Proposals

PROPOSAL

BASIS FOR PROPOSAL

Based on our data analysis, two of the main issues are identified as our focus in our proposal. First, deficient information exchange intensifies the sense of uncertainty and insecurity; Secondly, socially fragmented communities hinder collective action and negotiation to fight for rights. In addition, unsafe toilets in the night due to sanitation limitations will also be discussed.

While livelihoods framework facilitates our analysis of situation in terms of capitals, asset vulnerability framework will help us to rationalize the development of proposals from the perspective of vulnerability. Defined as insecurity and sensitivity in the well-being of individuals, households and communities in encountering the changing circumstance, vulnerability also indicates their responsiveness and resilience to risks during such negative changes (Moser, 1998). The vulnerability in this Vishwakarma Nagar presents in two dimensions in terms of assets portfolio management.

For one thing, housing as an asset is able to provide additional income through household enterprises and rent. Being evicted or relocated to remote suburban area both lead to the deprivation of such assets, increasing the level of vulnerability. Also, losing housing as a disposable asset means that people in adversity are more inclined to mobilize other assets to cope with the predicament such as to let children work, sacrificing long-term human capital and meanwhile hampering household relationship.

As recognized as a slum by the authority (Slum Free Plan, 2013), Vishwakarma Nagar inevitably demonstrates a prominent issue in tenure security. Without formal legal title, residents suffer extreme high degree of vulnerability and low tenure security as being exposed to high risks of eviction, given that the Habibganj Railway Station redevelopment project is going on nearby being intimidating. People in this area have reasons to be suspicious about their future here, resulting in more sense of insecurity and more fear of uncertainty, which has negatively influenced people’s ordinary life, as anxiety, frustration and sorrow emerge so frequently.

For another, in response to changes, social capital including inter-household informal supportive network and public service provision by the NGOs are also important

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assets that people can resort to. However, the urban poor may be particularly vulnerable to social fragmentation. Great societal and economic variance related to wide range of income, opportunities and access to infrastructure, services and political influence in urban areas could undermine the mutual trust and cooperation between communities and among households within communities. (Moser, 1998) As is the case, in Vishwakarma Nagar, social capital such as community cohesion has not been achieved properly, which crippled the community’s capability to exert the asset while confronting eviction.

Implicit boundaries between different communities, mainly the Bengali and the Bihari, jeopardise the capability of these communities to unit, to pursue shared goals, and to adopt congruent strategies so as to express their appeals and to negotiate. During our study in this area, verbal and behavioural information that we collected uncovered the divergence, e.g. children don’t go to “the other side” in transect walks.

At the same time, informal sources of information such as presumptions drawn by individuals from newspaper reports dominate the area. Based on our data collection from both the residents and the official sources, there is an information gap between the two main parts of actors. While BHEL the landowner indicates no interest in dealing with the slum currently, and the Housing for All Scheme doesn’t prioritize Vishwakarma Nagar as an urgent case, spreading rumours about imminent eviction have casted shadow over the neighbourhood, aggravating uneasy emotions.

In the co-design workshop, respondents indicated the accessibility of ward councillor as one of the issues about information delivery that could be improved. Participants also mention that their main sources of information are friends and media. We assume that inadequate access to official and accurate information about their area further propelled the transmission of incorrect information, e.g. the eviction is coming next month. Considering the inadequate means for communication between residents and the formal planning, residents thus need a more efficient way to supplement the current way to acquire accurate information about their place, including the future plan, the land ownership and use, as well as the service provision.

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To crack potential risks of failure in asset portfolio management, proposals that deal with different types of vulnerability including labour and social capital are developed, to provide skill training sessions and children dancing class, to set up smart pole and intelligent street light, to create a community Facebook group. Accordingly, goals of the proposals are: (1) To build community competence to empower residents; (2) To facilitate information exchange within the communities as well as between the communities and the formal planning; (3) To promote safe public space in the night.

