2018 - Bhopal, India - Roshanpura - Groups 3 and 4

Roshanpura

PREFACE

This report is the outcome of a one-semester fieldwork in Bhopal, India, conducted by students at the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in collaboration with the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Bhopal and SPA Delhi. The fieldwork was part of a research project “Smart Sustainable City Regions in India” (SSCRI) financed by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU). The one-semester fieldwork is an integral part of the 2-year International Master of Science Program in Urban Ecological Planning (UEP) at NTNU. Previous fieldtrips have been undertaken in Nepal, Uganda and India.

As is tradition, the diverse backgrounds and nationalities of students participating in the UEP fieldwork ensures a multi-perspective view. This year’s 21 fieldwork participants are architects, social workers, engineers, landscape architects and planners, coming from Albania, Bangladesh, Canada, China, France, Germany, Honduras, India, Lithuania, Morocco, Mexico, Norway, Tunisia and the USA.

This first semester fieldwork gives students a real life practice of the so-called ‘UEP approach’, which focuses on an integrated area-based situation analysis followed by strategic proposals.

Through daily interactions with local communities and relevant stakeholders, students became acquainted with the community and discovered the complex realities of these areas, with their specific assets and challenges. By using a design thinking and participatory methods, this exercise gives the community a voice by making them active participants.

The main topic studied was informality in all its forms, and particular attention has been given to public space, gender, heritage, land and urban transformation. Students were also asked to put their areas and proposals in the perspective of the Smart Cities Mission, which is the largest urban development fund and initiative currently implemented by the Government of India.

The semester started with two intensive weeks of preparation with a number of lectures at the home campus of NTNU in Trondheim. The first weeks of our stay in Bhopal, the students became familiar with the city while staying at the SPA Bhopal campus, through a number of lectures and presentations from students and staff from SPA Bhopal and a heritage walk through the old city. By the end of these first weeks, students were divided in six groups and assigned an area.

Through a joint workshop with SPA Bhopal, SPA Delhi and Krvia Mumbai on participatory methods familiarized themselves with their communities and participatory methods, which helped them to build trust with the residents. They continued using these methods and design thinking methods to conduct a situational analysis involving different stakeholders. A joint workshop with the design students from SPA Bhopal on co-design followed by a number of community workshops integrated the design thinking approach that helped to co-design a series of proposals.

Students prepared four situational reports with proposals. This reports sums up the work done by group 3 and 4 in Roshanpura.

Hanne Vrebos, Rolee Aranya, Brita Fladvad Nielsen and Peter Andreas Gotsch, fieldwork supervisors, NTNU, Department of Architecture and Planning

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ABSTRACT

We are extremely grateful to the people and organizations for whom successful completion of the fieldwork would not have been possible. Without their constant support and motivation, the whole process would not have been achievable in such a limited time. We express immense gratitude to Professor N. Sridharan, Director of the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal and other SPA Bhopal faculty and staff for sharing their knowledge with us and for hospitably hosting us during our stay in Bhopal.

Additionally, we would like to thank the students of Master of Urban Design SPA Delhi, KRVIA Mumbai, and Master of Design SPA Bhopal for sharing their thoughts and methodologies during collaborative studio workshops. Their collaboration provided us with language assistance, cultural context, and methodology support. We are especially grateful to our professors, Professor Dr. Peter Andreas Gotsch, Director of Urban Environmental Program, Professor Rolee Aranya, Vice Dean for Education, Brita Fladvad Nielsen and Hanne Vrebos from NTNU, Trondheim for their guidance and assistance throughout the fieldwork. Without their support and passion, we would have never made it to India or acquired so many Post-It notes. Thanks is also due to Lau Ying Tung (Crystal) for bringing light, laughter, and new perspectives to our group in the first weeks.

Last but not the least, we are enormously thankful to the people in Roshanpura, especially the formal and informal representatives and local translators for taking an interest and participating in the activities, being available to answer our queries and show us around, and enrich us with vast amount of information. And to all the residents of Roshanpura, thank you for opening your home and community to us. We are forever grateful.

As low income countries strive to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, the persistent problem of poverty and its solutions repeatedly surface amongst reports of human rights abuses towards the poor and marginalized. Slums represent a physical manifestation of poverty, and, of the low income countries, India is particularly notorious for its slum populations. In 2015, with its announcement of the Smart Cities Mission, the Government of India set out to eradicate slums through its Slum Free Cities initiative. However, this usually results in slum inhabitants being forced out onto increasingly marginalized land. The current research asks whether urban planning can be used as a tool to address poverty?

A group of Masters in Urban Ecological Planning students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) set out to answer this question during a three month fieldwork exercise in Bhopal, the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. A group of six students worked in Roshanpura slum, dividing the area along the main street the slum developed out of. Both groups employed participatory methods to study the area through the lens of the Livelihoods Framework and informality. The aim of the fieldwork was to develop strategic interventions that facilitate the

residents of Roshanpura to engage with each other, institutions, and available resources to improve their livelihoods. The two proposals offered at the end of the fieldwork sought to build on what the residents already had, respectively, cultural heritage and the women’s marketable skills. While purely educational, the research serves as a case study for urban planners working with slum dwellers.

ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF FIGURES

Livelihoods Framework = LF

Urban Ecological Planning = UEP

Norwegian University of Science and Technology = NTNU

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs = MoHUA

Area Based Development = ABD

Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited = BSCDCL

Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Company Limited = MPUDCL

Bhopal Municipal Corporation = BMC Government of India = GOI

Directorate of Town and Country Planning = DTCP

Bus Rapid Transit System = BRTS

Ground floor plus additional floor = G+1

Ground floor plus two additional floors = G+2

Bhopal Municipal Corporation = BMC

Women’s Community Center = WCC

Introduction

1.1

Roshanpura Square 12

1.2 The Golden Gate- The gate of the Taj Maha 14

1.3. Smart City Bhopal / Area Based Development Project Proposal 17

1.4. Evolution of Bhopal and Roshanpura 18

1.4. Map of proposed metro line in Bhopal 20

1.4. Map of Roshanpura, New Market and Area Based Development situation 21

Situational Analysis

2.1.1 Land Use Map 26

2.1.2 Typology of structures in Northern Lower Area 28

2.1.3 Typology of structures in Southern Upper Area 29

2.1.4 Example of open spaces in Roshanpura 30

2.1.5 Types of streets and alleyways 31

2.1.6 Evolution of Services through Roshanpura 32

2.1.7 Tank used for water collection 33

2.1.8 Pipeline of Water Supply 33

2.1.9 Electric wiring in the Main Street 34

2.1.10 Public Toilet 35

2.1.11 Roshanpura And Main Transport Hubs 36

2.1.12 Bhopal Transportation and Connectivity 37

2.2.1. Political Structure 39

2.2.2 Informal leader 40

2.2.3. Rajasthani Woman 41

2.2.4. Muslim Women 41

2.2.5 Katputli Women 41

2.2.6 Rajasthani Women and Muslim Girl from Hyderabad 41

2.2.7 Map of neighbourhoods / communities in Roshanpura 43

2.2.8 Pottery 44

2.2.9 Clay Idols 44

2.2.10 Lace Making 44

2.2.11 Mehendi 44

2.2.12 Cultural heritage in Roshanpura 45

2.2.13 Map of religious institutions 46

2.2.14 Shree Durga Temple

2.2.15 Mosque

2.2.16 Calendar of religious festivities

2.2.17 Kali Goddess

2.3.1 Gender Labor Displacement

2.3.2 Store inside Roshanpura

2.3.3 Flow of Skilled/Unskilled Labor

2.3.4 Microfinance Scheme Self-Help groups

2.3.5 Microfinance Scheme Bank program

2.3.6 Types of stores in the Commercial Area

2.3.7 Commercial Area in Rajbhaven Road

2.4.1 Map of Roshanpura’s Schools and Health Centers

2.4.2 Spiritual Health Center

2.5.1 Street in the lower area

2.5.2 Surface sewage / Lower area

2.5.3 Low quality structures /Lower area

2.5.4 Two store structures / Upper area

2.5.5 Two store structures / Upper area

2.5.6 Section of the slope in Roshanpura

Roshanpura South

3.1.2 A senior puppeteer in the sidewalk by his house 77

3.1.3 Transect walk 77

3.1.4 Open ended interviews 78

3.1.5 Open ended interviews 79

3.1.6 Drawing activity with kids in public school 80

3.1.7 Affinity mapping following livelihoods framework approach 82

3.1.8 Inhabitants filling out ranking activity form

3.1.9 Community discussions with women of Roshanpura

3.1.11 Instances from co-design workshop

3.1.12 Kids in front of the window grill they colored in co-design workshop

3.2.1 Upper one: plastic drums used for storing water

3.2.2 Lower one: unstable built protrusions

3.2.3 Alleys used by vendors to sell vegetables

3.2.4 Sign board stating about the puppeteers’ society

3.2.5 A niche used for storing and displaying puppets 92

3.2.6 Craftsmen of Katputli Mohalla creating models with paper mache 93

3.2.7 The identified marginalized group 94

3.2.8 Meera, a Rajasthani woman from Katputli Mohalla sitting at the entrance of her 97

3.3.1 Upper one: Women of Kathputli Colony House 98

3.3.2 Lower one: members of local self-help groups 98

3.3.3 Inhabitants of Kathputli Mohalla 99

3.3.4 Formal representative of Roshanpura 100

3.3.5 Women of Roshnapura engaged in small enterprises

3.3.6 Stakeholder Mapping

3.4.1 Flow diagram explaining justification

3.4.2 Dimensions of the proposal

3.4.3 Existing entrance to the street

3.4.4

Proposed element at the entrance 109

3.4.5 Graphical illustration of the proposed entrance 110

3.4.6 Upper one: Proposed scheme of Wall art 111

3.4.7 Concept diagram of action proposal 112

3.4.8 Delineating activities in the proposed street market 115

3.4.9 Graphical illustration of the proposed street market 116

3.4.10 Graphical illustration of the proposed wall art and entrance element 117

3.4.11 Concept diagram of action proposal III 121

Roshanpura North

4.1.1

Meeting with the representative of New Market 127

4.1.2 Picture with the NGO working with women trainings 127

4.1.3 Interview with inhabitants of the North East area of Roshanpura 128

4.1.4 First Stakeholder Analysis 131

4.1.5 Mobile Collector from ArcGIS 132

4.1.6 Transect Walks 132

4.1.7 Selfie Voice 134

4.1.8 Knitting Lady and Neighbours 134

4.1.9 The place the knitting lady liked the most 134

4.1.10 Photo Voice 2nd Attempt 135

4.1.11 Activity with the kids at school 137

4.1.12 Knitting Activity 139

4.1.13 Roshanpura Hospitality 139

4.1.14 Cooking class 139

4.1.15 Info Board Mock Up 141

4.1.16 Tell us your skills Board 142

4.1.17 Puppeteers Show during co-design workshop 144

4.2.1 Interview with women 147

4.2.2 Former Police Officer in Roshanpura with his niece 147

4.2.3 Before and After of an open space in the Northern Area 149

4.2.4 Woman not happy to live there, even if relocated 150

4.2.5 Interview with women 151

4.2.6 Whatching sari being made 152

4.2.7 Stakeholder Analysis 154

4.2.8 Stakeholder mapping 155

4.3.1 Possible places to put the Information Board 159

4.3.2 Main Information Board 161

4.3.3

Render : Implementation of the information board 163

4.3.4 Indian Cooperative Credit Society Limited 166

4.3.5 Scheme of the cooperative organization 170

4.3.6 Steps to open the cooperative 171

4.3.8 Plan of the Women Cooperation Center 172

4.3.7 Area organization of the WCC 172

4.3.9 Section of the WCC 173

4.3.10 WCC 173

4.3.11 Render of the WCC 174

5.1 Group picture with a family 176

* Unless otherwise indicated all pictures and graphics were produced by the authors.

Introduction

Step out of the rickshaw at Roshanpura Square and one is immediately overwhelmed by the noise and bustle. Horns honk as two-wheelers, cars, and rickshaws zip around the roundabout in the middle of the square. Shops, informal stands and street hawkers line the roads, barely allowing pedestrians to pass along the sidewalks. This is the New Market, the commercial heart of the city of Bhopal. However, from the plaza head down Roshanpura Road towards the Raj bhavan and, turning in at one of the many food stands along the road, you enter another world. A hidden labyrinth of narrow alleyways that open onto private courtyard, pleasantly situated in the shade of a few trees, and closely built houses of varying qualities and colorful exteriors, greets you. Residents washing their laundry or dishes smile and wave as you navigate, looking at playing children, goats, and parked motorbikes. The smell of cooking from one house drifts along the narrow passageway to mingle with the stench of garbage and animals emanating from another. This residential oasis, while a relief from

the commercial exterior, is an onslaught of colors, people, smells, and sounds. This is Roshanpura: a multifaceted, historical community peacefully comprising the many faces and faiths of India. For two months, a group of masters students in Urban Ecological Planning (UEP) from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) conducted fieldwork in Roshanpura, attempting to understand the community and the dynamic urban landscape. The ultimate goal is to put people at the center of urban planning. The following report, after describing the context, provides a situational analysis of Roshanpura, followed by a discussion of methods, the researchers’ findings from the fieldwork, finally their recommendations for strategic community interventions, and ending with the students’ reflections. Throughout the fieldwork, the students followed the principles of UEP, which include, among others, acting as facilitators rather than providers; working from the bottomtop rather than from top-down or bottom-up; working on a smaller, area-based scale on a formalinformal continuum; and developing proposals that are both contextual and views the city as an organism (Sliwa et al, 2018, 8). While the proposals developed through this approach are smaller in both size and the number of people impacted, it sets off a chain reaction of innovations that empower the people under the planner’s purview.

HISTORY OF BHOPAL

efficient administration, set up a judicial system, and supported women’s education (Ibid., 34-35).

The city of Bhopal lies atop the eleventh-century city Bhojapal, founded by Raja Bhoj. Legend has it that Raja Bhoj suffered from an incurable disease, and a sage advised him to bathe daily in a lake fed by 365 springs. Thus, Raja Bhoj’s engineers built two large dams, creating the Upper Lake of Bhopal (Fortun, 2001, 159). Later, the smaller, Lower Lake, was built, giving Bhopal the name the “City of Lakes.”

The modern city of Bhopal was established in 1709 by the Afghan chief Dost Mohammed Khan, carving out a Muslim kingdom that would continue until Independence (Ibid., 160). The kingdom’s strong rulers contributed to its survival, but in 1818 it gained additional protection when the ruler of Bhopal signed a treaty of alliance with the British Governor-General, Lord Hastings (Sultaan, 1980, 32).

Most notable about Bhopal is its more than one hundred years history of women rulers. The “Century of Women’s Rule” began in 1819 by Qudisa Begum. After the assassination of her husband, Nazar, she declared her daughter, Sikandar, Nazar’s rightful successor, successfully persuading her and her husband’s family to sign allegiance to her daughter (Ibid.). The “Century of Women’s Rule” lasted until 1926 when Sultan Jahan abdicated in favor of her son. During the century, the begums improved Bhopal’s infrastructure, created an

India gained Independence in 1947, and Bhopal was one of the last princely states to join the Union Government, signing the agreement in 1949 (Census of India, 2011, 13). After Independence, Bhopal became a center for migration, welcoming Hindu refugees from Pakistan and later Muslims from across India, who migrated to Bhopal in large numbers seeking security in the largest Muslim state after Hyderabad. As a result, in 1961, half of the residents of Bhopal were immigrants (Fortun, 2001, 160).

Despite a rich history, today Bhopal is most well known for the Union Carbide Gas Tragedy. On December 3, 1984, the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal released 40 tons of toxic gas. The death toll in the first few days after the disaster ranges from two to 15 thousand. Best estimates place the death toll at ten thousand (Ibid, xiii). Union Carbide is a multinational chemical company based in the United States. They originally came to India as part of the Green Revolution, the U.S.’s attempt to eradicate hunger through technological advances and the “westernization” of agriculture around the world. Union Carbide built a plant in Bhopal since the Government of India identified the area as “backward” and targeted it for industrial development. Bhopal was also centrally located and well connected by roads, rail, and air to other parts of India (Ibid., xiv). At first, the plant provided much needed jobs and improved agricultural output, but soon the plant began to suffer from mismanagement and neglected safety regulations. At the time of the disaster, the plant was only operating at a quarter of its capacity, but they had hugh stocks of chemicals stored in tanks ready for direct sale (Ibid.).

The poor were the hardest hit. Those living in slums adjacent to the plant had no warning or means of seeking protection. The railway station and surrounding area were also hit hard, with those sleeping on the platforms and waiting for trains asphyxiating (Ibid., xv). In the aftermath of the tragedy, victims came forward demanding compensation for their losses, and activists called for the CEO of Union Carbide to be charged with homicide. Anger and controversy swirled as the government developed criteria for determining if a victim’s claim was “gas-related” or classed as “temporary.” Then, in 1991, Union Carbide settled outside of court (Ibid., xviii). Commentators of the tragedy have framed the disaster as a side effect of globalization, while activists argue that the disaster demonstrates how the lives of those in poor countries are worth less than those in wealthier countries. Bhopal continues to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy, as the gas caused severe, long term health effects and the plant contaminated the soil and water in the immediate vicinity. While activists continue to fight for government compensation, many residents of Bhopal and government officials wish to put the tragedy behind them.

Bhopal is dependent on agriculture, followed by the service sector and civil service. The literacy rate in Bhopal, 73.4%, is lower than the district, 80.4%, and only 35.1% of the population is working. Of those employed, only 16.3% of the female population are employed, compared to 19.6% female employment in the district (Ibid., 15 and 28). While Bhopal falls behind in the district in terms of literacy and female employment, Hindu and Mughal influences and subsequent waves of migrants make the city a historically and culturally rich melting pot of traditions and multiculturalism. .

smart city mission Bhopal

BHOPAL

Today, Bhopal is the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, the central and largest state in India by area. As of the 2011 Census, the City of Bhopal’s population numbered 1,798,218 with an area of 285.88 square kilometers (Census of India, 26). Economically,

In 2015, the Government of India launched the Smart Cities Mission. Over the next five years, a total of 100 cities would be chosen, and Bhopal became one of the first 20 “lighthouse” cities (Chakrabarty, 2018, 2). While the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) offers no clear definition of what a “smart city” is, the objective of the Smart Cities Mission is “to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘smart solutions’(MoUD, 2015, 5)” while emphasizing inclusion, sustainability, and replicability. The strategy for achieving this is through retrofitting, redevelopment, and greenfield development. As such, each city chosen develops an Area Based Development (ABD) plan and a PanCity Development plan. (Ibid., 8).

Bhopal’s Smart City development is being implemented by the Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (BSCDCL), a semi-public company jointly owned by the Government of Madhya Pradesh and incorporated solely for the implementation of the Smart City Project in Bhopal. BSCDCL is equally managed by Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Company Limited (MPUDCL) and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC). The BSCDCL “envisions transforming the City of Lakes, tradition and heritage into a leading destination for smart, connected and ecofriendly communities focused on education, research, entrepreneurship and tourism (BSCDCL, 2018).” In accordance with the national level Smart Cities Mission, Bhopal has developed an ABD plan and a Pan-City Development plan. The ABD development plan has identified a site in Tatya Tope (TT) Nagar on 342 acres of government land. The Pan-City Development plan incorporates the city-wide improvements related to infrastructure, citizen engagement, transit, and citizen well-being. Projects include a Bhopal Smart App, smart poles, a Control and Command Centre and Incubator Centre, smart streets, heritage conservation, designated bike lanes and bike sharing, smart transit, Housing for All, and the Bhopal Metro Rail Project (Ibid.) The focus is on improving connectivity, efficiency in service provision, and government transparency and citizen engagement.

