Self-initiated transformations of public-provided dwellings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Author: Demissachew Shiferaw Cities, Vol. 15, No. 6, pp. 437–448, 1998
This paper discussed at the Study Seminar in Urban Planning Lab, School of Natural Science & Technology on Friday, April 26, 2012 by Pindo Tutuko

Self-initiated transformations of public-provided Dwellings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Transformations of human settlements are very dramatic in cities of the developing countries where, despite the rapid urbanization process and demographic change, housing provisions fall short of demand. This results in continuous transformation of shelters in order to meet basic needs and changing situations. Unlike in the industrialized countries, this is largely accomplished through spontaneous private initiative. Thus, construction of new dwellings and also modification and maintenance of government-owned ones are private concerns. Especially the low-income groups have no alternative other than to use their own sporadic means. Encouragement and coordination of this enthusiasm by the formal sector is, however, scarce. As a component part of a Ph.D. thesis which involved field surveys from March up to July 1997 the following synopsis sketches user-initiated transformations on government-provided low cost houses in Addis Ababa. Information and figures are extracted from three of the studied residential areas and revealed the fact that self-initiated transformation represents a valuable resource for improving the housing conditions of the low income groups.

Background

Although direct government provision of low-cost housing has featured in the policies of most developing countries, it has been proved that this sector is unable to address the increasing housing needs of the poor.The vast majority of housing units are being constructed through self-help activities. Even if government-built low-cost houses are very few in number in Ethiopia, succeeding self-initiated modification and extension on given structures are taking place to the extent that the original structure becomes beyond recognition. The first unit becomes a core house.
Urbanization-Problem

• Distribution of the urban population is unbalanced. 
• Almost all infrastructural facilities and industrial activities are still concentrated in the capital city. 

Housing problems

• Increase of household sizes 
• The unbalanced housing investment. 
• Poor housing in supply systems aimed only at both quality and quantity. 
• Increasing housing stocks are, as labeled by the architect, planner and sociologist. 
• 60% of the city population had no permanent work. Housing finances are not improved.

Self-initiated transformation of houses
People endeavor to shelter themselves and the way they build and improve their houses are clues to the design of low-cost housing and application of appropriate technologies and financial strategies.

“kolfe”, “gerji”, and “keftegna 17 kebele 24”

The inhabitants have apparently larger households and much lower incomes. 90% of the household heads and all other male dependents are daily laborers having no permanent employment.

Evaluations and Implications of Transformations

• The average occupancy rate of the three areas increased from 5.8 m2 per person to 6.5 m2 per person. 
• The areas which were planned for residential purpose, now mix work and home life together.
• Spontaneous extensions in planned areas are resulting in higher densities and lower standards. 
• Unplanned extensions could overload existing infrastructures.

Aspect of Building

• Building materials, traditional material which none of the projects took into consideration, the householders used the traditional construction method, and that fill the gap between import-based ones and the local ones. 
• Morphologies, the habitable rooms are surrounded by subordinated functions and open spaces.

Factors influencing transformation:

• Security of tenure. 
• Housing design and construction of the original dwelling. 
• Financial sources. 
• Infrastructure and support services. 
• Extent to which hired or self-help labor is used.

Transformation motives

• Socio-culturally determined aspirations. 
• Growth of family size. 
• Desire of generating income (subletting, kiosk, 
• Stable, local bar, handicraft etc). 
• Response to harsh climatic conditions. 
• Desire to copy prevalent housing forms.

Extension qualities

• Transformations show inefficiencies related to quality and resource uses. 
• The technical and financial requirements for vertical extensions, in particular for the low income people, can not be met. 
• Materials used in spontaneous extension processes are not durable and sustainable and householders can not afford to buy durable ones.
• Lack of lighting, ventilation, blocking of roads and open spaces are very prevalent, especially, in residential areas with narrow and small plots. 
• Overcrowding, with little or no open space.

Concluding remarks

• Even under the agonies of limitations, could use their sporadic potentials and make vital improvements to their own houses at no direct cost to the government. 
• They improve their dwellings, provide shelter for their relatives, much better than the public systems could do. 
• Generate income through subletting extended rooms and using part of the house for informal productive and business activities.

Strategies for tackling housing problems should recognize the social and economic realities and serve this part of the population by;

• Mobilizing, coordinating and directing self-plan and self-build. 
• Guarantying security of ownership. 
• Use of resources such as land, affordable building materials and financial resources, 
• Accepting the value of an incremental approach. 
• Provision of technical assistance. 

Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275198000390

C

The urban design of a Balinese town: placemaking issues in the Balinese urban setting

Author: T. Nirarta Samadhi
Habitat International 25 (2001) pp.559–575
This paper discussed at the Study Seminar in Urban Planning Lab, School of Natural Science & Technology on Friday, January 20, 2012 by Pindo Tutuko

The Urban Design of A Balinese Town: Place Making Issues in the Balinese Urban Setting

This exploration aims at providing a ground for reconnecting urban design proposals with their cultural context, thus promoting the spatially expressed localism originating from the diversity of cultures which is currently undermined by the highly  standardized process of the Indonesian planning system. The research concludes that to achieve culturally appropriate places, the design process has to acknowledge the Balinese Hindu psycho-cosmic concept as the core principle in the design of Balinese townscape.