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TECHNOLOGICAL CATALYST Integrated Community on Facebook

Rationale

In Vishwakarma Nagar, residents’ selfawareness of informality happening in their area including their informal occupation of land and informal acquisition of public services seem to have weakened their courage to demand for necessary information or services. Meanwhile, information insufficiency and inaccuracy, particularly with regard to their future on this land, has led to undesirable feelings, which call for additional tool to supplement information missing. As mentioned by local resident “everyone has a smart phone” and our observation that the use of social media app on their phone is prevalent, the creation of Facebook group of Vishwakarma Nagar could serve as a catalyst that facilitate interaction among residents and other stakeholders who have or can access information related to this area by providing a platform where the posted information could be verified by the official.

Key Stakeholders

For information exchange, the co-workshop highlighted media and friends as the main ways to get information, and also expressed

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the wish of more involvement of ward councillors in information provision.

Role of Right to Information (RTI)

Under Right to Information (RTI), which is act of the Parliament of India to provide for setting out the practical regime of the right to information for citizens, any citizen of India may request information from a public authority. It is also suggested that, government-led schemes targeted at informal settlements, for instance, All Slum Rehabilitation (SRA) Scheme cooperative housing societies, should be brought under the ambit of right to information (RTI) and a Public Information Officer appointed for each society to upload information on the website (rti.gov.in, 2018).

Role of the Ward Councillor

Municipal wards councillors in India that are elected by people from each ward take charge of urban administration. For instance, if there are problems in a ward, people should be able to get in touch with him to get the issue addressed or even are entitled to hold peaceful protests to draw his/her attention. Ward councillors are also anticipated to have regular public meetings with people of his/her area, and to interact directly with any interest group even if that group is not represented on the ward committee.

Role of Social Media - A Case Study

A case study (Taylor, et al., 2012) shows that public use of social media during changes of environment, e.g. during natural disasters, is able to empower people to recover from shocks and risks. During the late January to the early February 2011, the anticipated devastation to be brought by tropical cyclone Yasi triggered the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Australia. The ‘Cyclone Yasi Update’ Facebook page was then created in the midst, run by a team that comprised 12 members with diverse backgrounds, skills, and local knowledge. The Cyclone Yasi Update team not only published timely information, but also provided psychological and emotional support to the affected people.

Coordinated as a disaster management ‘hub, Cyclone Yasi Update not only brought together official information from various sources timely, but also facilitated two-way communication with people in the affected areas. Inaccurate information thus could be corrected, people were orientated to the most helpful and relevant sources of official advice, rumors were debunked, and information could be verified through direct contact. A single initial trusted point of contact thus was established for people who needed to prioritize their activities to protect themselves,

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rather than being misled by wrong information.

Social media are internet-based applications that enable people to communicate and share resources, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, chat rooms (Lindsay, 2011).

The revolution brought by the prevalence of online social media has transformed the conventional communication and interpersonal network nowadays in every field of our daily life. Meanwhile, smart phone, as the innovative communication tools that became dominant in the recent decade, has largely contributed to higher accessibility of the social media with the advancement of internet technology. Publishment of timely and accurate public information from both the official and informal sources which used to be a challenge in the past has been well achieved thanks to online social media’s strong performance in promoting connectivity. With Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, or Snapchat, people are able to deliver essential information not only to whom they care about but also to their communities, facilitating mutual support while facing negative changes.

Main Target Beneficiaries

Every community and member in the area will benefit from elimination of divergence and union of different communities. Marginalized households will particularly benefit from the results of collective actions. Beneficiaries also include the ward councillor and the municipality, as online platform lowers the cost of information exchange.

Goal and Objectives

The main goal of a Facebook group for Vishwakarma Nagar is to increase social capital and reduce vulnerability so as to improve the preparedness of people to respond to the future redevelopment plan in this area through building an online community without spatial barriers.

