Urban Design Graduate Thesis 2020 (M. Arch, Carnegie Mellon University)

Quilted Inequalities Carnegie Mellon University S c h o o l

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A r c h i t e c t u r e

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-a Graduate Thesis by Srinjoy Hazra (Spring ‘20)

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QUILTED INEQUALITIES - Redevelopment Sans Displacement of Slums in Urban Scape

Srinjoy Hazra Master of Architecture Carnegie Mellon University

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Acknowledgements

“Thesis, although a very personal affair, is definitely not a solo one.”

Truer words have seldom been said. On completion of my architectural graduate thesis, at least in terms of the academic term, I look back to find a whole host of people without whom the execution of the project would not have been possible.

To begin with, Professor Jonathan Kline and Professor Stefan Gruber, who have been instrumental as mentors and guides - with whom I have had the pleasure of interacting with, learning from, even outside the classroom/studio because of this thesis. Professor Kai Gutschow, for being the an amazing track chair and friend, for having been patient with me in spite of all my queries and ever confused state.

I am grateful to you all, To my SoA friends - everyone who has spent time with me, supported me through the more difficult phases, I am fortunate to have been a part of this wonderful family.

Cheers to everyone. It’s been one hell of a ride.

Last, but definitely not the least, my parents and family back in India, for their constant love and support.

This would not have been possible without you all.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

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FOREWARD

UNDERSTANDING THE CITY

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HISTORY OF THE CITY

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LOCATION - AREA OF FOCUS

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GOVERNMENT ACTION

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HYPOTHESIS

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CONTEXT ANALYSIS

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MAPPING THE SLUMS

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SPACES - UNDERSTANDING THE EXISTING

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CHALLENGES

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AGENCY

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PROPOSAL

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SITE OVERVIEW

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CASE STUDIES

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CLIENTS AND PARTNERS

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DESIGN INTERVENTIONS

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UNIT DESIGN

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BLOCK DESIGN

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PHASES OF SITE DEVELOPMENT

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IDEOLOGIES TO BE MAINTAINED

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USING THE SPACES

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FIN.

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Kolkata There’s a city in the east Where they don’t mind you Staying forever in bookstores Reading, but not buying a thing Where, over a cup of chaa You can discuss politics, philosophy, morality, literature and most importantly football and cricket With some strangers and end up with four new friends.

Where you can find kids With well thumbed copies of Asterix and Tintin Family heirlooms have never been funnier.

Where everyone is always late And nothing ever gets done on time Yet, miraculously, it all still works.

Time, you see, has no dominion here.

Where they still know how To love someone right.

Hand-written letters, poems.

Evenings spent hand in hand looking up at the sky.

So when you ask me where I go When my eyes are far away Know that I go east,

I go home.

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FOREWARD

The fact that I have been based in Pittsburgh for the past two years and have still chosen to do a thesis based in my hometown, tells you quite a bit on how I feel about Kolkata. But why hear from someone who has good reason to have a bias?

Here’s an excerpt from an article by the celebrated journalist and author, Vir Sanghvi - on what makes Kolkata what it is.

“But, the only way to understand what Calcutta is about is recognize that the city is essentially Bengali. What’s more, no Bengali minds you saying that. Rather, he is proud of the fact. Calcutta’s strengths and weaknesses mirror those of the Bengali character. It has the drawbacks: the sudden passions, the cheerful chaos, the utter contempt for mere commerce, the fiery response to the smallest provocation.

And it has the strengths (actually, I think of the drawbacks as strengths in their own way). Calcutta embodies the Bengali love of culture; the triumph of intellectualism over greed; the complete transparency of all emotions, the disdain with which hypocrisy and insincerity are treated; the warmth of genuine humanity; and the supremacy of emotion over all other aspects of human existence.

That’s why Calcutta is not for everyone. You want your cities clean and green; stick to Delhi. You want your cities, rich and impersonal; go to Bombay. You want them high-tech and full of draught beer; Bangalore’s your place. But if you want a city with a soul: come to Calcutta.”

