COOUM SLUM RECONSTRUCTION, CHENNAI ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN ASWATH RAJ | 17BARC031
Title: Restucturing Cooum, Chennai To provide a safe and thriving locality for the people who live in the slums of Chennai. This is done by reconstructing the locality, with zero to minimum rehabilitation.
Hypothesis: In today’s cities with the incline in land prices, unstable economy, sanitation & urban migration a lot of people are left homeless or live in unsafe & unsanitary environments, making these locales largely inaccessible & avoided by the residents of the city causing these areas left to rot thereby making both the locale & its inhabitants undesired & leaving them with no improvement or quality of life. Amongst all the extremities in poverty stricken environments that exist in such places as Dharavi (Bombay) & Cooum (Chennai), what really hits the gut is the lack of basic amenities. What stands out to me as a sliver of hope in these places is the genuine, unshakable and undeniable sense of community. This spirit of community is something that, in my opinion, is lacking in most big cities. A high concentration of people has led to overuse / misuse of limited resources. Many of these settlements were started due to the availability of natural resources, mainly water. Today water bodies such as the Cooum river are unusable due to unplanned waste disposal & over extraction of water. In the case of Dharavi unplanned development has led to encroachment of public and commutable spaces which in-turn has blocked natural light in many of these crevices. This today has turned into a hub for illegal activities such as smuggling & drug trafficking. The residents of such locales fall prey to such ventures, hoping to lead a better life in the future but get unfortunately bound by circumstances without escape.
DESIGN BREIF: •
Restructuring the locality with minimal to zero Rehabilitation.
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Change this area from being secluded and circumvented by the other inhabitants the city, to be accessed and frequented by them.
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No matter the economic background, a guaranteed standard of living for the tenants.
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To solve the overuse/misuse of available resources in the area, waste disposal & clean amenities.
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Addressing the issue with the production & sale of illegal liquor, narcotics. This must be primarily addressed by large foot traffic & help centres for addicts.
Aim of the research study: The Aim of this research is to study and understand the daily lives & the inhabitants in slums. This research would primarily focus on basic amenities, resource management, user groups, communal activities & sources of income for this community. Statistical data relating to urban poverty, slums, livelihoods, delivery of civic amenities and housing to the poor are to be collected and collated. State Governments and Urban Local Bodies have been conducting their own surveys and maintaining a database. However, such data lacks broad uniformity across the country and all slums must be treated individually. Many local and national governments have, for political interest, subverted efforts to clear, remove or reduce the slums. Politicians relay on the vote of the slum population. Removal and replacement would cause conflicts. Existing patronage network in form of gangs, other times in forms of political parties inside the slums seeks economic, social and political power. Lastly, addressing the inadequate infrastucture from available, clean drinking water, garbage disposal to sanitation these are necessities in todays life but are unfortunately denied to the people as established earlier the government, especially dravidian parties see this as a huge vote bank but the residents are constantly being denied or are refused to be acknowledged. Some of the common reasons stated for this are, existing land disputes, addressing such issues might later encourge the devolpment of more slums. More over they are non tax paying citizens and could be involved in illegal or gang related activities, therby dissudes the goverment from taking any action.
Site Details: The program revolves around the site, there are multiple slums around Chennai situated along the banks of the cooum river. There are around 175 slums in the Royapuram slum with only 50 of them being notified. Total area of the slums are undefined due to unplanned encroachment, but the project will be done in an area of 24281.1 SQM at the same locality. This will be consisting of existing housing conditions, public amenities, playgrounds & parks. Why Royapuram? This is a fishing community on the coast of Chennai. This was the first place where the first Railway Station of South India was constructed. Once upon a time an economic hub today this place has fallen from grace.
Objectives of the research study: The Objective of this research is to address issues such as slum rehabilitation / reconstruction, low cost housing, mass housing & settlements in urban developments. Some particular examples would be Dharavi Mumbai & Cooum Chennai. The Objective is to redevelop such existing sites & redesign the neighborhood. The end goal is to help the community develop and self sustain itself without disturbing the existing fabric. Minimal to Zero relocation and the exposture of such communities to the other parts of the city. Rather than such localites being secluded and dismissed they must become accepted and included into the fibre and the landscape of the
Methodology and research setting: •
Research which is to be conducted at site with no intrusion by the researcher.
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Involving with the participants, taking notes, conducting interviews & photo documentation.
- NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION - PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION •
Observation meant a specific limited set of behaviors. - STRUCTURED OBSERVATION
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Considering all the existing factors and developing new solutions to current issues. - DERIVED RESEARCH
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After formulating a theoretical model it will be assessed theoretically to see if the user groups approve of it. - EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
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The developed plan done in a small scale just to test the waters, similar to a pilot run - SIMULATED RESEARCH
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city.
Study / Research component: •
What would the people like to see change?
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Who are the people occupying these places?
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How does it compare to 5 /10 / 15 years before?
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Where do these people come from?
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How many people live in a household?
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How are the buildings arranged in a master plan?
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How are issues like ventilation & lighting solved?
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Identifying Notified & Non Notified slums?
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Ownership of the land in the slum?
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Population of land in slums.
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Government regulations, policies over the years.
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How is sanitation planned on a larger/macro scale?
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Income groups who occupy such settlements.
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What is the economic contribution of the urban poor to the city’s economy?
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What Infrastructure facilities are available? Who pays for them? (State / Central)
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What are the drivers of migration into the city? When or why do people enter or exit a slum?
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Financial system & savings for slum dwellers.
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Expenditure of the residents.
Articles & Blogs on the issue: ”The word “slum” is often used to describe informal settlements within cities that have inadequate housing and squalid, miserable living conditions. They are often overcrowded, with many people crammed into very small living spaces. These settlements lack basic municipal services such as water, sanitation, waste collection, storm drainage, street lighting, paved sidewalks and roads for emergency access. Most also do not have easy access to schools, hospitals or public places for the community to gather. Many slums have been unserviced and unrecognised for long periods, over 20 years in some cities.” This was an article done by Cities Alliance, on slums and slum upgradation, this article looks at how future sums can be stopped, & providing land rights or a secure tenure. Slum dwellers are an urban populace, providing them with the same economic, environmental & health rights. Ideas such as further government involvement and also involving the community as a whole to address issues like this would help with bringing a sense of inclusiveness to the residents of such locales. Implementing main city line connectivity into these areas would also help spring some life into them. “Human settlements are linked so closely to existence itself, represent such a concrete and widespread reality, are so complex and demanding, so laden with questions of rights and desires, with needs and aspirations, so racked with injustices and deficiencies, that the subject cannot be approached with the leisurely detachment of the solitary theoretician.” This was a statement made by Pierre Elliot Trudeau during the 1976 UN conference in Canada. The focus was on slum dwellers and their aspirations & rights to a dignified life. The goal of this organisation was to combine spatial & social planning to develop a home. This article also addresses the fact that residents of slums cannot find any route out of this due to repeated cycles of poverty. Growing Economic disparity in cities has also led to rise in crime, and the impact of recession due to uncertain economic times such as now. They have also taken a look at the lack of some of the basic amenities such as education & sanitation. “A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed before the NGT in Delhi on July 26, 2014, asking for the “huge amount of plastic and human waste” on railway stations and tracks across India to be cleaned up. The petition highlighted the railways’ insouciant attitude towards the environment. Instead of responding to an inquiry into the railways’ dubious sanitation and environment management record, the counsel for the railways argued that the main source of pollution at the tracks are jhuggies (slums) situated (nearby) and, hence, the problem will only be solved after the removal of such jhuggies”. This Article addresses the waste produced in the country by slums. It speaks about the settlements near the railway tracks, and state governments like Delhi trying to relocate them. Such temporary settlements are also regularly destroyed citing reasons such as beautification and security. Some of the actual instigation points are Urban land is highly contested for, these lands are demolished and rebuilt over and over again over the years. Some cases have been provided with relocated housing, but a large group is still left unattended, increasing the homeless problem. “Whether the Dharavi model will be an example is a question for the future. But for now, the residents of Mumbai’s famous slum have lost all they had. Down To Earth, which spent six days in the area, found people hungry, jobless and stigmatised. In this last part of a three-part series, we take you through those aspects of Dharavi’s life during the pandemic which got overshadowed in the usual discourse.” This article speaks about the effect COVID 19 had on Dharavi, not only health concerns but also issues like unemployment, hunger & shortage of basic necessities. Many residents who work jobs like house helps, small pottery makers & furniture stores. Dharavi is known to be a billion dollar economy which houses somewhere around 15000 industries in them, which are all still virtually shut. Recycling market in Dharavi was also hurt, this pertains to the thousands of people who work as scavengers. A direct consequence of this has been hunger for a large group of people, grain was distributed during the lockdown several government & non governmental organizations. Health care was also a major concern for the residents, unattainable healthcare & non governmental medical camps have not been able to address this size of Dharavi.