The objectives of the proposal include: (1) to create a platform where the information accuracy and sufficiency could be improved with the presence of ward councillor or other private or governmental stakeholders of this area; (2) to facilitate the establishment of an online community that strengthens the bond among people from physically segregated communities through informal or formal information sharing and discussion.

Action Strategies

We proposed three steps to involve residents in forming an integrated online community of Vishwakarma Nagar.

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Step one: initiate the action

During our fieldwork, we have started actions to facilitate community capacity building. We talked to the residents after the co-design workshop about our development of preliminary ideas that we want to share what we have done and to create a platform where people here can share with each other. After the co-design workshop, 1 Facebook page was created, and 1 Facebook group was launched. We talked to the residents after the co-design workshop about our development of preliminary ideas. Some residents have joined the Facebook group of Vishwakarma Nagar that we set up. Posters about the Facebook group could be pasted on the walls in the area to inform everyone.

Step two: provide valuable information to fill further needs

The information sharing starts with our photos related to our fieldwork in the area, to meet residents’ needs of knowing what we are doing and what we have done. With the joining of more members, discussion is anticipated carry on and popular topics will emerge.

As group members, residents are able to share stories of their interests, which can also boost connection among them. Hence, people who share the same interests and enthusiasm can get along with each other despite their age, income, or origin of communities. At the meantime, residents who have reliable sources of information are also encouraged to share in the groups, while the information could be verified by others who might have different sources.

Once ward councillor becomes a member of the Facebook group, he/she can not only join the daily conversation in this group, becoming an “inhabitant” of the online community, but also can provide and collect timely and necessary information relevant to this area.

Quizzes and surveys could also be conducted in the group about some necessary information that residents should know. In our workshop, we have a successful practice of carrying out quizzes to find out the extent of people’s conception and to provide more accurate information for residents.

Step three: “Real Life” Meetups

It will be natural after a long time of online interaction that two or more friends want to meet each other, allowing them to put a face with a name, which will be a catalyst to integrate the community in reality and to promote community competence.

The biggest advantages of this proposal are that it requires almost zero funding, and that it could be executed immediately and keeps

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promoting communication among different communities following our activity of photo sharing.

Risk and Assumptions

The attempt could also fail if it doesn’t post any information that interest people. Nevertheless, some indeed demonstrated enthusiasm when we asked them to join the group to check photos we took about our fieldwork in the site. We assume teenagers as more active Facebook users could be the first group members, posting about their daily life and making friends, to begin the network establishment.

Expectation

The anticipated outcome is: (1) residents will have opportunities to make acquaintance and interact with each other regardless of their origin of communities, forming an integrated online community with shared interests and aims; (2) residents will have easier access to information associated with their future on this land and to make their voices heard by the official; (3) people will be able to unite as a stronger whole to negotiate with the authority and landowner to fight for their rights and to decide their own future.

Consideration of Crosscutting Issues

The online Facebook community could create the condition for people to interact and for

58 the communities to integrate in reality, which is a process of building community competence. It could also be a platform to initiate a petition for requesting for smart pole in this area. Additionally, it will not only assist people with collaboration and seek for help to from NGO and the government, but also be an information platform for the children dancing class and women skill training sessions.

Sustainability

The group will initially be managed by a team formed by certain teenagers from different communities that showed interests in running a community social media account. Although it’s run by certain people, everyone in the Facebook group will be able to post information and to raise questions. In a longer term, more adults, the religious leader, and the ward councillor could all be included in this group, which creates opportunities for sustainable information exchange.

Furthermore, in the future, interested NGO such as Aarambh shows potential to be involved in the activity organization in the area. It is anticipated the NGO is able to supervise and facilitate the running of social media accounts in the area to help people make full use of it.

