Rethinking the Slums in India by Florela Tudor

Rethinking the Slums in India Florela Tudor

CERTIFICATION

This is to certify the written portions of the thesis by Florela Tudor, titled, “Living UP� has been approved by the thesis committee and meets the requirements to complete the degree of Masters of Arts in Interior Design at Harrington College of Design. Completed May 13, 2016.

______________________________________________________________________ Diane Kitchell, Thesis Committee Chair

______________________________________________________________________ John Albrecht, Thesis Committee Member/Reader

______________________________________________________________________ Atul Karkhanis, Thesis Committee Member/Reader

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 7

acknowledgements

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biography

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abstract

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introduction

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key terms

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thesis statement

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theoretical framework

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thought leaders

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design work

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conclusion

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appendix A

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appendix B

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INTRODUCTION

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Diane Kitchell, my committee chair for her support, guidance and direction during this thesis process and for her encouragement to focus on the bigger picture and also to pay attention to the smallest details. Her design perspective was so valuable during this thesis preparation.

I would love to express my profound appreciation to the thoughtful comments and suggestions from the thesis committee members John Albrecht and Atul Karkhanis help me progress in a more practical direction and their support and directions allowed me to reach the goal of this design thesis.

Ultimately, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support during this journey and for understanding my ups and down that came along the way.

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BIOGRAPHY

Born in Europe, I had there my first architectural and interior design experience. It was an expression of mixing history and family personality in very unique patters of life. The decision of choosing interior design lies in a mixture of art, creation, and the desire of helping others. The most important for me is to be able to listen, understand, and know people and their needs.

As a future interior designer I found myself inspired by nature and people. Through times, nature has confirmed a remarkable track record of solving problems. She uses only the recourses necessary to get the job done in a smart, graceful, and collaborative way. As humans we should be able to study her principles, learn from her failures and successes, and look for solutions to solve problems with respect to her examples, especially when it comes to innovations, people’s culture, and sustainability.

Designing for people, sustainable and cost efficient, integrating with natural environment with climate in mind, are important aspects that I would like to apply in my future career. My cause is to design for any social class, to enrich the culture in which we participate by promoting simplicity and home-grown quality in spaces.

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ABSTRAST

As the world keeps on urbanizing, sustainable growth challenges will be more and more concentrated in cities, particularly in the lower-middle- income countries where the speed of urbanization is fastest. In these areas policies to improve the lives of both urban and rural dwellers are needed.

The urban environment is extremely complex and has brought great opportunity to many, and will continue to do so at an exceptional speed throughout the developing world. Cities are centers of economic activity, innovation, and wealth. They draw migrants in search of better jobs, services and prospects for better living conditions. While many who come are poor, they represent a massive contribution to a city’s economy through employment in manufacturing, services, and other sectors.

This thesis study will look at how interior design of supportive spaces will help in solving the slum’s problem in India to meet the physiological needs, safety and security in order to ultimately transform the slum dwellers and the people’s lives by giving them a sense of belonging in pursuance of improving their wellness and self-esteem and demonstrating that every life matters.

54 percent of the world’s population exists in urban areas

The urban world is changing. In 1950, thirty percent of the world’s population was urban and is estimated that by 2050, 7 in 10 people will live in urban areas. Every year, the world’s urban population increases by approximately 60 million people. Most of this growth is taking place in low and middle-income countries

This graphic depicts countries and territories with urban population exceeding 100,000. Circles are scaled in proportion to urban population size.

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1 Billion People = 14 percent of the world’s urban population = ONE in seven of us, live in SLUMS

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INTRODUCTION

Since my main concern is helping people, I am researching the effect of population growth in India and its impact on the slum dwellers. There is a huge discrepancy in the social class aspect, while some people don’t know how much money they possess, others don’t know where the next meal in coming from.

Obviously the social and economic issues are major problems in India and its affecting a major percentage of the population. Still, India has lots of resources and in the last couple of years the country is catching the concept of environment-friendly buildings, or green buildings. So there is hope that something could be done to improve the lives of the slum dwellers.

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KEY TERMS

Ayurvedic medicine evolved in India, and is considered to be the world’s oldest healthcare system.

It is named for the Sanskrit word Ayurveda, meaning the “science of life.�

Biodiversity is the term given to the variety of life on Earth. It is the variety within and between all species of plants, animals and micro-organisms and the ecosystems within which they live and interact.

Jali or jaali, is the term for a perforated stone or latticed screen, usually with an ornamental pattern constructed through the use of calligraphy and geometry.

Slum is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing.

Urban agglomeration is an extended city or town area comprising the built-up area of a central place and any suburbs linked by continuous urban area.

Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around a village, town, or city.

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THESIS STATEMENT

Slums are not a new phenomenon; slums are usually the only type of settlement affordable and accessible to the poor in cities, where struggle for land and profits is extreme. In order to solve the slum problem in India, the thesis design will be guided by the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs used as a design structure to meet users physiological needs, safety and security. This thesis research as well as the design solution will attempt to show an application of interior design strategies that will ultimately transform the slum dwellers and the people’s lives by giving them a sense of belonging in pursuance of improving their wellness and self-esteem and demonstrating that every life matters.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

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“If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home form the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is INDIA.�

Romain Rolland, French Noble Laureate

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Situated in South Asia, India is the 7th largest country by area and the second most populated country in the world.

With its current population of more than 1.21 billion people and the nation growing rate of 1.41%, India is projected to the world’s most populated country by 2022,exceeding even China.

Indian culture is an mixture of assorted sub-cultures spread all over the country and aged traditions.

Varied people, religions, climate, languages, customs, and traditions differ from one place to the other within the country. It is an habitat of, colorful festivals, age old art forms in music, dance, architecture and distinct geographic attributes.

The country has got the largest portion of Hindus, Parsis, Jains, and Sikhs residing in the world. The nation even houses world’s third-biggest Muslim population.

Muslims

Sikhs

Christians

Buddhists

Parsis

Jains

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Colors are so important for Indians. You see them all around you, on clothing, on temples, you see them on streets, or you seen them on the Holi festival dedicated to colors.

From the festive color green that symbolizes peace and happiness, and stabilizes the mind, to sacred saffron that stands for purity, and all the way to lord Krishna’s blue, the Indian creator that has giving the maximum of blue to nature through sky, oceans, rivers, and lakes, color in India has become synonymous with religion – an expression of faith and beliefs.

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Being a country of continental proportions the poverty in India is a multidirectional phenomenon. Not surprisingly the debate over poverty in India is complex and controversial.

One big issue due to poverty is the existence of numerous slums that has formed over time due to rapid rural-urban migration in hope for a better life, globalization and population growth.

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SLUM = run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing

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A slum household lacks of easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price; lacks of access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or pubic toilet shared by a reasonable number of people; lacks of durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions; lacks of sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the same room; and lacks of security of tenure that prevents forced evictions.

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A total of 33,510 slums were estimated to be present in the urban areas of India. About 41% of these were notified and 59% non-notified.

It is estimated that by 2017, India’s total slum population will be 104 million.

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THOUGHT LEADERS

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‘We must create cities where the poor are not dehumanized’ Charles Correa

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The master plan was divided into six sectors each with populations of 7000-12,000. In the central spine of the area there is commercial and institutional land use.

A solution in this sense was found by the Indian architect Doshi in Indore, India. He used land as a resource to produce housing for the urban poor by allowing them to access it to build their homes.

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The Aranya Housing Project completed in 1988 was considered a model project.

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Many organization have gotten involved in the issues of poverty. In India, there has been substantial highlighting on all the MDGs and the nation has witnessed considerable progress, with some targets already having been met well ahead of the 2015 deadline.