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people defecating on tracks due to a clear track of sanitation infrastructure. Cities like Delhi & Mumbai where
Light in a paint can:
Epoc an Indian graphitti artist, had stumbled his way into cooum once and was warned that “Its not a good area to hang out, when it gets dark, Its not safe here.” Later along with the help of the Non profit group Lt + Art, over 15 painters were hired to paint murals and artwook along the side of the building to bring in a more colourful and welcoming aspect to the locale. This particular locality called Kanagi Nagar
Now Kannagi Nagar has become a hub for
was established during the 2000s, a home
tourists, hosting vistors who come to spice up
to almost 80,000 people but today riddled
their social media walls to art criticts, students
with the reputation of alcoholism, drug use,
and new artists to work on this ever expanding
kidnapping & theft. Infact the goverment had
concrete canvass.
been strictly advsing both residents & the tourists of chennai to avoid visting if possible.
This small initiative has spaked a life into this
This small residentaial locality was cut of from
locality that it
the city made into its own island.
words about hosting Workshops and training
had never had before. More
is being spread arround the city for this to not Today the art has not nly added some flavour to
only be a Kannagi nagar thing, but a Chennai
the place but it is also recognised as chennais
thing.
very first art district. The initial cynisism that the project had recived for making no difference in the living conditions of people today has been welcomed as this had turned into an education for the residents of the area. Kannagi Nagrs latest art instalation is arround an empty plot of land situated among such housing units. Where in a wealthier locality this would have been transformed into a park or a plazza. Kannagi Nagar plans on utlising this space on more art instaliations. This whole area is now visualised as a living and breathing museum.
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Walls that withstood the sea:
Behind concrete walls, opposite the vast Bay of Bengal, across the Marina Loop Road, is a sweeping valley of corrugated iron. Iron that has rusted over some years; years that have been full of evangelical prayers and failed promises. This, is the story of Nochikuppam slum in Chennai. Untenable settlements are in various cities trips
Slum people are mostly the underprivileged,
across the country. However, Nochikuppam
weakest section of our society. They are
had some architectural symmetry — every
deprived of the minimum basic amenities like
structure was a twin to the other. It was a
housing, water supply, drainage and sanitation.
sprawling, ramshackle settlement built from
Women and children are the worst victims.
materials cast off by the rest of the city — an
Physically, mentally and emotionally they are
architect’s nightmare.
affected. People who were never on the streets had to sleep on pavements, without proper
Nochikuppam was severely hit by the 2004
security of their lives.
tsunami, remained submerged for days in the 2015 floods. Harsh cyclones like Vardah have
A comparison of the income level of migrants
uprooted everything and yet the dwellers have
with non-migrant population, show that the
unflinchingly faced the odds for years.
former is slightly better off. However, there is steady deterioration in the quality of life of
Living condition in many urban slums are
migrant households. Poor quality of life and
worse than those in the poorest rural areas of
poverty go hand in hand, one perpetuating the
the country. This can be attributed partly to the
other.
slums exceptionally unhealthy environment. Many of the most serious diseases in cities are
There is a need for a paradigm shift in the
‘environmental’ because they are transmitted
government’s approach to the housing of the
through air, water, soil and food or through
city’s poor — one that has their welfare as its
insect or animal vectors.
primary motivation. Only then will there be some meaning to the motto of the TNSCB– “to
Electrification, to an extent has been made available but supply has been a constant complaint. Water logging during monsoon submerges the entire slum. Four common latrine facilities make it hard for the women to access at night. No drainage system and lack of a garbage disposal system has further worsened the woes.
see God in the smile of the poor”.
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Scouting for Herritage:
One of the shortest rivers to drown into the Bay of bengal is known today as a glorified sewer, beyond repair. No river that flows through Chennai is independent of the larger Palar river
support repair works of the Tribhuvanamadevi
system. All these rivers are seasonal and are
Pereri, as the Cooum tank was known then.
heavily dependent on the monsoon for their
Though history and culture seem to bathe the
intermediate flows. if Cooum is today an image
banks of the Cooum, what can now be expected
for pollution and sewage Palar is known for the
from the river? Can it ever be restored back to
abuse done to it in the name of sand mining.
its original glory?
During the time of the colonies Madras was
Yes, an ambitious effort has to taken that
located in a strategic point of the south of
restores the rivers free flow in the urban
India. As the city developed & settlements grew
stretches. Plugging the inlets that let in
so did its requirement for water. The Cooum
Industrial and domestic sewage & Finally
river was mainly used to address the needs
cleaning up the banks that toady acts as a
of North Madras & the Souths requirements
home to 28% of Chennais population.
would be satisfied by Adayar river and Chemparampakam
Tank.