Smart Pole in Vishwakarma Nagar

Rationale

During our needs assessment and co-design workshop, participants in Vishwakarma Nagar strongly pointed out sanitation as one of the most concerned issues in their area. The absence of private toilets, the low accessibility of public toilets, the lack of sewage system and the widely distributional open drainage all suggested that sanitation situation calls for improvement. Girls also claimed that the public toilets become unsafe in the night due to gathering of drunken males. Although due to our time and resources limitation we choose to focus on promoting community cohesion to empower residents for coping with future negative changes, we still seek to develop a proposal that could also contribute to relieving the urgent pressure of sanitation to certain extent, given the significance of the issue,. In such case, we propose to replace the conventional street light pole near the movable toilets with a smart pole. The installation of a smart pole could not only contribute to safety around the toilet area in the night, but also provide a free internet and public space for residents’ communication and assembly. Considering project procedures of Smart City Bhopal Office, the installation of smart pole will be a mid-term goal.

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Key Stakeholders 100 Smart Cities Mission India

The smart city mission is initiated and funded by the Government of India who intends to transform 100 selected cities into sustainable cities where citizens can have good quality life. Implementation of the mission is taken charge of by the Union Ministry of Urban Development in coordination with state governments of selected project cities. As of January 2018, 99 cities have been selected to be upgraded as part of the Smart Cities Mission, among which Bhopal is selected in first round of selected 20 Smart Cities.

Bhopal Smart City Development Co., Ltd. (BSCDCL)

Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (BSCDCL) is a company incorporated under Indian Companies Act 2013, with a sole objective of Planning and implementing the “Smart city project” in Bhopal. The company is jointly owned by the Government of MP and is equally managed by Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Company Limited (MPUDCL) and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC). The ongoing projects implemented by BSCDCL range from transportation solutions to new energy, including Bhopal Smart Road, Bio Gas Plan and Smart Pole & Intelligent Street Light Project, etc.

Smart Pole and Intelligent Street light project

Bhopal has launched first of its kind public private partnership (PPP) based smart poles and intelligent street lights project in India under the Smart Cities Mission. There are two parallel part of this project, including 400 smart pole installations across the city, and 20000 LED streetlights to replace the conventional lamps.

For Vishwakarma Nagar, several strengths demonstrated by the smart pole should be noticed. (1) A smart pole provides free Wi-Fi services for specific time periods to registered users; (2) Camera surveillance promotes the safety, security and parking management in the area; (3) LED Street lights with Li-ion battery that provides the back up during electricity outage help to improve the quality of lighting; (4) The digital advertising panel will keep the city residents updated with city information.

Goal and Objectives

The goal of installing a smart pole in Vishwakama Nagar is to promote public safety in the night, to act as a makeshift for the toilet issue, and to facilitate community cohesion in cooperation with the proposal of Facebook group.

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Objectives of this proposal are: (1) to provide intelligent and constant lightning in the dark; (2) to provide CCTV surveillance around the public toilet and open space to deter potential misdemeanours; (3) to provide free Internet access to facilitate communication and naturally bring about gathering for interaction.

Action Strategies Selection of location for smart poles by BSCDCL

An external agency ERDA was appointed to carry out surveys gather the information for the Smart Pole Project about the lighting requirement and existing set up. As mentioned by BSCDCL, it was a challenge to choose the location of smart pole as it’s indispensable to take into consideration how to maximally bring benefits of the smart pole to residents. The high foot fall areas, important junctions and call drop areas thus became the candidate locations.

As to Vishwakarma Nagar, our group has also talked to people in the Smart City Office about the installation of smart pole in our area. However, due to time and plan limitation, it couldn't be decided for now whether a smart pole could be installed in Vishwakarma Nagar or not. However, with the expansion and proceeding of Smart City Plan and the Smart Pole Projects, Vishwakarma Nagar has the potential to have a smart pole. Moreover, people in the area could also initiate a collective petition asking for a smart pole.