HISTORY OF ROSHANPURA

The history of Roshanpura is closely intertwined with the history of India and, more specifically, the history of Bhopal. During the British era, the land where Roshanpura stands was a forested area named Lalkothi. After Independence in 1947, the land transferred to the Government of India, and people from surrounding states and other parts of Madhya Pradesh settled and began developing the land. The first communities to settle in Roshanpura were the Gwallah (milkmen). A main street in the middle of Roshanpura served as the origin point of the settlement, with subsequent waves of migrants building out from this central point. At its inception, Roshanpura marked the border of the city of Bhopal, but later developed into a central business district. The New Market began being built in the 1961, generating a massive amount of economic activity in the area. In 1984, the Government of Madhya Pradesh awarded the residents of Roshanpura documents of Patta (lease of land) for the next 30 years, providing residents with a sense of tenure security.

Like much of Bhopal, the 1984 Union Carbide Gas Tragedy impacted the lives of the residents of Roshanpura. The disaster occured 12 to 15 kilometers from Roshanpura, and inhabitants suffered from diseases associated with exposure to the lethal chemicals released by the plant. For years after the tragedy, the residents sought compensation for the damages done to their health and the loss of loved ones from the tragedy. Several residents who received compensation invested it in their homes in Roshanpura.

Bhopal

roshanpura

Today Roshanpura is approximately 80,000 m², located adjacent to the Raj Bhavan, the Governor’s house, the Jansampark Bhavan, public library, and across from the New Market. While there are no official statistics for the community, the population is estimated to be between ten to twelve thousand with approximately 1,600 households. With 5,038 registered voters, two political parties have set up offices near Roshanpura in order to take advantage of its sizable vote bank. Houses, connected by narrow alleyways, fight for space, with household activities spilling into the streets, and homes climbing up to accommodate new family members.

A line of shops and stalls ring Roshanpura, a final barrier to the multicultural, peaceful community that lives within. Inside, Muslims and Hindus live peacefully side by side, intermixed throughout the community, and residents boast of their family connections in other parts of Madhya Pradesh and other states in India. While there are a range of socioeconomic and education levels in Roshanpura, what connects them all is their pride in their home and sense of community.

smart city

mission in ROSHANPURA

Unlike other communities in Bhopal, Roshanpura is likely to be directly affected by the Smart City Mission in Bhopal. The ABD site is located in TT Nagar, adjacent to the New Market (see Figure 1). Furthermore, Roshanpura lies on the axes of the planned Bhopal Metro Rail Project, with three

planned metro stations within the New Market area (see Figure 2). While this will provide greater connectivity to the area, boosting its economic activity, it has the potential to severely disrupt the lives of those living in Roshanpura and to displace residents. Other planned Smart City projects related to the New Market include the creation of a smart road and designated bike lanes. Similarly, these changes will improve connectivity, relieve the traffic congestion, and boost economic activity, but it will require a shift in the commercial activities in the area.

Within this context, the researchers sought to conceptualize Roshanpura. Taking into account Roshanpura’s history, and the history of Bhopal as a whole, they developed a framework through which to study the area and its dynamics. Over the two months of fieldwork, the students devised and tested different research methods, attempted to geographically learn the area, and develop relationships with the residents. The proceeding section details the results of these efforts. Despite the section’s detail, the researchers recognize their inability to completely grasp all elements of Roshanpura due to their time constraint and their status as “outsiders.”

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

The following analysis of Roshanpura has been organized into the livelihoods framework proposed by Carole Rakodi (2002). The LF consists of five capitals: physical, social, financial, human, and natural. While the LF is a simplification of the study area, as it is unable to completely capture the complexity of its systems, its strength lies in its ability to allow researchers to better understand the multidimensional aspects of a community. As such, it proves useful for understanding household strengths, structures, and needs. Furthermore, unlike other tools, it also takes into account historical and cultural systems that shape societal mores, determine spheres of political influence, and marginalization. Most importantly, it takes a positive approach to studying vulnerable communities by focusing on what the community has rather than what it lacks.

Apart of the complexity that the LF does not reflect, is the concept of formality and informality. Within the capitals is a mix of informally and formally derived assets. According to the urban planner Uwe

Altrock, informality results from a mismatch between how the state theoretically should function and how it actually functions (172). There are two types of resulting informality: complementary informality occurs in a setting not covered by formal rules, contributing to the proper functioning of formal institutions and often preempting formalization; supplementary informality occurs when the formal institutions do not work properly, and therefore the informal institutions must step in to fulfill their role (Ibid., 175). Informality does not mean illegal, nor does it connotate a development context, but rather informality and formality manifests along a spectrum of formal-informal hybrids.

In Roshanpura, the formal-informal spectrum has dynamically shaped the area and continues to shape the residents’ LF. Overtime, as the community and the state simultaneously developed, assets once firmly situated within informal institutions have gradually become formalized. As a result, formality and informality are inseparable. In the following analysis, the LF helps to conceptualize and organize the community’s complexity, but in order to properly understand it, its assets must be placed along the formal-informal spectrum. For, while Roshanpura may be classed as an “informal” settlement, the reality is much more nuanced.

Physical Capital

Physical capital includes basic infrastructure (i.e. shelter, water, energy, transport, etc) as well as productive and household assets that enable people to pursue their livelihoods (Rakodi, 11). The assets found under physical capital are some of the most recognizable due to their material manifestations. Considering the dominant perception of informal settlements, Roshanpura’s physical capital is surprisingly strong. Roshanpura’s physical capital falls into four categories: land use, building typology, infrastructure, and connectivity.

Building typology

Definition of a Slum

According to Section 3 of the Slums Areas, Im provement and Clearance Act, 1956, the Gov ernment of India (GOI) defines slums as mainly those residential areas where dwellings are in any respect unfit for human habitation; or by reasons of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangements and designs of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation, light, sanitation facilities or any combination of these factors which are detrimental to safety, health and morals (Joshi, Saxena, 2015, p. 107).

Land Use

According to the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) - Madhya Pradesh land use map of Bhopal Master Plan 2005, the entire settlement area is officially categorized as public/semi-public land (DTCP, M.P, 2013) . Reference to Roshanpura map of land use

The majority of the study area in Roshanpura can be characterized by highly dense residential use. Small shops and home-based enterprises dot the inner streets, and there is a significant commercial area concentrated on the southern edge of the area along Rajbhavan Road across from the New Market.

Religious spaces are evenly distributed, with thirteen Hindu temples and places of worship, two mosques and one Dargah (Muslim priest tomb). The main and wider streets are of mixed use: parking, playground, workspace, and community and festival space.

Census of India 2001 has adopted the definition of ‘Slum’ areas as:

- All areas notified as ‘Slum’ by State/Local Government and UT Administration under any Act; All areas recognized as ‘Slum’ by State/Local Government and UT Administration, which have not been formally notified as slum under any Act; A compact area of at least 300 populations or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements, in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities (Ibid).

FInally, UN-Habitat defines a slum household as a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the following:

Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions. Sufficient living space which means not more than three people sharing the same room. Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price.

Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people.

Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions. (UN-HABITAT, 2006)

Due to the older construction, size, density, and shared toilets facilities, some pockets and plots in Roshanpura could be categorized as slums. However, based on the quality of the structures observed, the majority of the houses and infrastructure in Roshanpura do not fit into the above definitions of a slum. Instead, Pucca houses (permanent), with a significant number of G+1 and some G+2 structures, rather than Kachha (temporary) houses are the predominant housing type. Residents build new buildings and additions to older constructions with bricks, cement, concrete blocks and metal roof.

Reference to picture

Of note is the shift in the predominant housing type from the southern end of Roshanpura to the northern end. Pucca houses dominate the southern end, and, as one moves north down the natural slope, Kacha houses begin to dominate. It is on the northern end where the majority of the pockets and plots that meet the above definitions of a “slum” reside. Reference to section

Regardless of house typology, the construction that takes place in Roshanpura occurs in the informal sector, bypassing building regulations and permits. New buildings, conversions of old buildings, and additions are done primarily by residents by themselves, with help from family and social connections. Residents want their homes to be more permanent structures and express a desire for the government to assist in covering the construction costs.

Land Tenure and The Patta Act

Perceptions of tenure security in Roshanpura are high due to the majority of residents possessing leaseholds obtained in 1984 through a state scheme commonly known as the Patta Act. The Patta Act in essence formalized the informal occupation and appropriation of government land, legitimizing and recognizing the community and imparting rights of tenure. According to the ward councilor’s office, 1,500 Pattas were given under this scheme, most of them expiring in 2014, with a five-year renewal after this date. Research indicates that residents with secure tenure rights have more incentives to invest in and upgrade land and housing. Additionally, secure tenure is a necessary condition to improve access to economic opportunity, including livelihoods, credit markets, and public and municipal services (Payne et al, 2014, 4). In Roshanpura, it is evident by the quality of housing, infrastructure, and the area’s status as one of the oldest settlements in Bhopal that the shelter quality has improved significantly since its establishment by the first dwellers in 1947. Thus, within Roshanpura there is a link between the quality of the structures and tenure status of the residents, which is further evidenced by the residents with the poor quality housing and infrastructure on the northern end experiencing greater tenure insecurity than those on the southern end.

Infrastructure

Within the LF, infrastructure represents predom inantly a collective rather than individual resource, and it is important for household maintenance, livelihoods, health and social interaction. This con tributes to human and social capital and enables people to access income-generating activities (Ra kodi, 2002, 11). Within Roshanpura, infrastructure consists of the area’s streets; water, electricity, and sanitation services; and other shared amenities.

walking around the settlement, and, according to the residents, some of these spaces function as gathering places by the neighbors. See figure x.x

Each street typology has its own dynamic related to the available space. Though, due to the cramped nature of the area, all streets, regardless of size, represent an informal appropriation of space. Households appropriate the streets in front of their homes, turning them into an extension of the house, playgrounds, or workspace.

Streets

Most of the streets are paved with cement or concrete. Based on their condition and function, streets can be divided into three types, each one with its own dynamics related to available space:

1. Narrow alleys. The most common typology due to the high housing density, these streets are characterized by high levels of street level interactions, with frequent encounters between humans, motorbikes, animals, and sewage. Despite the limited space, residents with houses along these street still use them to conduct their daily activities and socializing. See figure x.x

2. Medium and large size streets. There are three streets of this scale within Roshanpura. These streets usually have the most diverse usage, from parking space for two wheelers, auto-rickshaws, and the rare car to playgrounds, festival celebrations, and workspace for women and craftsmen. See figure x.x

3. Open spaces in the middle of clusters of houses. These pockets can easily be found by

of open spaces in Roshanpura

Water, Electricity, Sanitation and Other Amenities

Basic utilities were nonexistent when the first dwellings were established in 1947. Residents formed informal connections into the municipal grid or developed their own forms of infrastructure. However, overtimes the local government gradually begun to formalize these services, providing formal connections to the municipal grid. Thus, water, electricity, and sanitation represent the dynamic nature of formality, for, even today, there is an element of informality in the formal connections the residents of Roshanpura enjoy.

Water

A river located at the bottom of the slope on which the settlement was established initially served as the means of water collection. In 1984, as part of the implementation of the Patta Act and their changed land tenure status, the local government connected the area to the municipal grids for both water and electricity. Nevertheless, the services were not provided on a regular basis until recent years. Two years ago the local government built a water distribution system. The system has superficial lines in every house, and initially water distribution occurred once a week. However, since 2018 water distribution occurs for one hour each day. There are discrepancies in terms of the residents’ descriptions of the time and cost of water services, with reported times of distribution ranging from one hour to 15 minutes and costs ranging from free to a service charge.

Electricity

According to the residents, electricity became available permanently five years ago. Despite having official connections, exposed wiring and connections are common throughout the structures. Here again discrepancies among residents’ descriptions of service provision occur, with reported prices for electricity ranging from 1,500 rupees to 5,000 rupees. It appears the discrepancy stems partially from whether the houses have registered meters or not. Reference to picture

Sanitation

In recent years government policies promoting better sanitation have resulted in in-house toilets with septic tanks in most houses. However, while few in number, community toilets are still used by family or house clusters. One unit can be found on the north edge in precarious condition with no maintenance from the neighbors or the local authorities. Reference to picture

Additionally, a large number of sewage lines are still open, both on the sides and the center of the streets. However, during the fieldwork, several streets underwent improvements that put sewage lines under the streets. According to the ward councilors office, this work will cover all of Roshanpura.

Other Amenities

Private companies provide Internet connections and cable television coverage to the area. As a result, even for the poorer quality houses, there are a large number of antennas on the rooftops.

2.1.9 Electric wiring in the Main Street

Location and Connectivity

Roshanpura is located in the heart of the city, near the intersection of the Old City and TT Nagar areas (figure 2.1.11), and two high traffic arteries: Roshanpura Road and the BRTS corridor. This provides its residents with good connectivity to the rest of the city, Madhya Pradesh, and neighboring states by all means of transportation, including BTRS, both the Bhopal Junction and Habibganj railway stations, and Raja Bhoj Airport (figure 2.1.12).

2.1.12 Bhopal

Social Capital

social capital consists of the social resources on which people can draw on when pursuing a livelihood. These resources include social networks, relationships of trust and reciprocity, and access to social institutions. Social resources become assets when they are persistent and give rise to stocks, of knowledge or trust, that people can draw from even if the social interaction is not permanent (Rakodi, 10). The social assets in Roshanpura can be described under three categories, political, social, and cultural.

infrastructure, town planning, waste management, education, public health, welfare, public safety, and developmental work. Presently Smt. Shabista Asif Zaki serves as the ward councillor for Roshanpura. She has held her post since 2014 after the last Indian General Elections with a four year term limit.

2.2.1. Political Structure

Political

India has three levels of government – local, state and national. At the national level, power is divided between three branches: the executive (president, prime minister, and council of ministers), legislative (parliament and legislative assembly), and judicial (supreme court) branch. Each state is represented by a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and a Member of Parliament (MP). On the state level, the Chief Minister serves as the head. The current Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is Shivraj Singh Chauhan. The president also elects a governor for each state, but their role is largely ceremonial.

On the local level, the municipal government is divided into zones, which is further divided into wards. Hence, wards are the smallest administrative unit in India. In the municipal government of Bhopal, Roshanpura falls into zone five and ward 24. Each ward elects a municipal councillor to represent the their ward. The councillor is responsible for the civic issues in their ward, including roads,

Besides the formally elected government representatives, Roshanpura also has an informal form of representation. A formerly elected ward councillor, who was born and still lives in Roshanpura with his extended family, serves as the inhabitants first source for assistance and as their liaison with the formally elected authorities. Through his connections with the authorities, he is able to solve infrastructure issues and help the residents access government services and exercise their public rights.

He occupies an interesting situation in that he moved from a firmly formalized position of representation to a more informal hybrid along the formal-informal spectrum. While his positions within the community is largely unchanged, its shift to the informal sphere demonstrates how the formal-informal spectrum moves both directions.

As stated previously, the land of Roshanpura officially belongs to the GOI. However, the government of Madhya Pradesh formalized the inhabitants’ right to use the land with distribution of Pattas. Though the lease agreements expired in 2014, the majority of the people have neither paused in investing in their properties nor moved out of Roshanpura. Part of the reason for the government’s recognition of this informal settlement is due to Roshanpura’s significant vote bank. Thus, improvements to residents’ living conditions only occur during elections when candidates from all political parties offer promises of formalization in return for votes.

Social

Roshanpura is a vibrant society, with a variety of social interactions tying together the fabric of daily life. On a regular day, in the morning the children and men go to school and work, and the women organize themselves into groups to help with daily household chores, taking advantage of the hour of water service to clean laundry and dishes. In the afternoon, the women take a siesta or gossip while completing their daily chores, and the children come back from school and play in the streets. In the evenings, every street has a group of inhabitants socializing. Children are safe as long as they stay inside the settlement, where they roam about in groups, visit houses of friends and family, and use the streets as their playground.

Within the social fabric of Roshanpura, the residents have organized themselves into specific neighborhoods. These neighborhoods shape their identities around the predominant historical occupations and the state or city of origin of the original settlers of that neighborhood.

Through participatory mapping activities with the residents, the researchers identified the following neighborhoods: Gwallah Mohalla

The Gwallahs, or milkmen, were the first people to migrate to Roshanpura other parts of Madhya Pradesh, such as Gwalior and Sagar, and today they comprise the largest community in Roshanpura. These people keep cows and goats and historically practiced animal husbandry as their main occupation, producing and distributing milk and milk products. Today, while each household keeps several goats, the working members of each family have embraced alternative professions.

2.2.3.Rajasthani Woman

Women

Rajasthani Women and Muslim Girl from Hyde rabad

Khumhar Mohalla

The Khumhars, or the potters, work with clay and mud collected from the surrounding land to make, among other things, pots, vessels, idols, and earthen lamps. Several potter families prepare these items and sell them in the New Market. However, the potters’ advancing age and the younger generations’ lack of interest in taking up the craft has resulted in the big stone wheels used for making heavier clay items to go unused. Also, the replacement of clay vessels by steel and aluminum products have lessened the demand of clay goods. Some crafted clay items are shipped from Lucknow, painted, packed, and then sold in the market for higher prices. The items produced change throughout the year due to consumer demands changing with the festive seasons.

Katputli Mohalla

The Katputli Mohalla, or puppeteers’ neighborhood, is located next to the BRTS Corridor on the border of the settlement. These people came to Roshanpura from Rajasthan in 1980. Their occupation involves performing puppet shows and traditional songs and stories. Historically they belonged to the caste of performers for the royal court of Rajasthan. In addition to being performers, they are experts in Rajasthani folk music, wooden puppet craft, and regional performance. Their sole source of income comes from their performances, even traveling abroad to perform. However, since the 1990s, when the television and other forms of western entertainment technology enter the Indian market, demand for their performances have gradually declined. Their general condition has deteriorated as the number of commissioned shows dried up, and today their poverty and marginalization reflects in their dismal living conditions. However, the

younger generation is still taught to perform with puppets, and they continue to pride themselves in their puppets and performing arts.

Bhoi Mohalla

The Bhoi Mohalla, or fishermen neighborhood, came to Roshanpura from Maharashtra. They are the smallest of the identified neighborhoods, occupying a single small alley in the middle of Roshanpura. Historically, these people used to be connected to fishing industry, but they currently pursue other occupations.

Chamar Mohalla

The Chamar Mohalla, or cobbler neighborhood, is located mostly in the eastern part of Roshanpura and is inhabited by people who have historically worked as cobblers, or shoemakers. These people have made significant advances in housing and education. However, due to the decreased demand for leather work and the rise of the commercial shoe industry, this community like others have also switched to contemporary professions.

of neighbourhoods / communities in Roshanpura

Cultural

Inhabited by people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, the inhabitants of Roshanpura retain their traditions by means of tangible and intangible expressions. While they may share the same language, their attires, food preferences, dialects, gender relations, methods of carrying out daily chores, and willingness to communicate with outsiders demonstrates the wide range of variation among those who live in Roshanpura.

