ABSTRACT Industrial globalization may be one of the causes for the varieties in the economic, political and social classes. Research has attributed the expanded gap between those classes to the social exclusion(1) of degraded territories. Such housing symptom might be a threat to future cities, taking into consideration the poor interaction between them. This study will employ architectural computational research to solve the paradox of social classes and social exclusion. Because this paper is not written to attack the A class residents to make you feel pity for the low classes; instead, it suggests how humble- urban interventions can lead to a better communication. Taking the district of Zabbaleen shantytown as a case study; this proposal suggests using the narratives of this Area to boost their dignity, by tracing their daily life patterns, social symbols and the religious landmarks they respect. Then, abstracting them into visually- responsive walls. Finally, offer the people from outside to take independent tours using a series of interactive maps that present more than directions and legends. . human stories! BACKGROUND: ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF CAIRO, A CITY LIVES ON TRASH! The Zabaleen, a term that literally means zebala or “garbage” in the Egyptian Arabic slang. This Shantytown has known as Cairo‘s informal waste collectors area since the early 1940s(2). The population of this area around 20,000 to 30,000 (3). Religious-wise, over 90 percent of the inhabitants are Coptic Christians. For decades, Zabaleen residents have made their living by collecting rubbish door-to-door from Cairo’s residents at a bargain, by categorizing a quantity of 15,000 tons of junk (4) daily. Their whole town is basically a giant dump that provides them with almost everything they need. Kids use the recycled materials to build their own toys, they reuse the plant waste to ornament their heads on the religious occasions, even the pigs are used to eat the leftovers of their organic food waste. Most importantly, The citizens Of the city are relying on trash to maintain their livelihoods(5).
METHODOLOGY: KINETIC -the initiative I want to start later on- follows a structure of four main themes: 1st: Discover: Every suburb has its own characteristics. For the informal settlements, the details of their lifestyle are normally more rich and complicated to understand. For instance, an organized set of investigation spots among the neighborhood will be helpful. 2nd: Observe: Remembering that the main role of these narratives is to reflect the people ideologies, the observer should only trace the kind of activities, social norms, normative beliefs and places which residents are attached to, not jumping to any correlations or conclusions. 3rd: Produce: the interactive talks from and to the inhabitants at this level will add much feedbacks and endorsements to the suggested proposal. Children, in general, are more likely to open up to new people. Starting with a workshop for children might be a good Idea. 4th: experience: at this level, the collected data should be abstracted into generated computational 3D primary models. Followed by sharing ideas with inhabitants, and make edits upon their feedbacks. 5th: Develop: A series of modified changes according to the fabrication process and users' feedbacks will lead to significant implementations. Getting back to the case of Zabbaaleen; I had the chance of participating in the workshop: design for happiness. Our team had suggested a story mapping script. On the observational levels, I discovered after a site visit we had that people there are not ashamed to be identified by such a name. However, they want to be wellrecognized for what they carry out for the whole city. So, the produced map had pinned the suggested landmarks in the attached figure (Fig-01). GENERAL OBSERVATIONS, SITE CHARACTERISTICS: The territories of Zabaleen is based on a community of 30,0000, serving close to 18 million people from nearby districts, creating one of the world’s greenest wastemanagement systems. They are believed to collect about two-thirds of Cairo’s waste and recycle an impressive 85% of what they receive. The community maintained ties with their rural origins, preserving community organization by intermarrying and sharing households with extended family(6). All structures are designed to enhance the recycling operations and working with no planning and grid makes every home unique, built according to the particular resources and skills of the dwellers(7) .
This map's idea is a collaborative work of our team 05 participants. My colleague Hala Medhat assem and I pinned together the suggested locations and then Hala finalized the map. (Fig-01)
This is the first abstraction I made out of this Area. The thing is: It was also where Ahmed 10 years old, and Mario 11 years old are used to get out and play. I thought by that time of including something human to the map. (Fig-02), Photo by me.
KINETIC OUTLINES: Taking further research on tracing people behavior, I developed an approach of classifying these social patterns into five categories shown in the figure (fig-03). These series of narratives will be distributedall over the district in a sequential order. So, the people from outside can get in touch not only with the city in a traditional sense. But also, to get more in-depth into what kind of people are they, and what sort of life do they have?
PANORAMIC VIEWS AND DIFFERENT
YOU DUMP, WE
PERSPECTIVES-
RECYCLE! PHOTO
PHOTO CRIDET (9)
CREDIT (10)
HUMAN EXPRESSIONS HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON-PHOTO CREDIT (8)
A GOOD COMPANY OF FRIENDS: PHOTO CREDIT (12)
WITHIN A CAVE WE PRAY! CAVE CHURCH, PHOTO CREDIT (11)
The Map Produced and Designed by Me- Fig 03 .
KINETIC OUTLINES: These are conceptual ideas that roughly designed by me of turning sample images into basic parametric textures to be built on when generating the physical model.
DESIGN PROCESS: Pictures from left to right are showcasing the process of abstracting one of the suggested patterns, the fourth in the bottom is the final result. Photo Credit is mentioned previously in figure 03 (fig-03) break down.
SUMMARY: • • • • • •
Working on the data gathering phase that includes discovering the most dominant features, key persons and landmark spots around the place. Engage the stakeholders of inhabitants alongside other urban class presenters for a better understanding. The analysis of what and where are the main features of cultural heritage. Arrange a serious of interactive workshops where inhabitants will reflect themselves. General layout- map stations cited on them brief sketches referring people's jobs and genders among every sub-sector. Studio brainstorming about how to composite these artistic elements within the architectural computation MSc.
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Christopher de Gruben, (2016) ‘Does improved place-making lead to greater social exclusion?’, by in Sustainability, Urban Thoughts. Artyom Somov, Vitaly Buzuev (2016) ‘Zabbaleen: Trash Town A whole community in Egypt that lives on rubbish’, a documentary published by: documentary channel. The Zabbaleen: A History: ‘Association for the Protection of the Environment’. Itziar Aguirre, (2015) Cairo’s ‘Zabaleen’ garbage collectors: Egypt’s diamond in the rough’, Published by: Global risk insights. Design for Happiness Workshop, (2017), Organized by NEXAR, Cairo. SyndiGate.info, (2015), ‘Egyptians turn waste into wealth with Cairo’s garbage’, a report published by: albawaba business. Alan Kadduri, (2015), ‘Turning waste into wealth with Cairo's garbage people’, by your middle east. Itziar Aguirre, (2015) Cairo’s ‘Zabaleen’ garbage collectors: Egypt’s diamond in the rough’, Published by: Global risk insights. Cristina Ampatzidou, (2014) Cairo’s ‘Lessons about Recycling – AFFR’, Published by: cristina-ampatzidou.com Mohammed, 51 years old, and Ismael, 60 years old, work as Zabaleen (garbage collectors), (2010), Photo by Martyn Aim published by: Corbis via Getty Images. Giulia Cimarosti, Photo from yTravel Blog, (2012), ‘Insider travel tips on things to see and do in Cairo Egypt’, published on Pinterest. Nu Carvalio, (2016), © Oliveira de Carvalho - Cairo, Egypt.