Of the eight of millennium goals, the thesis research applies to four such as eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, promote gender equality and power, ensure environmental sustainability, and global partnership for development.

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Employing the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a first start in organizing the thesis research the goal is to reach all hierarchical levels within the pyramid, such as: physiological needs, safety and security, the feeling of love and belonging, self-esteem and self-actualization.

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DESIGN WORK

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GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The thesis statement helps to inform the design guiding principles and design drivers and the mission of Living UP is to help revitalize the slum neighborhood as a Community Outreach Center. Therefore, when taking into account diverse philosophies about the circumstances and strategies for this thesis research, a series of guiding principles surface.

An important goal of this research is to provide a safe place for poor people where basic physiological needs such water, bathrooms, food, sleep, and health are provided.

A center that offers access to information, education, and help for job opportunities and the prospect for the poor to be to integrated into society.

As the research movers forwards on the Maslow’s Hierarchy Pyramid into aching the feeling of self esteem new goal arise such as opportunity for long time secure shelter.

All these goals are to be represented in an environment that supports daylight and stays in connection with the nature.

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safe place information

physiological needs

society integration

job opportunity

shelter nature 39

USERS

When it comes to different social classes, in India there is a caste system unique in the world and old for centuries that divides the society based on occupation and family line. The main stakeholders of Living Up are the poor people of the slums so called untouchables and are situates below the caste. Other users are low income population and rural-urban migrants. Those are called in the Hindu caste sudra and situated at the lower levels of the caste.

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SITE SELECTION

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1.8 million people lives in slums in Delhi

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After Mumbai, Delhi has the second largest slum Population in India. Almost 1.8 million people lives in slums here, an approximate of twenty four percent of Delhi’s population.

South west of New Delhi, 6.5 miles way, there is one of the most posh area,a suburbia called Vasant Vihar.

As a tough contrast to the area’s bungalows, here there is the largest slum of Delhi called Kusumpur Pahari.

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Kusumpur Pahari

The slum is housing more than 10,000 dwellers and these homes shelter mostly poor migrants.

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Because the slum is hidden by the forest which makes it hard to be seen from the street, the selected building for the outreach community center will be placed right at the end of the forest and the beginning of the slum.

The chosen location has the purpose to help in humanizing the slum based on Correa’s ideas and using Doshi’s system design approach of having everything available within one space.

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The approximate 40,000 square feet center has the purpose of providing water, a warm meal, help, and opportunities for jobs and shelter for the poor.

The goal of the design structure is to create a vertical volume in the area where overpopulation gets to its highest.

Taking into consideration the Maslow’s Pyramid, for this thesis project the building is structured on four levels and each one represents a stage in achieving the most fundamental human needs.

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DESIGN TEST

From the early process of the design phase, the intent of the design was to incorporate a sense of community and acceptance, a place where help and information are provided to the less fortunate.

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LOOK AND FEEL The look and the feeling of Living up is simple, with colors specific to the culture, with pieces of furniture made by local craftsmen out of timber, one of the most available wood in the area. Broken pottery are integrated into the facade of the walls for esthetic purpose and for recycling purpose as well.

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DESIGN COMPONENT

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First Level

The guiding principles are to be met throughout the whole building and here at the first level the main goal is providing physiological needs in pursuance of meeting the Millennium Goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

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(6.1)

(6.3) (5)

(5)

(3)

(1)

(3) (6)

(4)

(2) (5)

(6.2)

(4) (5) (6.3)

(5)

(5)

(5)

(6.1)

(1) kitchen (2) serving area (3) toilets (4) showers (5) eating areas (6) kids center (6.1) toilets (6.2) recreation area (6.3) sleeping rooms

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The first thing you see as you walk in is the kitchen and the serving food counter where people can come and get their meal.

The kitchen is semi-open particularly to create the connection with the rest of the space.

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Local wood and craftsmanship was used to create sitting benches and tables.

The outside is brought inside through plants and trees.

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Indian patterns, vibrant colors and wonderful mosaic are used in enriching the space.

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While some Indians like to eat sitting on the ground, small round risen surfaces were created to accommodate such custom.

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The west side selected for the kids center, is colorful and playful. Using the global partnership for development, the Global company Coalesse, in a humanitarian approach, provided the Ripple Benches where kids can gather around and listen to stories.

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Kids can draw on the erase panel created special for them or they can write or color sitting by the tables.

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The kid’s sleeping rooms are very minimal, providing single child beds.

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Showers are important assets to the area. A big issue in Kusumur Phari is the lack of pipe water. In the western countries we take a lot for grounded but here, a warm shower can bring smile on a person’s face.

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Second Level

Moving up at a more screening area, level two provides the feeling of safety by offering job opportunities, care and information through various spaces available here.

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(3.3)

(3.3) (1)

(2)

(1)

(3)

(3.2)

(1)

(3.1) (3.3)

(1) job search/ placement offices (2) working atelier (3) care center (3.1) ayurvedic source area (3.2) socializing open area (3.3) women empowering offices

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The atelier is an open space that connects the people working here and without too much financial effort, the place is surrounded by colors, patterns and religious pictures.

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Walking into the west wing the space has a more tranquil feeling due to the purpose of the space.

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Since India has the world’s lowest meat consumption per person, many Indians are recurring to the resources that nature has given us using herbal medicine and treatment, a traditional Hindu system of medicine old for more than 5000 years called Ayurveda.

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Sitting on the carpet women can gather around and share their life experiences, day by day struggles, or just sitting quite in meditation.

Here the millennium goal of promoting gender equality and empower women is trying to be achieved.

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There are more private offices here for those that need it.

The spaces are very casual, minimalistic, and specific to the local culture.

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Third Level

The feeling of love, belonging, friendship and family are met at the third level where immediate and temporary shelters are offered.

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This level is divided by functionality. The east side of this level provides ten single rooms as temporary occupancies to people in disparate immediate need while the west wing offers fourteen little studios that can be rented for a longer period of time by the people working in the community center.

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A typical single room offers the basic necessities for clean and rest.

The furniture is very minimal and the most important asset here is the bed and the toilet.

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The studio apartment is an open space with a small kitchen area, a sleeping are and an enclosed bathroom.

Starting as a western thinker in the process of design, the fusion of western and eastern cultures are to be met through materials and functionality but correlated to the local culture.

The space developed into a statement of vibrant colors with an overall mixed of the two cultures.

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Fourth Level

The confidence, self-esteem and feeling of achievement are attained on the fourth level, where family apartments can be rented by its tenants for a long period of time. Most of the living spaces are attained by the people that give back by working in the community, either in the kitchen, ateliers, or other areas within the center.

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The ten two bedroom apartments are designated to families with two or three children and having a simple layout but colorful and specific to the area and the culture.

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The apartment’s layout is simple but colorful, specific to the area and the culture.

The focal point of the space is the kitchen, where cooking is almost a tradition. Mosaic tiles are very specific to the area.

Through design process, different tints were used to emphasize the importance of colors.

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It is very common in India the use of horizontal board around the walls, a technique seen in Aranya Housing Project of Doshi’s and the thesis design experiences with this technique as well.

A bedroom that started from a design western perspective has been transformed through materials and hues and has been adapted it to its native culture.

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Roof Top

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Because the center is to be used at its maxim capacity and tries to be as self sufficient as possible, the roof top is design as a unban agriculture where immediate spices and vegetables necessary to the kitchen are to be gown. This is a sustainable approach to the area. Also, here the feeling of self-actualization from Maslow's pyramid is to be achieved. Besides proving the necessary food to the kitchen, the agricultural rooftop is another place where job opportunities are offered to the ones in need.

