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Third Semester Studio Project
Group Members - Swati, Avanti, Adnan and Celesty
August 2020 - November 2020
Masters in Social Design,
Ambedkar University, New Delhi
The Problem
To have a place to dwell is essential to our living. Dwelling is not just about having shelter, but the necessary means to be healthy, happy and prosperous. In the context of housing, the need to be able to ‘dwell’ is rarely addressed. The current housing poverty crisis in India is an example of governance that does not acknowledge this very need of people, creating a state of incongruity of what housing should look like, and what housing should be. And this is specifically in the context of residents living in the slum areas of India’s cities, who often are the receiving end of poorly designed housing policies. Delving deeper into the idea of ‘dwelling’, a sense of permanence is necessary to truly be able to dwell. For the residents in slums, this is a utopian yet idealistic dream. In their quest towards dwelling, residents find livelihood opportunities around their place of living along with networks of accessing water and electricity, in the hope to find a semblance of permanence. While the idea of dwelling insists on being multi-faceted, the policies around housing till now have considered only one aspect – shelter. As houses built by slum dwellers with limited resources are not considered as “liveable” or “habitable”, schemes and policies have been aimed towards providing “better” housing spaces. It indicates that “sheltering policies, or lack thereof, as well as shelter itself as a design and construction product express the power of those who govern more than the aspirations of those who inhabit.” While these schemes have largely failed, the current conversation is an attempt to inculcate the other aspect of ‘dwelling’, which is, livelihood opportunities and access to other
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services such as healthcare, education, clean water and sanitation. The on-going proposals of in-situ redevelopment and rehabilitation attempt to consider the other aspects in its implementation. Within all of this discourse, there is one gaping hole that remains unaddressed – Transit Camps. In order to develop the land, residents of the slums need to be relocated to temporary shelter spaces till their redeveloped houses are ready to live in. Thus, in the context of urban slum redevelopment projects or demolition drives, transit camps could refer to housing structures where residents, who are part of a redevelopment scheme, temporarily live.
TRANSIT CAMPS
There is a crisis – while slum dwellers affected by urban redevelopment projects are shifted to transit camps, there is a lack of documentation or legal framework creating a sense of non-accountability. What can we do to understand these “in-between” processes?
the design idea
This is a crisis because the lack of documentation, or any legal framework that ensures better living standards and a protection of rights of the people, is a violation of their basic human rights. This is an evident gap that housing policies and schemes fail to address as they only focus on two processes – clearing the space for redevelopment, and the final rehabilitation space. The in-between has no documentation, and therefore no consideration. In order to address this issue, we propose a policy that will provide guidelines on ensuring transit camps, which would henceforth be called “transit residential spaces”, are habitable, ensuring a better quality of life, and fosters consistent transparency at all the levels of the policy so that the government and the residents are able to engage in healthy and constructive conversations. The transparency would also seek to empower the residents with all the necessary information that they would need to make the processes smoother, ensuring that the policy takes a holistic approach and involves its key stakeholders in the processes of creation and implementation.
the process
RESEARCH AND SYSTEM MAPS - UNDERSTANDING DHARAVI
As this semester was completely online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no scope of Primary Research through field work. The members of the group conducted extensive secondary research for this project. Our initial research was aimed at understanding the situation in Dharavi, Mumbai, and focus on a problem that evolves in the process of understanding the systems in the redevelopment project for Dharavi. Using newspaper articles, research papers and government data, we first attempted to establish the basic facts about the site –
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Spread over 525 acres, Dharavi presents a vibrant mosaic of thousands of small businesses and residents of different religions, castes, languages, provinces, and ethnicities, dependent on one another and the city socially, culturally and economically.
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Its residents own businesses including manufacturing units of garments, leather goods, foods and pottery, besides running a flourishing recycling business.
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Living in the same space for so long, residents of Dharavi have a system in place to access the basic amenities, services and social networks to support them; including provision from government services as well as private agencies. So, this has made Dharavi much more resilient space and created a sense of community.
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Dharavi has been central to the discussions around redevelopment projects due to its history with the various attempts at the process of doing so. The next step was to understand what is the current plan, and figuring out the plan for the transit processes.
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According to the Dharavi Redevelopment Plan (DRP) proposed in 1995 and sanctioned in 2004, the entire slum has been divided into 5 sectors. These sectors would be developed in phases along with partnerships with Private and Public bidders. The entire project has been undertaken by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) under the govt of Maharashtra. While the redevelopment is in process, the residents of Dharavi would be moved to transit camps in the Dharavi Notified Region (DNR) or nearby areas.
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While the DRP failed to attract powerful builders, the government run MHADA took the task of developing Dharavi sector 5. MHADA proposed to move the residents of this sector to Transit Camps in an area called Mahul, situated near Chembur. It devised a relocation program to move 18000 units with 22 sq. Ft for each house in Mahul as a transit camp.
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These transit camps identified at Mahul, Chember, a suburb of Mumbai, are an hour away from the current resident spaces and has a notorious reputation of being the “human dumping ground” for the Maharashtra government.
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The people from the various other slum redevelopment programmes or demolition drives in and around Mumbai are moved to Mahul in a transit camp developed by MHADA in the last decade. The complex includes 72 seven storey buildings jammed together in the shadow of the industries.