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Understanding the City

If you read the foreward, you know by now that Kolkata is a diverse metropolitan - with aspects as varied as its people. The diversity holds true for the people - from demographics to economy, from social customs to cultural habits, it is an amalgamation that somehow unites over a cup of tea and heated discussion over politics to sports.

This diversity becomes a concern in case of the economic stratification and spatial class segregation that can be traced back to the colonial era.

Calcutta, a port city, was the capital of British India. When they ruled, the urban poor settled on the outskirts of the old city in informal settlements working at the factories nearby. They were governed by the Panchayati rule which is a political system of self-governance of small villages by respected and accepted elders of the society. After the British left in the late 1940s, the settlers remained there but lost their jobs at the British factories and had to find other occupations. The smaller neighbourhoods fell into harder times but they remained in their homes by virtue the Slum Rehabilitation Act in 1995, which protected from eviction, anyone who could produce a document proving they lived in the city before January 1995, regardless of where they lived.

Currently, 60% of the regions on the outskirts of the old city, and the areas along the rivers and canals are occupied by slums, while the newer city continues to grow around them – thus creating these pockets of poverty existing right next to opulent high rises.

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Brief History

18th Century

Seat of the 200 year long British Raj in India Seat of the revolution for Independence Characterized by colonial architecture Cultural capital of India Diverse demographics Majorly leftist Friendly, communal, inclusive people

Statistics

19th Century

20th Century

Current population - 14.5 million Total rainfall - 1640 mm Average temperature - 27°C Population density - 24,252/sqkm

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The Exisitng Types of Slum Settlements

Settlement Type 1

Location Unplanned habitation, single or communal, within the core cities, near industries.

The “bustee” Settlement Type 2 On the streets and under the bridges, with least intervention in terms of built form.

The “homeless” Settlement Type 3

Unplanned habitation, single or communal, within the core cities, near industries.

The “jhupri”, “khaldar” or “udbustee” 12

Built By

Ownership

Materiality

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The Urban Core

Gateway to city

Retail Centres

CBD

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Country’s largest stadium - 100,000

Kolkata is a city of dualities.

It is where the old and the new coexist right next to each other. It’s where the steel and glass towers of this decade rub shoulders with the century old ornate brick and mortar architecture. The duality holds true for the people - from demographics to economy, from social customs to cultural habits.

The Slum Pockets

It is where pockets of slums have settled into their daily lives - quilted into the urban fabric of high rises in a rapidly growing metropolitan.

This place is home to them, where they have built their community.

And they do not want to leave.

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We are looking at one such pocket of poverty that exists at the confluence of the old and new city.

Location - Duttabad Area - 34.8 hectares Population - 18,600

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Evolution of Duttabad

Located at the north east extent of the city.

1960 - Plan for Bidhannagar sanctioned. Scattered increase of dwellings.

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1930 - Small village with marshy lands and large ponds. Mainly fishermen.

1980 - City bypass constructed. Further development and filling up of ponds cause loss of livelihood.

2019 - Dense urban scape with a variety of commercial and retail interest. High density slum because of good connectivity.

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Land dominated by small lakes left from natural marshes Overhead subway line needs to cut through settlement Thus, some sections of the slum needed to move.

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What did the Government do?

The area faces problems like overpopulation, lack of infrastructure and economic development. The sheer density and size of the slum makes it impenetrable and is hindering urban development strategies like the building of an overhead metroline that needs a column to go into the slum area. The government thus tried to aid the situation by relocating them and building concrete block housing for them so that they could completely raze the slum to the ground - this led to a number of issues and a complete failure.

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“There were problems with 12 pillars on the proposed route. But we could not let 65 huts and a pond come in the way of a Rs 5,000 crore (USD 702 million) development project. You used to stay in 70-80 sq ft shacks. Now you are getting 285 sq ft flats,� said Sujit Bose, the local MLA and chairman of the Duttabad Rehabilitation Committee.

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Why was the program a complete failure?