Petition as a strategy to request for a smart pole

In coordination with the proposal of online community on Facebook, a petition is possible to be launched and signed by the majority of the residents in Vishwakarma Nagar, and the range of petitioners could potentially be extended to the surrounding communities of the suggested location of installation, e.g. the BHEL residential area, and the Railway Club Residential area. Two possible approaches of petition could be considered: (1) Sign a petition by writing a letter. The petition letter could be drafted by the local resident who has relevant knowledge and posted on the Facebook group of the community for review. The mobilization could be achieved through Facebook group as well. A vote could be initiated on Facebook group to seek statistics support. By writing a letter to the Municipal Corporation or Smart City Office to request for consideration of installing a smart pole, attention will be drawn. It is likely that the officials of Municipal Corporation or the BSCDCL will come into action and evaluate the possibility. (2) Start a petition online. There are organizations and websites supporting petition, such as Change.org, and the procedure is

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simple. Four steps need to be finished to initiate the petition, which are: (1) To write a petition title; (2) To list the person, organisation, or group that can make a decision about the petition, such as the BSCDCL; (3) To explain the problem and how installation of a smart pole could bring about significantly positive impact on the community and the society; (4) To add a photo or video showing signatures. (Change.org, 2018) [a diagram of the procedure to select a location and to install the smart pole]

Expectation

The anticipated outcomes are: (1) Females will feel safe to go to the only available public toilets in the night with lighting and camera surveillance; (2) Wi-Fi services attract people to gather at the open space, creating opportunities for interaction; (3) being covered within the area of smart city project gives more exposure about Vishwakarma Nagar to the official, which will also increase the awareness of the local authority to provide necessary services and information.

Consideration of Crosscutting Issues

The existence of a smart pole in the open space close to the movable public toilet and the post office could be eye-catching and serve as a new landmark for Vishwakarma Nagar. Given the location has enough open space and high accessibility for all residents, the space has high potential to become a gathering site for carrying out the community activities such as children dancing class and the women training sessions.

Sustainability

The smart pole is asserted to be zero operation and maintenance cost for 15 years by BSCDCL. With the proceeding of smart city projects, the standard and level of maintenance and operation are anticipated to keep improving, which will ensure the sound functioning of the smart pole. Furthermore, it is highly possible that smart poles will cover the entire Bhopal city replacing the conventional street light pole with the anticipated development of technology, economy and urban administration in Bhopal and India, creating more possibilities and opportunities for life quality improvement.

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC CATALYST

Children Dancing Group

Rationale

Children are so active and positive factors in Vishwakarma Nagar, as throughout our fieldwork they always kept us accompany. In the earlier stage of our study, we as participants joined in their daily activities, among which, dancing and playing games with girls gave us knowledge about their daily schedule for school, their skills in dancing, and their passion to share. In our needs assessment, a respondent who is a professional dancer also shows interests in sharing his dancing skills in the community. In the co-design workshop, children from different communities gathered together around us, make acquaintance with each other, and enjoyed dancing. Dancing, as a popular activity in this area, shows great potentials to contribute. Based on our previous actions in organizing dancing activities and our identification of resources, we propose a children dancing class as a short-term goal.

Objectives

Objectives of children dancing class will be: (1) to facilitate physical and mental health of children; (2) to equip children with dancing skills; (3) to serve as a pilot event to trigger chain reaction of procedurally increasing community interaction.

Main Target Beneficiaries

To serve as a short-term proposal, the children dancing class will directly benefit all the children that are involved in the class, through which they not only develop skills and hobbies, but also make acquaintance with new friends. Being a catalyst as assumed, the dancing class is able to extend the communication to the family members of children.

Action Strategies Mobilization of community participants and resources

Participants. Children in Vishwakarma Nagar show strong interests in dancing, especially girls. Children in the area expressed their feeling of “being bored” because of the lack of entertainment. A well planned dancing class could provide them with an option to spend the leisure time having fun, making friends, and at the meanwhile developing talents. Trainers. Three girls who are skilled at Bollywood dancing and a boy who is taking courses to become a professional popping and locking dancer all are willing to engage in dancing events. Space. The open space between the stores and the post office at the back street is usually available. During our co-design workshop, it has been tested to be an ideal place for group activities in the daytime of good weather.