Residents express their local and regional cultures through the production of traditional handicrafts for profit and personal use. For example, women make garlands, laces, and embroidery and practice mehendi art, sometimes as the sole source of income for the household. Additionally, the potters produce clay items to sell in the New Market, and the puppeteers make wooden dolls to use in their shows and to sell in the New Market. In particular, as migrant cultural artists, the puppeteers, in both their craftsmanship and performance art, play an important role in Roshanpura’s cultural diversity.

Also, the different religious affiliations manifest in the form of the many temples and mosques within the 20 acre area. Despite the difference in religion and the historical animosity between Hindus and Muslims in India, Roshanpura’s residents take pride in their ability to live harmoniously side-by-side, celebrating the major festivals of both religions together. The festivals are mostly religious and take place near the temples and mosques. In preparation for festivals, typically men from the younger generation informally organize in groups to collect money to put up marquees and arrange for idols, worship offerings, food distribution, flowers, lights and other decorations for the festivals.

Ultimately, Roshanpura’s social capital lies in the pride they possess for their home. The people retain their historical and cultural connections through the establishment of cultural neighborhoods and the continuation of traditional handicraft and art production. However, the community operates as a cohesive whole through the common celebration of festivals. Despite the turmoil and riots experienced elsewhere in India, the community of Roshanpura, regardless of caste, creed, or religion, continue to live and celebrate together peacefully.

Financial Capital

In urban economies, financial capital is particularly important in a household’s ability to weather stresses and shocks to their livelihoods. Financial capital consists of financial resources, such as sources of monetary incomes, savings, credit, remittances, and pensions (Rokodi, 11). However, these resources are usually inaccessible for the urban poor. In Roshanpura, the residents’ financial capital takes the form of income generating occupations, microfinancing, and the community’s commercial sector.

Occupations

Occupations in Roshanpura are by the gendering of space. Within the city, there are certain spaces considered acceptable for women and others dominated solely by men. In general, men tend to work outside of the home and women stay inside the home or their neighborhood. Due to cultural prohibitions, the spaces women can occupy, and therefore the occupations they can pursue, are more limited compared to men. However, this varies based on the needs, religion, caste, education, and family dynamics within individual households. Thus, while all women work, most of them are limited to the work of a housewife and are prohibited from using their labor to make money.

Men’s Occupations

The occupations of the men in Roshanpura fall into four categories. First, one segment works with handicraft production. For example, a group of men, age 25 to 30 years old, have jobs in the Old City selling traditional Indian jewelry, such as bangles, brooches, and bracelets. Other men, especially those who belong to the Kathputli

Mohalla, make other traditional handicrafts, such as puppets, drums, and pottery, and sell them in the New Market and Old City. And finally, there are a few men who work at tailors, either from their own homes or in shops in the New Market.

Second, a large segment of the male population in Roshanpura work in the small business sector as street vendors, with stalls or stands, street hawkers, or shopkeepers. These entrepreneurs acquire fruits and vegetables, other food items for making fast foods such as eggs and dairy products, and finished products like craft products and clothes from wholesalers in the Old City. They then resell these items at fruit and vegetable or fast food stalls and stands or on the sidewalk as street hawkers in the Old City, Arera Colony area, or the New Market. Additionally, a few sell produce items from carts in the streets and alleyways of Roshanpura. It is difficult to distinguish between formal and informal business. The New Market in particular has a large informal business sector that has firmly established itself into the fabric of the commercial activity of the area. Informally established stalls and stands, appropriating the sidewalks next to the New Market, have become permanent fixtures, and the vendors have informally organized themselves, making the formal and informal vendors indistinguishable. Furthermore, the managers of the New Market’s formal institutions tolerate the informal vendors, as they contribute to bringing economic activity to the area.

Third, men who have completed higher levels of education work in the civil service. The presence of the governor’s house, government offices, and government housing next to Roshanpura provides opportunities for these men to find jobs working for the government. Many of these men have college

Labor Displacement

degrees in fields like engineering or urban planning and find an outlet for their skills through work for the municipality. Finally, a large portion of the men living in Roshanpura are occasionally employed as manual laborers in factories, construction, or dishwashers. These men have lower levels of education and are considered unskilled.

Women’s Occupations

Women have similar occupations as men, but they perform them in limited spheres and on a much more occasional bases. First, women also produce handicrafts, such as laces, jewelry, pottery, and saris, for sale, but they do this from their own homes and either have male relatives sell the finished product or hand over the finished product to a middleman, who then sells it in shops in the New Market. The price of each handicraft varies according the type, festival, and whether they are working for themselves or a middleman. Normally, the price ranges from 10 to 25 rupees per piece.

Second, similar to the men, the women also have small businesses, working as street vendors or hawkers. These women also acquire items from wholesalers, such as clothes, lingeries, jewelry, or fruits and vegetables, in the Old City and then sell them on the street as hawkers or at small stands in the New Market. These women are few in number though, gaining permission to run their own businesses by finishing household chores in the morning. More common is for women to run small snack stands inside Roshanpura, allowing them to make some money while staying in close proximity to their homes.

Third, the majority of the women seasonally during the wedding and festival season. Primarily,

these women work for local caterers as cooks or do mehendi in their homes during the wedding season. Additionally, women make decorations for festivals. For example, during Diwali, women pack the colorful powders used for making the rangoli decorative patterns in Indian households in small plastic bags, and their male relatives then sell them in the New Market. Fourth, there are a few women within Roshanpura who have completed higher levels of education, including a few with college degrees. While some of these women revert to roles as housewives, others work as teachers in the local schools, both in and outside Roshanpura.

Finally, due to their lack of education, skills, and age, older women, from 50 to 60 years old, find obs as domestic help. However, this occupation does not provide a regular income, and these women would like to be able to work from home. Much of their employment problems stems from historical caste distinctions. These women historically come from lower castes and experience social rejection and ostracizing, resulting in their inability to find gainful employment.

The diversity of occupations within Roshanpura is a direct result of its proximity to the New Market. Due to their close proximity, there is a strong economic relationship between the inhabitants of Roshanpura and the New Market. In front of the main avenue of the New Market, people of Roshanpura have developed an active flux of financial assets, as the New Market serves as both a source of jobs and a major shopping area for the residents. This flux occurs along a continuum of formality and informality, for while the New Market is a formally designated commercial area it grew from the informal activity that developed in response to the presence of Roshanpura. Today, the informality

2.3.2 Store inside Roshanpura

in the area serves as a support for the formal institutions, drawing in customers, supplying labor, and in general imparting the area with a strong identity as the commercial heart of Bhopal.

However, despite the diversity of occupations for both men and women in Roshanpura, the residents still experience income insecurity due to the majority of residents’ education and skill levels qualifying them for low paying and irregular occupations. Additionally, some households only have one or two income earners for whole extended families. Yet, their household income varies from 500 to 600 rupees per day in the bad season.

Scheme Self-Help groups

2.3.5 Microfinance Scheme Bank program

Micro-finance

Self Help Groups or SHGs, regionally known as Sayang Sahayata Samuha, are one of the keystones in microfinance in India. The approach combines access to low-cost financial services, like loans and savings, with a process of self-management and development for the women who join a SHG. These groups come in multiple forms, from ones formed and run by individuals, those offered by private banks, and government sponsored schemes.

A few years ago, a few groups of women in Roshanpura attempted to form SHGs. Members

made small regular savings contributions over a few months until there was enough money to begin lending to members. However, these groups largely failed due to unavoidable issues regarding consistency of members contributing to savings and the inability of members in repaying loans.

Currently, a few groups of women in Roshanpura have entered into schemes with small private banks located in Madhya Pradesh and other states where they acquire credit by depositing their own savings and receiving it back in the form of micro-credit loans. These schemes fall under the SHG Bank Link Programme, which seeks to provide credit to women, the poor, and other segments of the population who are unable to access credit.

“The Self Help Group – Bank Linkage Programme (SHG-BLP) has now completed 21 years of its existence as an alternative mechanism for providing formal banking services to the unreached rural poor. Through a simple and informal savings-led and savings linked process, the thrust of the SHGBLP has been on provision of micro-credit to the poor for meeting their emergent credit needs to enabling them to take up livelihoods for combating poverty.” (Central Bank of India, 2018). The loans the women receive are primarily used for health related needs, house repairs or for setting up or extending small businesses. There are also government schemes that link SHGs with micro-finance services. However, the women of Roshanpura have not been able to tap into this source of funding.

Commercial string

The commercial area of Roshanpura is located on two sides of its outer border that faces the square. This string of commercial activity serves as a buffer for the inner residential area and a landmark for the community. The area has been there since the arrival of the first settlers, approximately 1947-1950, and has played an important role in the development of the settlement. Furthermore, it has a strategic location next to a busy main road in Bhopal. Along the string, formality and informality live side-by-side, as local chain restaurants with customer seating and regulated kitchens stand next to tiny tea stalls that are little more than a hot plate and kettle. The dynamic mix of informal and formal shops, stands, and stalls reflects the general evolution and gradual formalization of the community and the commercial character of the area.

Figure X shows the distribution of the stores and businesses that shape the commercial string. There are five categories of commercial activity identified along the commercial string: ten restaurants, fourteen eatery stalls, two pharmacies, 26 stores and nine services. The stores specialize in a variety of products and services, including, among other, hardware and clothes, bakeries, tea and tobacco, appliances, furniture, jewelry, and bookstores. It appears the shopkeepers of this area live in Roshanpura.

Human Capital

W

ithin the livelihoods framework, human capital consists of the quality and quantity of a household’s labor assets. A household’s ability to access its labor assets is facilitated or constrained by the levels of education and skills within the household, the health status of household members, and the number of members able to work (Rokodi, 10). The households in Roshanpura employ a diverse mix of strategies in the use of their labor resources, especially in terms of education and health.

more than the public school, but they receive grants for providing scholarships to the children of families labeled “marginalized.” Previously, there was a craft school in Roshanpura, but it has since closed.

Education

Within Roshanpura there are five schools, three private, one public, and one Madrassa school (for Islamic education). Both the public and private schools cater primarily to the children who live in Roshanpura, with only a few coming from outside the community. There are typically two blocks of classes a day, one for the younger children and the other for the older children. However, there are notable differences between the public and private schools. The private schools have multiple rooms to separate grades and teach from kindergarten to the tenth standard. In comparison, the public school is a one room schoolhouse, and only teaches from the first to the fifth standard. Additionally, the private school teachers have lower qualifications than the public school teachers, but they live in Roshanpura while the public school teachers do not. Lunch at the public school is provided by an NGO, while students at the private school are required to bring their own meals. The private schools’ fees are also

The schools in Roshanpura have gone through a gradual process of formalization. The oldest school started approximately 30 years ago when a few residents recognized the need for the children of Roshanpura to receive an education. The school, like the other private schools in Roshanpura, arose informally through the efforts of an educated resident and a benefactor. Overtime the private schools have gained some form of formal recognition, receiving grants from the government and NGOs to fund students’ attendance and provide lunch. The educational facilities gained further formalization when in 2003 the public school was founded under the national government’s Education for All scheme started in 2001.

In addition to the schools in Roshanpura, several families send their children to schools located within the New Market. Mainly older children who want to pursue secondary education attend these school. Additionally, older children have the opportunity to attend the S. V. Polytechnic College located just north of Roshanpura by Polytechnic Square.

In terms of adult education and skills building, for two months a local NGO hosted a food processing cooking workshop for low income women. The NGO, funded by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, holds workshops in areas near high populations of low income women with the goal of empowering them to start their own businesses. The workshops offer both technical and business education, and, upon completion of the workshop,

the NGO provides special government small business loans and creates a support system to help the women start their own businesses. However, the workshops only last a few months, and the NGO changes locations.

A less temporary form of adult skills building is in the form of informal skills sharing from social and familial networks. Women learn skills from women in their social circles, such as stitching, embroidery, knitting, cooking, and mehendi. Men learn skills associated with the family business, or they learn technical skills related to manual labor from their social circle.

Health

The residents of Roshanpura have three viable options for health services. First is a private clinic located on the southern end of Roshanpura. However, for many residents this option is prohibitively expensive. Another option is a spiritual healing center. The center provides spiritual training to overcome addictions and natural medicines for free. However, it does not provide care for more severe illnesses or injuries. The final accessible option is the government hospital located on the edge of the New Market. For most residents, this is the most affordable option. However, in order to reach it, they must take a rickshaw.

Roshanpura’s

Natural Capital

N

atural capital derives from the natural resources available for households to use towards their livelihoods. These include land, water, and other environmental resources (Rokodi, 2002, 11).

In urban area, depending how broadly or narrowly it is defined, natural capital is not as important as the other capitals. The researchers recognize that the residents of Roshanpura are indirectly dependent on natural resources for their basic needs, such as food, energy, and water. However, this analysis of their natural capital is limited to those found in Roshanpura, which consist of two main assets: topography and animals. Roshanpura is geographically defined by a natural slope that starts in the south at Rajbhaven Road and descends north to Banganga Road. Except for those who live at the bottom of the slope on the northern end of Roshanpura, the slope benefits the inhabitants with a natural flood control and drainage system. As such, inhabitants location along the slope reflects both their social status and tenure security. Those living in the southern, higher end of the slope have a greater perceived tenure security, which reflects in their higher level of investment in their homes. Meanwhile, those living on the northern, lower end of the slope have a weaker sense of tenure security. Another natural asset consists of the animals kept by the residents . Largely due to the presence of the Gwallahs, many residents keeps goats and cows, which unreservedly roam the streets and alleyways of Roshanpura. Residents raise them mostly for milk, both for household consumption and sale in the New Market by M.P. State Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd.

The above analysis of Roshanpura reveals that the community’s strengths lie in its physical, social, and financial capital. Furthermore, from formal economic exchanges with informal businesses to informal political leaders leveraging formal institutions on the community’s behalf, there is a constant interaction between formality and informality within Roshanpura’s LF. However, while the LF provides the researchers with a solid foundation on which to comprehend the complexity of the community, it does not capture the interconnections between the capitals. For example, land tenure can fall within the realm of physical, social, and natural capital. Through this recognition, it became apparent Roshanpura’s location is the overarching determinant of the area’s assets set and ultimately their available livelihood strategies. For instance, Roshanpura’s location puts it at the heart of major transport systems, connecting the residents to the rest of the city; being next to the governor’s house contributes to their political influence; its proximity to the commercial heart of the city provides residents with jobs; and the location’s topography benefits residents with a natural drainage system.

With the recognition of the locations complexity and importance, it became imperative for the location to be split between two research teams. Not having a natural break within the community’s cohesiveness, the researchers divided the site along the central main street from which Roshanpura first originated and developed out from. Group three focused their attention on the southern end of the site towards Roshanpura road where the ground is higher, while Group four focused on the northern end where the ground is lower. The following sections describe first Group three’s methods, findings, and strategic proposals, followed by Group four’s methods, findings, and strategic proposals.

Roshanpura

METHODS

METHODOLOGY

Throughout the fieldwork, the values of UEP defined the methodology. We had three objectives in developing our methodology. First, to emphasize on the Bottom-Top approach, we ventured into the field without any preconceived ideas as in how to bring about changes in the area if needed.The researchers also stressed letting the people of the area tell their own stories. The final objective was to develop and analyze Roshanpura’s livelihoods framework.

The researchers decided to use a participatory learning and action approach. This allows a better learning and engaging process with communities, which combines visual methods with natural interviewing techniques. It is intended to facilitate a process of collective analysis while enabling all community members, regardless of their age, ethnicity or literacy capabilities, to participate (Thomas, 2002, p.1).

In order to elaborate the situational analysis, we collaborated with the community to gather information. The researchers’ main goal of the fieldwork was to put their finger on the pulse of Roshanpura. The fieldwork went through three phases:

THE FIRST PHASE

The first three weeks represented a broader approach and revolved around understanding the prevailing scenario in Roshanpura, including, among other things, employment, education,

health, housing, and culture. One of the researchers’ objectives was to also be transparent with the community about who they are and their purpose for being there.

THE SECOND PHASE

The next and longest phase, involved the tactical use of methods to identify and analyze the major concerns in the area. The researchers devised a logical issue-based narrative approach to filtering through various perceptions.

The main aim of this phase was to identify the prevailing issues and align the methods accordingly. By this time, the members of the community were familiar with the researchers and were easier to approach. The key objectives during this phase were to identify the opportunities rather than just the challenges, and to identify and understand the informality the urban milieu has to offer. In particular, the researchers were interested in the appropriation of public open spaces inside the slum. Thus, the second phase started with the idea of working on open spaces, but through further investigation a new focus presented itself and carried into the third phase.

THE THIRD PHASE

The third and the final phase involved documentation, analysis of the results from the different methods, and most importantly development of a strategic proposal. The researchers realized that despite their transparency with the community, a few people still expected some form of financial assistance at the end of the fieldwork. Hence, it was necessary for the researchers to inform and show them their work and engage residents in the design process.

FIRST PHASE

OBSERVATION

As newcomers to Roshanpura, the first goal was to build rapport by making the people familiar with our presence. While walking through the site, observing, the researchers participated in reciprocal conversations with the community, equally sharing information about themselves and where they are from. No pictures or videos were taken in the first weeks. By using this method,the researchers were able to introduce themselves to the community and explain the purpose of the fieldwork.

TRANSECT WALKS

The researchers asked one of the informal leaders in Roshanpura to lead them on a walk through the area. He guided them around major and smaller streets and pointed out predominant neighbo rhoods, landmarks, shops, and introduced them to inhabitants. The walk allowed them to get a ge neral overview of the area, the built environment, and the people. Additionally, it helped to highlight the area’s density, both in terms of structures and population, and the natural slope. The researchers were able to observe how the neighborhoods grew around a temple or from people from the same caste settling in close proximity. Also, they obser ved the heterogeneous culture of different religions and traditions.

3.1.2 A senior puppeteer in the sidewalk by his house

3.1.3 Transect walk

OPEN-ENDED INTERVIEWS

Next, the researchers conducted informal, open-en ded interviews. These encouraged the residents to choose the topic and elaborate on how they per ceived Roshanpura. By making the topic of the in terviews broad, the researchers were able to gather basic factual information about livelihoods, access to infrastructure, basic demography and Roshanpu ra’s development trends. This process proved help ful in developing a holistic image of the area. While there was a risk that people would be reluc tant to participate, due to the interruption of their daily lives this could represent, the majority of the community was open and responsive. One of the advantages of these interviews was the freedom they gave to residents to express their concerns and thoughts.

COMMUNITY MAPPING - PRELIMINARY

Community mapping is a powerful tool within the participatory approach, where the residents of Ro shanpura acted as the experts, sharing with the researchers their knowledge of the area. The first attempt was with a girl and her brother. Upon being asked to draw a map defining the extents of the neighborhoods, they were hesitant and not confi dent in their abilities to provide a map. However, after being provided with a base map and asked to show how the neighborhood structure works, they were able to provide a partially accurate neighbo rhood map. The activity showed how neighbo rhoods evolved out of the dominant traditional oc cupations of the people in the area.