The major problems that got identified were a) Felt like artificial boxes, b) Residents had no hand in building their own home as they wanted to, c) High utility bills once the subsidy for 2 months ran out and d) There were not enough units to fit any entire community As a result, the residents soon deserted these quarters and everyone moved back to the shanties without electricity, water or basic amenities since it was their space, the space that was home to them. Moreover, the livelihoods of many residents were dependent on the area itself where they were either vendors, grocers, fishermen or even had small businesses for more than 2 generations. It did not make sense to them to get uprooted from their community and break the social network that they shared simply because they were given identical concrete boxes to move into.

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Quotes from residents

“We do not want to live here. But we had to move anyway. Because our community was moving... We were promised a better home. But what we got does not feel like ours.”

“Once electricity comes we’ll have to pay bills! And also taxes! The shanty we lived in was on rent. But this flat is our own and so we’ll have to pay taxes. I don’t know how we’ll afford it”

“Those who have got a flat on the top floor are scared the ceiling might cave in some day. We cant understand why the fissures have become visible.”

“My elder son and I got a flat each but not my younger son. He’s still living in the streets with his wife and kids. But this was not supposed to be. Metro officials had promised one flat for each family living in separate rooms.”

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Hypothesis Thus, the attempt is to execute in-situ redevelopment of the homes of the urban poor by harnessing the social culture of solidarity (local work force for construction) and creating a spatial manifestation of a modified, more inclusive model of the older social structure (the panchayat system) that would give them affordable, resilient houses within a co-operative housing program that thrives on shared resources.

While utilizing the local force for construction, the members of the community would be given job skills training with respect to construction techniques that they can utilize in the future. A new ownership model that does not allow landlords to charge exorbitant rates for very poor living conditions, has also been suggested.

It is clear that procuring enough funds to revamp the entire slum area in one go would be unrealistic. The idea is to undertake small projects that would work on the slums one section at a time. The next step would be replication of this model to percolate these pockets of impoverished regions within the urban fabric.

This would require the financial and social support of various entities – the PMAY (which is the Prime Minister’s fund for housing for all), the KMDA (Kolkata Municipal District Authority) and volunteers from nonprofit organizations who would aid the community engagement programs and participatory design processes with the community.

The government has already had a few failed attempts where they built concrete boxes for relocation of these inhabitants, but they rejected them. For the endeavour to be successful, there needs to be careful consideration of the people who currently inhabit the focus area, their living conditions and preferences such that the new homes do not feel alien to them. Implementing innovation while retaining what makes it feel like home, is the ultimate step to creating a sustainable and resilient commons that can translate to a model for such redevelopments elsewhere.

Goals

affordable resilient homes job skills training maintaining community life sharing of optimized utility costs co-operative housing programs

sharing of resources

awareness and community engagement

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Context Analysis Connectivity

Green Spaces Bus Stops Proposed Metro Stations Educational Buildings 28

E M Bypass Proposed Metro Line Secondary Roads

Land Use

Residential Green Open Space Water body

Industrial Slums Healthcare

Recreational

Educational

Hospitality Retail

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Context Analysis Building Heights

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Places to Worship Public Toilet Community Meeting Market 31

Context Analysis - Water Supply

Water Supply Line Water Distribution Points 32

Context Analysis - Drain line direction

Slope of the Land 33

Context Analysis In spite of poverty, they have organised designated communal spaces for gathering in the evenings.

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The incidental spaces left over end up being shared for activities like parking or storage.

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Context Analysis The larger open spaces are shared by the people for daily communal activites as well as yearly festivals.

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Challenges Identified

Water Supply • No private water taps.

• Inadequate water supply points.

• Very long queues to collect water.

• Crowding encroaches roads making the effective usable area even lower.

Toilets • Very few houses have toilets.

• A few public toilets shared by many • Long waiting queues inconvenient.

• Toilets not connected to the drainage lines and tend to dump in soakpits or ponds.

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Challenges Identified

Drainage • Prone to flooding on the opposite end away from the slums • Drainage lines on higher side • Open drains prevalent.

• Many areas not serviced by drains.

Garbage Dump • • •

Designated spaces for dumping garbage are non existent.