Much
earlier
the Cooum river has played a much more substantial role in Tamil culture, with various religious texts & inscriptions dedicated to it. In fact Legend has it that Lord Shiva when tasked with killing three Asuras, during the battle while Lord Shiva attempted to regain balance he placed his bow on a river which rose up to was his feet. This is documented as Palar & later its tributary the Holy Cooum. Inscriptions from the times of Chola king Rajendra II at the Thiruvirkolanathar temple in the village of Cooum reveal a great deal about resource use and allocation of land for constructing a canal to feed the Cooum tank. At the same site, another inscription of Kulothunga I dating back to 1112AD speaks of tank maintenance and upkeep. The inscription notes that paddy and fishing taxes were lifted to
Slum Reconstruction
A Sea of Problems:
The Marina beach is a must visit place for anyone
The families also complaint of various other
who is in Chennai. There is not a single person
issues such as lack of proper lighting in that
in the city who has not been to Marina beach.
area. “There are no streetlights in this area and
But there is one thing that no one in seems to
at night, we are scared to get out of the house,”
be aware about - the life of the residents at the
said Lakshmi, who also went on to say that she
Royapurram area along the Marina loop road
is scared to send her children out to play after
right opposite to the Bay of Bengal.
6pm because of these reasons.
Fishermen living along the Marina Loop road are
The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance board says
going through hard times with the authorities
that the reason they are not building houses for
planning to demolish their homes and shift
these 400 or more families is because they are
them to their new homes in Perumbakkam,
illegal encroachments.
which is 20 kms from where they have been living all this while. The residents living in temporary houses said that the government promised them houses and they have been waiting for more than seven years. The number of people living in the slum has been increasing and despite the promises, they haven’t been rehabilitated. A few families have been shifted to Nochi Nagar, but the ones who are left behind narrate a tale of caste-based discrimination. Caste discrimination is not the only problem that is faced by the people living in the loop road. They have to face daily problems like poor waste segregation, lack of water supply and poor electricity in their homes.
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Program Details: Total Useable Area: 15,000 sq.m Residential Solutions: 5000 sq.m Recostruction of dilapitated houses Providing some tenants with arentable option Providing lavatory’s for some houses Services and lighting provided for the residential areas Public amenities: 7000 sq.m Public Bathrooms Laundry rooms Parks & Plazzas Sports Facilities Auditoriums & Rentable buildings Public School: 2000 sq.m Recostruction of existing school Development of the sports facilities Quality Education to be provided until middle school Roads & Transportation: 1000 sq.m Improvement of existing roads Constuction of Roads connecting to the beach Roads that bring important bus routes into the area
Citations: O’Hare, Greg, et al. “A Review of Slum Housing Policies in Mumbai.” Cities, Pergamon, 25 Nov. 1998, https://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264275198000183. Yuan, Xiuming. Housing of Urban Migrants in India and China - Researchgate. https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/258136744_Housing_of_Urban_Migrants_in_India_and_China. ETRealty, Hiranandani. “Challenges for Affordable Housing in India - Realtycheck by Surendra Hiranandani: Et Realestate.” ETRealty.com, https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/realty-check/challenges-for-affordablehousing-in-india/2314. INDIA,, GOVT. UNHABITAT: A Practical Guide to Designing Planing ... - OHCHR. https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ Issues/Housing/InformalSettlements/UNHABITAT_A_ PracticalGuidetoDesigningPlaningandExecutingCitywideSlum.pdf. Barsuli, Collins. UNHABITAT: A Practical Guide to Designing Planing ... - OHCHR. https://www.ohchr.org/ Documents/Issues/Housing/InformalSettlements/UNHABITAT_A_ PracticalGuidetoDesigningPlaningandExecutingCitywideSlum.pdf. Kishore, Roshan. “India’s Housing Situation.” Ideas For India, https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/macroeconomics/ indias-housing-situation.html#:~:text=The%20’Housing%20for%20all’%20scheme,the%20urban%20poor%20 by%202022.&text=According%20to%20the%202011%20census,and%2032%25%20are%20urban%20households. 19, October, et al. “Housing in India.” The World of Teoalida, 30 Sept. 2021, https://www.teoalida.com/world/india/.
Bibliography & Books to refer: •
Slum Development in India: A Study of Slums in Kalaburagi
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Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s largest slum
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The Durable Slum: Dharavi and the Right to Stay Put in Globalizing Mumbai • Poor Little Rich Slum
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Making the Modern Slum: The Power of Capital in Colonial Bombay