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Plan of implementation

Schedule of class. As children usually go to school at 11:00 and come back home at 16:00, it is feasible to run the classes at the morning before children go to their school and in the afternoon when they return. The time can be adjusted according to the time availability of dancing trainers. The Facebook group or an additional WhatsApp group can serve to provide class attendants updated course information timely. During the weekends, either regular dancing class or dancing festivals that involve as many as residents could be held. Content of class. Bollywood dance as well as popping and locking dance could be the major two options. Online sources of instructions such as dancing videos can be used as teaching materials.

Expectation

Anticipated outcomes are: (1) children learn dancing skills or even develop interests in choosing dancing as their careers; (2) children from different communities establish interpersonal network through the dancing class; (3) influenced by these dancing children, their other family members may also participate in dancing activities and have more opportunities to interact with each other.

Consideration of Crosscutting Issues

Children dancing class could create topics for discussion on Facebook group. Also, classes, if happen in the open space where the smart pole is proposed, could render it more reasonable to install a smart pole as the space is more frequently used and there will be needs for safety after sunset. Besides, children dancing class can contribute to the formation of women skill development program if children who dance together become friends and facilitate the acquaintance of their parents. Stronger bond among women could accelerate the process of shifting from outside support to self-operation.

Sustainability

The children dancing class will be zero-cost, which increases its chances to survive without external financial support. And its flexible and informal schedule and content also gives it more possibilities of creating new solutions for the future. The dancing together of different children might lead to the discovery of new skills or hobbies among them, which undoubtedly could have the potential to result in new hobby groups, promoting the diversity of activities and interaction.

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Women Skill Development Programme

Rationale

Women unemployment and marginalization have been identified at the beginning of our fieldwork with our observation and daily conversations with female residents. Whether it's during our participation observation in the Ganesh Festival, or in our chats with ladies on the street, unemployment as a concern is frequently mentioned. However, given that women being housewives have deeply rooted in the civilization for such a long history, and people are so used to it while still complaining, the sanitation and tenure reality seems to have further overshadowed its urgency. Nevertheless, from our observation and participatory mapping during the co-design workshop, women, albeit unemployed, show great potential to be empowered with acquisition of skills such as sewing that is high demanded in the markets in India. In accordance with the needs of exploiting potentials and our intents to contribute to community cohesion, we propose the women skill development programme as a long-term goal.

Goal & Objectives

The goal of the women skills training program and children dancing class is to empower the women and children through equipping them with skills, and simultaneously to promote interaction among different communities in Vishwarkama Nagar.

Objectives of women skill development program will be: (1) to equip women with more proficient and demand-based skills in textile industry; (2) To increase the community’s resilience by building human capital to cope with risks and shocks; (3) to promote community cohesion through increased communication among female trainees from different communities.

Key Stakeholders Samarth, Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector

The textile and apparel industry is the biggest employer after agriculture. In order to meet the skill gap in the industry, the scheme titled “Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS)” known as “Samarth” was approved, with the objective to skill the youth for gainful and sustainable employment in the textile sector. Beside hard skills, soft skills including communication abilities, language skills,

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personal habits, cognitive or emotional empathy, time management, teamwork, and leadership traits are also parts of the training content. A web and Mobile App based platform is also run by the Ministry of Textiles for interested candidates to express their interests in receive training. Reputed training NGOs or other organizations will be eligible to implement the scheme. Training centres with essential infrastructure and facilities should be provided on their own cost.

Aarambh Bhopal

As an organization established in 1994 focusing mainly on children rights and health, Aarambh Bhopal now has wider range of intervention fields covering urban sanitation and water, children rights as well as women empowerment. We reached Aarambh Bhopal after a series of contact with different NGOs and people including SPARC and Samarthan. The project director that we talked to after our co-workshop shared his experience in community empowerment and encouraged us to design proposals that could contribute to women and children capacity building. It was indicated that it’s possible to seek for funding from Aarambh if the designed program is to be implemented one day. Aarambh show strong commitment to community development and empowerment, but is unable to intervention into Vishwakarma Nagar currently due to resource limitations, as there are projects going on in other slums. However, interventions could happen in the future.