After a couple of days, the researchers came up with a structure to fill in the general inquiries about Roshanpura.

The researchers tried to gather information about thve basic physical demographics (i.e. number of houses and households, schools, clinics, shops etc.); mentally map the area, orienting themselves around landmarks and open spaces, and delinea ting the invisible edges; know issues regarding ba sic infrastructure and livelihoods; and also identify the housing typology and social structure. The re searchers intended to find out potential stakehol ders and major concerns in informality. The flexibility of the methods resulted in new findings about other topics not previously consider, which widened their understanding of the area.

SECOND PHASE

COMMUNITY MAPPING

This tool was used in different occasions over this phase.The first was with the informal councilor at his house over cups of tea. The researchers and infor mal councilor together made a map of Roshanpura that depicted the different neighborhoods which divide and delineated the community. This map served as a means to further locate the researcher in the space.

DRAWING ACTIVITY WITH CHILDREN

As part of the participatory approach, we wanted to be inclusive with different age groups. The resear chers chose to engage with the children, as they had observed a large number playing in the streets. In order to connect with as many as possible, it was decided to work with the local schools. The resear chers believed drawing would be the best way for the children to express their ideas, so they organized two drawing activities in two of the schools in the area: Sunrise public school (private school run by a resident of Roshanpura) and the public school under the Government scheme of Sarva Shiksha Aviyan.

The researchers asked children from the elemen tary level to eighth standard in the private school, to draw their favorite places in and around their houses. Whereas, the kids in the public school were asked to draw any space they like inside Roshanpu ra where they do their outdoor activities.

The researchers hoped the briefs would help build the LF for Roshanpura and provide more informa tion on one of the most evident problems iden tified, the lack of open spaces. The researchers hoped to learn how residents use open spaces in micro and macro scale. Both Roshanpura North and SPA Bhopal students joined the researchers for this activity, so both schools could be covered at the same time. To communicate better with the children and to build trust, two of the researchers joined the children in the drawing activity.

However, due to miscommunication in translation and also the complexity in the topics, the outcome of this activity was not as fruitful as we planned. Moreover the children drew whatever they were best at. Some were strongly influenced by the teachers, and others assumed that it was a competition and drew pictures from books. Surprisingly some of the drawings showed other aspects of the livelihoods that we were not looking for. Also, a few drawings showed their concerns regarding the places they play, including crossing a main road, the bounda ry wall with the locked gate, and the influence of bigger stadium and parks in the city were repeated highlights in the drawings.

Transect walks

The drawing activity resulted in gaining the trust of the children. Thus, the researchers asked the child ren and teenagers to walk with them and show them the religious precincts, the public and semi-public open spaces used as playgrounds, gatherings, and celebrating festivals. During the transect walk, the researchers marked several streets and landmarks like temples, mosques and shops and demarcated the community in the map with the help of the mo bile application Collector for ArcGIS online.

Guided Interviews

During this phase, interviews became more structured around a few topics. The set of questions re flected what the researchers wanted more about in depth knowledge about. Apart from understanding the livelihood inclinations and information regar ding infrastructure, the researchers also wanted to find out more about the perception of the place, related to what Lynch (1960) called The Theory of Imageability. Questions regarding Roshanpura’s imageability included, among others, perception about sense of community, locational advantage and connectivity, access to basic services and ame nities, history of the area, religious identity, crime and safety, employment and education, and health services. Questions regarding local perception in cluded what they thought Roshanpura is known for, where in that area they liked to spend most of their time, what is the biggest event celebrated there, why do people migrate to Roshanpura, and what about Roshanpura they are proud of. Questions also sought to understand the changes that occur red over years and if they plan to move out in the near future.

Affinity mapping and design thinking

Affinity mapping is a tool that gathers large amounts of information (i.e. ideas, opinions, issues) and organizes them into categories based on their natural relationships. The researchers used affinity mapping during this phase to group ideas gene rated by brainstorming. This method helped orga nize thoughts lost among multidirectional issues, identify the strengths and weaknesses, and focus on the potential problems. New patterns of design thinking were taken into considerations. Watching the various factors arranged in a certain justifica tion in relationship with each other, it was easier to derive conclusions and collectively make decisions.

The general steps of this mapping involves gene rating ideas, writing them down in separate posts, sorting and grouping them, and finally categori zing them under one header. The researchers used this method three times to help develop new ap proaches to problems. The first affinity map had six broad categories: problems or identified issues, methods to approach the residents, image and future of Roshanpura, community characteristics of the people staying there, and their representa tion. For the next time affinity map, the researchers started with the category headings and then added posts. The categories chosen included opportu nities, challenges, stakeholders, vulnerabilities, and assets. The last infinity map rearranged the posts on the basis of the capitals of the livelihoods framework.

In addition to the affinity map, the researchers used a stair method where they placed goals at the final step and defined the process in stages to follow in order to reach them. This process helped filter ideas and opinions and narrow down decisions more efficiently.

Ranking activity

By the sixth week of the fieldwork, the researchers had substantial amounts of information about the issues affecting the living conditions of inhabitants in Roshanpura, and they wanted to know how sa tisfied the residents were with their services. The researchers designed a survey activity that allowed respondents to rank how satisfied they were from a list of services (Reference to annex with survey) The form was in the local language and contained eleven issues, which respondents could rank from one to five, one being the least and five being the most satisfied. The researchers’ goal was to elicit information on the following parameters: play and festival grounds, animal waste, sewage, safety, waste management, access to education and health care, water supply, transport, and electricity. The re searchers administered 50 surveys all over the area, but only 36 surveys were returned fully filled. Used surveys were done by people who could not un derstand the activity, who were being influenced by someone present while filling it out, or who were not confident enough to share their opinions.

One of the challenges of this method was to figure out a way as a facilitators to design a device that was easy and understandable, as what seemed understandable to them was not necessarily as un derstandable to the target sample population. This ranking activity generated more or less ho mogenous responses from the inhabitants regarding the problematic matters they faced, but showed unexpected results among the Kathputli Mohalla, where drastic differences in access to ba sic services and infrastructure were visible. This ac tivity, in addition to providing the figures to justify the issues of concern, provided the researchers with a picture of an unconsidered marginalized group to work with.

TImelines

Timelines graphically present the changes in a community or someone’s life over time. The researchers found these helpful for selected inhabitants.

The main focus was to understand when different infrastructure improvements were made, what factors influenced these improvements, and also lead to the betterment of education and enhancement of healthcare facilities in Roshanpura. The researchers carefully selected the residents to do timelines, so that they represented different gender and religion. However, women interviewees proved too shy to express themselves. Hence, the researchers only performed this activity with two men from each religion.

The researchers also did a timeline with a group of women about how they felt about the change in services for the last decade. Apart from understanding how Roshanpura developed, and how the infrastructure improved, the researchers also tried to find out how the dwellers perceive the future of Roshanpura. This method gave a picture of how Roshanpura has changed over the years.

Also, when placed in parallel with each other, the researchers were able to compare how regional, national or political events affected the people. The differences in the dates given by people in regards to access to infrastructure or perception about the changes within Roshanpura reflected differences in political influences and which eras of representation were more influential than others.

Community Discussions

Since the researchers had a rough perception of the area and the current scenario, discussions were triggered on several topics with groups of people found during site visits. The researchers engaged with a group of women having lively conversations at a particular open space about how they would feel about relocation, which was an inevitable threat. The researchers asked another group of women what they knew about the future plans of the Smart city developments in and around Roshanpura. They also engaged a group of teenagers from the puppeteers’ neighborhood in an open discussion on the unavailability of open spaces in the area. There was a constructive conversation with a group of women within that generated a series of grievances regarding water and electricity charges and access to education and housing. These discussions and dialogues helped construct an overall idea as to how people think about the issues, discuss them among themselves, and organize and prepare for the future.

Community mapping in combination with a transect walk

Towards the end of the second phase, the researchers had prepared a map of the area to work with and identified the marginalized community of the Kathputli Mohalla to focus on. In order to understand the chosen work area, the researchers combined community mapping with a transect walk. The goal was to obtain quantitative information about the community. The researchers asked a teenager from the neighborhood to help identify each block and the number of households, which they then marked on a printed map. The researchers also asked about their community’s professions since the focus was on the performers and craftsmen community. It is important to highlight that the children and teenagers were very excited about this activity.

Stakeholder Mapping and Analysis

From the very beginning, the researchers tried to figure out the possible stakeholders present in that area. On choosing to focus on the Kathputli Mohalla, it became easier to narrow down the list of stakeholders. The researchers placed the identified stakeholders in a plane defined by two axes – positioning the factor of power on the x-axis and the factor of interest on the y-axis. The roles of the stakeholders varied from financial support to maintenance and monitoring. This method was executed a number of times throughout the fieldwork to update the list of all possible potential stakeholders, to measure their interest in the identified issue, and to check if they have been approached.3.1.10 Mapping every household of Katputli Mohalla

The second phase involved the most learning and lessons for the researchers. The major part of this phase dealt with identifying a problem and structuring the next steps. The use of participatory methods resulted in the Identification of a marginalized focused group and stakeholders. The researchers linked opportunities back to the needs and, whenever possible, cultivated solutions to the identified issues. Narrowing and focusing down to a small community out of the whole designated area was a result of lengthy discussions within the team of researchers and justified as a strategic plan that can impact at a larger scale over time.

CO-DESIGN WORKSHOP

The researchers invited the whole community to participate in a codesign workshop organized in the widest street running in the middle of the Kathputli neighborhood. The objective was to make people congregate informally with the help of a perfor mance by the puppeteers. The chosen site for the workshop was the front courtyard of a temple in the community.

The researchers displayed the photos they had taken of people and invited the kids to draw on the walls – a preliminary step which was later formu lated into our proposal. To add to the festivities, the researchers asked community craftsmen to put up their products, keeping in mind the aim of creating the feel of a small street market in the community. The researchers invited local artists to participate in the workshop, share their feedback, and to invite other interested people.

Later, the researchers asked the people of the identified community to help codesign a nice way to delineate their entrance to the neighborhood that would equally present their existence and cultural heritage. The buzzwords collected from these dialo gues were eventually used to come up with a part of the proposal. The codesigning workshop provided valuable information about the type of activities that could activate the open spaces in the commu nity. Nevertheless, the team agreed upon the fact that an event of this type required longer prepara tion and involvement of other stakeholders.

The researchers also broadly classified their stakeholders into people, public and private insti tutions, and media and tried to share and discuss the possible proposals with most of them to take into account their feedback and opinions before proceeding. The researchers also made repeated trips back to the site to fill in missing information and confirm other documented information.

3.1.12

FINDINGS

The following list details the different research topics covered by the researchers and the process by which they shifted focus from one topic to another. It also represents, in a sequential form, the deve lopment of the analysis of the different layers of the community.

IRREGULARITIES IN ACCESS TO BASIC UTILITIES

Even though water supply systems have been built and connected to the municipal provider, formali zing the service, it’s still available only 1 hour per day. At the same time, there are discrepancies in its regularity, as some residents claimed their area only has water for 30 minutes a day. During the last visits, some residents stated they did not have daily access to water, having to store as much as possible in their homes during the time it is available. They also paid for their connections and, while there us currently no charge for water services, meters have been installed for the cost of ₹ 700 per tap.

TENURE STATUS AND QUALITY OF STRUCTURES

The type of construction and infrastructure was one of the first characteristics noticed about Roshanpu ra, challenging ideas about informal settlements. Being part of the Patta Act, the resident’s tenure se curity perception is high, allowing them to allocate funds into housing improvements and extensions for second and third generations. At the same time, being one of the oldest settlements in Bhopal, it is evident that the shelter quality has improved signi ficantly since the first dwellers established in 1947. Residents with secure tenure rights have more in centives to invest in and upgrade land and housing (Payne et al, 2014, 4), which explains why Roshanpu ra does not look like the typical slum.

3.2.2 Lower one: unstable built protrusions

3.2.1 Upper one: plastic drums used for storing water

RELOCATION AND REDEVELOPMENT

The possibility of relocation is high due to the site’s prime location and the projects underway that will transform the surroundings of this area, such as the ABD of the Smart City Project in TT Nagar and the Bhopal Metro Rail Project. Also of note, despite all of the formalization processes that have taken place over the years, the municipality still considers Ro shanpura a slum, a term that subjects it to the go vernment decisions and schemes.

“Roshanpura’s location is convenient, but we would go somewhere else if we’re offer a better house to live in.”

Rajasthani woman of Kathputli Mahalla, Roshanpura

“If we’re told to relocate, we will go all together. But we’ll come back, this is our home. We’ll put up tents even and stay.”

Woman cleaning the front of her house, Roshanpura

Willingness to relocate is mixed. Income stability, tenure status, and time of residence seemed to be all factors determining residents’ willingness to relocate or not. Residents with more difficult li ving conditions (i.e. access to utilities, income and employment issues) are more open to relocation, thinking this will improve their quality of housing.

This appropriation of the streets and open spaces to adapt to different needs demonstrates the im portance of these spaces for residents’ daily life. As such, if redevelopment or relocation were to take place, any change to building typology would af fect the street level interaction, disrupting the so cial dynamics that is a part of the site’s identity.

SENSE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY

The researchers identified different groups in the area who share the same skills or trades. Among them, the Kathputli community, concentrated in one of the streets close to the main road, stood out, not only for being organized into what they call a Performers Society (Jan Jyoti Jagran Samiti), but also the art and cultural heritage they add to the area. They share a sense of pride when it comes to their trade, intrinsically related to their group identity. In the researchers’ first visits, the pride of this community was evident as they pointed to the puppets, dhols (drums) and their name.

“… kings and queens used to request our presence when they wanted to be entertained.” Senior performer, Kathputli Mahalla, Roshanpura

Kids and teenagers learn the craft early, grabbing the drums and showing their skills, asking if the researchers if they wanted to book a show or wit ness a demonstration of their art. Some performers temporarily settled in Roshanpura from Delhi to get some shows during the festive season in Bhopal. Thus, the Kathputlis have social connections with other groups of performers outside Roshanpura.

STREETS ARE OF HIGH VALUE FOR SOCIAL DYNAMICS AND LIVELIHOODS

Family members, furniture, tools, and sometimes even animals share the limited space inside houses. Consequently, the streets become an extension of homes. Inhabitants carry out daily activities outside, such as socializing, cooking, playing,and working.

Puppetry in India is a family business. Children start their apprenticeship looking at their elders’ work. A puppeteer’s work includes not only manufacturing and operating the puppets, but also memorizing the dramas. Family troupes pass on the puppets from generation to generation; they are a family treasure, sometimes also used as a bride’s dowry. This type of transmission suggests that over the centuries puppets did not change radically (Autie ro, 2017).

3.2.5 A niche used for

Kathputli puppetry

The string puppet is perhaps the most common form of puppetry in India, in common with the rest of the world. Even now, many people understand the puppetry in India as manipulation of Kathputli (string puppets) and think in terms of the gorgeous puppets of Rajasthan manipulated by ‘Bhats’.

It is said that puppetry in Rajasthan is more than a thousand years old, but there’s no written evidence of it. We can get references only in the folk tales and the ballads. Mainly the Bhat community practices this art termed Kathputli. These people are called Nat and claim that their ancestors had perform for royal families, and received great honor and prestige from the rulers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.

For the Bhats, puppets are part of divinity: giving them livelihood, peace, activity and joy. They never destroy a puppet, but consign broken ones to a sacred river and allow them to flow away with the stream- on the way back to their celestial home. (Ghosh & Banerjee, 2016, p. 75, 77)

Carved from a single piece of wood, these puppets are like large dolls that are colorfully dressed. Their costumes and headgears are designed in the medieval Rajasthani style of dress, which is prevalent even today. The performance is accompanied by a highly dramatized version of the regional music. Oval faces, large eyes, arched eyebrows and large lips are some of the distinct facial features of these string puppets. These puppets wear long trailing skirts and do not have legs. The puppeteers manipulate them with two to five strings which are normally tied to their fingers and not to a prop or a support. (Centre for Cultural Resources and Training. India. n.d.)

3.2.6

of Katputli Mohalla creating models with paper mache

3.2.7 The identified marginalized group

PERCEPTION OF MARGINALIZED GROUP

During the last two weeks of site visits, A striking difference in the narratives of the residents of Roshanpura and the Kathputli Mahalla became evident. There was a stark contrast in the living conditions of the puppeteer’s community as compared to the rest of our study area.

Some of the differences discovered during site visits include:

- The lack of patronage, consistency in the number of performances, and seasonal character of their occupation, represent an issue in generating income in the community.

- Women contribute to household income with seasonal crafts, including laces for sarees, pottery painting, and festival items. They sell these products in the New Market. It was common to see them working on the street near their homes, especially during festivals in Bhopal.

- There is a lack of toilets in their houses, with some residents walking to New Market or nearest shopping area to pay to use the toilet facilities.

- Households in this area do not receive water on a daily basis. Some neighbors install pumps on their connections to fill upper tanks, which could interrupt the connection to other neighboring areas. The residents were visibly upset for having paid for the connection and meters with the belief they would receive better service but ended not.

Despite the lack of appliances, the community also has higher electrical bills. This has caused a cycle of not paying and receiving higher bills next month. When asked if these complaints have been taken to the service provider, the answer was that it has but there is a lack of response and too much bureaucracy. Thus, the problem remains unresolved.

VISIBILITY AND DISCONNECTION WITH REPRESENTATIVES

Two things stood out about the Kathputli community’s description of their living conditions. First, their discontent from their complaints not being taken seriously, so they choose to not rely on formal institutions. Second, there is a lack of trust and disconnection between the community and the local authorities. The ward’s councilor is the residents’ first line of representation when it comes to addressing problems within Roshanpura, but among the Kathputli there is a deep feeling of underrepresentation and lack of voice and visibility.

For instance, an invitation to join them for some chai sparked an afternoon conversation with a group of 5 women who were cooking and working in the open space outside their houses. There was no sense of self-deprecation in referring to themselves as ‘poor’ but rather a frustration that this was a reason for them to not be heard.

3.2.8 Meera, a Rajasthani woman from Katputli Mohalla sitting at the entrance of her house

“People think that because we are poor, we make up these problems.” Rajhastani woman in Kathputli Mahalla

“You come and live here, and you’ll understand what we’re talking about.” Rajasthani woman in Kathputli Mahalla

WOMEN OF KATHPUTLI COLONY

STAKEHOLDERS

The women of the Kathputli colony face the same issues as the rest of the marginalized community they identify with. However, there is an opportunity for them to form self-help groups to carry out finan cial activities such as providing savings accounts, maintaining funds, and lending loans. Similar sche mes have be attempted by a few other women in Roshanpura. The women of Kathputli colony also possess talents in lace making, playing instruments, singing, and performing in folk performances. Ge nerally they use these skills to earn extra money to supplement the income of the main earner in the family.

CHILDREN OF THE COMMUNITY

The children of Roshanpura are the most vibrant element present in the slum. The children accom panied the researchers on most of their site visits. Through them quite a number of families were in formed about our work. Also, the children were able convey information about the researchers activities to the rest of the community, especially the elders often encountered in the streets. Additionally, the teenagers and young men are responsible for or ganizing the festivals Inside Roshanpura. Thus, the current generation of children will be the next in line to perform the task of unifying the people, ma king them an important stakeholder. Furthermore, the children of the puppeteers’ neighborhood will be responsible for carrying on the tradition of their families. The preservation of this form of folk art and any interventions to increase this community’s visibility will be determined by the children.

