Selected Research

Nalisha Men

an interdisciplinary approach to bridge public policies and design practices, addressing cross-cutting challenges from remote healthcare service delivery to conflict resolution.

nalisha.men@gmail.com

The Last Nomadic Space

To comprehensively define such a “nomadic space”, the project follows two paths: an architectural investigation into the physicality of a “yurt space”, and an anthropological approach to document the life of nomadic pastoralists.

The project aims to map the complexity of sociocultural, economic and political challenges that Kazakh and Tibetan semi-nomads face, and to find a practical solution as they gradually give up the nomadic pastoralism for permanent settlement while preserving their “nomadic identities” deeply rooted in their cultural, religious and ethnic traditions. It is a series of field investigations of the nomadic pastoralist communities of Central Asia, looking at settlement policy, climate threats like desertification, cultural preservation and economic development.

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Summer 2015, I lived with my first Kazakh semi-nomadic family in Koktokay, near the Sino-Mongolian border in the Altay Mountain region. I had the chance to closly look at how a three-generation family of seven members live together inside the yurt, the most domacratic space. Each summer, around June or July, the family pack the yurt and other necessities on the camels, and go where it is greener to graze their goats at a temporary summer pasture.

Yurt, an easily constructed structure, sustains the noamdic pastorlists’ living for a period of three to four months: they make fresh cheese and preserve the dry meat and cheese inside the yurt. ..

Summer 2016, I went around the border between China and Mongolia, Kazakstan, Russia and Krgystan to research on the typology of the nomadic pastoralists’ winter settlement. To my surprise, the yurt shape is preserved and is built in mud bricks, bricks and wood, mainly used as a space to preserve food.

How a “nomadic space” design phsycailly responds to the local climate condition?

How such a temporality of the physical space defines semi-nomads’ personality-- “nomadic rootedness”?

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Geometric shape of “yurt” and its airflow performance through virtual simulation.

(2016) With the tools of informed architecture, an air flow simulation was built to evaluate the quantitative measure of the yurt shape. The research invests into the air ventilation created by the yurt structure through studying of six pure geometry shapes (cone, pyramid, tetrahedron, cube, cone and sphere) and the yurt shape. It compares and summarizes the geometric property through computational simulation.

Experiment results: The “eddy” phenomenon can be identified in cone, pyramid, tetrahedron, which creates swirling of air flows and reverse of airs during relatively a longer period of time before reaching a fluid equilibrium; in cube and cylinder, there is no evident “eddy” effect.

A first-stage hypothesis is reached: it is the gradually reduced volume from bottom up, that creates the “eddy” phenomenon which creates a relatively faster air flow at the top.

Though further investigation is needed to confirm the hypothesis, the study achieves the result to qualitatively capture the air ventilation of a yurt, and understands why the yurt space creates a natural environment to conserve food.

Simulation tools Rhino— creating geometry shapes Salome — creating air volumes and mesh Dolfin — convert formats and build up communication channel between softwares FEniCS — compute and run simulation of air flow Paraview — visualize the simulation results

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Summer 2017, I continued the search of semi-nomadic settlement to the Amdo region in Tibet. Living with a family of eight members, I followed their daily grazing activities and sketched the traditional Tibetan brick house and the black yak hair tent. I am inspired to search around the earth for the last nomadic space, because the human wisdom and the key to the climate resilience and sustainability is hidden behind the traditional social contract, and the traditional architectural structure.

The project focused on peacemaking through development and ethno-cultural preservation at a neighborhood scale, illustrates how architects can respond to the socioethnic dynamics in an urban setting in Central Asia.

Conflict Resolution and Architecture

to know what the problem is, and to come up with

To bridge conflict resolution (CR) approach and a design solution by gathering visual evidence for design process, especially in the field of analysis; an architect’s building skills equip him or architectural practice, both disciplines share her with the ability to change the built environment. the similar method of analysis to solve a problem and to arrive at a decision through reasoning. However, actors in the field of

Conflict resolution practitioners and architects

conflict resolution, and architects draw a The possibility for CR practitioners and architects conclusion on theory of change from different to ask the same question opens up the discussion sources of evidence, and the final intervention on whether the two solutions, at the end, can agree varies in practice. To make a top-level policy with each other, and ultimately enhance one decision, it takes a CR practitioner to adopt a another. The primary goal of the collaboration is multi-disciplinary

analysis

in

different not to obscure the purpose of a physical structure

frameworks of social science to understand which is built to resolve a conflict. Conflict resolution the root causes of the conflict, specifically to interventions and architecture both share the identify the key players in a conflict. To build, it “governmentality”, and only vary in the degree of takes an architect’s “substantive knowledge” engagement. Michel Foucault’s “governmentality”

suggests the various mechanisms to regulate

are people still pursuing a career and living a life

individuals’ conduct, not only by the state. In the

centered

dynamic conflict, CR seeks a right moment to

deteriorating conditions of the physical space

act aiming to break the escalation of conflict or

can be improved but the traditional functionality

to accelerate the de-escalation process.