People tend to dispose of garbage on the road sides and back yards.

The garbage ends up polluting the shared open spaces and water bodies.

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Agency - Who are

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e we working for?

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Demographics Below 16 16 - 30 30 - 35 Above 35

Majority of the slum comprises of the people between the ages 16-35 years.

These people are the backbone of the slum and form the major source of strength and income in the slum.

Age Group

Male Female

According to the Indian Census 2011, the Kolkata Metropolitan Area has a gender ratio of 58 male to 42 femal per 100, whereas in Dattabad, the stated census stats differ by 5.

Male Female Ratio Bengalis Biharis Oriyas Foreigners Other states

The community consists of a very diverse group of people who have come and settled here - some for over 2-3 generations. Irrespective of the diversity, they live in close knit groups.

Community

Livelihoods Male

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Female

Education Social and cultural barriers deny slum dwellers the opportunity to complete their basic education.

Many children never go to school at all and few complete their primary education. Female literacy rates in the Duttabad slums is 45.39% - compared to an overall rate of 86.31%, whereas the male literacy rate in the area is 66% against an overall rate of 88%.

Lower literacy rates cause youngsters to get into temporary manual jobs with a minimal earning, which leads to unemployment in the long run.

Economy The Connectomes

These slums contribute to 17% of the economy of the Bidhannagar area - however they live out their lives in formidable conditions.

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Cluster Analysis

Study Area 1 Staggered Cluster Study Area 2 Alleys perpendicular to main road Study Area 3 Alleys parallel to main road

Resourcefulness

Refurbished solar panel from nearby In case of units far from distributions factory to power small shacks or shops points, water pump used communally in the evenings. to draw from the lake and purify it using indigenous methods before use 44

Studying Individual Homes

Raised threshold to prevent entry of water.

Name - Ravi Maiti Age - 40 yrs Occupation - Vendor Family - 4 members

Preparation area is separate from the rest of the house.

My research involved visiting individual houses and sketching the 5 primary types appearing in this area.

Skylight in roof to admit light into the interior.

Name - Sushma Biswas Age - 35 yrs Occupation - Store owner Family - 6 members

Shop opening with counter.

For example, this particular unit has the front converted to a shop, while the back quarters are for living.

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Studying Individual Homes

Sleeping area situated upstairs.

Name - Usha Dutta Age - 40 yrs Occupation - House wife Family - 6 members

Staircase serving both as circulation and storage.

Verandah space outside.

Living areas situated on the ground floor.

Bed raised by bricks to make storage space underneath.

A rare two storeyed structure shows how the plinth extends outwards into a small private outdoor space.

Internal Paved courtyard

Name - Rumpa Bose Age - 55 yrs Occupation -Self help group Family - 6 members

Small internal courtyards shared by two or more units are a characteristic feature of a number of houses here.

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Studying Individual Homes

Outdoor earthen oven.

Name - Ranajoy Boidya Age - 55 yrs Occupation -Rickshaw puller Family - 4 members Storage spaces on the plinth outside.

Sandwiched houses, sharing a common wall, are the most prevalent kind.

Sketch Gallery - People and Character

These sketches have attempted to capture the feel and character of this area, by tapping into the people and their daily activities.

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Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses STRENGTHS • Intriguing building solutions with readily available materials.

• Combining living space with working space to maximize utility.

• Multi-use zoning at micro and macro level.

• Creative and personalized expression that makes each structure unique in its own way.

• Unity between people is a distinct strength.

WEAKNESSES • High density resulting in too many people in too little space.

• Inabilty to provide cost of utilities and maintenance.

• Poor waste management.

• Poor drainage.

• Lack of clean open spaces for children to play.

• Water bodies poorly maintained which cause flooding in case of excess rain.

Focus of Intervention

Area - 1.23 Hectare Water body - .09 Hectare Usable Land - 1.14 Hectare 48

Residential Shared/Communal Green Space Commercial Water Bodies

Site

WATER EDGES BORDERING THE ROAD

BAZAAR

HIGH DENSITY LANDLOCK OPEN SPACES

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Case Studies and Lessons Learnt

1. Congo Street Initiative, Dallas, USA

Description In situ redevelopment of five existing homes and a street falling into dissarray, with one new construction, ie the Holding House by BCWorkshop along with the community members.