Relevant Balinese traditional-religious conceptions

The Balinese understand that reality shadows the play of sekala (tangible/real) and niskala (intangible/unreal) forces, which are either (or both) generative or (and) degenerative. The forces are kept in a harmonious balance in Balinese architecture and environment by assigning attributes to the Balinese space.

Dewata Nawa Sanga. The Balinese indigenous windrose: a center and eight cardinals, represent the nine
different forces. The Hindu triad is vertically positioned on the figure: Wisnu, Shiwa and Brahma.


The Concept

Center:  In most of the Southeast Asian tribes (custom) not just in religious and cosmological terms but also in political realm. The physical manifestation of the concept:

• The form of a ‘grand crossroad’
• The important Balinese settlement’s functions such as the palace ( puri), the temple ( pura), the priest’s house (griya), the
• Public meeting hall (wantilan), and the marketplace ( pasar).

The center's elements: 1.Puri (Palace), 2.Wantilan (Meeting House), 3. Pasar (Market Place), 4. Lapangan (Square/open place), 5. Residential, 6. Pampatan Agung (grand Cross Road)

Another important concept to understand is the psycho-cosmic concept

Another important concept to understand is the psycho-cosmic concept

1. Relationship between bhuwana agung (Macrocosm)and bhuwana alit (microcosm)
2. Five Basic elements: pertiwi (earth/solid substance), apah (water/fluid substance), teja (fire/light/heat), bayu (air), and akasa (space/ether).

It were identified from the questionnaires and sketched mental maps.

1. Attitude to Human being (environment relationship)---desa adat (custom village)
2. The concept of center----pampatan agung (Great cross road)
3. Attitude to spatial organization---Sanga Mandala (wind rose)
4. Attitude to environmental design
5. Attitude to symbols and meanings 

Conclusion

• In the practical realm, the Indonesian urban planning and design administrative and legal procedures suggest a centralized system in which the local government runs the national planning Model
• This tradition has influenced the way Indonesian urban planners and designers assess their projects

Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197397501000248

Global Land Consolidation for Metropolitan Jakarta Expansion, 1990-2010

Author：Ray W, Archer

Resumed by Pindo Tutuko for Study Seminar

Urban Planning Laboratory, Kanazawa University, Japan

Presented on Friday, November 25, 2011

Global Land Consolidation for Metropolitan Jakarta Expansion, 1990-2010

Urban land consolidation (LC) is an international technique for managing and financing the conversion of rural land to urban land.  This paper recommends the formulation of an LC programme to supply some of the urban land needed to accommodate this growth. The three parts present on 1.The land and building development taking place around Jakarta, Describes LC as an international technique and outlines the Indonesian experience, and Identifies the possible applications of LC.

The Metropolitan Jakarta Region encompasses Jakarta and its four neighbouring regencies of Bogor, Tangerang, Depok, and Bekasi.  The population of Jabodetabek is projected to grow from 17 million in 1990 to 30 million by 2010 with most of this growth, 10 million of the 13 million, taking place in the Bodetabek areas. DKI Jakarta is  a “special capital province” in which the provincial and municipal administrations are integrated. The land ownership, tenure and transfer system administreted by the Ministry of National Land Agency. The physical conversion of rural land to urban use for the expansion of Metropolitan Jakarta mainly takes place by private sector land. This private development activity can be divided into formal and informal private development. The formal private development is the land subdivision and building development that is carried out on land that is held on a registered title, with the permits required and to the standards specified by the planning and building regulations.

Informal Private development is the land subdivision/partition and building construction carried out on land that is not held on a registered title. The informal development is that the housing, and most other buildings, are constructed by the owners’ self-build.

The four main ways of development

1. By bringing additional unregistered rural land into the formal development system.
2. By constructing the desirable network infrastructure in each project so as to convert the rural land for sustainable urban development.
3. By creating a supply of serviced building plots on registered title for self-build housing development.
4. By bringing some of the land currently blocked from development by the excessive location permit designations, into early development.

Definition of LC are: LC is a land development technique used in many countries for managing and financing the urbanization of selected urban fringe areas (peri) and also LC is a technique for converting rural land into urban land. LC is widely used in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and is used in some cities in Australia and Canada as well as many cities and towns in Europe, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia.

The LC programme would be designed to improve the process and pattern of urban expansion in Jabodetabek by:

1. Bringing unused development land under the excessive location permit designations into early development.
2. Enabling the farmer Iandowners to participate in the urban development of their land and to obtain longer term benefits.
3. Increasing the production of planned layouts of subdivision land and building land equipped with roads, drains. and utility service lines.
4. Increasing the supplv of serviced subdivision land and building land on registered title that is suitable for self-build housing development in the formal sector.
5. Filling the gaps between the real estate company projects(the National housing projects, the kampong settlements and the other areas of informal urban development.
6. lmproving the structure of urban development by specific purpose LC projects to establish networks of secondary roads, urban sub-centres, etc. 
   
   
   Original Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0197397594900167