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CONCLUSION

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Providing low income people with a safe environment that supports basic human needs, a sense of belonging and a purpose in life, should not be something that some people could only dream off, should be the absolute normal way of living. Every person has the right to basic human conditions that will give them a better feeling in life, a feeling of love, belonging, friendship, esteem, a sense of place. The way we live and where we live, the conditions of living, occupies an important valuable role in positioning the standards for safe dwellers environment. Particularly to India, the human condition plays an imperative role in preventing overpopulation and overcrowded sprawl dwellers where creating normal balance is absolute necessary.

Employing the design principles, guided by Maslow’s hierarchy and influenced by Indian thought leaders, the designed solutions helped to prove that Living Up supports growth at an individual level as well as at the community level. This thesis research offers the needed structure to profile a mixed environment that is actually efficient by involving the people into the change and taking into consideration design drivers that values life, community, basic human needs, social interaction, and compassion. Each of these employed aspects of design provides an environment that offers to its users a sense of belonging and esteem and will prove that every life matters.

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APPENDIX A: RESEARCH PAPER

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

108 Key Terms and Definitions 108 Biography 109 Abstract 110 Introduction 111 Thesis Statement 112 Theoretical Framework 112 What is a slum?

112 Why do slums exist?

113 Urbanization in India 115 Evidence Background 116 Thought leadership 117 Case Studies 118 Cultural and Social Context 119 Design Work 119 Thesis Statement 119 Guiding Principles 120 Stakeholders 120 Location 121 Site Selection 121 Design Component 124 Design Solution 124 Conclusion

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Key Terms and Definitions Ayurvedic Ayurvedic medicine evolved in India, and is considered to be the world’s oldest healthcare system. It is named for the Sanskrit word Ayurveda, meaning the “science of life.�

Biodiversity Biodiversity is the term given to the variety of life on Earth. It is the variety within and between all species of plants, animals and micro-organisms and the ecosystems within which they live and interact.

Jali A jali or jaali, is the term for a perforated stone or latticed screen, usually with an ornamental pattern constructed through the use of calligraphy and geometry.

Slum A slum is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing.

Urban Agglomeration An urban agglomeration is an extended city or town area comprising the built-up area of a central place and any suburbs linked by continuous urban area.

Urban Agriculture Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around a 108

village, town, or city.

Biography Born in Europe, I had there my first architectural and interior design experience. It was an expression of mixing history and family personality in very unique patters of life. The decision of choosing interior design lies in a mixture of art, creation, and the desire of helping others. The most important for me is to be able to listen, understand, and know people and their needs.

My passion for arts was identified by my parents when I was very young. I studied ballet, music, and I was always painting and sketching. At the same time I had a realistic and practical side that was shaping during my high-school years when I finished with a specialization in Mathematics-Physics and I continued with 4 years of college in Business Administration. I used the knowledge I accumulated in college and opened my own business.

I also studied two years of college of Journalism and Communication and during that time I worked as a reporter in a national folk music television station. This experience helped me become a better listener and better understand and communicate with people.

Coming to America was the most challenging and enriching experience of my life. I had the opportunity to closely interact with people of different cultures. I learned to interact with people of different taste, sentiments, and cultures and I find myself very comfortable mixing with people of different cultures. I was very lucky to have the

chance to travel around my country, Europe, and the most important cities in America. I have always had a passion for buildings and especially for what is inside them. During my early studies I had no knowledge about interior design.

But I knew I wanted to do something creative and here in America I realized that learning interior design would give me immense joy and satisfaction.

Studying Interior Design at Harrington College was total blessing to me. I have enjoyed every class. I graduated my Associates Degree with the highest honor and my hard work paid off. I realized that I was only half way done and there is so much more to learn and accomplish and that’s why I’ve continued my Harrington journey through the Master’s program. This program gave me the opportunity to finally be doing something that I am truly passionate about. All this time, this college provided me with fundamental skills from the basic to the advanced level that unquestionably prepare me for a career in interior design.

I am not interested in glamour or sparks. I want to help and bring smile on people’s faces. I want to create spaces that offer a sense of place where people feels comfortable, safe, and at home. I do not wish to design for me, I wish to design for people and their needs. I want my designs to offer a unique experience for every user that will develop emotions and later on will bring wonderful memories to people. I believe that every person deserves a sense of place, either at home or at work, every environment should have a unique feeling.

As a future interior designer I found myself inspired by nature and people. Through times, nature has confirmed a remarkable track record of solving problems.

She uses only the recourses necessary to get the job done in a smart, graceful, and collaborative way. As humans we should be able to study her principles, learn from her failures and successes, and look for solutions to solve problems with respect to her examples, especially when it comes to innovations, people’s culture, and sustainability.

Designing for people, sustainable and cost efficient, integrating with natural environment with climate in mind, are important aspects that I would like to apply in my future career. My cause is to design for any social class, to enrich the culture in which we participate by promoting simplicity and home-grown quality in spaces.

Abstract

Worldwide, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas, with 54 per cent of the world’s population existing in urban areas in 2014. In 1950, thirty per cent of the world’s population was urban, and by 2050, sixtysix per cent of the world’s population is predictable to be urban. The urban population of the world has grown quickly since 1950, from 746 million to 3.9 billion in 2014.

Asia, despite its lesser level of urbanization, is home to fifty-three per cent of the world’s urban population, followed by Europe with fourteen per cent and Latin America and the Caribbean with thirteen per cent.

Ongoing population growth and urbanization are projected to add 2.5 billion people to the world’s urban population by 2050, with nearly ninety per cent of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa. Only India, China and 109

Nigeria together are expected to account for thirty-seven per cent of the anticipated growth of the world’s urban population between 2014 and 2050. India is projected to add 404 million urban dwellers, China 292 million and Nigeria 212 million.

Close to half of the world’s urban dwellers exist in rather small settlements of less than 500,000 residents, while only around one in eight live in the 28 mega-cities with more than 10 million residents.

Few decades ago most of the world’s biggest urban agglomerations were found in the more developed regions, but today’s large cities are concentrated in the global South. The fastest growing urban agglomerations are medium-sized cities and cities with less than 1 million inhabitants located in Asia and Africa. Some cities have known population decline in recent years. Most of these are situated in the low-fertility countries of Asia and Europe where the overall population is stagnant or declining.

Economic tightening and natural disasters have added to population losses in some cities as well.

As the world keeps on urbanizing, sustainable growth challenges will be more and more concentrated in cities, particularly in the lower-middle- income countries where the speed of urbanization is fastest. In these areas policies to improve the lives of both urban and rural dwellers are needed.1

The urban environment is extremely complex and has brought great opportunity to many, and will continue to do so at an exceptional speed throughout the developing world. Cities are centers of economic activity, innovation, and wealth. They draw migrants in search 110

of better jobs, services and prospects for better living conditions. While many who come are poor, they represent a massive contribution to a city’s economy through employment in manufacturing, services, and other sectors.

This thesis study will look at how interior design of supportive spaces will help in solving the slum’s problem in India to meet the physiological needs, safety and security in order to ultimately transform the slum dwellers and the people’s lives by giving them a sense of belonging in pursuance of improving their wellness and self-esteem and demonstrating that every life matters.

Introduction Since my main concern is helping people, I am researching the effect of population growth in India and its impact on the slum dwellers. There is a huge discrepancy in the social class aspect, while some people don’t know how much money they possess, others don’t know where the next meal in coming from. Obviously the social and economic issues are major problems in India and its affecting a major percentage of the population.

Still, India has lots of resources and in the last couple of years the country is catching the concept of environmentfriendly buildings, or green buildings. So there is hope that something could be done to improve the lives of the slum dwellers.

