Zemunske Rupe_Frida Öhlin
Shangri la-realising the imaginary
Introduction
The image I got from visiting the slum-like areas in Belgrade, Kraljevo, Smederevo and Skopje, inhabited by mostly Roma’s, are very alike the image I have from slums in India. The inhabitants are dealing with the same kind of living conditions. No healthcare, no work, no water and electricity, no education, no safety, no money.
The main theme of the UN-rapport The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements, 2003, is the vast spreading of slums in urban periphery. We can also call them informal settlement. This thorough inventory of data on world slums concludes that the global urban poverty is becoming a worldwide catastrophe.
Definition of slum: Since it first appeared in the 1820s, the word slum has been used to identify the poorest quality housing, and the most unsanitary conditions; a refuge for marginal activities including crime, ‘vice’ and drug abuse; a likely source for many epidemics that ravaged urban areas; a place apart from all that was decent and wholesome./…./ Today, slums have come to include the vast informal settlements that are quickly becoming the most visible manifestation of urban poverty in developing world cities. Such settlements are known by many different names and are characterized by a variety of tenure arrangements. In all cases, however, the buildings found there vary from the simplest shack to permanent and sometimes surprisingly well-maintained structures, but what most slums
share in common is a lack of clean water, electricity, sanitation and other basic services.
The Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, most known for his work on the informal economy, is often mentioned in how slums or informal settlements can develop and leave poverty. His main thesis is that there is a need for ownership in informal economy. The main problem is not an unequal world-order in developing countries sooner a non-formal ownership. The informal capital of the poor should be defined as formal so that they can use their ownership for credit. De Soto claims would form the basis for entrepreneurship.
De Soto have been criticised by Mike Davis. In his book Planet of Slums Mike Davis argues that De Soto, who Davis calls 'the global guru of neo-liberal populism', is essentially promoting what the statist left in South America and India has always promoted - individual titling. Davis argues that titling is incorporation into the formal economy of cities which benefits more wealthy squatters but is disastrous for poorer squatters, and especially tenants who simply cannot afford incorporation into the fully commodified formal economy.
Vision
It is easy to be political correct dealing with questions like: how can we help, what is the resource for human empowerment. I want to use design as the tool for making discussions around this issues. I believe that design is an architect’s strongest argument.
The main question for this project is: Is there a 21st century paradise for Roma population in Serbia and Belgrade? The site in Zemun has been called a Roma Shangri la and my visionary picture of the site is Shangri la.
The imaginary picture of Shangri la should be used on different scales.
Method
As Mike Davis argues, micro-entrepreneurship is not the solution for everything in a slum, but it can be one part of the solution. What I will purpose is a very small-scale urban project, but I would like to test how a site can be programmed depending on whose intervening.
By analysing the sites strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats the area can be divided into different zones of intervention and actors. Hopefully the result will get a picture of the sites possibilities.
http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/4625_51419_GC%2021%20What%20are%20slums.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto_(economist)
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