Informal City

“The generic architecture of slums, favelas and shanty towns might, in one sense, be labeled as the dominating housing solution of contemporary urban life.” Basically this sort of infrastructure and living can be termed as the informal aspects of a city.

This projects “focus lies on the fastest expanding city structures in the world: city districts with no city planning or communal infrastructure.” One of the best examples of such a city would be Mumbai. From the time you land at the international airport you can see the tiny shabby slums everywhere. In the start they seem temporary, but as time passes the citizens get used to them being there and soon they become a part of the city. Though, they are a part of the city I would say they are the ignored and unwelcome part of the city. At times, they seem to be a city within a city.

This project is pretty interesting as it aims at bridging that gap. It seems to be a problem everywhere and dealing with this is tougher than one can imagine. One of the biggest issues is dealing with the problem of “spatial design”. The people involved are not highly qualified and lack training to tackle this issue.

This project would help a place like Shivaji Nagar greatly, as Shivaji Nagar is an unorganized, densely populated and ever growing market. Informal settlements are a common feature here. And personally I feel, developing these settlements would help the surroundings greatly.

Neha.Ganesh.Bharadwaj.