As some 70 million people in the developing world move to urban areas each year, cities are ever more stretched to provide urban infrastructure, services, and

safe land. One billion people already live in slums, and this is projected to double by 2030. For those that live in slums in cities throughout the developing world, the daily challenges of accessing safe and dependable drinking water, proper sanitation facilities, transport services to commute to and from work, regular solid waste collection, and health and education services can be huge. These challenges are increasingly exacerbated by the impacts of climate change and natural hazards. Residents, particularly the poor, are more and more exposed to the impacts of landslides, sea level rise, flooding and other danger, rising risks in already defenseless communities and impacting health and the spread of disease, livelihoods, and the very limited assets of the poor.2 With the rising number of urban poor living in slums in developing countries, new solutions are needed to deliver basic services to these residents.

The extension of slums in developing countries is a product of 20th- and 21st century urban growth and represents the very essence of the Third World city. In the past, attempts have been made to eliminate slums, without taking into account the potential of their population to resolve the very problems that slums allegedly generate and not questioning the urban model that generates the slum in the first place. In the contemporary era of globalization, it is significant to stress the resources that slums can offer the ‘chaotic’ city. According to a variety of material, natural and socio-economic indicators on developing countries, spatial and demographic urban development is described by the weakening of physical, economic and social living conditions for a large and increasing part of the urban population.3 This requires a reconsideration of views on urbanization. Sustainable urban development will only be possible if there is a

deliberate effort on solving the problems of the majority of urban populations in ways that make use of their own creativity and engage them in decision-making.

It has been estimated that one third of the world’s urban population today do not have access to satisfactory housing, and do not have access to safe water and sanitation. These people live in overcrowded and subserviced slums, often situated on marginal and unsafe land. They lack access to clean water, their waste not only remains unprocessed, but it surrounds them and their daily activities and affects their health, especially their children’s. Almost 14 percent of the world’s urban populations, an approximate of one billion people, live in slums and the majority of them are from the developing countries. Furthermore, the point of global poverty is moving to the cities, a process called the urbanization of poverty. Without serious measures, the number of slum dwellers is more probable to increase in the next 30 years to about 2 billion4. Meeting this challenge will require new thinking and therefore this study will show through the thesis statement a potential for how interior design can help this dire condition.

Thesis Statement Slums are not a new phenomenon; slums are usually the only type of settlement affordable and accessible to the poor in cities, where struggle for land and profits is extreme. In order to solve the slum problem in India, the thesis design will be guided by the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs used as a design structure to meet 111

users physiological needs, safety and security. This thesis research as well as the design solution will attempt to show an application of interior design strategies that will ultimately transform the slum dwellers and the people’s lives by giving them a sense of belonging in pursuance of improving their wellness and self-esteem and demonstrating that every life matters.

Theoretical Framework What is a slum?

A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing. Characteristically, a slum lacks of inadequate of safe water in sufficient amounts and at an affordable price. A major problem of the slums is the inadequate access to sanitation and infrastructure in a form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people. A slum dweller has a poor structural quality in form of a durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions and lacks of sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the same room. Most slums lack of security of tenure that prevents forced evictions.5 Furthermore, one big question surfaces in regard with how slums appeared and managed to establish and extent so much and so quickly.

Why do slums exist?

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The existence of slums is caused and continued by a number of forces, including rapid rural-to-urban migration, insecure tenure, and globalization. People from rural areas, are looking for opportunities due to the growing urban informal sector, resulting in growing and large-sale informal and unlawful tenant settlements in urban centers. Rural-to-urban migration intensifies slum formation because city planning and management systems are unable to effectively manage the substantial population arrival. Without secure tenure, slum dwellers tenants are not protected from unpredictable rent increases and evictions. Insecure tenure reduces chances for residents to obtain credit, which limits tenants’ ability to improve upon their homes. A revolving door of residents does little to encourage feelings of community or pride in one’s home.

Improved transport, communications and contacts with previous migrants have all made rural population much more aware of the advantages of urban life, especially regarding job opportunities and housing, all in hope for a better quality of life. Due to both, migration and reproduction, the current cities are over populated and the poor are getting even poorer due to the lack of a proper economic support.6 Globalization also promotes slum living. Global economic booms and busts lead to irregular wealth distribution. Historically, global economic sequences have been accountable for creating many of major city slums in the developed world, and it is likely globalization will contribute to the enormous growth of slums.

The next part of this thesis research will look at India specifically with regard to their slum population.

Urbanization in India India is a country of great Gods, a country with a lot of history going back thousands of years, with an incredible growth in spirituality, human development, and architecture; India is a country with huge social acceptance, a country that should regain her place one it once had in the past. Starting with this great past history in mind and making a parallel of today country’s reality, this thesis will incorporate the human conditions in terms of current design issues in India. One issue is the huge sprawl of slums that exists all across India.

By 2030, 40% of India’s population will live in cities.

That’s the equivalent of 590 million people, up from 350 million in 2010. In present time, India is one of the less urbanized countries of the world with only 27.78 percent of her population living in urban areas and towns; this country is facing a serious crisis of urban growth. The rapid growth of urban population both natural and through migration, has put heavy pressure on public utilities. Urban spread or real expansion of the cities, both in population and geographical area, of quickly growing cities is the root cause of urban problems. Also, immense immigration from rural areas as well as from small towns into big cities has taken place almost consistently increasing the size of cities and overcrowding which leads to a chronic problem of deficiency of houses in urban areas.7 In this regard, many organizations have gotten involved in the issue of poverty in India.

The Millennium Development Goals reports on issues related to human condition around the world, issues about poverty, hunger, education, gender equality,

economic growth, infrastructure, also environment issues such climate change, biodiversity, and many others.

No one problem is more important than the other, but poverty and inequality are two human conditions that should be treated with extremely attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations. It is well known that most developing nations have large number of people who are uneducated, live below the poverty line and have little or no information about family planning.

All of this leads to overpopulation which is well known as being the most serious environmental problem, such as pollution, habitat loss, overconsumption of natural recourses, fresh water, land use, etc.8 Therefore, one problem doesn’t always come alone; there is a chain of negative reactions that are keeping coming from one single issue.

Almost one billion people presently live in slums, and this number is anticipated to grow by almost 500 million by 2020. Nevertheless it is very important to ensure that no one is left behind in the future development and find solutions where progress is really reaching these marginalized groups. Future solutions need to direct attention to poor urban dwellers by giving countries encouragement to expand formal housing construction in addition to upgrading informal settlements by providing a safe place for poor people with access to information, education, help, and opportunities to integrate into society, providing physiological needs such water, bathrooms, food, sleep, health, creating opportunity for jobs, opportunity for affordable housing in an environment that supplies daylight and stays in contact with nature.

In India, there has been substantial highlighting on all the MDGs and the nation has witnessed considerable progress 113

towards the MDGs, with some targets already having been met well ahead of the 2015 deadline. Of the eight of millennium goals, the thesis research applies to four such as eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, promote gender equality and power, ensure environmental sustainability, and global partnership for development.

People living in poverty are often socially excluded and marginalized. Their right to effectively participate in public affairs is frequently ignored and thus elimination of poverty is much more than a humanitarian issue, as it is more of a human rights issue. Thus eradication of poverty and hunger being the basis of all development process, the Millennium Development Goals have given foremost priority to it.

The Indian Government has put into action a number of Programmes intended for elimination of poverty and hunger. The dimensions of causes of poverty are multiple and it’s ill - effects are versatile. Though, the nation has succeeded in the up-lifting of an important number of its poor, still the weight of poverty is huge in India. One in every five persons in India is below the poverty line and one in every three children below the age of 3 years are underweight children. Therefore eradication of poverty and hunger continues to be a priority area of development.