Main Target Beneficiaries

Main target beneficiaries of the women skill development program will be the women in Vishwakarma Nagar, especially those are currently unemployed or come from the marginalized households. The community as a whole will also be benefited by the progressive interaction and integration between different groups.

Action Strategies Option 1

NGOs such as Aarambh directly give small scale interventions about women empowerment in Vishwakarma Nagar, they are anticipated to mobilize the women who possess sewing or other skills to share their knowledge and skills with others in skill development sessions organized by NGO. Women who give trainings can also get paid with the funding coming from NGOs. At the same time, NGO could also assist with the promotion and marketing of the products made by the women attending the training sessions.

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Option 2

NGOs that are qualified to become the implementation agencies apply for the funding under SCBTS and cover the area of Vishwakarma Nagar, residents thus could apply for the training courses through the assistance of NGOs that work on their communities or via the web or mobile App. The scheme will have requirement for admission and graduation, but also will provide higher opportunities of employment. Besides, other important soft skills such as life management will be additional bonus for trainees.

Expectation

Outcomes of the women skill development programme will be: (1) women acquire practical skills in textile and get employed or self-employed; (2) the human capital of a household can increase, which contributes to the asset portfolio of a household; (3) women from different communities are able to share with and learn from each other during training, which promotes interaction and integration of different communities.

Consideration of Crosscutting Issues

Empowerment and interaction of women will contribute greatly to the capacity building of the settlement, which might create more opportunities for the residents to carry out collective actions to fight for their own rights such as to sign a petition for a smart pole. The cohesion between women from different groups will also serve to facilitate the implementation of children dancing classes as children from families will be brought together and get familiar with each other when women gather.

Sustainability

With the operation of women skill development scheme, the level of empowerment among women in Vishwakarm Nagar is expected to increase, which could contribute to the potential excavation in leadership. Experienced female trainers or trainees could volunteer to lead the program. In a longer term, NGOs that were responsible for events organization could gradually shift the duty to the voluntary or elected leaders in the program, ensuring sustainable selfoperation of this programme in the future.

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CONCLUSION

During the entire length of our fieldwork, we got several opportunities to apply and internalize the UEP values that focus on putting the citizen at the centre of planning methods. Taking inspiration from the value of strategic and contingent planning we formulated our proposals, both for short and long term. In this method of planning, we followed a circular process in which intermediate interventions are followed by monitoring, learning, reflection and evaluation, before deciding for another round of interventions. (Sliwa, Aranya, Refstie, 2018). Every week as we discovered new layers of informality, we also got a chance to challenge our conventional conception of urban planning.

To study an informal area like Vishwakarma Nagar, that has survived 30 years and more, helped us introspect and critically analyse how slums work as a self-sufficient, independent bodies of settlement. Continuous reflection and self-introspection was one of the most essential tools to learn from our mistakes and to plan ahead keeping in mind the diversity and the various societal layers we were studying. This not only helped us broaden our perspectives as professionals, but also, contributed to our understanding of social intricacies and their role.

Our journey

Our fieldwork started with our exploratory journey into the history of Vishwakarma Nagar, leading us to the understanding of how informality serves not as an obstacle in development, but as an integral part of it (Sliwa, et al., 2017). It gave us a more profound comprehension of how a piece of land on which people started to squat, naturally grew into an organic society with strong vitality. This self-sufficient settlement, without any planning intervention from the government, has shown great resilience in the process of integrating itself into the social and economic fabric of the city.

With one Indian group member, it was comparatively easier for us to approach the community and to work on building trust with them. With each passing week, we were exposed to newer layers of informality through which our understanding of, both, the society and the country increased. After numerous chai invitations at the residents’ home, we finally started gathering data. We failed at numerous points, but after careful examination and a lot of back and forth, we

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