LOCAL MICROFINANCE GROUPS

Small private banks from Madhya Pradesh and other states in India give loans at low interest rate to groups of women in Roshanpura. This system also exists informally, with savings group where the wo men communicate, organize and maintain the ba lance sheets of money accumulated by themselves. Generally, these groups consist of 10 to 20 women, and the women use the money from the loans for house repair or setting up small businesses. The go vernment of Madhya Pradesh licenses microfinance groups under the name Swayam Sahayata Samuha (Self Help Groups), but the information and re sources have not penetrated to all the inhabitants yet. These SHGs not only provide financial stability to the women, but they also give them a platform to organize themselves and come together to dis cuss their life issues. This strategic monetary system provides the women in the community with independence and solidarity. The monetary assets and group representation of the women can bring about changes in the community by supporting it financially and women gaining more decision-ma king power.

Puppeteers’ Society

Established in the year 2013, Jan Jyoti Jagran Sa miti is the registered society of puppeteers from Ra jasthani Tradition in and around Roshanpura. Within the slum premises, around 50 puppeteers are en rolled in this society. The society brings the puppe teers under one official umbrella and makes it easier for them to obtain shows. They offer a varied range of performances, which include puppet dance, dra ma of puppets, or folk music performances with tra ditional instruments, like Dhol, Harmonium etc. This collective effort makes it easier for the puppeteers

to make puppets, collect their raw materials, and other prepare other show requirements. The puppe teers hold several jobs within the society including the distribution and record of charges and money, which maintains transparency among them. Also by having an officially registered title allows them to go to higher authorities as a collective identity. The members of this society vary in ages, from 15 to 60 years old. The puppeteers society has the potential to bring changes to the community with the use of their art, conveying to spectators their stories with the help of their puppet shows.

INHABITANTS OF THE KATHPUTLI NEIGHBORHOOD

Few residents of the puppeteers’ locality not asso ciated with the performing art are considered to be stakeholders as well since they witness and have to withstand the similar issues regarding infrastructure and services. Though they differ in their occupation, they share the same concern of being underrepresented with the puppeteers. Also to achieve a de termined goal to convey messages to the authori ties collectively not as a professional society but as a neighborhood, this heterogeneity is important for proceeding.

Inhabitants of Kathputli Mohalla

OFFICIAL LEADER

Serving the ward since 2014, Smt. Shabista Asif Zaki, the ward councillor acts as a caretaker for the ward. People with any issues regarding services, infrastructure and amenities can approach her. She is the directly elected candidate representing the Indian National Congress Party in the Ward No. 24. She is the representative for the people at the smal lest administrative level. Her job is to work towards the welfare and interests of the voters in her ward. Besides performing traditional functions like tasks pertaining to general public services, infrastructure, and developmental work, she drives development programmes and promotes cultural and aesthetic aspects inside her ward.

Influential Leader

The former councillor of Roshanpura is an impor tant representative and popular among the commu nities residing there. He and his wife have served as a councillor for a significant tenure. He continues to live in the slum with his family and has extensive networks within Roshanpura and among the people in power. Having a substantial amount of knowledge of Roshanpura, he is well aware of the threats and opportunities to the residents of Roshanpura. Also, being associated actively with the Indian National Congress Party for a substantial number of years, he knows the intricate details of how the Urban Local Bodies in that area work.

Local Artists

Marketing in the cultural sector has developed throughout the past decades from a functional tool to a business philosophy. At the same time, an in teractive view of art as experience has emerged, emphasizing the role of cultural players (Boorsma & Chiaravalloti, 2010). Some of the local artists who already have a conception of the local arts prac ticed and how they manifest along the built edges (i.e. boundary walls and walls along sidewalks) of Bhopal can contribute immensely in the monitoring of the display of culture by the puppeteers and if necessary introduce variation into their exhibits. As stakeholders they can accelerate the process of conveying a message through art.

Public Institutions

GOVERNMENTAL DEPARTMENTS

The Ministry of Culture is the ministry in GOI that deals with the preservation and promotion of art and culture. Their work focuses on the maintenance and conservation of heritage (i.e. sites and ancient monuments); administration of resources and ar chives; promotion of literary, visual, and perfor ming arts; promotion of institutional and individual non-official initiatives in the fields of art and culture; and entering into cultural agreements with other countries. The functional responsibilities of the de partment range from creating cultural awareness at the grassroots to coordinating international cultural exchange. The department also offers several sche mes for promoting tangible and intangible cultural heritage, which through the provision of funding can be strategically used to benefit the community. These institutions encourage the performance and conservation of both tangible and intangible tradi tional folk art and act as a platform to exhibit art and crafts, to showcase indigenous performances, and serve as center of knowledge and resources for those interested to learn or experience traditional arts. Thus, these institutions serve as a form of en tertainment and living history as they keep traditio nal art forms alive by practicing them and creating learning schools.

BHOPAL MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

The Bhopal Municipal Corporation, or BMC, is the major service provider of the city. They provide ser vices related to water, electricity, sewerage, and drainage

Private Institutions

Banks

The private and the public banks working in Ro shanpura and the vicinity with active account holders play a vital role. Also, the funding agencies with specific interests, like the those supporting the SHGs, serve as a source of financial literacy, increa sing their capacity to independently handle their monetary issues.

Media

Local and Social Media

The GOI has their own television channels, called Doordarshan. The channels telecasted by them are easily accessible by the public since they charge a very low amount to watch them. Moreover, All India Radio (also run by the GOI) has a base in Bhopal as well. As a regional office, they focus on the events and incidents in Madhya Pradesh and report in the regional language. Apart from the public channels, private local television and radio channels and newspapers are other ways to reach the people. Social media on the other hand has been a large platform of sharing information for the last decade in Indian. Hence the media can be used as a prime medium to exchange public insights and publish prevailing issues.

3.3.4 Formal representative of Roshanpura

STAKEHOLDER MAPPING

The stakeholder analysis resulted in the creation of a stakeholder map. The stakeholders fell within one of four quadrants that describe their level of power and interest.

Low power and low interest

This quadrant consists of the children of the com munity who have little power or voice in the de cision-making process. However, they can be in volved in the preliminary stage of implementation as a means of conveying information to people. The local artists are also placed here since they are not contextually associated with the commu nity’s interest but have the potential to influence them through their knowledge of art and can help conduct workshops and enhance displays of art exhibits.

Low power and high interest

This quadrant consists of people of Roshanpura at different interest levels arranged in a hierarchy from highest to lowest interest: the puppeteers’ society, the women of this neighborhood, and other residents of the street with different occupa tions. They are the identified marginalized people and the target community for our intervention. Being organized and expanding on a set of principles decided by them, the local self-help groups obtained a certain amount of importance and can collectively make decisions and deal with small fi nancial matters. Overall, these stakeholders have high interest but lack power in authority, com mand, and control of money.

High power low interest

The stakeholders placed here have high amounts of resources but little to no connection and inte rest in the marginalized. BMC has authority over the services provided while the banks and GOI Ministry of culture have control over funding and power to implement decisions. Finally, while the officially elected leaders have certain responsibilities they are supposed to fulfill, the level of interest they take in these issues and duties is dependent upon the person in charge.

High power and high interest

The unofficial, but influential, leaders of the com munity, despite holding no official power, still chooses to serve the people, placing him in a posi tion of high interest and caratively high power due to his connections with those in power. The media sustains the flow of news, which can help the margi nalized reach higher platforms. Hence, they possess high interest and high power in terms of influencing and reaching people

STAKEHOLDER

3.3.5

of Roshnapura engaged in small

Mapping

ACTION PROPOSAL

ACTION PROPOSAL G3- JUSTIFICATION

The following proposal is based on the findings and the analysis provided by the LF. Also, given the di versity of perspectives and groups in the community and the area’s size and population, it was important to find consistency within the narratives around the topics as well as a work scale. These, ultimately, led the researchers to choose a focus for the intent of our proposal.

Even when they defy the typical definition like Roshanpura, “slums are spaces of stigma, regardless of improvements to material or social conditions (Jones, 2011, 696).” It is the place where “the poor” live and where the discussions are reduced to benchmarks of socioeconomic status. This is similar to the point made by Simmel in his paper entitled “The Poor,” where he argued that being poor is akin to being a “social anomaly,” whereby material deprivation legitimates a lack of power over one’s collective representation and identity (Jones, 2011, 698).

The development of the proposal is framed within the challenges of visibility and underrepresentation of a marginalized pocket in Roshanpura, but with a strong focus on three elements identified as their strongest assets:

1. Cultural Identity

2. Adaptive use of space

3. Craftsmanship skills

The neighborhood as planning unit

An important consideration for our case study, is the concept of the neighborhood as the basic unit of planning (Kunstler, 1996). The Kathputli Mohalla’s street defines this unit, not as a spatial constraint, but as a starting point to become a catalyst for ideas and conditions for change.

This community unit allowed us to build a closer relationship and trust with the people, keeping in mind as well that the best way of scaling up the im pact of projects is to scale down the size of units or organization (Hamdi, as cited in Sliwa et al, 2018, 5).

PROBLEM STATEMENT

“Slums serve as spaces through which the poor(er) are imagined, ‘governed’ or abandoned”.

(Bauman, as cited in Jones, 2011, 697)

As discussed earlier, even when their conditions are improved, upgraded or “regularized,” the dis course of poverty and subalternity still politically dominates these communities, rarely allowing for their voices be heard in this discussion.

When talking about visibility, the pressing question

is, how can people participate in this narrative and build a dialogue of representation not only among themselves but with representatives and social ins titutions.

In her foreword, Lyz Crane recognizes how art and culture represent a strong set of assets that can shape people and places (Scheuerman, 2015, 6). The presence of these elements in Roshanpura be come an opportunity for its residents, allowing their mastery of visual and material language to become a collective voice.

While art has been largely used in the context of “slum-upgrading,” and in different places of Bho pal as well, it is clear that can not be the answer for every intervention. However, the contextual va lue for Roshanpura, and the inherent value of art to challenge perceptions, provide a useful tool to be utilized. The LF diagram, varies for the study area, due to a lower financial capital than the overall ana lysis for Roshanpura, and a higher social capital ma nifested on the art and culture asset that their skills and trade represent. This leads the researchers to the following state ment:

How to mobilize art, culture and spaces as a means to self-representation, visibility, and improvement of disadvantaged communities?

DIMENSIONS

Based on the situational analysis, the team defined three dimensions in which the proposals have an influence and manifestation, identifying opportuni ties of action related to each one. These will help to recognize elements to be considered in each pro posal and, furthermore, link the final stage of the fieldwork with the extensive analysis carried out in the last months.

Rethinking the Entrance

Action Proposal 1

As a short term action, the researchers propose the set-up of an urban furniture to frame a focal point at the entrance of the community. The goal is to have the entrance serve as a visual marker that draws at tention to an underrepresented group of people, using their visual language. This element will reflect the folk practices that are carried out in the area. Currently a closed shop and a minor display of mu sical instruments mark the entrance to the puppe teers neighborhood, right in front of the BRTS cor ridor of Bhopal (see image X). Building on this, the standalone structure can be made from low cost, locally available materials and can be maintained by the inhabitants.

The intervention to the entrance will consist of three elements: the protruding portion of an existing wall, a bench, and a shade (see image X).

Complimentary to this, the walls are a potential canvas that can depict stories of the puppeteers ex pressed in the style of Rajasthani folk art (see image X). The wall will provide a contrast to the rest of the folk arts found on boundary walls and built edges inside Bhopal, as it will be in the style of Phad and Rajput paintings, styles that originated in Rajasthan, rather than Gond, Warli or Madhubani (Folk arts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh), which are mostly seen all over the city.

The bench and shade have two purposes: to function as a display element for the drums, which are currently used as promotion elements on the ground level. It will also act as an advertisement for the performers. Furthermore, the bench adds a sit ting space to a point where it is currently common to find neighbors interacting.

These components are bound together to act as a strategic intervention to emphasize the entrance in contrast with the introverted character of Roshanpu ra, and project it towards the city context in a diffe rent way than what has been known so far.

The images represent a concept based on the com munity’s situational analysis, opportunities, and ideas gathered during the codesigning workshop and further interactions during the fieldwork.

of the proposed entrance

Proposed scheme of Wall art

The researchers recommend a community decision process as part of the implementation, this will not only ensure people’s engagement but also will add into the sense of ownership for the intervention. It is important to address that under the UEP approach, as planners, we don’t propose final products or ‘solutions’. This proposal intends to facilitate a process in which the community can make the best choices for themselves and access resources to improve their own lives and livelihoods (Sliwa et al, 2018).

RISKS

Due to time constraints, the researchers were unable to fully engage the community in the proposal process. However, they tried to incorporate the abstract ideas proposed by the residents. The researchers anticipate a few long term risks. Observed trends in informality would suggest possible changes to the use of the entrance to a religious kiosk, or the bench to display items for sale by local vendors. Also the owner of the house to which the wall protrudes may deny the use of the wall for the mural. Furthermore, if the entrance is not maintained it can compromise the purpose of the project.

IDEAS TO OVERCOME

If the use of the bench and shade changes this reflects an informally accepted decision by the community to change the purpose of the space to one that best meets their needs. To overcome the risk of maintenance neglect, each member of the community can contribute to the construction of the entrance and its maintenance, inducing a sense of ownership and motivating the installation’s upkeep. This investment can be small scale and monetary as well. Ownership issues from the use of the wall as a mural can be navigated by involving the owner of the house next to the wall in the whole process of designing and implementing the installation.

SPACES TO BUILD COMMUNITY: STREET MARKET

ACTION PROPOSAL 2

This proposal aims to address the topics of visibility and representation in the medium and long term, seeking to collectively develop organizational skills, networks, and sense of community through local interactions, an important part of the social capital we found in Roshanpura. Interaction is also a key part of community building, which includes both tolerance and trust in others (Albinsson & Perera, 2012). According to Chaskin (2001),

Community capacity is the interaction of human capital, organizational resources, and social capital existing within a given community, that can be leveraged to solve collective problems and improve or maintain the well-being of that community. It may operate through informal social processes and/or organized efforts by individuals, organizations, and social networks that exist among them and between them and the larger systems of which the community is a part.

Thus, bringing people together to plan and organize local events or actions, using public space as a common capital, can cultivate the sense of community and, therefore, promote dialogues towards common issues and challenges.

In Roshanpura, as discussed earlier, the streets represent an important asset for their social dynamics, due to the diversity of activities carried out in them. For that reason, it’s a valuable resource to be considered in a collective context. It has become their public space. A recent report of UNHABITAT remarks that “those cities that have failed to integrate the multi-functionality of streets tend to have lesser infrastructure development, lower productivity and a poorer quality of life” (UNHABITAT, 2013). Considering this, how does one take advantage of the qualities and potentials of these spaces in the study area?

The Project for Public Spaces (2009) claims, “Public space provides opportunities for people to meet and be exposed to a variety of neighbors. These meetings often take place by chance, but they also can come through active organizing.” Thus, the aim of this proposal is not to re-invent the space, since it’s already appropriated by the residents on a daily basis. However, there is an opportunity to expand the ways to use it, integrating the inhabitants of the different communities and their skills into the space. All this, through a set of activities proposed within the basic unit of planning, the neighborhood.

Considering this, we propose the organization of community events in the form of a street market. These, by nature, represent diversity of groups and activities that can reach a variety of stakeholders in the area. According to Morales (2009), “Markets can help achieve a variety of goals including placemaking, employment, and entrepreneurship.” The process can also strengthen the people’s capacity to organize, discuss, and mobilize efforts and resources for common goals, such as addressing local issues. This can also open channels of communication with representatives, by the weight of their collective voice.

Implementation

As part of the implementation strategy and as a next step after the initial intervention, a further collaboration between the facilitators and community needs to take place. Highlighting their role as facilitators of processes, this strategy is integral to the community building action.

The outcome, will depend largely on the decisions and actions taken by the residents, in partnership with the stakeholders and facilitators to mediate the re-evaluation process.

1.Community meeting

The process starts organizing a meeting at the local level to engage the community and begin the discussion about the experience of the codesign workshop. This would open up the discussions about its potential opportunities and stakeholders.

1.1Evaluate space and identify activities

Through the codesigning workshop, the team identified some activities that helped activate the spaces in the neighborhood. These provide a guide and can be suggested during the meeting, recalling the previous experience and at the same time, evaluating the space used for it.

· Kathputli performance

This was the activity that attracted the largest number of people. It showed the potential of entertainment and attention that this form of art can mobilize.

· Drawing activities with kids and teenagers

Kids proved to be the first and fastest way to engage with the community in the study area. By providing a couple of canvases, some markers and chalk, kids not only from Kathputli Mohalla, but also from nearby streets, approached the area to take part in the activity.

· Street vendors

Groups of people attract commercial activity. In Roshanpura, street vendors are common features in the streets and are part of the daily life of the place.

· Photo-wall display

By mounting a small mural with pictures of the researchers’ encounters and interactions with residents throughout the fieldwork, they invited the residents to find themselves, friends, family or neighbors.

By defining activities and roles, the community can make a list of potential partners to be included in the event.

2.External stakeholders meeting

By identifying potential external partners, a second meeting should be held to redefine goals and activities based on both community and partners’ objectives. This step should be closely developed with stakeholders that can represent partnerships to diversify the type of activities in the event. Local cultural institutions, representatives from the Ministry of Culture, and local artists can be involved by facilitating art workshops with the kids and teenagers. Even the puppeteers community can step in by becoming facilitators through puppetmaking or dohl-making activities.

3.Short-term experiments

Starting with small, short, and cheap activities such as standalone workshops, snack sales, or performances. This would work as a re-evaluation and improvement tool, by collecting feedback from the community and partners.

Promotion and Conservation

Action Proposal 3

The third part of the researchers’ proposal can be implemented in a medium and long term and involves the aid of the Legal Framework. Some of the identified stakeholders have a common interest of the conservation of traditional folk art. Together with the conservation and preservation of the cultural heritage, funding resources can also be accessed through these institutions.

Promotion of the performing arts that to some extent have lost their market value can be revived by producing attractive merchandise. The products that the puppeteers can make using their own expertise can be enriched by collaborating with other craftsmen communities like the Khumhar (potters) within Roshanpura. Financial help from the previously mentioned funding agencies and stakeholders can also accelerate and support the production in the form of skill development workshop together with other craftsmen groups where expertise can be exchanged and combined.

The group is already registered but hasn’t submitted an application to any government schemes that would strengthen their organization’s skills and attract other performers. The aid of the legal frameworks will help build a link with the second action proposal, by engaging them as workshop facilitators and performances during community and school events, as this is one of the requirements of the grants for their continuity.

Public media, such as national television broadcast, which exhibits shows in regional and national languages and has a focus in regional news and events can be a great source for promoting the puppeteers of Roshanpura. The researchers suggest the use of social media, in the form of a Facebook page, as a first and more manageable source of promotion, documenting their skills and performances around Bhopal and inside their neighborhood.

