Ha. The goal of the Density Syndicate is not to increase the density, but to create more indoor and usable outdoor area. By addressing this reconfiguration on the urban and cluster scale (and not just on the scale of the individual house), the benefits of both collective financing and participation planning can be maximized. Effective use of collective infrastructures Besides the social economic advantages of renegotiating space on the cluster scale, this approach makes it possible to maximize the effective use of collective infrastructures. The notion of collective infrastructures (such as wet cores on the cluster scale) can potentially be extrapolated on the neighborhood scale in the form of a bio-gas installation and productive wetlands along the Lotus River. Collective infrastructures represent an economic opportunity through reduced operational costs and potential income generation after initial investments have been regained. Stimulate local economy Within this framework, the renegotiation of the density of the territory and incremental development of new housing clusters represents an incredible opportunity to stimulate the local economy and facilitate empowerment. This will only succeed when combined with a long term structural support and organizational forms to manage and facilitate the process which includes firstly a complex tenure arrangement required to ensure that people have the rights and abilities to live and improve on their homes; secondly it includes financial arrangements that need to be developed around the cluster, and thirdly: a structural transformation of the settlement on a neighborhood scale.
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