Gender equality is a human right which enables all persons regardless of their gender to live with dignity and with freedom. Gender equality is also a precondition for all round development and reducing poverty. Empowered women make invaluable contribution to the improvement of health conditions and educational status and productivity of whole families and communities, which in turn improve prospects for the next generation.

Impacts of Environment are huge as they act at uneven level influencing the quality of human life. The development activities assumed to improve the living 114

standard of people, at large, sometimes affect the natural environment negatively in many ways and cause severe threats to bio diversity. The MDG -7 addresses the concern for sustainable development to reverse environment degradation and loss with focus on improving and monitoring indicators associated with it. Improved management of drinking water supply and better sanitation are keys to health of the population along with social and economic progress. Improving drinking water supply and quality, eradicating open defecation and the adoption of positive hygiene behaviors will considerably contribute to reducing child morbidity, mortality and improving the nutritional status of children.9 The Target D of the MDG 7 is to achieve by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers. According to MDG 7 between 2000 and 2014, more than 320 million people living in slums gained access to improved water sources, improved sanitation facilities, or durable or less crowded housing, thereby exceeding the MDG target. Also, more than 880 million people are estimated to be living in slums today, compared to 792 million in 2000 and 689 million in 1990.10 Also engaging in the issues related to the slums and slum population growing in numbers and improving the living conditions of slum dwellers are major among the challenges that the nation is facing today.

Using the global partnership for development of the MDG, the thesis proposes different global partnerships for interior furnishing of some spaces having global companies Steelcase and Coalesse as prospective sources.

The insufficient information available about the total number of households in the world living in neighborhoods lacking basic infrastructure such as water, sanitary waste disposal, roads, energy, and basic urban services such as health and education, and having difficulties in accessing

employment, indicates that this reduction in 100 million slum dwellers far from solves the problem. Therefore, in response to MDG needs research, this thesis will focus on studying the effects of expanding formal housing construction, upgrading informal settlement, access to safe drinking water, and improved sanitation facilities.

Evidence Background According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, every year in Indian slums, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children die of malnutrition, diseases, and unhealthy conditions.

As the slums get crammed full, the environment gets overpopulated and as a result, there is twice as much trash, corpses, and human excretion. The physical environment of the slums depends on the result of facilities of habitation, available water, toilets, drainage, and lighting. Sadly, elevated levels of pollution, lack of basic needs, and roomcrowding are some of the basic characteristics of slum housing. The main reason to why the slums are enormously plagued is mostly because it is overly-populated. One of the consequences of over-population is the shortage of availability of food. After another decade, the slums will most likely use up the few resources they have: food and unsanitary water. Many residents from different parts of India migrate to the slums because they cannot afford to pay taxes. The overall environment in the slums smells like human excretions, corpses, and dry fish. The roads in the Indian slums are seriously polluted and the shacks are lined up so tight that the residents have to walk in single-file past the sewers. Real toilets, sinks, and showers are not

available to the slum-dwellers so they do their personal needs any place that is available. The children in the Indian slum community are being affected by the current living environment. The surrounding environment affects children due to the diverse types of animals also living in the slums. Often times, these animals have diseases that can infect the children.11 Pesticide leaching in drinking water as well as lack of education can create a danger to children and animals in the community. Floods create muddy surfaces which makes transportation difficult for children that attend school. The education in India is crucial to young children because it provides the impoverished prospective for an alternative lifestyle with better health and success. Nevertheless, the Indian government provides children with education living in certain slums.12 For that purpose, the thesis design proposes an interior space only for the children where they can play, rest, and learn in a safe environment.

In the past, public policies have aimed at eliminating slums, without taking into account the potential of their residents to resolve the very problems that slums allegedly generate. Especially in the contemporary era of globalization, it is important to stress the resources that slums can offer the ‘chaotic’ city.

This requires a reconsideration of views on urbanization.

Sustainable urban development will only be possible if we concentrate on solving the problems of the majority of urban populations in ways that make use of their own creativity and involve them in decision-making.

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the staff. The forms of the building follow the site with curved walls and building forms along the contours.

Thought leadership Looking at what has been done before will help to inform this thesis study. Therefore, thought leaders will be exposed such as Laurie Backer, Charles Correa, B.V Doshi, and Abraham Maslow. These four leaders theory as it relates to interior design will add evidence for the new design approach. When it comes to the impact of design in Indian society, Laurie Baker, an award-winning British-born Indian architect, is known for his initiatives in cost-effective and energy-efficient architecture. Baker was strongly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, who he met while waiting on a ship at Bombay, on a trip back to England.

Gandhi told him that the knowledge he brought from the West was not beneficial to Indians and the areas that needed more thinking was the rural ones not the cities.

Gandhi believed that it should be possible to build houses using the available materials within five miles of the site.

This way of thinking had a great influence on Baker in his later life and in his way of approaching architecture. His architectural principles elaborated cost-effectiveness, use of locally available materials, respect for nature, blending with the nature, avoidance of energy-intensive materials, minimization of wastage to create low-cost, beautiful, high quality buildings. One of the most representative projects of Baker’s architectural style is the Centre for Developments Studies in Trivandrum. The Centre is spread across ten acres research Campus Institute that accommodates: administration, library, auditorium, guest houses, hotels, computer center, and residential units for 116

To achieve his architectural principles, Baker used building techniques to reduce cost and improve efficiency.

He used fiber slabs to replace concrete which decreases the weight of the slab and also the cost by reducing the amount of concrete used. He used brick jali, a perforated screen made of bricks with regular openings, to allow dispersed light to enter the building creating an interesting play of light and shadows. He made used of arches as the simplest and more economical way to span of an opening in a wall.

This piece of architecture was the testing point for Baker to experiment his idea, before being tested on domestic scale. He did not damage or pull up any vegetation since he always had a big respect for nature.

The Centre shows Baker’s sensitivity to natural contours and elements of the site; he stayed honest to the surroundings and optimized the used of the spaces. His final outcome is a result of his meticulous attention to structural and economical details. He was a revolutionary who proved that design doesn’t have to be expensive to be beautiful or efficient. He understood the real situation of India, the country which needs more architecture for poor people.13 Baker accomplished both a natural economy in cost and a delicate variation in design by the way he treated his architecture with building materials.

One of the most renowned architects in India is Charles Correa. For more than half a century, the urban planner and activist Charles Correa championed modern architecture, planning cities and designed nearly 100 buildings in the country, from luxury condominiums

to housing for the poor. As the founder of Mumbai’s Urban Design Research Institute, he spoke with a tireless eloquence on the need to confer value to urban life.

His early book, The New Landscape, and later A Place in the Shade, drew on his experience of urban design and connected in an unerringly Correa way to his own buildings, his ideas for low-cost housing, the open life of the Indian slum, even the design idea of “Open to Sky” space.14 Correa’s work in India shows a careful development, understanding and adaptation of Modernism to a nonwestern culture. His early works attempt to explore a local vernacular within a modern environment, his landuse planning and community projects continually try to go beyond typical solutions to third world problems and he developed climatic solutions for different sites and programs. According to Metha, “Correa’s most enduring contribution to architecture in India is the ‘Indian idiom’ that he developed for the most courageous architectural stage in the country’s architectural history – the period about two decades after independence. In producing some of India’s most significant buildings, Correa has crafted a language of architecture that has often been the support of arguments around ‘Indian’ architecture and the role of design orientations that move across different times and ideologies.”15 An Important thought leader that states as a starting point in developing this thesis theory is Abraham Maslow, whose hierarchies of needs were employed in organizing this thesis structure with the purpose of achieving all hierarchical levels within the pyramid such as physiological needs, safety and security, the feeling of love

and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization.