Ideas adopted • Implementation of a Holding House • Using local workforce to increase participation and sensation of ownership

Description Mixed use housing plan in suburban Vienna with private ownership and subsidized social and co operative typologies.

2. Wildgarten, Vienna, Austria

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Ideas adopted • Multi faceted, multi disciplinary approach • Extroverted housing plan - primary focus being on shared open spaces • Negotiations with the developer

3. Kathputli Community, Delhi, India

Description In situ redevelopment of a community of puppeteers living in a slum existing in the heart of the Indian capital.

Ideas adopted • Navigating the bureaucracy in the Indian context • Funding approaches • Identifying stakeholders and developers with aligned interests • Optimum materials in terms of availability, cost and ease of execution

Description Christian Kerez’s take on reconstructing the Jardim Colombo favela in Sao Paulo.

4. Jardim Colombo favela, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Ideas adopted • Reorganizing and rebuilding to include better facilities and infrastructure without losing the inherent informal spirit of the community

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Clients and Partners

KMDA – Kolkata Municipal Development Authority (potential client) (funding majoriity) PMAJ-U - Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (funding - majority) HRBC – Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (PWSA counterpart) (possible partner) C.R.Y - Child Rights and You (NGO) Volunteers for community engagement M.A.D - Make A Difference (NGO) Volunteers for community engagement

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Methodology

1. Community Awareness

3. Involving Women and Children

5. Job Skills Training

2. Engaging Community Elders

4. General Consensus

6. Local Work Force

It takes time and effort in the form of awareness and engagement programs to ensure that the inhabitants are on board with our ideas as well as open to share their ideas with us so that we can incorporate them where possible. Participatory design programs help involve them in the process. Once there is a general consensus there are job skills training programs and the construction process itself in which they actively participate.

Partners KMDA and the PMAY or prime ministers initiative for housing for all provide major funding and workforce (contractors and developers) who work with non profits like MAD and CRY to ensure a cohesive team that helps bridge the gap between people who are very different from each other.

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Interventions

SOCIALLY RE-ORGANIZE

Relationships are formed in the neighbourhood by bonds fostered through various activities - jobs, common interests, inhabiting the communal spaces at similar times etc. The people who form these relationships do not necessarily live in close quarters.

The idea is to group such clusters of people together based on whatever social culture or structure unites them. Translating their social amity to spatial form would be a good way to foster a commons.

Shared spaces and resources would add to the richness of these reorganised and redesigned communities that would focus on a resilient and improved way of living.

These are reminiscent of guilds that are still existent in the city.

Modifying the ownership model Settlement Type

Location

Built By

Building Ownership

Land Ownership

Unplanned habitation, single or communal, within the core cities, near industries.

Materiality

Mud, bamboo, hay and other t e m p o r a r y

The “bustee�

Settlement Type

Community

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Location Planned intervention, proper design techniques that incorporate and preserve the inherent values of the existing community

Built By

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Building Ownership

Land Ownership

Materiality

Brick, mortar, steel and concrete.

Hierarchy of Open Spaces

Typical double row housing a possible solution for existing density. But no space is left for expansion or interaction.

1. Open space shared by 4 houses, reminiscent of a bengali uthan 2. Larger open space, used as playing area or for small ceremonies

A staggered formation for clusters keeps the advantage of row housing while being responsive to residents.

3. Large open ground primarily for children, recreatinal activities and festivals.

Including elements that will aid the residents and ones they are familiar with

Communal places around water body

Indigenous rain water harvesting and filtration with underground storage.

Biodigestors built from local materials (from Brazilian favela)

Structures limited to lower heights in double loaded streets 55

Design Criteria This initiative would only be possible by obtaining funding from the PMs Housing for all initiative, which along with the national and state building codes lays down strict criteria for the individual units to be eligible for funding, subsidies and tax credits.