Lastly, an intangible cultural heritage can only sustain when it is practiced. Hence this performing art form should be spread to people through different medium. Several sources of funding can also lead to skill expansion in the form of school or training workshops.

The following diagram summarize the proposal, describing the flow of actions and stakeholders involved, as well as the legal schemes of the local context that have an interest in protecting these types of performing arts.

Roshanpura

METHODS

Methodology

The values of Urban Ecological Planning (UEP) serve as the core for the methodology in the current fieldwork. As per the UEP values, the methods should center on the people, giving the residents of a community agency and influence on what happens to their community. As a result, the researchers’ process tried to incorporate participatory designing alongside traditional methods. According to Sarah Thomas at the University of Wolverhampton, participatory learning and action “combines an ever-changing toolkit of participatory and visual methods with natural interviewing techniques and is intended to facilitate a process of collective analysis and learning.” As such, participatory methods enable local people to share their insights and knowledge to catalyze their community and take charge of the change they see (Thomas, n.d.).

The researchers developed key objectives for the methods employed in the area. First, any methods implemented needed to build trust. By trust, residents needed to become accustomed to the presence of the researchers, feel comfortable talking with them about sensitive topics, and grant them honorary outsider status. As foreigners, the researchers will never be insiders into the community, but with the community’s trust they can gain access to places that would normally be

off limits to outsiders. Additionally, the researchers were transparent with the community, explaining they were only students studying urban planning on a community level, and therefore they would not be able to make any changes in the area. Lagisa experienced a similar situation while studying the Lihirtan Community. The women under study expressed an interest in what the researchers would do with the information they gave them. The researchers emphasized the data was purely for educational purposes, but they could provide the appropriate authorities with a set of defined guidelines based on the research that could be used to improve the community’s situation (1997, 104-106). The community’s continued willingness to help the researchers, both for Lagisa in Lihirtan and the students in Roshanpura, demonstrates how transparency, sharing information, and putting the residents in a position of power ultimately engendered trust in the community.

Connected with the first objective, the next objective was to develop methods that allow people to tell their stories. There is a derogatory image of residents of informal settlements as poor, uneducated, and unskilled. The researchers sought to push past the single story to reveal the varied personalities living in Roshanpura. Thus, the implemented methods needed to be inclusive and open ended.

The final objective was to develop a livelihoods framework for Roshanpura. A livelihoods approach recognizes that household assets are not necessarily monetary but consist of human, social, physical, natural, and financial capital. The mix of assets a household possesses, the sociopolitical context, and the household’s ability to access their assets determines the household’s available strategies,

vulnerabilities, and, ultimately, their resilience to economic, social, and political shocks (Racodi, 2002, 8-9). In structuring the methods around building a LF for the households within Roshanpura, the focus shifts to what people have rather than what they lack. As a result, the researchers discovered the social networks, systems of marginalization, and community strengths that transcend the physical infrastructure or financial status.

In developing methods that meet our objectives and focuses on the people, Roshanpura presented opportunities and challenges. Challenges included the language barrier and navigating the socioeconomic disparity within our site. Opportunities included the residents’ willingness to talk and engage.

Due to the lack of English comprehension within Roshanpura, and the researchers’ lack of skills in Hindi, they required a translator to carry out methods requiring interaction with and participation from residents. While the use of translators helps to bring down the language barrier, it adds a transaction cost in the form of the information becoming secondhand. Problems that arise include, but are not limited to, the translator failing to relate everything the residents say to the researchers, adding their own opinions to the participants’ answers, and failing to explain the researchers’ questions or activity fully. Furthermore, the researchers were unable to know a participant’s level of literacy or ability to read a map, which limited the types of methods available. Literacy is a reflection of educational attainment, and, thus, their socioeconomic status. In Roshanpura, socioeconomic status varies among residents, sometimes dramatically. Thus, the methods developed needed to be able to reach all socioeconomic groups in order to gain a

comprehensive view of the area and the people who live there.

Despite these obstacles in methods development, the difficulties were alleviated by Roshanpura being a welcoming community. Residents were eager to talk to the researchers, invite them into their homes for chai, and interested in learning about each team member’s home country. The community’s culture of hospitality and inclusion can be traced all the way back to its origin when, upon independence, the community welcomed Hindu refugees from Pakistan and Muslims alike. Since then, the two religious groups have lived equitably, intermingling with each other peacefully.

The following section detailing the different methods tried and tested comes from a cumulative consideration of the UEP values, the research objectives, and the opportunities and challenges in Roshanpura.

Traditional Methods Observation

At a base level the researchers’ methods depended on their observations. The researchers engaged in two types of observation. First, they took observational notes of the physical properties of the site. These included noting the quality and typology of housing in different areas of the community, water and drainage, electrical lines and meters, street lights (their location, proximity to each other, whether they were on or not), garbage, and sanitation infrastructure.

Additionally, the researchers engaged in a modified form of participant observation. Participant observation involves observing either people engaging in a specific activity or observing the behavior of a target population. Depending on the nature of the research, the researcher can choose to engage in the activity or with the people under observation or remain separate and unobserved. Due to the researchers being foreigners, there was no way they could go unobserved, so residents possibly modified their behavior around them. However, whenever visiting the site, the researchers attempted to take note of the residents daily activities and interactions with each other. Of particular note was the gendering of spaces, the provision of services, commerce, and the activities performed in public spaces. These observations helped generate questions and made the researchers more knowledgeable and familiar with the people and area.

Interviews

There were two types of interviews employed: informal semi-structured interviews and formal semistructured interviews. For both types of interviews, the researchers developed a loose list of questions to guide the interviews, but left the structure of the questions open ended to allow interviewees the flexibility to bring up other subjects that could be relevant but unknown to the researchers. The researchers conducted approximately 25 to 30 interviews mixed between structured and semistructured. Interviews began with the researchers introducing themselves and where they are from. In order to maintain transparency, the researchers also declared their purpose for being in Roshanpura before beginning questioning of potential interviewees. In order to build up rapport and trust with the interviewees, questions moved from general to more directed.

For informal semi-structured interviews, participant recruitment took place through opportunism and snowball sampling. Most interviewees were those met while walking around the community. These interviews would then “snowball” into other interviews as neighbors came to join the conversation or interviewees insisted on introducing the researchers to their family members. In the beginning of the fieldwork, the questions were much more general and revolved around building a livelihood framework. Upon identification of an intervention area, questions became more directed, and the researchers sought out previous interviewees for more directed follow up interviews.

If only one researcher was present at interviews, they took notes immediately after interviews. If multiple researchers were present, one would take notes while the other asked questions.

4.1.1 Meeting with the representa tive of New Market

4.1.2 Picture with the NGO working with women trainings

Formal semi-structured interviews were prearranged interviews with informal and formal officials, experts, and schools and other institutions in the area. Interviews took place at the time and location most convenient for the interviewee. A minority of interviews were formal, and where the researchers did conduct formal interviews the desired information usually required the interviewee’s technical expertise or position of influence.

Photos

Having a visual record of the studied area is an important part of all types of fieldworks as it gives a visual map of the area throughout the study period and serves as a memory aid. However, the researchers choose to start taking pictures and videos a few weeks into the fieldwork, the main reason behind the delay being the need to establish the aforementioned trust.

After waiting two weeks, the researchers started capturing the area in photos, including interviewees, their homes and belongings, open spaces, alleyways, and infrastructure. The aim was to document the existing surroundings and their evolution throughout the study period.

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Stakeholder Analysis

Throughout the fieldwork, the researchers periodically conducted a stakeholder analysis in order to better understand the complex systems of interaction within Roshanpura. The first analysis covered the whole community and included all those with an interest in Roshanpura as well as those who would be affected by any changes to the community. After brainstorming the relevant actors, which both included the different types of residents, government officials, employers of residents, institutions within Roshanpura, and nearby marketplaces, the researchers rated each stakeholder’s interest in Roshanpura and their influence, or power, over the area. Accordingly, the researchers arranged the stakeholders on a grid, with interest on the x-axis and influence on the y-axis. (add picture)

A few weeks later, the researchers conducted another stakeholder analysis, this time with a specific proposal in mind. The analysis used the structure for stakeholder mapping proposed by the corporate responsibility firm BSR. In this analysis, after brainstorming stakeholders who would be impacted by the specific proposal, the researchers rated each stakeholder based on five criteria: contribution, legitimacy, willingness to engage, influence, and necessity of involvement. The researchers then arranged the stakeholders on a grid with willingness on the x-axis and expertise on the y-axis. The researchers also assigned a different color to each stakeholder based on whether they have high, medium high, medium, medium low, or low levels of value, or power. The resulting map, while more complex to build, provided a more nuanced picture of who and what would be involved in implementing the possible intervention. ( add picture)

The exercise of stakeholder analysis helped the researchers consider who is missing from the analysis, who has not been consulted yet, who might impede the project, and who would be necessary in advancing the project. Many of the stakeholders previously believed to be important to the implementation of the proposal, on further analysis, proved unimportant. If time allowed, the researchers would add new stakeholders to the map and further develop the map by showing the interactions between stakeholders.

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+ Identify the Stakeholders in the study Area

+ Identify the stakeholder in relation to The Action Proposals

Mapping and Transect Walks

To better understand Roshanpura spatially, the researchers spent a few days mapping the site. Mapping took place in three phases. First, the researchers used the mobile app, Collector, connected to ArcGIS Online, operated by ESRI. The app allowed the researchers to collect data in the field, store it for later analysis, and export it to other programs. The researchers used the stream function to map the streets and alleyways. Due to the minimal space between houses and the multitude of narrow alleyways that make up Roshanpura, this function was particularly useful. The researchers then made points for landmarks and places of interest. These included, stores, temples, public toilets, garbage dumps/collection points, community/public spaces, interviews, and nearby government, commercial, and recreational spaces and buildings. The points and lines were overlaid on a satellite image of Roshanpura, and the different types of points were distinguished.

Next, the researchers went back to the site and used the map to navigate their way through the area. They investigated places where the map was blank to see if there were hidden roads or alleyways. Points were cross checked to correct for the inaccuracy of mobile GPS. Researchers then added these changes to the map.

Finally, the researchers went on transect walks with a resident. The resident was able to point out landmarks the researchers had missed and give them feedback on the map. Along the way, the researchers stopped to talk with other residents to show them the map, identify their house on the map, and receive their feedback.

Occasionally, the researchers would also ask residents to describe how residents in Roshanpura internally organized themselves. If possible, they would be asked to draw a map or fill in a base map drawn by the researchers. The purpose of this activity was to determine how the community divided themselves and viewed themselves spatially.

Participatory Methods

Photo-voice

First attempts

To determine how residents saw their community and to visually capture the community, the researchers attempted to use a form of participatory methods called photo-voice. As a participatory method, photo-voice relies on the community actively participating in the process of gaining information. In an effort to capture the community’s perspective, researchers hand the camera over to members of the community and ask them to take pictures of their community. Later, the researchers ask residents to explain the photos and why they took them.

The researchers first implemented this method during a joint workshop on participatory methods, organized in partnership with the first year students of the Masters of Design at SPA Bhopal. The goal was to allow the visuals produced by the residents to help build a LF by revealing the assets possessed by the community.

The researchers modified the method to suit the context by incorporating the residents’ love of selfies, renaming the method “Selfie-voice.” After or during interviews, the researchers would ask the participants to take a selfie of themselves with the space they liked inside Roshanpura or the things they valued the most and to send it to the researcher. Alternatively, they could elect to take a selfie with the researcher’s camera, or with the researcher, in the place they liked the best in Roshanpura or with the thing they most valued.

In practice, participants were not interested in participating. For one researcher, a few children showed them where they played or where their family’s celebrated festivals. For another researcher,

the people they interviewed, when asked what was most important to them, showed them their home shrines or religious idols. The reticence seemed to at least partially be from a sense that they would not be able to take a good picture or would disappoint the researchers.

Second attempt

After establishing a stronger bond with some of the families in our area and developing an intervention focus, the researchers initiated a second attempt at photo-voice with a focus on women’s employment. The researchers recruited one of the female residents they had come to know well to visually record the different activities, hobbies, and skills practiced by the women of Roshanpura both in the home and for income. By placing a community member in charge of the second attempt, the researchers hoped to put the power in the hands of the residents, gain a better perspective of the community through their eyes, and indirectly gain access inside the community. The results of this second attempt were mixed, and, while it generated more interest from community members, it generated very little content with only one video being produced.

In light of the mixed results produced from both attempts, it was evident that any future attempts would require the researchers to train the community participants to engender confidence in their abilities and to better relate the method’s objective. Also, the method requires a longer period of time to implement. Additionally, similarly to photos, photovoice can be implemented throughout the duration of the fieldwork to document the evolution of the community and space as well as the evolution of the relationship between the researchers and the community.

Drawing with kids ( visual interview )

The researchers determined early on that children were a sizable stakeholder in Roshanpura. In an attempt to gain a better understanding of how the children experience their community and to build trust, the researchers scheduled a drawing activity at two of schools within Roshanpura. One of the schools was a public school set up by the government providing education from the first standard to the fifth standard, in which approximately a hundred children are enrolled . The second school was a private school with an enrolment of 150 children from the kindergarden to the fifth standard and above. The majority of the children in both schools came from Roshanpura, but the private school did have some students from outside the area.

The time and day of the activity was arranged ahead of time with the teachers of the school. The researchers provided the students with paper, pencils, and crayons. In one school, they asked them, through the use of translators, to draw their family and home, and in another school they asked the children to draw their favorite places in Roshanpura (i.e. where they play, where their family celebrates), each school saw the participation of an average of 30 and 20 kids respectively. While the children drew and colored, the researchers asked them questions or participated with them, answering the children’s questions about the subject of the researchers’ drawings. When the children finished drawing, the researchers collected the pictures for further analysis and thanked the children with sweets.

While the children ended up drawing whatever they wanted rather than what the researchers

asked them to (i.e Indian flags, cricket fields, and copying pictures from their textbooks), the activity did build a rapport between the researchers and the community. The researchers also learned more about the schools’ role in the community, the students and teachers, and their influence in the area.

Activities involving kids are always a gamble when it comes to obtaining usable results, and, as the researchers discovered, it is difficult to get children to follow instructions. If the researchers attempted to work with children a second time, they would organize the children into smaller groups and plan multiple structured activities with more understandable instructions and hands-on elements. ( add box in all methods pro / con / success see sticky note)

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Ethnography

In an attempt to delve deeper into the community and bridge the cultural divide, the researchers employed ethnographic methods by participating in the daily activities of some of the women in the community. Ethnography describes the empirical work of using observation as a tool to produce a narrative that is more nuanced and distances itself from the single story model. Traditionally, ethnography has a broad, discipline-dependent definition and can be as involved as the researcher moving to the community under study and integrating themselves into the social fabric to less involved, more discreet forms of data collection. In all instances though, the researcher seeks to better understand a community by participating in the daily lives of the community under study (O’Reilly 2011, 2). The researchers in Roshanpura applied ethnographic methods by participating in strategically chosen daily activities to gain a better perspective of the community and to gain their trust.

Knitting activity :

During an earlier interview, one of the researcher bonded with a lady in the site over their mutual knowledge of knitting, as it served as a conversa tion starter which facilitated their interaction. On discovering the women in the street often sit out side their houses in the evening knitting together, the researcher asked to join them one evening. The researchers’ goal for the activity was to attract other women through the activity and promote discussion among them on the topics of interest to the researchers. The researcher prepared questions ahead of time to guide the discussion, but the purpose of the activity was to allow the women’s conversations with each other to drive the discus sion.

The shared knowledge and application of what the women considered markers of a good wife and mother, instantly engendered respect from the women towards the researchers participating in their evening knitting circle. This helped open up the discussion to topics of interest to the researchers. It also served to put the researchers on the same level as the women, breaking preconceived images and making the women more comfortable with the researchers. The activity generated a lively, friendly conversation whereby the researchers and women exchanged information about their families and communities and the problems they see in each.

Despite the activity’s success in building trust and gathering information, it was limited in scope due to the attendance of only three women. These women came from different age groups, providing a range of perspectives and knowledge of Roshanpura. In the future, the researchers would invite other women to the event a few days prior and provide the materials for the event to be a learning and

networking opportunity for the women. Additionally, the researchers would make the knitting circle a weekly event as it would have served as a good opportunity to implement different activities and other participatory methods.

Cooking activity

The researchers second use of ethnographic methods was an unplanned participation in a local cooking class offered by a local NGO. The NGO was holding a cooking workshop in Roshanpura to provide low income women within the area with the technical and business skills to open their own food processing businesses. The workshop is a part of a larger initiative by the NGO to empower women in the area through teaching them different skills that could turn into income generating activities. The representative of the NGO invited the researchers to observe the class make samosas. Eight to ten women participated in the class, and the researchers were able to observe how the class functioned and the types of women who take part in these workshops.

Initial observation in the form of videos and pictures alongside occasional questions to the teacher quickly morphed into taste testing what the women had made and actively participating in rolling out the samosa dough. The women in the cooking class showed the researchers how to evenly roll out the dough into a circle for the filling to be enclosed in.

Similar to the knitting circle, if the researchers had found out about the cooking classes sooner, they would have participated in them on a regular basis. Despite the limited interaction, the researchers were still able to form a bond with the community and gain a better insight into the nuanced personalities living in Roshanpura.

Co-design workshop

The final method employed by the researchers was a codesign workshop where the researchers gathered information and feedback from the residents to confirm their findings and support their possible proposals. The goal was to reinforce the dialogue between the community and the researchers and to keep the communication channels that put the residents at the center open. The researchers divided the workshop into smaller activities and stations to involve different stakeholders in the community. The workshop consisted of three stations: a prototype of a proposed community information board, a sticky note game to determine the spread of the skills of the women in the community, and a community map.

Information board mock up

The researchers made a mock-up of a community information board with examples flyers representing the different types of information the community could post on the board. The researchers presented the board to the community and explained their idea. They then asked the residents what they thought of the proposal and whether they would use it and find it helpful. They also asked for suggestions in regards to the board’s location in the area, possible other uses, and design ideas. (add picture of us showing the board/ explaining )

At first, the community expressed confusion and reluctance towards the researchers’ idea. However, when asked for their input, residents expressed a positive inclination towards the board. It is unclear whether they were only telling the researchers what they thought the researchers wanted to know, or even if they understood the concept of a community information board. While the researchers gathered no solid information in regards to design possibilities, location, or community perception, they did learn that the board should not be in the reach of small children, as the local children were more interested in taking the example flyers.

While the board was successful in getting residents involved in the co-design workshop, if the researchers had had more time and help with translation they would have brought more detailed drawings or models of a proposed information board. The mock-up used by the researchers was too basic, making it difficult for residents to understand the researchers’ idea. Alternatively, the researchers could have organized an activity around the board, such as a ranking of what information

was most important to them or what sources of information were the most accessible. Finally, the researchers could have made the activity more hands-on by having residents actively design an information board.