Case Studies Usually, architects have given little to housing for the Third World urban poor. Those who choose to work for the poor need to rethink their roles; the numbers are crushing, the problems complex and the resources are very limited. One solution is to use land as a resource to produce housing for the urban poor, by allowing them access to it to build their homes. A study was conducted of such initiatives in Indore, India knowing as The Aranya Housing Project, completed in 1988 and considered a model project. Designed at B. V. Doshi’s Vastu-Shilpa, the project represents in many ways a successful architectural approach to large scale, low-cost dwellings for the poor. The objective of the design is to provide housing, community and commercial facilities, mainly for the economically weaker sections but within a socially balanced matrix of middle and higher income groups. Bearing in mind the low level of affordability of the residents, the project assumes challenging dimensions in terms of providing a sufficient environment at nominal cost.

In the 1980’s Indore, India was facing a shortage of housing. Almost 51,000 families were homeless or living in illegal settlements. The Indore Development Authority initiated an affordable housing project for 60,000 people that would embark upon this issue and at the same time be affordable to the government and urban poor. Previous efforts by the government to provide low-cost urban 117

housing in India were aimed at supplying ready-built units.

However, it took too long to construct a complete house and it became expensive for the low income group and also ate up too many resources. A rectilinear site of 200 acres was designed to accommodate over 6500 dwellings, mainly for the weaker economic section. This was an integrated approach for a sustainable society where the mix of different economic levels of society could stay together. Aranya Township was designed in six sectors that meet on a central spine, the Central Business District. One of the key elements of Doshi’s design was a hierarchy of open spaces that included small courtyards to be shared by three to four families, larger green spaces for each of the settlement’s six sectors, and a central playing field to serve the entire development. Open spaces and pedestrian pathways intersect and connect the gathers to the central spine. Each user has a selection of options available from one room shelters to more spacious houses.16 Overall, the project emphasizes on a sense of family and neighborhood and encourages adaptation and personalization according to individual’s needs and resources.

Following Doshi’s strategy of designing everything within one area and involving community into the process of change through design, the thesis proposes a similar approach by designing everything within one roof and demonstrating that interior design can help transforming lives and implicit communities.

Cultural and Social Context India derived its name from ‘Bharat’ who was a legendary 118

and mythological ruler according to Hindu scriptures.

The prehistoric period in India which was followed by the ancient period marks the beginning of the first urban civilization of India – the Indus Valley Civilization which dates to 5000 BC. Medieval India started with the rise of the Islamic empires. The British rule which began with the coming of the East India Company lasted for over two centuries in India. The anti-British movement gained momentum form the early 20th century with the establishment of the Nationalist Movement in India led by Mahatma Gandhi. India wrested its independence from the British in 1947 after years of protests and mass agitation which also saw the partition of India and birth of Pakistan.17 Today, India is a land of cultural diversities and is influenced by various religions, art and architecture.

India demographics occupy second position among the world’s most populated countries. With its current population of more than 1.21 billion people (As per Census of India 2011), the country is predictable to surpass China and be the leading populous country in the world. The total population of the nation is growing at the rate of 1.41 %. Similar to any other demography, Indian demography even projects diverse information regarding the country. The country of India has got the largest portion of Hindus, Zoroastrians, Jains, and Sikhs residing in the world. The nation even houses world’s third-biggest Muslim population. Though the prevalence of religious communities vary from one state or Union Territory to another, still some places are known for being home to any particular religious groups. Hindi, being the national language of the country, most the Indians speaks Hindi language. India has got a total of 1, 652 dialects and languages. 18 However, the dialects and languages spoken in the nation again vary from place to place and community

to community.

One of India’s major challenges today is dealing with the wave of urbanization unleashed by economic liberalization.

An estimated 160 million people have moved to the cities in the last two decades, and another 230 million are projected to move there within the next 20 years.

Unfortunately, its major challenges are clearly finding it difficult to cope with the inflow of people. It is no surprise that India’s notably poor infrastructure is critically overstrained. In response, the ill-equipped urban systems and the informal housing that are the slums have expanded exponentially in the last few decades without proper access to basic services such as sanitation, healthcare, education, and law and order. While they are often teeming with entrepreneurial activity, they are nevertheless an unproductive use of the city’s human resources and land.

In order to truly unleash the productive potential of this dynamic urban population, India will need to build scalable urban systems capable of housing, caring for, employing and incorporating large and growing numbers of new inhabitants. The challenge, like with many such difficult transformations and reformations for India, is whether it can gather the political determination and intensive efforts of its stakeholders to put into service the level of change required.19 The reality is that India is struggling to keep pace with urbanization and therefore the thesis develops an interior design system that could help the issue of urban sprawl of the slums.

Design Work

Thesis Statement Slums are not a new phenomenon; slums are usually the only type of settlement affordable and accessible to the poor in cities, where struggle for land and profits is extreme. In order to solve the slum problem in India, the thesis design will be guided by the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs used as a design structure to meet users physiological needs, safety and security. This thesis research as well as the design solution will attempt to show an application of interior design strategies that will ultimately transform the slum dwellers and the people’s lives by giving them a sense of belonging in pursuance of improving their wellness and self-esteem and demonstrating that every life matters.

Guiding Principles The thesis statement helps to inform the design guiding principles and design drivers and the mission of Living UP is to help revitalize the slum neighborhood as a Community Outreach Center. Therefore, when taking into account diverse philosophies about the circumstances and strategies for this thesis research, a series of guiding principles surface. An important goal of this research is to provide a safe place for poor people. The design structure offers the feeling of safe by providing to the poor access to information, education, and help though various spaces available. Since one of the major problems in the area is the lack of water and sanitation, a main objective of the thesis design is to provide basic physiological needs by creating spaces where the poor can have drinking water 119

and a warm meal, public bathrooms and showers.

Inspired by the feeling of safety, there is well known that nothing offers a more secure feeling than opportunity for jobs. The thesis design is structured in such way that the community outreach center is to be used as a place where the poor could be helped in searching for jobs or they could be helped in getting available jobs within the community.

When taking into consideration the feeling of self esteem from the Maslow’s Hierarchy Pyramid new goal arises such as opportunity for long time secure shelter.

The thesis design supports the ideas of involving people into the change by offering available shelter for those that are working within the community. All this embodied thesis design aspects from physiological needs, to jobs and shelter are represented as a step up for the poor and an opportunity for them to be integrated into society.

This is another major goal of the thesis because in Indian society the very poor are seen as an outcast but the thesis supports the idea that no one should be left as an outsider. All these thesis goals are to be represented in an environment that supports daylight and nature elements throughout the space. This goal is a first step into creating a sustainable setting where the outdoor is to be brought inside though nature.

Stakeholders When it comes to different social classes, in India there is a caste system unique in the world and old for centuries that divides the society based on occupation and family line. The main stakeholders of Living Up are the poor people of the slums so called untouchables and are situates 120

below the caste. Other users are low income population and rural-urban migrants. Those are called in the Hindu caste sudra and situated at the lower levels of the caste.