needs to be preserved. The superficial attitude

However, in front of the great uncertainty, CR

of preservation, strongly influenced by the

practitioners face the dilemma to decide

modernity,

between a short-term goal to end the violence

unsuccessful,

and a long-term agenda to build peace. The

Koolhaas argues that we are overtaken by the

long-term sustainability of CR often is the main

preservation in the absurd battle between the

concern of development agendas, incorporating

rapid

the improvement of political environment, and

“destructiveness of modernization”. But if

the livelihood of individuals. Architecture, on the

designs of improvement simply respond to the

other hand, shares the same power of

demand of individuals with the responsibility to

governance in both categories of short-term

the vernacular architecture, preservation is not

and long term goals. Military structure is used to

overtaking us, but a rational response to the

end the conflict for a short-term goal of negative

progressive reality itself. In the midst of complex

peace, while the majority of architectural and

and escalating conflict, such a rational, realistic

urban practices fall in to the long-term category.

and humanistic attitude towards preservation

Architecture is not only an instrument of control

brings hope and positivity to individuals, and

and surveillance, but also can “regulate

ultimately facilitates the top-level negotiation

mundane matters of our lives”, including culture,

from

food, and markets, all aspects that track-one

preservation, therefore, is a powerful bottom-up

diplomacy can hardly reach. Architecture’s

resolution in the intergroup conflict by cultivating

capacity that responds to such a wide range of

on

a

needs

economic

the

traditional

to

even

be

activity,

criticized

as

counterproductive.

development

ground.

the

Critical

and

the

architectural

“...architecture governing conduct—mediating power— through networks and norms, frames of action and possibility that flow through all scales from the body to the home to the city to the globe, at the hands of not just the state but also individuals and institutions. ”

“Preservation is always suspended between life and death—calling on us to get smarter, faster, deeper, longer, sharper, and I would say more tender. Paul always brought to us a sense of tenderness, and a reminder that sharpness and tenderness are not opposites.

Combining them might even be the very responsibility of architecture.”

matters in different scales, enhances its role in

individual consciousness of a progressive

the process of conflict negotiation.

identity, expressing a collective voice, and

Preservation and Conflict Resolution

bringing out the urban visibility of a minority group. The preservation enhances a group

The principle to decide what to preserve is

collective identity and could open up more

fundamentally based on the individuals. If there

space for negotiation in the political realm.

Remote Speech Therapy for Post Cleft Surgery Care The project aims to narrow the large gap between speech therapy healthcare service providers and post-operative cleft palate patients in China by developing an online database to bring information and resources to parents and local community members, designing a mobile speech therapy platform so speech therapy can be done in the home and tracked online, and creating a standardized speech therapy curriculum in China by holding annual summer training sessions throughout China. .

Great Demand Annually approximately 1 in 700 children in born with a cleft lip or palate, one of the foremost congenital disorders. International NGOs have established programs in developing countries and provided free facial reconstructive surgeries.

However, post-operative speech therapy is not available for patients. Without the ability of effective and clear communication, many children experience difficulties and discriminiation in social areas, education and employment. This is particularly important for girls who are already marginalized in these countries.

Shortage in Supply In China, speech and language pathology is not recognized, and minimal programs exist to train professionals. The majority of experienced therapists are concentrated in Beijing and Shanghai.

The disproportion is striking and thousands of children go without the speech therapy they need. These professionals have not been trained and educated in a nationally standardized program and speech therapy in China lacks expertise in practice and assessment, and accessibility to remote area.

..

To create an online platform through which speech therapists can guide parents or local speech assistants in remote regions to provide speech therapy for cleft palate children, through technology that will provide progress assessment. Features of the platform include Voice Recognition, which facilitates the recognition of various voices to identify apattern(s) that can be standardized and adjusted, and Voice Analysis which provides the therapists with an analysis of the voice patterns so thatfocus can be emphasized on areas that require development.

...

2013 Healthcare Venture

Beijing Tech Hive, Barcamp Beijing

2014 Research

“Cleft Palate and Lip Treatment Speech Therapy post-surgery care for Cleft Palate and Lip Patients in a developing country�

2015 Commitment

Clinton Global Initiative University Tisch Summer Fellow

Shi-wo Shuo, is the phonetic spelling of the Chinese word “Shuo”, meaning “speaking”, and “Shi-wo Shuo” can be directly translated to English as “is me speaking”.

Youth empowerment, and access to healthcare service, espeically for girls, is the core value of this social initative.

Geographic Distribution of Remittance Transmission By Rural-Urban Migrants in China (2017) to study the spatial distribution of remittance flows and invest into the patterns in geography of the remittance and its correlation with the expenditure behaviors and the socioeconomic characteristics of the left behind households in China, through the Geographic Information System (GIS) approaches. The major finding is that the motivation to remit is highly associated with physical proximity, which agrees with previous studies. Migrants with higher average incomes, send more remittances backhome, but the long distance discourages individuals to remit. On an aggregate level, the lar est flows of emittances take place within home provinces.

Population Density in Informal Settlements in Dar es Salaam Tanzania (2017)

to study and to compare the population density patterns for informal and formal settlements in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Through regression and Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis, a spatial comparison is carried out between real population density and predicted population density. Various areas are identified through metadata analysis as the areas of focus for the planning of Dar es Salaam, in the process of urban formalization.

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