Squatters As Builders : Building Half The City : Part 2
Guest columnist : Paul Simpson

On returning to India, I continued the research in a different culture and climate and witnessed slum housing on an even bigger scale. Some factors are common throughout the developing world. Most big cities have around half of their population living in spontaneous settlements, usually built on marginal lands, the areas with difficult access, steep slopes, unstable ground or liable to flooding. What soon becomes evident is the ingenuity of these people and the energy that is created by the pressures of human survival. In South Bogota, where most of the invasions have occurred, land is eventually bought from the owner, and then serious development really starts. Construction is of a reinforced concrete frame with brick infill. Some dwellings reach five storeys with floor slabs cantilevering at each level out over the street. The house is lived in at all times during construction and has to be adaptable, for spaces are constantly changing use as the house grows. The house becomes a means of earning an income, with parts being used as a shop or workshop, bar, rented rooms and for a host of other activities.

On my visit to India in April 1999, I was a guest of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and they introduced me to the chief administrators of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to discuss their problems with squatter housing. As cities have grown in size, there has been a direct correlation between increasing population and degradation of environmental conditions. The brunt of this environmental decay has been borne by the poor rural migrants whose ambitions of economic betterment in the city are denied by the realities of sub-human living conditions and lack of access to urban infrastructure. The Council's current policy was clear, and, just like in Chandigarh, it consisted of removal and relocation. For at least twenty-five years, land has been found on the outskirts of Greater Delhi for decanting the slum dwellers into low or medium-rise housing. This creates new problems, rarely is there public transport or employment and it is completely alien for these people to live in six or eight-storey buildings. Street life, socially, culturally and commercially is essential to their survival and well-being. As a result many families soon return to being squatters back in New Delhi (which is in the centre of Delhi). They then rent out their newly acquired dwelling and start the cycle all over again. I described to the NDMC officials my observations of the consolidation process of squatter settlements in Latin America. The chairman of the Council was keen to experiment in order to find alternative solutions. They have now decided to carry out rehabilitation in selected areas. I was asked to make proposals for a pilot project working with Ashish Ganju, an architect from Delhi. We were shown three slum settlements for possible rehabilitation, all different in character, size, activities and ethnic mix of population. There have been a few similar projects elsewhere in India, and our next step was to visit one in Indore which had won the Agha Khan award for architecture the year before. The initial work of rehabilitation was to insert a drainage system, and a water supply to each dwelling. In order to do this the settlement was made legal and the inhabitants were given security of tenure and training in community leadership. The result is that families rebuilt their dwellings, as in Latin America, with permanent materials. The settlement is maintained and supervised by the inhabitants. The process was slow and involved many other complex issues; however, according to the inhabitants, it is perceived to be a great success and there were abundant signs of continuing development.

The settlement chosen for our pilot project in New Delhi is a colony named the “Rajiv Gandhi Camp” and is at present home to about 1000 people. Our outline proposal lists objectives and their means of implementation, including design, building and community training, the use of simple and sustainable construction techniques and energy systems, self-funding and management. In September 1999 I made my second visit to Delhi in order to continue work on the project proposal. We planned to start with a physical and social survey to gain an understanding of the place and the people. This camp, established for more than twenty years, is well organized, and has many strengths which must be preserved and enhanced. We intend establishing an office in the camp to enable the inhabitants to work directly with us as their architect/planner/builder consultants. Our objectives will include achieving realizable and desirable densities and the devising of legal frameworks for security of tenure. All available skills, available and appropriate materials, methods of construction and methods of servicing will be assessed. The proposal was eventually approved by the NDMC. There followed a series of meetings with government and other agencies to work out legal issues and set up initial funding methods. During the following months, our proposal has gained the support of the government Department of Science and Technology as a demonstration project for urban renewal and they are helping to fund the initial stages of survey and research. In order to use the experience of other successful projects and initiatives, we are now coordinating resources with four other projects across India. All five projects have now been adopted by the United Nations Development Programme of India.

The examples in Latin America and India have only achieved success through a long and painful process. We aim to speed this up and enable the disenfranchised to gain access to knowledge and public services enjoyed by the other half of the city. We aim to create an environment that will give dignity to the inhabitants and that will no longer be a problem or embarrassment to the city authorities of Delhi. We also believe that there are lessons to be learned in the developed world about adaptable buildings, low-cost construction and spontaneous and mixed development. Our studies and work have shown that the classical urban redevelopment approach of demolishing substandard housing and replacing it with modern high-rise apartment blocks will rarely work. In the first place, it is much too expensive when one considers that slum dwellers make up a large part of the total urban population. But secondly, as we found with a project in Delhi, the bulldozers demolish more than shanties. A whole community with thousands of relationships is lost. But life can become very significantly better when the existing settlements are supplied with water, sewage, electricity, public transport, and, above all, with title or security to remain on the land, even if it is a very small parcel. The problems are legal, political, social, economic, educational, cultural, strategic, medical, ecological and technical, and they will not go away. The widening gap between the rich and the poor and the continuing drift of people to the cities will ensure this.


Working on housing for the poor is not a glamorous job, but it is an extraordinary challenge. Every situation is different as people and their communities are constantly changing. Where professionals have been involved in successful projects, they have been working directly with the Clients - the squatter community where small interventions make instant improvements, where understanding of the real issues and collaborative design can sort out complex and conflicting issues.

January 2004