Location New Delhi which was declared the capital 140 years ago has been historically one of the most important cities of India. Currently it is the third largest in terms of population, exceeded only by Mumbai and Calcutta. New Delhi is in the Ganges River Basin on the banks of the tributary Jumna River. Historically the city was located on the west bank of the Jumna because there was a tradition in the region that cities should be on the right bank of the direction of the flow and that the left bank should be left wild. The growth of the city spread urban development along both banks, although the major areas of the city are still on the west bank. The monsoon reaches New Delhi at the end of June and continues to the end of September, the calendar summer. Generally humidity in the city is low except during July and August of the monsoon season. The average annual rainfall in New Delhi is 26 inches. The two months after the monsoon ends in September, the months of October and November, are quite pleasant. The winter is considered to be the period from the end of November to mid-February. In the coldest month, January, the average daily low temperature is 45° F. This leaves mid-February to mid-March as a very brief springtime transition. The municipality of the City of New Delhi occupies about 360 square miles, including the historical old city, while the City of New Delhi occupies 169 square miles. Since the new city is much less compactly populated than the old city the preponderance of the old city in terms of population

is very great. In the new city much of the land is devoted to parks and broad streets. The streets are straight and unobstructed. In the old city the streets are narrow, twisting and irregular20. All this is a wonderful combination of historic and new.

At the time of Partition in August of 1947 Delhi experienced what must have been one of the most shocking episodes any city could go through. Before Partition metropolitan New Delhi had a population of about seven hundred thousand. In the course of one month its population exploded to one and half million as result of the refugees that poured in from what became Pakistan.21 These migrations lead to overpopulation to already over-crowded country and developing of larger slum areas.

Site Selection The multi-purpose community center is located in Kusumpur Pahari, 6.5 miles of New Delhi, outside the city Vasant Vihar and is the largest slum in the southern part of Indian capital22. Unlike Mumbai, where slums are very noticeable, Delphi wants to keep the appearance and Kusumpur Pahari is so ingeniously coverd that it can’t be seen for the road that runs alongside. This road named after Nelson Mandela has malls selling Louis Vuitton and other high fashion brands, has a seven star hotel called The Grand. The slum is coverd by the woods which makes it imposible to be seen from the Mandela road. Like a totally sarcastic irrony, the name Kusumpu Pahri means city of flowers; a hilly cty of flowers. 23The largest slum in New Delhi has housing around more than 10,000 slums

and these homes shelter mostly poor migrants from UP, Bihar, Orissa and Assam etc. Located in Vasant Vihar, one of the most posh areas in Delhi, this slum gives a tough contrast to the area’s posh bungalows. The majority of this slum has servants, drivers, gardeners, sweepers who work for the wealthy people living in Vasant Vihar.24 Because the slum is hidden by the forest which makes it hard to be seen from the street, the selected building for the outreach community center will be placed right at the end of the forest and the beginning of the slum.

The chosen location has the purpose to help in humanizing the slum based on Correa’s ideas and using Doshi’s system design approach of having everything available within one space. For that reason, the approximate 40,000 square feet building is a mix of residential and multi-use community center with the purpose of providing water, a warm meal, and affordable housing for low income an, slum population in India as well as people relocating from rural areas. The goal of the design structure is to create a vertical volume in the area where overpopulation gets to its highest. The mix community within one place provides an environment where experiences and knowledge are shared.

Design Component Inspired by the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid, keeping in mind the thought leaders design solutions and their approach to various issues, the thesis design will start as a first step by defining the physiological 121

needs that the slums are missing, such as water, food, sanitation, bathrooms, sleep, and provide those in a very efficient way. Once those physiological needs are resolved, a step up can be made to achieve a safety state that will provide for job opportunities as well as medical and health resources. With these two fundamental living conditions accomplished, the design can be developed into offering a sense of belonging and giving back by helping others.

The thesis design typology will use a community center resources type facility named Living UP. The name is inspired by the desire of giving less fortunate the possibility of moving up on the ladder of society by offering a better living. The pyramid of Maslow helps to create a better structure of the design and identify the issues from the bottom all the way to the top of human needs.

From the early process of the design phase, the intent of the design was to incorporate a sense of community and acceptance, a place where help and information are provided to the less fortunate. The look and the feeling of Living up is simple, with colors specific to the culture, with pieces of furniture made by local craftsmen out of timber, one of the most available wood in the area. Encouraged by Baker’s approach which made use of everything that could become a part of design, broken pottery is integrated into the facade of the walls for esthetic purpose and for recycling purpose as well.

Through committee members’ discussions and through their knowledge it resurfaced a new important aspect that had to be considered such as the differences between western and eastern design. That’s way the thesis design emphasizes the importance of creating a space that’s not intimidating and could be easily access by the 122

people in the slums.

Taking into consideration the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs chart, for this thesis project the building is structured on four levels and each one represents a stage in achieving the most fundamental human needs.

The guiding principles are to be met throughout the whole building and at the first level the main goal is providing physiological needs in pursuance of meeting the Millennium Goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. This level is open to the public and proving spaces such as information areas, bathrooms, showers, a food court, and kid’s educational and play center. As you walk in from the south the first thing to be seen is the kitchen and the serving food counter where people can come and get their meal. The kitchen is semi-open particularly to create the connection with the rest of the space. Local wood and craftsmanship was used to create sitting benches and tables. Indian patterns, vibrant colors and wonderful mosaic are used in enriching the space. And while some Indians like to eat sitting on the ground, small round risen surfaces were created to accommodate such custom. Also, showers are important assets to the area. A big issue in Kusumur Phari is the lack of pipe water. In the western countries we take a lot for grounded but here, a warm shower can bring smile on a person’s face.

The west side selected for the kids’ center is colorful and playful. Using the global partnership for development, the Global Company Coalesse, in a humanitarian approach, provided the Ripple Benches where kids can gather around and listen to stories. Also, kids can draw on the erase panel created special for them or they can write or color sitting by the tables. The two

kid’s sleeping rooms are very minimal, providing single child beds.

Moving up at a more screening area, level two provides the feeling of safety by offering job opportunities, care and information through various spaces available here. The largest area of the west wing is designated to a working atelier which provides jobs from the people within the community as well as offices for job research and placements. The atelier is an open space that connects the people working here and without too much financial effort, the place is surrounded by colors, patterns and religious pictures.

The east wing has a more holistic approach with a tranquil feeling, as a care center with an ayurvedic area for herbal medicine. Since India has the world’s lowest meat consumption per person, many Indians are recurring to the resources that nature has given us using herbal medicine and treatment, a traditional Hindu system of medicine old for more than 5000 years called Ayurveda.

An open area for women socialize is available and here sitting on the carpet women can gather around and share their life experiences, day by day struggles, or just sitting quite in meditation. There are more private offices here for those that need it. The spaces are very casual, minimalistic, and specific to the local culture. Here the millennium goal of promoting gender equality and empower women is trying to be achieved.

The feeling of love, belonging, friendship and family are met at the third level where immediate and temporary shelters are offered. The level is divided by functionality, so for ten single rooms temporary occupancies are accessible

to people in disparate or immediate need on the east wing of the building while the west wing provides fourteen little studios that can be rented for a longer period of time by the people working in the community center. A typical single room offers the basic necessities for clean and rest.

The furniture is very minimal and the most important asset here is the bed and the toilet. The studio apartment is an open space with a small kitchen area, a sleeping are and an enclosed bathroom. Starting as a western thinker in the process of design, the fusions of western and eastern cultures are to be met through materials and functionality but correlated to the local culture. Therefore, the space developed into a statement of vibrant colors of Indian tints and mix of the two cultures.

The confidence, self-esteem and feeling of achievement are attained on the fourth level, where family apartments can be rented by its tenants for a long period of time. Most of the living spaces are attained by the people that give back by working in the community, either in the kitchen, ateliers, or other areas within the center. The ten two bedroom apartments are designated to families with two or three children and having a simple layout but colorful and specific to the area and the culture.