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Mahul is extremely polluted as India’s Central Pollution Control Board, with 67.1% of the neighbourhood’s residents complaining of breathlessness more than three times a month, while 84.5% experiencing feeling a choking sensation. (Survey conducted by KEM hospital)
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Along with all the health issues that the residents have to face, the location of the MHADA complex in Mahul is entirely disconnected from the city with very few to no access to public infrastructure and amenities including hospitals, schools, transportation facilities and so on.
A system map tracing the journey of relocation for Sector 5
A survey on infrastructural facilities and habitability conducted by IIT Bombay clearly stated that the government cannot let the residents live in these transit camps, the only solution to all the health issues in this aspect is to move the entire population to better livable space.
DISRUPTIONS IN THE SYSTEM OF RELOCATION
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We found that these processes lack the outline for the smoother systems for governance, leading to the livelihood and ontological impact on residents in these Transit Camps. This not only helps us to focus on the gravity of the disruptions that are caused to the resident families in Dharavi due to movement to a new space within 15 days, but also helps us identify the gaps in the existing systems. Some of the gaps identified are the mentioned below through the case of Transit camps in Mahul -
Lack of documentation or legal framework
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No articulation within the plans on the processes around moving to transit camps
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No data available, creating a void of information in terms of plan of action(s)
Disruptions of livelihood
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Lack of guidelines or information on the impact of transition on the residents, leading to a lack of a mitigation plan for the same
Disruptions of life
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Along with livelihood, access to basic amenities like sanitation, electricity, and by extension healthcare and education are being disrupted because no legal framework
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Lack of consideration of time-period residents would have to spend in transition; therefore, no accountability towards timely completion of rehabilitation process
Lack of transparency
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In the processes of moving and dwelling in the transit camps.
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In the timeline for which the intermediate redevelopment process lasts.
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In the ways to contact the responsible persons for various processes.
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In understanding the habitability of the transit camps
policy - framework and components
A policy dedicated to transit camps or "transit residences" would provide necessary guidelines to ensure:
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Living spaces are habitable
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Decent quality of life
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Means of livelihood are not adversely impacted
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Involvement of key stakeholders in the process of creation and implementation of plans
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Facilitation of transparency when plans are being implemented
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Empowerment of residents with the right to access information during the entire rehabilitation process
MISSION AND VISION OF THE POLICY
Vision – Smoother transition of residents part of redevelopment programs, from their place of home to transit residential spaces to their rehabilitated homes, without the loss of livelihood, dignity of living and loss of human rights
Mission – Ensure habitable conditions of living, access to basic services for survival, promotion of livelihood opportunities, transparent engagement with the key stakeholders of the project
OBJECTIVES OF THE POLICY
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To define what Transit Camps are, and the conditions that would lead people to reside in the transit camps
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To provide guidelines on what constitute as habitable conditions of living and mechanisms to assist in identifying healthcare, education and livelihood opportunities
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To provide mechanisms to residents to engage with different stakeholder groups that would be a part of the project, ensuring transparency and dialogue
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To provide guidelines on the role of stakeholders
COMPONENTS
Section 1: Definitions
A “Transit Camp” would henceforth be called a “Transit Residential Space” which would be defined as a temporary housing structure that is habitable (according to the defined standards of quality living), and that consists of residents who have had to leave their place of residence because of –
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Slum clearance evictions
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In-situ Redevelopment projects
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Other redevelopment or rehabilitation projects
Section 2: Assessment of land as eligible space for building a transit camp
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Identification of land
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Availability/ provision/ proximity of amenities around the chosen land
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Neighborhood surveys
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State of transit residential spaces: Existing structures or newly built spaces
Section 3: Resident data collection
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Demographic Data of residents that are to be moved
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Livelihood Mapping of the residents that are to be moved
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Documentation of family size
Section 4 (Independent of sequence): Safeguarding financial situation of families who would lose Livelihood Opportunities due to transition
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Provision of corpus to the family who would lose their livelihoods in moving to transit camps
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Assistance in identifying jobs around the transit residential spaces/ retaining previous jobs
Section 5: Allocation of houses in Transit Residential Spaces
Special Provisions for:
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People with Disabilities and/or life threatening diseases
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Senior Citizens
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Widows and single mothers
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Large Families
Section 6: Shifting to Transit Residential Spaces
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Assistance in shifting
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Provision of subsidized transportation facilities
(movers and packers)
Section 7: Living in Transit Residential Spaces
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Provision of essential services
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Creation of a Grievance redressal mechanism
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Charting the roles and responsibilities of maintenance staff
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Resident groups formed along with government representatives
Section 8: Relocation and Rehabilitation
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Minimum of one month to be provided for a smooth transition of relocation to the final rehabilitated space
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Provision of subsidized transportation (movers and packers) service to be provided
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End of Transit Phase, relocation to permanent houses
We have created a website (as you can see below) and a report (which is in the website) that provides more details about the project.
FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THIS PROJECT
As a team, we acknowledge that this policy draft is incomplete without the inputs of our key stakeholders - the residents of transit residential spaces. We hope that post-Covid, we are able to work on more grounded processes for this project.
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