“Tell Us Your Skills” Sticky Note Game

In order to find out more about the skill set of the women living in Roshanpura, the researchers devised a game where the women could place sticky note tabs of different colors next to the skills they possessed. The researchers created a board with nine columns. Each column represented a different skill the researchers had observed, the women had told them about, or the researchers were interested in learning more about. They included cooking, embroidery, stitching, knitting, weaving, jewelry making, mehendi, pottery, and managerial skills. There was also a place at the bottom for suggestions of skills not listed. Two different colors of sticky note tabs were used: pink indicated skills the women had, and green indicated they made money with that skill. As women passed, the researcher asked them which of the skills listed they had and which ones they had earned money with. They also asked men and children about the skills of their wives, mothers, and sisters.

The researchers found out that the women have a wide range of skills, but the majority share skills in cooking, stitching, knitting, and mehendi. Many of these women are already making money doing these skills. Most of the women made money with these skills on the informally and occasionally on the side. However, one woman had a catering business and hired women from Roshanpura. Some mothers and wives also worked alongside their husbands or sons in a family business.

The activity was successful in that it was both visual and allowed participants to engage with the researchers. It was also not time consuming or invasive, so participants were not intimidated and felt comfortable. Finally, while the focus of the activity was to find out more about women, women, men, and children could all participate, allowing the researchers to gain information from multiple stakeholders in the area of women’s employment. However, this was also a negative aspect of the activity. The information received from men could be biased, as they may not want to tell the researchers that their female relatives or wives work or the women themselves may keep it from them out of fear of having their income taken by their husbands or male relatives. Additionally, the information received from the children was biased, limited, and repetitive, with their main focus being to see more sticky notes placed on the board. Finally, due to the location of the board, participants could not place the sticky notes on the board themselves, decreasing the hand-on component of the activity.

Possible modifications to the activity would be placing the board in a different location that allowed participants to place the sticky notes themselves rather than the researcher. Another possible modification would be to simplify the activity and just use one color of sticky note and then engage with the women in conversation afterwards to find out if they make money with that skill, how often, and if they collaborate with any other women. Finally, the researchers would limit future iterations of this activity to only men and women to prevent the repetitive information from children.

The Map

The researchers had noticed while performing mapping activities that the residents were particularly interested in the researchers’ maps of Roshanpura. Thus, for the codesign workshop, the researchers decided to print a large map to hang on the side of a small shop in the main street next to the public space where the codesign workshop was held. The researchers pointed out to residents where they were on the map as well as where the major landmarks and gathering points were. The researchers hoped to also use the map as a way for residents to point out where an information board could be placed or to find their homes on the map. However, the residents were more interested in looking at the map and learning about how the researchers made it. The researchers then left the map on the wall as a gist for the community. The map added to the codesign workshop by enhancing the reciprocity of the activity: the community gave the researchers information and the researchers gave them a map of their community, providing them with a sense of legitimacy. If given more time, the researchers would have used the map to also teach the residents more about how to make and read maps.

Conclusion

The process of methods creation, implementation, and reflection was an important part of the learning experience. As the researchers are also students, the process required them to diverge and converge, starting broad, narrowing in, and then stepping back to see things in relation to a bigger picture again. Often the researchers deployed methods with a specific question in mind, but the activity resulted in additional questions on topics they did not think of before. However, the important part of the process was the experience of trial and error and being open to on-site modification, for, ultimately, it should be the community who drives the methods.

Show during co-design workshop

FINDINGS

In employing the above methods to create a livelihoods framework, several recurring themes presented themselves. During the investigation, these topics manifested site-wide by residents of all walks of life. These findings are not necessarily problems or weaknesses within the residents’ LF, but rather they create a holistic view of the community’s interrelated strengths and weaknesses. From these findings, the researchers formed their proposals. The findings fall into four themes: location, community dynamics, political situation, and employment.

Location

Upon analysis of the LF, the researchers realized the majority of the resident’s assets in all five capitals depended on Roshanpura’s location and, in particular, their proximity to the New Market. For instance, in their physical capital, Roshanpura’s connectivity comes from their location at the axes of major transportation systems. In social capital, Roshanpura’s location next to the governor’s house and government housing provides them with political influences. In financial capital, their location next to the New Maret provides monetary employment opportunities. In terms of human capital, the New Market provides several schools and health services, and in natural capital Roshanpura’s location on a slope provides natural drainage and flood control.

With that being said, the location is Roshanpura’s biggest strength and greatest weakness. Since the area is highly desired as a commercial center, the area of the New Market will inevitably undergo development and expansion, impacting the lives of the residents in Roshanpura either through their redevelopment, relocation, or alteration of employment opportunities. Additionally, the Smart Cities Project, both the proximity of the ABD plan, the Bhopal Metro Rail Project, and their plans for making the New Maret more pedestrian friendly, will impact their LF. In general, any event that serves to force the residents to move or to alter the area will threaten the residents’ assets.

“I like living here. I lived here for 30 years and my neighbors are all my cousins”.

A resident in the lower part

“We like the location here. It is near the New Market, Chok Bazaar and other parts of the city”

A group of women sitting outside in late afternoon

“I cultivated this garden for medicinal purposes ...., I’ve been living here for more than 45 years”

Retired Policeman living in the upper part

Officer in Roshanpura with his niece

Community Dynamics

Throughout the fieldwork, residents described their community as harmonious and cohesive. The sense of community was one of the assets the residents professed to like the most about the area. While the researchers did observe the reported community harmony, contrary to what residents claimed, the researchers found a lack of community cohesion. Through observation, mapping activities with residents, and transect walks, the researchers discovered the community is fragmented into clusters. These clusters take the form of family networks, neighborhoods organized around a central open space, or single streets. Individuals within these clusters do not interact with those outside their neighborhood, preventing the flow of information within the community. As such, the current system for community communication depends on the informal councilor, who, when there is news to share with the community, goes around the area for an hour sharing the news with as many people as he sees. Due to the size and density of the area, this method is not efficient or effective.

To exacerbate the lack of information flows, the community also lacks a common or public space. Houses are crammed together, and sections connected by narrow alleyways. Residents take up the walkways in front of their homes as work space, and children have to play in the main streets of Roshanpura or walk a few blocks away along a busy main road to reach the closest park. Residents of Roshanpura celebrate all major life events in the community, including Hindu and Muslim holidays and festivals, engagements and marriages, births and deaths. As such, there is a need for a shared public space for the community to use for recreation, celebration, and exchanging news.

Additionally, the community functions under a shared self-help ethos, whereby residents take care of themselves and do not wait for the government or anyone else to come help. This primarily manifests itself in the form of infrastructure improvements, with residents covering drains and renovating houses by themselves or with the help of neighbors and family members. However, it also manifests in their human and financial capitals through SHGs, family businesses, and family members and neighbors taking care of each other when someone fall ill or becomes injured.

“We meet every day and gossip. We know everyone around and we take care of each other”.

A group of women socializing in front of their houses

“My father didn’t like the look of the open drains, so he covered them”.

Our Translator

Northern Area

-

“- Look i cleaned the space all by myself,… - Why ?

It’s in front of my house and I don’t like to watch garbage in front of my door when I go out ... If i don’t do it who will.”

Our Translator’s Cousin who lives in front of the biggest open space in the Area

“Everybody uses tanks to store the water now. Before we didn’t know if we would get water during the day or no.”

“For us it would be better to relocate. We know the government has plans.”

Woman from the lower side of the Slope

Political Situation

The political discourse in the area falls under two topics: infrastructure and tenure. The residents claimed infrastructure improvements only took place during elections as candidates vie for votes. Consequently, there is a general distrust of the municipal government, with the current ward councilor being viewed with suspicion and disdain. Furthermore, in terms of time and cost, there is a discrepancy in the service provision in the area for electricity, water, and sanitation. Some residents have greater access to these services (i.e. in-house toilets vs public toilets; one hour of water vs 15 minutes; door-to-door garbage collection vs central location pick up), and some residents pay more than others for these services (i.e. free vs service charge of a couple hundred rupees; 1,500 to 5,000 rupees per month to paying by the unit).

Similar to the variation in service provision, tenure security varies among residents. Residents living on the upper side of the slope towards the southern end professed a higher sense of tenure security than those living on the lower, northern end of the slope. Those with higher tenure security were open to incremental redevelopment, but not relocation. However, those at the bottom of the slope living in the most destitute conditions expressed a desire to be relocated and demanded answers to their housing problems. Residents demonstrated knowledge that the land they lived on was highly desirable and targeted for commercial development by the municipality. While the residents were confident that this would not happen, they were equally confident that if it did the municipality would have to relocate them .

Employment

In examining the mix of assets possessed by the residents of Roshanpura, a recurring topic was employment. Specifically, the employment of the women living in Roshanpura. The women characterized themselves as “housewives,” but they expressed a desire and need for paid employment to contribute to the support of their families. Obstacles identified by the women for why they did not work included lack of funds, lack of skills, and cultural prohibitions. Most importantly, culturally, India is a patriarchal society. Women have limited access to education and employment opportunities, and to be able to access these opportunities women must gain permission from their husbands or fathers. A woman who works outside the home implies an inability of the male members of her family to provide for her. Additionally, there is a public safety issue for women leaving the home alone. Thus, women wanted to work, but only if they could work from home and with a larger group of women, enabling them to fulfill their familial obligations while also contributing to the family income.

Some women worked seasonally, mainly cooking or doing mehendi for weddings, but they expressed a need to have steady employment to support themselves and their families. There are some women who are already working from home, doing stitching, embroidery, jewelry making, and other handicrafts. Middle(wo)men from the New Market commission these women, give them the materials to make the product, and then pay them by the piece. If the piece is not of high enough quality, the women are required to pay for the cost of the materials.

Currently these women are paid very little for their labor, especially in comparison to the profit margins for the stores. These women have the skills, and can or are teaching these skills, but they do not have the agency to acquire better terms for themselves.

A lot of woman here know how to knit , do Mehendi, my sister in law even make sari’s sold at the new market”

Our Translators Cousin

“Men would beg, rather than let their wives work. Who would take care of the house and the kids?”

The Knitting lady

”We need to work to support our families,….., but we can’t find jobs”

Two women from the lower side

“ We only work during the wedding season, ……… we would like a more permanent job”

4.2.6 Whatching sari being made

A group of Seasonal Workers

Stakeholder Analysis

The exercise of stakeholder analysis helped the researchers consider who is missing from the analysis, who has not been consulted yet, who might impede the project, and who would be necessary in advancing the project. The results of the last stakeholder analysis revealed that the local employers, who the researchers previously believed to be an important stakeholder, were on further analysis unimportant in the implementation of their considered proposal. The most important stakeholders for the researchers were the local NGO and the women of Roshanpura, who both possess high willingness and interest. However, both stakeholders only have medium power in the proposal’s implementation. Those with high power include family members, banks, and the informal councilor. While all three stakeholders have high expertise in implementing the proposal, their willingness is low. Government agencies, like the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Culture theoretically have moderately high expertise and willingness, but this may not be the case in reality. Additionally, as national agencies, their power is tied to the funding they receive and is dispersed over the whole country, diminishing their power in the local context. If time allowed, the researchers would add new stakeholders to the map and further develop the map by showing the interactions between stakeholders.

Informal Councilor

Unemployed Women

NGO

Occasionally employed Women

Banks

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

Ministry of Culture

Municipal Cooperation

Formal Councilor

Family Members

Local Employers

Owners of the open space

New Market

Unemployed Men

Occasionally employed Men

WILLINGNESS

HIGH

High

Medium-High

Medium

Power Low

Medium-Low

ACTION PROPOSALS

The researchers’ goal is to take the above findings and formulate a set of interventions to address one or more of the identified problems. However, unlike traditional urban planning these proposals should provide the most minimal of structure for the community the design is for. According to the urban planner Nabeel Hamdi (2004), “We create conditions, in other words, for emergence to take place and, in this respect, search for catalysts (73).” Thus, the researchers looked for places where strategic changes could be made that will facilitate individuals and organizations to engage with each other and build the spaces in the shape that best fits their needs.

Furthermore, an individual’s occupation has indirect impacts on their financial and physical capital. However, for the researchers’ Roshanpura’s uncertain future was an important factor in how they chose their area of intervention. Due to the possibility of redevelopment of the site and the residents’ relocation, it was important to develop interventions that generate assets that the residents can take with them. Thus, the interventions needed to generate assets that were not tied to Roshanpura’s location, but rather strengthened their human,

social, and financial capital, as any interventions in the areas of physical and natural capital will be lost with redevelopment and relocation.

Of the problems identified in the findings, the unemployment of the women was a recurring theme in the interviews and observations and became the focus of the researchers’ interventions. Women’s employment is a complex problem as it straddles formality and informality, with women being more likely to work in the informal sector. Additionally, employment status is determined by an individual’s human and social capital, as it shapes their skill and knowledge qualifications, their ability to use social networks, and what opportunities are culturally appropriate.

In developing interventions to address women’s unemployment, a set of observations stood out to the researchers. First, from interviews, observations, and the codesign workshop the women have marketable skills, but they perceived themselves as lacking skills. However, they knew of other women with similar skills who they considered skilled but, due to a perceived lack of access to funds, unable to fully take advantage of those skills. Next, interviewed women in different parts

of Roshanpura expressed a desire to be able to work from home with other women, but during the codesign workshop the women claimed they had not done so before because they thought their schedules would not match. Third, in the interviews with women, it became apparent that they were only in communication with the other women who lived immediately around their homes or family members. This invisible barrier between community clusters prevents the women from exchanging information about employment opportunities. Finally, there is an unrealized connection with the New Market. The women view the New Market as a major commercial center where they shop, send their children to school, and access other services. Some women have family members who work in the New Market, but they do not recognize the potential opportunities the New Market holds for them.

Thus, the researchers recognized the root of the problem of unemployment lay in communication and, more specifically, miscommunication. The women have the intention, and between them they have the skills, information, and assets. The task is to facilitate the women in bringing themselves

and their shared assets together to realize better employment opportunities for themselves. The researchers’ interventions can be visually represented as a funnel: collecting together the women and their resources from disparate parts to facilitate and empower the women to engage with each other and these resources.

The following interventions seek to act as a funnel. With that aim in mind, the proposals occur along a time continuum, with a short term, medium term, and long term strategic intervention to overcome the lack of communication and both real and perceived barriers between the women and better employment opportunities.

Public Information and Community Space

The short term proposal designed and put forth by the researchers addresses the lack of information exchange and community space through the implementation of community information boards to promote public spaces and community interaction. Architects, urban planners, and sociologists alike have recognized the importance of public space to the health, well-being, culture, communication, and solidarity of a community (Bonilla, 2012, 65). Moreover, scholars have identified socioeconomic, environmental, and artistic factors as the most important in determining the quality of social interaction in public spaces (Stauskis & Eckardt, 2011, 117). Additional factors include sociological, socio-psychological, communal safety, and the aesthetical quality of public space (see Eckardt, 2010; Fainstein, 2010; Bell, 2008; and Sitte, 1896). However, it has also been noted by scholars of the same disciplines the deterioration of public spaces. Privatization, modern transport and communication technology, and specialization has fragmented public spaces while encouraging individual isolation (Bonilla, 2012, 66-67; also see Sennett, 1994; Loukaitou-Sideris, 1988; Boyer, 1996; Celik et al, 1994, Valentine, 2001; Ford, 2000; Madanipour, 1999, 2003 and 2010).

According to Stauskis and Eckardi (2011), while public spaces reflect the history, culture, and target demographic of the area, there are certain elements necessary for a successful public space.

First there needs to be a “backstage” and “front stage,” usually an open area big enough to hold potential users. The close proximity of a landmark, like a statue or fountain, help to demarcate the “front stage.” Next, there needs to be a spectators area where people can stop and watch the users of the public space and potentially join. It should also have a passer-by area that does not interfere with the main area or cut off the spectator area from the front stage and moves with the natural flow of traffic. Finally, the area should feel safe. A simple street light can promote a feeling of safety (Stauskis and Eckardi, 122). To maximize public use of the information board, it is important to take these elements into consideration. The designs for the information board take into account current use of spaces, flows of pedestrians and motorbikes in and out of the area, and elements that encourage mingling.

The community information board will consist of a simple board with a protective overhang. In addition to the board, there will be a seating area that does not obstruct the board but allows users of the board to also mingle and enjoy the space. The board and accompanying seating area and overhang can be built with minimal cost and reusable materials by the locals. Within Roshanpura there are residents who work in construction, a number of hardware stores, and a scrap metal shop from which labor and materials can be obtained. Due to Roshanpura’s size, to maximize the reach of the area’s communication systems several information boards will need to be erected. Through mapping activities, the researchers identified strategic areas within Roshanpura. These areas are located where the community already gathers, near landmarks, or in open spaces near major pedestrian walkways. Additionally, there should be an existing structure

Roshanpura, and residents have expressed a feeling of safety. The information boards will be accessible to all residents to use to acquire or post information, news, advertisements, and announcements. The open space around the community information

4.3.1 Possible places to put the Information Board

boards can also double as a community space for festivals, holidays, celebrations, and recreation.

IMPLEMENTATION

The researchers will recruit locals to help them build two or three community information boards at the already identified locations. As the construction required is minimal and can use reusable materials, the costs and time commitment will be minimal. Additionally, involving the locals in its construction will hopefully generate feelings of ownership among community members as it will involve them in both the designing and construction process. Any legal or informal consent to use the selected spaces will also be acquired ahead of time, and owners of the selected spaces will be involved in every step of the design and implementation process.

Upon completion of the board, the informal councilor will be informed and asked to invite the community to an event at one of the boards. The researchers will ask the informal councilor to share the information about the community event on the boards and through his usual methods.

At the event, the researchers will explain the board to the community and post flyers from local organizations and businesses as a demonstration of the boards’ use and spur the comunity to start adding their own information. The event will also include other festive activities, such as music, dancing, and cultural performance by the local puppeteers community. By making the introduction to the boards a larger event, it will let more people know about the boards and their uses than just those in their immediate vicinity.

The researchers will check the boards once a week for the next month, making note of any added

information or damages made to the boards. They will also ask residents for their feedback about the board, specifically whether they use the boards, if they find the boards useful, and possible modifications. If the boards prove successful and positively received by the community, then the researchers will build more boards in other strategically identified locations. If the boards prove unsuccessfully and are not perceived as helpful by the residents, the researchers will attempt to make a digital iteration of a community information board. Research in the Brazil favelas have found social media as a means to empower poor, marginalized populations. In David Nemer’s study of the use of community technology centers (CTCs) by residents of a favela in Vitória, Brazil, he found that the daily use of Facebook by the residents served as a means of self education, self expression without fear of retaliation from local drug cartels, socialization, and community mobilization (2016, 374).

While internet access in Roshanpura is unpredictable, the researchers have observed some of the residents do use social media, and all of them possess mobile phones. Thus, attempting a digital means of community information sharing is a possible next step after the community information board.

Possible challenges and solutions

The researchers identified four possible challenges faced in implementing the intervention.