The focal point of the space is the kitchen, where cooking is almost a tradition. Mosaic tiles used are very specific to the area and all bedrooms are provided with daylight. Through design process, different tints were used to emphasize the importance of colors and to adapt the design to its native culture.

Because the center is to be used at its maxim capacity and tries to be as self sufficient as possible, the roof top is design as a unban agriculture where immediate 123

spices and vegetables necessary to the kitchen are to be gown. This is a sustainable approach to the area. Also, here the feeling of self-actualization from Maslow’s pyramid is to be achieved. Besides proving the necessary food to the kitchen, the agricultural rooftop is another place where job opportunities are offered to the ones in need.

Design Solution It is important to create better living conditions through design that will offer a sense of belonging. The cruel reality shows that no sense of belonging is working on those crawled slum dwellings. Designers and architects along with government found as solution the eviction of squatters, and re-settling them in vertical, high-rise buildings. The consequence of this decision is that horizontal slums were replaced by “vertical ghettos” where mostly no open space for social activities and children had been provided. Even today, these high rise buildings constitute a serious problem to the people who live in them, because of increased insecurity and insularity, poor quality building materials, low standards and stigmatization of those areas. In a way, these vertical ghettos are often worse than the horizontal slums of previous decades as they lack a sense of community. One of the ordinary attribute in slums is that these are consisted of vibrant communities of people and integrate a whole variety of social and community spaces and facilities within their living. It is important to involve these dwellers to the process of the development and offer a smooth transition from the slums by providing information and education though design.

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Conclusion

Providing low income people with a safe environment that supports basic human needs, a sense of belonging and a purpose in life, should not be something that some people could only dream off, should be the absolute normal way of living. Every person has the right to basic human conditions that will give them a better feeling in life, a feeling of love, belonging, friendship, esteem, a sense of place. The way we live and where we live, the conditions of living, occupies an important valuable role in positioning the standards for safe dwellers environment. Particularly to India, the human condition plays an imperative role in preventing overpopulation and overcrowded sprawl dwellers where creating normal balance is absolute necessary.

Employing the design principles, guided by Maslow’s hierarchy and influenced by Indian thought leaders, the designed solutions helped to prove that Living Up supports growth at an individual level as well as at the community level. This thesis research offers the needed structure to profile a mixed environment that is actually efficient by involving the people into the change and taking into consideration design drivers that values life, community, basic human needs, social interaction, and compassion. Each of these employed aspects of design provides an environment that offers to its users a sense of belonging and esteem and will prove that every life matters.

(Endnotes) 1 United Nations. World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision Highlights. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. United Nations Pubns, 2014.

2 Baker, Judy L. Climate Change, Disaster Risk, and the Urban Poor: Cities Building Resilience for a Changing World (Urban Development). 1st edition. World Bank Publications, 2012.

3 Bolay, Jean-Claude, Jérome Chenal, and Yves Pedrazzini.

Learning from the Slums for the Development of Emerging Cities. 1st edition. Springer, 2016.

4 United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements, 2003.

5 United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements, 2003.

6 United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements, 2003.

7 Chand, Smriti. “11 Major Problems of Urbanisation in India.” Your Article Library, n.d. http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/ urbanisation/11-major-problems-of-urbanisation-in-india/19880/.

8 Social Statistics Division Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Government of India. Millennium Development Goals India Country Report 2015, 2015.

9 Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Government of India. Millennium Development Goals, India Country Report 2015. Social Statistics Division, 2015.

10 “GOAL 7: ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY.” Millenium Development Goals and Beyond 2015, n.d.

11 United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003. First Edition., n.d 12 Baba, Sathya Sai. “Slumdog Millionaire-India’s Real “Slum Dogs” Dream of a Better Life.”Wordpress.com (2001): n. pag. Web. 20 Jul 2010.

13 Abhilash. “Laurie Baker’s Unique Masterpieces at Thiruvananthapuram.” Thiruvananthapuram, 9–1, 2012. https:// thiruvananthapuramupdates.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/lauriebakers-unique-masterpieces-at-thiruvananthapuram/.

14 Mehta, Kaiwan. “The Difficulties and Pleasures of Being Charles Correa in India.” The Wire, 17–6, 2015. http://thewire.

in/2015/06/17/the-difficulties-and-pleasures-of-being-charles-correain-india-4106/ 15 Mehta, Kaiwan. “The Difficulties and Pleasures of Being Charles Correa in India.” The Wire, 17–6, 2015. http://thewire. in/2015/06/17/the-difficulties-and-pleasures-of-being-charles-correain-india-4106/ 16 “Indore, India Aranya Housing Project.” Architecture in Development, April 9, 2014. http://architectureindevelopment.org/ project.php?id=401.

17 “History of India: An Overview.” India Online, n.d. http:// www.indiaonline.in/about/Profile/History/Index.html.

18 “Demographics of India.” Maps Of India, n.d. http://www. mapsofindia.com/india-demographics.html.

19 “Transforming India’s Slums: A Critical Step in Creating the New India.” Greater Pacific, October 2013. http://greaterpacificcapital. com/transforming-indias-slums-a-critical-step-in-creating-the-newindia/.

20 Jain, A.K., and Dr. M.R. Brett-Crowther. Dillinama The Cities of Delhi. Synergy Books India, 2014.

21 Jain, A.K., and Dr. M.R. Brett-Crowther. Dillinama The Cities of Delhi. Synergy Books India, 2014.

22 “Kusumpur Pahari Integrated Community Development Project.” Indiamart, n.d. http://www.indiamart.com/ company/9011794/services.html.

23 Hariharan, Githa. Almost Home: Cities and Other Places.

HarperCollins Publishers India, 2014.

24 Vihar, Vasant. “Kusumpur Pahari Centre.” Ritinjali, n.d. http:// www.ritinjali.org/initiatives/kusumpur-pahari-centre.

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APPENDIX B: ILLUSTRATIONS

Page 8: view of Romanian landscape and Romanian map Page 11: world map Page 12: graphic depicting countries and territories with urban population exceeding 100,000 Page 13: kids in India Page 19: Google images collage of Indian areas Page 20: Google images collage of Indian areas, people, and animals Page 21: world map with Indian map on and Google images depicting minorities in India

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Page 22: Google images from India depicting vibrant colors

Page 54-68: level one rendering views

Page 23: colors hues

Page 70: axon level two

Page 24: cultural Indian map

Page 71: floor plan level two

Page 25: slum in India

Page 72-80: level two rendering views

Page 26: slums in India

Page 82: axon level three

Page 27: slums in India

Page 83: floor plan level three

Page 29: Indian architect Charles Correa

Page 84: typical single room axon and rendering view

Page 30-31: Indian architect Doshi and his project in Inodre, India

Page 85: axon - typical studio layout

Page 33: Millennium Development Goals icons Page 34: Maslow pyramid of needs Page 39: icons depicting guiding principles Page 41: Google images of Indians Page 43: the map of New Delhi Page 44: the map of New Delhi with the map of Vasant Vihar Page 45: the map of the slum Kusumpur Pahari Page 46: the slum site where the building is placed Page 47: the building depicting Maslow’s needs and The Maslow pyramid

Page 86: studio kitchen view - color explorations Page 87: studio bedroom view – color explorations Page 88: axon level four Page 89: floor plan level four Page 90: axon -typical family apartment layout Page 91: apartment kitchen – color explorations Page 92: kids’ bedroom - color explorations Page 93-95: bedroom color explorations Page 96: axon roof top Page 98-99: rendering view of the roof top

Page 48: design process sketches of the researcher Page 49: materials used for the interior and interior hallway view Page 52: axon level one Page 53: floor plan level one

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“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.

Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a life.”

Lao Tzu