8‘

7‘ Bathroom

Private Open Space

Kitchen

Living/Bedroom 10‘

6.5‘ 7.5‘

16‘

Design Objectives Incremental Typology to be built in phases as per requirement.

Every unit has direct access to outdoors.

Every unit has natural ventilation.

Maximizing outdoor space while maintaining density.

Design Criteria per Municipal Code and PMAY Whole unit = 320-350 sqft 1 room = min 103 sqft, mid width 8ft Multiple rooms = One of above, and one with min 90.75 sqft, and 6.9ft min width Min height = 9ft Kitchen = min 48.5 sqft, min width 6ft Bathroom = min 21.5 sqft, mid width 4ft and min height 7.25ft 56

Construction and Materiality

The basic structure of the construction consists of Reinforced Cement Concrete. The filling for the walls are done by brickwork. The bricks suggested are preferably fly ash and the brick laying is used as a means of job skills training for the residents of the area, supervised by contractors and volunteers.

Foundation laying - manual labour dominated

Brick laying Workshop with locals and volunteers

Workforce of the Community

80% of indian factories run on coal and the byproduct from that is used to produce fly ash bricks (with cement, sand and water) which are stronger, more durable and quicker to cure as compared to clay bricks.

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Unit Design

These are the different Units and community centre that were designed maintaining a simple grid to optimize the cost of construction while following all mentioned criteria.

Phasing up of units as required allows families to start out in small units and obtain the government subsidy and grow into their unit with expansion later on.

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Block Design The drawings here show the redesigned blocks in site with the first floor plan to depict the interaction with the outdoors. Care has been taken to try and preserve the morphology of the urban fabric - preserving the natural pathways and trying to maintain the general figure ground map. The marked areas show how the particular would probably be used by the people based on my knowledge of their habits and culture.

A tree shade to enjoy a quiet read.

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A park bench to sneak in an afternoon siesta

What these sketches are attempting to convey, is that however formalized architecture might be, and however one might try to have control over exactly how each space will be used, these people, by virtue of their culture, will grow into a place once they accept it and will use these spaces in very interesting ways. There is an innate organic flavour to all their activities and in their general way of life that is simply beyond the generic grid forms.

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SO HOW DOES THE PHASING WORK ON SITE?

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Most places in India, have a very high density of people. The slums, even more so.

Since there are no plot lines demarcating individual property, and the land is free to be claimed to build informal housing (the government fails to interfere at this minute level), there is a lack of equity.

Thus striking a balance between top down and bottom up transformation, allows this to avoid the tragedy of the commons where no one regulates how much land one can use up and gives everyone an equitable share and the chance to grow.

This makes it possible to increase the number of units from 237 to 247 with 57 expandable units thus making the maximum built capacity 304.

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Site Sections showing Evolution A section through the site shows how the evolved form works with increased street network and green open spaces as opposed to the dense packed slum units with no bylanes

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Ideals for maintaining the spirit of the community The buildings are arranged in an extroverted fashion around the open spaces allowing them to be used in a communal fashion.

Interconnected and communal organisation of the residential spaces make them fluid and open to access.

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Implementing innovation while retaining what makes it feel like home, is the ultimate step to creating a sustainable and resilient commons and develop a replicable and scalable model.

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Using the spaces The ghat and the lake...

The community here revers and worships water and is used in various sacred activities every morning.

Thus the people themselves take up the onus of cleaning and maintaining the water body as far as possible.

Some help provided from the government or non profit inititatives would go a long way in preserving this seat of commoning.

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Using the spaces Tranquility The outdoor green spaces provided to almost all the units can be a place of recluse to enjoy a quiet read or a moment of retrospection, with a beverage.

Age no bar.

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Using the spaces Heart I would like to end on this note as it reminds me of the late 90s when these slums were not considered “unsafe” or “dirty” and me and my cousins would often join the kids there in any of the open spaces in a hearty game of cricket. Hopefully I will be able to work further on this project and bring it to fruition, to help revive these scenes so that the lively community here continues to thrive as heartily as it used to back then.

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fin

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