1. The board will not be maintained, with old information piling up and the space being vandalized

2. The spaces identified for the boards may come under some form of legal or informal ownership rights that prevent the space from being used

3. The residents do not use the board

4. Locals refuse to build the board

Almost all of these challenges can be overcome by persuading the informal councilor to use the board. As a leader for the community and the linchpin in the current communication system, his use of the boards will encourage other residents to use the board as well. Additionally, the informal counselor or members of his family can help maintain the boards, removing any old information and performing any necessary repairs. He can also serve as a liaison between the local builders and possible owners of the spaces chosen for the boards, using his influence to obtain permission to build the boards and

Medium Term Women’s Employment

Cooperative

To more directly tackle women’s unemployment, in the medium term the researchers propose the formation of a women’s cooperative. The United Nations has identified gender equality and women empowerment as a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), recognizing the deep-rooted gender inequalities in societies all around the world. In just the area of employment, women lack access to decent occupational opportunities, experience workplace segregation and discrimination, and suffer from a gender wage gap. Additionally, society denies women access to decent education and health services, and it excludes them from economic and political decision-making (United Nations). In 2013, UN statistics indicated that for the AsiaPacific region the employment-to-population ratio for women was lower, at 46.6% compared to 75.1% for men (UN, 2014, 16). In Bhopal, only 16.3% of the female population are employed, compared to 19.6% female employment in the district (Census of India, 2011, 15 and 28).

A possible solution to the problem of gender inequality and women’s empowerment is the formation of women’s cooperatives. Scholars since the 1970s have proposed the promotion of cooperatives for women as a solution to the appalling working conditions and pay women in the informal sector are forced to endure. The common claim is that cooperatives offer economic and social benefits to the women involved, such as higher

incomes, educational opportunities, and social empowerment (Mayoux, 1995, 211). In India, the 1940s and 1950s saw the promotion of cooperatives through government initiatives to reduce poverty. These were mostly established by men (Datta & Gailey, 2012, 572). The cooperatives in India were founded on Gandhian ideology, which is based on principles of self-reliance, collective ownership, profit sharing, and cooperation. It was not until the 1970s that women cooperatives started in India (Ibid, 570). In the 1980s, government programs began targeting handicraft training programs towards women, often followed by concessionary credit for cooperative groups. The mid-1980s also saw the expansion of the number of cooperatives and cooperative-type groups by the Development for Women and Children in Rural Areas Programme (DWCRA) (Mayoux, 213).

Cooperatives in India vary in structure (i.e. nonprofit, for-profit), intent (i.e. producer, service, training, advocacy, etc.), and level of government support. Thus, there is no “ideal” cooperative but rather a range of options that depend on the economic and market situation as well as the needs and requirements of the women. However, according to Mayoux (1995), successful cooperatives require at least a few core women with the necessary skills who are willing and able to put in the time and effort (212). Other identified factors that can derail women initiatives in India include poor planning, administrative mistakes, and governmental interference.

As Mayoux observed, the structure of the women’s cooperative in Roshanpura will be dependent on the women themselves. The structure must fit with their lifestyles, needs, goals, and the economic

and market situation. In Roshanpura, the desired outcome is for the cooperative to provide a source of steady and higher income for the women in a socially acceptable way. With this objective in mind, a for-profit working, or production, model would be more appropriate than a non-profit model. For-profit cooperatives operate similarly to private businesses in that the primary aim is profit maximization. Nonprofits concern themselves with the furthering of a social agenda. There can be for-profits with a social agenda and non-profits with a business that channels profits into their efforts. Additionally as a working or production cooperatives the main intent of the cooperative would be for the women to work collectively on a specific product or limited list of products. Working cooperatives also offer some flexibility in organization, including decision making, work space, formality, and items produced.

Much of the structure of the cooperative will be determined by what the women decide to produce. Through the codesign workshop, the researchers identified several skills and products the women currently produce, including on an irregular basis for money. Cooking, stitching, and mehendi were the main skills the women had and had made money with, but they also have skills in knitting, embroidery, and pottery. Upon organization, the first task faced by the women will be in determining which product, or limited list of products, the women will produce together.

However, regardless of what the women produce, at its core the structure of the cooperative will be driven by its collective membership ideology. Proponents of cooperatives have identified several benefits of cooperative membership, including: Bypassing the middleman in terms of acquiring materials and selling finished products, resulting in

higher profit margins for the women. Women have the freedom to work from home or together near their homes at a time that fits their schedule, allowing them to work without neglecting their household responsibilities.

While debated by scholars, cooperatives do offer some social benefits in terms of women’s independence and empowerment, though this is usually dependent on whether there is a strong social agenda or not attached to the cooperative’s formation.

Finally, the equal share of profits promotes equality among the women, dispersing the individual risks among its members.

Lijjat Papad serves as an example of the benefits received by members in a cooperatives. Lijjat Papad is a for-profit cooperative, but with social aims in regards to empowering its women members. It was founded in 1959 by seven women, and by 20082009 it had 42,000 members and 72 branches in 17 states. Members, in addition to equal share of profits, benefit from transportation, medical checkups, scholarships for their children, literacy campaigns, computer training for members’ children, and saving and borrowing campaigns (Datta & Gailey, 574).

In order for cooperatives to function properly though, their must be some requirements imposed on members. Sankalp, a rural women’s cooperative initiated by BhartyaAgro Industries Foundation (BAIF) Development Research Foundation, requires members to choose one of eleven product categories and then recieve training it that product’s quality, costing, and production until they are comfortable operating from their own homes. Members of each product class meet every fortnight, and six members also serve as administrative employees for the cooperative (Singh, et al, 2014, 550-551).

Some cooperatives also require their members to contribute to the startup capital. In the case of Lijjat it was 80 rupees each. Lijjat and other cooperatives also have quality requirements for their members. The experienced members of Lijjat inspect the finished product of the other members to ensure standardized high quality (Datta & Gailey, 575).

Similar to other Indian women cooperatives, the women in the Roshanpura cooperative will be required to attend meetings and contribute to the decision making process, and they will be required to produce to a specified standard established by the members collectively. They will also need to share in the risks and rewards of the cooperative, equally investing their capital, time, and labor into the cooperative’s efforts and partake equally in the cooperative’s successes. Further requirements could include contribution of capital to a collective credit scheme, or completion of a training course, either organized by the more experienced members or

from a government or NGO program. Regardless of the structure or member requirements, a women’s cooperative in Roshanpura will require startup capital for the purchase of materials and marketing. Four avenues of funding present themselves:

Government

Several government agencies and programs support village and cottage industries as well as cooperative development, including All-India Handicrafts Board (AIHB), Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Handloom and Textile Directorate (HID), Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB), and Development for Women and Children in Rural Areas Programme (DWCRA) (Mayoux, 213). Several of these programs provide more than just funding. In Mayoux’s study of women’s cooperatives in India, a tailoring cooperative in Karn received bank loans, training, a workshed, clothe, and a marketing outlet from DWCRA. A handloom weaving cooperative in West Bengal received training, loans, a workshed, and marketing assistance from the West Bengal Handicraft Training Department. Additionally, a bamboo work cooperative in West Bengal received training and bank loans from AIHB (Mayoux, 215).

A women’s cooperative could take advantage of these government schemes. In particular, the KVIC has an office located in the New Market, and the state office for the Handicrafts Development Commission is located in Bhopal. The state also has its own Cooperative Department through which the women can apply for funding.

NGO

NGOs also provide funding for women’s cooperatives as a strategy for women’s empowerment. Mayoux identifies Self-Employed Women’s Organization in Ahmedabad as a particularly well documented case. Additionally, she identifies a tailoring cooperative in Madras started by an NGO. The NGO provided training, working facilities, and handled all the marketing (Ibid, 216).

For Roshanpura, there is a local NGO dedicated to improving the livelihoods of low income women by offering training workshops in skills such as cooking, tailoring, and weaving, with additional instruction in marketing and business administration. Upon completion of the workshop, women receive special government small business loans from the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment and join a support group of women who have also completed the program. A cooperative in Roshanpura could partner with the NGO to receive training and credit.

Private Banks

A less popular option for cooperatives is receiving loans from private banks. As most women’s cooperatives in India are founded by low income, disadvantaged women, banks are less likely to offer loans to them due to a high risk of default. If they do give them loans, the interest rates are usually prohibitively high. However, there are some instances where banks funded the startup of a women’s cooperative. For example, the Sankalp cooperative received funding from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) (Singh, et al, 550).

In Roshanpura, the local banks will reportedly not lend to the residents. However, there is a bank scheme among a few women. They receive microloans from other private bank Madhya Pradesh and other states. The women who join the cooperative can join this bank scheme. However, according to the informal leader, the terms for these loans are not good with a high interest rate.

Members

Finally, the members can be the source of their own funding. As mentioned earlier, Lijjat required all its members to contribute 80 rupees towards buying materials. A bamboo work cooperative in West Bengal also required its members to each contribute 100 rupees to start a cooperative bank account. In lue of money, the members of some cooperative used family connections to acquire startup materials and market outlets. For example another bamboo work cooperative in West Bengal acquired a workspace from one member’s relative, bamboo from another’s aunt, and a cart to transport the bamboo from another’s uncle (Mayoux, 216).

The women in Roshanpura can do a similar savings scheme among themselves, asking each member to contribute a small sum to collectively place in a cooperative bank account from which they can draw from for acquiring materials and product marketing.

After the cooperative acquires funding, they will need to purchase the materials necessary to start production. The material will be dependent on what the women choose to produce. In addition to the example above where the women procured materials through familial connections, the women in Roshanpura can also purchase materials from wholesalers located in the Old City. Vendors living in

Roshanpura already go to the Old City to buy stocks of vegetables and other products from wholesalers to sell. The women can use these connections to contact wholesalers for materials.

The cooperative will also need to develop its marketing strategy. Roshanpura’s location in the New Market provides an ideal location for selling their finished product. It is considered a commercial hub in Bhopal, and its commercial character make it more accessible for women to participate. An important decision the women will need to make in regards to marketing is whether to operate informally or to formalize themselves. The New Market has a thriving informal commercial sector of street vendors, from established food stands to temporary sidewalk vendors. Informality has its benefits in that transaction costs are minimized. Startup costs are lower and red tape in the form of taxes, regulations, registration paperwork are avoided. However, it limits producers to local production and distribution. As a cooperative, they can formalize themselves under the Madhya Pradesh Department of Cooperatives by registering for cooperative status. The process for registering involves Twenty members, who are not family, jointly submit an application to the Office of Assistant Registrar in the prescribed format. The Assistant Registrar’s Office will assign a convener to the cooperative’s case, who will provide support and guidance to applicants regarding all legal and administrative proceedings The members of the cooperative will conduct a meeting at which they will adopt a set of agreed upon bylaws. The Assistant Registrar’s Office/District Co-operation Union has a copy of model bylaws the cooperative can obtain to help with the writing of their own bylaws

The convener will submit the action plan along with his recommendations for the cooperative’s registration to the office of Assistant Registration Upon verification the office of Assistant Registration will issue a registration certificate (Government of Madhya Pradesh Co-operation Department, 2017). Formalization has its own benefits. State registered cooperatives receive tax breaks and are eligible for special credit programs with the government. Additionally, government registration opens up the opportunity to sell their products in the government sponsored cultural handicraft stores, two of which are located in the New Market. Registration also allows the women to expand their product distribution to the rest of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, and other states. Formal registration as a cottage industry allowed Lijjat Papad to establish branches outside Mumbai, the city they started in, and to expand into other product categories, such as cleaning products and other snacks (Datta & Gailey, 577).

Implementation

There are two possible avenues through which a women’s cooperative can be initiated:

The researchers will survey the women of Roshanpura, sampling the women through opportunism and snowballing, to determine their interest in possibly joining a women’s work group. Women who express interest will be added to a WhatsApp group. Three years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started an initiative to increase Internet connectivity in the country called Digital India. Over that period, WhatsApp has become the medium of choice for Indians to communicate through. According to WhatsApp, India has more users than any other country, with one in six Indians

using the application (Krishna, 2018). The majority of residents the researchers have developed close connections to in Roshanpura have WhatsApp and have expressed a preference for the medium as a means of communicate. Thus, it makes sense for the researchers to use the application to initially organize the women. In addition to the application being free and only requiring a wifi connection, the women are free to leave the group at anytime, minimizing the required commitment from the women. Additionally, WhatsApp has proven useful in the Indian food industry, providing a “democratic forum where Indians can share and codify their knowledge and skills, in new ways, and even profit from them (Ibid).” For example, WhatsApp has been used by farmers to market their produce, homemakers to start informal food businesses among their neighbors and friends, and by advocates to spread information on healthy foods (Ibid). The researchers believe WhatsApp can also prove useful in starting the initial organization of the women in Roshanpura and overcoming the invisible barriers between them.

Once a sizable number of women have been added to the WhatsApp group, through a translator, the researchers will initiate conversation among the women on the group. They will also invite them to a skills exchange workshop. During the workshop, the researchers will present the idea of a women’s cooperative. After repeated workshops and discussion on the WhatsApp group and at the workshops, the researchers will guide the women in forming goals and desires around bettering their employment opportunities, whether that takes the form of a women’s cooperative or skills sharing. They will then help the women develop guidelines for themselves to met these goals.

Alternatively, the researchers will partner with the NGO that has already held a cooking workshop in Roshanpura. The NGO has already formed connections with some of the residents in Roshanpura, and they have connections with the necessary authorities to guide the women in skills training, writing a business plan, finding funding, and navigating the necessary paperwork for formalization. The NGO’s workshops can serve as the means to overcome the invisible barriers between the women as well as provide the skills and business training, administrative support, and support system to mobilize the women to organize themselves.

Challenges and Possible Solutions

Four main challenges present themselves in creating a women’s cooperative.

The cooperative experiences cultural backlash from male relatives of the members, or male relatives usurp the money made by the members for their own use.

The women are either unable to find funding or they mismanage their finances and end up in debt.

The women are unable to build a marketing strategy for their products or they are unable to compete in their chosen marketing location.

Finally, and most importantly, members lack motivation to fully engage and invest in the success of the cooperative, either from apathy toward the cooperative principles or from an inability to balance familial duties and production.

Most of the solutions to these challenges are contingent on the presence of a few women who are willing and able to make an effort towards navigating the social and financial hurdles of setting up a cooperative. One way to facilitate these women is to put them in contact with a local NGO or government program that can assist

them in locating funding and providing training in marketing and financial management. The NGO already providing training and loans in their area is an ideal partner for the women of Roshanpura. Additionally, the hiring of a paid employee to handle the daily business activities, such as keeping the account books, paperwork for formalization, and the marketing activities. This strategy can work out fairly well as in the case of a successful handloom weaving cooperative in West Bengal that employed a male manager who was accountable to the women members (Mayoux, 219). These two strategies can help overcome challenges in funding, marketing, and motivation. The former challenge in overcoming a patriarchal family structure can be navigated by allowing the women to operate from home. Thus, to participate in the cooperative, the women will not need to ask permission to leave the home from male relatives, and they will still be able to complete their household duties. The cooperative can also offer an informal, membersonly savings scheme where members can safely place the money they earn and draw from when they need it to prevent male family members usurping their earnings for their own use.

Identification of women with the skills, desire, and need to work together collectively as well as a few core women willing and able to put in the time to organize and possibly train the women.

Creation of a business plan that includes what will be produced, costs and sources of inputs, marketing strategy, and member obligations

Acquisition of funding from government scheme, an NGO, private bank, or SHG (i.e. the members and their family members)

Establish a market and grow membership.

Formalization through registration with the Madhya Pradesh Department of Co-operatives (must have 20 members, who are not related, fill out an application)

Apply for credit with the Department of Cooperatives and use to expand production through the construction of a community women’s center and employ office staff to handle accounts and paperwork associated with formalization

Long Term

Women’s Center Community

In the long term, the hope is that the short term and medium term interventions will evolve into a women’s community center. The community women’s center will have two functions: first as a base for the women’s cooperative where they can store materials and finished product, house the administrative activities, and offer training to members and their children; second as a community center where the same information from the boards can be shared and the community can celebrate holidays, festivals, and family events like engagements, marriages, and births.

Other women’s cooperatives have used a central workspace to operate from. After three years of production, Lijjat’s membership had grown so big that they had to decentralize production. Women could still work from home, but they picked up dough and returned their finished product to a central production facility (Datta & Gailey, 575). In the cooperatives studied by Mayoux, most of them had work sheds from which the women worked collectively. By making the center also double as a community center though, it will integrate the cooperative into the larger community, empowering the women to take on more active roles in society than what is traditionally seen as culturally acceptable. Ultimately the community center will strengthen the social, financial, and human capital of the community, building social networks, strengthening cultural traditions, providing income generating activities, and building skills to maximize labor resources.

The shape the women’s community center takes is contingent on Roshanpura’s future. If the area is not redeveloped, the residents can use reusable materials to build the center in an abandoned plot currently being used as a rubbish dump and public space. If Roshanpura is redeveloped and residents relocated, the center can still be built in a location close to where the members relocate because by then they should have built up a strong enough social network, skills, and financial capital to be able to adapt to relocation without loss of their livelihoods.

In the long term, the outcome of women’s cooperatives in India varies. In Mayoux’s study of women’s cooperatives in India, she identified those who continued to operate successfully, remaining economically sound and democratically run. Some cooperatives broke up, but members continued to operate from their homes individually, profiting from the training and marketing connections they made through participation in the cooperative (215). Lijjat Papad is the most well known success story of a women’s cooperative in India. From its inception in 1959 by seven semi-literate women working out of their homes in Mumbai, it now has 72 branches in 17 states, 42,000 members, salaried employees to support members’ activities, and has received awards in entrepreneurship. There is no certainty that a cooperative started in Roshanpura will achieve the success of Lijjat Papad, but even the less successful and failed women’s cooperatives benefitted the participating women by increasing their human, social, and financial capital to the extent that they could pursue a profitable livelihood on their own.

Reflection

For most of the participants in the fieldwork, Bhopal represented our first impression of India. We discovered a city that moves forward between a dichotomy of rhythms: its history, festivals, lakes, and its position as the state capital, a commercial hub, and one of the chosen cities in the Smart Cities Mission. Amidst this push and pull of tradition and modernity, Bhopal tries to preserve its identity while also becoming a city of progress.

As foreigners, we instantly became an attraction, and the exposure and attention served as both a means to engage with people and an uncomfortable intrusion into our privacy.

Coming into the fieldwork, we each experienced our own uncertainties and expectations. This was a new place, culture, and way of life none of us had encountered, and the approaches and practices of UEP were equally as foreign to us. It was an experience full of first times, from new routines to the challenging of our own perceptions about places, planning, communities and even learning processes.

Despite coming into the fieldwork with open minds, we still had preconceived ideas about slums and the people who live in them. We expected to find poor living conditions, decayed buildings, unhygienic

conditions, lack of infrastructure, and no desire of the residents to interact with foreign students. Roshanpura proved us wrong from the beginning with a cup of chai at the local leader’s house. Walking through the site, we experienced curiosity and excitement down every narrow alleyways and every interaction with the residents.

Every visit to the site provided new insights and information. A different time, different person or group interviewed, could lead us down different topics. The multi-layered character of Roshanpura highlighted for us how, beyond the external walls and stigma to the word slum, these communities are much more complex.

The complexity demands a reduction on the work scales, compared to traditional planning. The small scale at which UEP works, does not necessarily denote area, but it works on a human level, one that allows a better connection with the people in a community. This is where we find a disconnection between the local planning context and communities like Roshanpura. The trust relationship with them represented what is probably our biggest resource as researchers.

APPENDIX

COMMUNITY MAPPING

RANKING ACTIVITY FORM

DRAWING WITH CHILDREN

DRAWING WITH CHILDREN

skill cards

eXAMPLE Flyers

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