May discrimination and urban exclusion pass through words and language? How many terms, at first sight neutral, are discriminatory? Everyone has heard about favelas, a term born in Brazil and entered, like the French word bidonville, in the common language in every part of the world to indicate a shanty town. The origin of the …
Continue reading “Slums, bidonvilles or favelas? Words and urban exclusion”
The new millennium has begun with an event of historical significance for humanity: the urban population overtaking the rural one, pushed by the demographic explosion in Asian and African conurbations, places that were still classified as rural and “pristine” in our imagination. The challenge that new megacities offer to the environmental, social or economical sustainability …
Continue reading “Cooperation and sustainability in urban development”
As we saw from the introductive post on participatory methods for urban development, the current theme of residents’ participation in planning processes is not exclusively present in western cities or research institutions. Indeed, in African, Asian and South American megacities, we assist to a strong spread of “bottom-up” participative initiatives, especially in informal districts, often …
Continue reading “Learning from slums – participatory methods of data collection”
The relationship between the informal city and the institutions is obviously complex and it often turns into a refusal to dialogue and mutual recognition. For the residents of many slums, the “state” is a far, unreliable, if not threatening, entity, while for the politicians the slums are often a problem to remove. It’s not really …
Continue reading “Shaping the informal: Slums, maps and censuses”
Since some years, the concept of participation has powerfully started to be part of the ordinary lexicon linked with international cooperation. The times when the western organizations and experts were unilaterally deciding what to do and where and how to do it has ended, as they started to involve the projects’ local actors, beneficiaries and …
Continue reading “New participatory methods of urban development”
The new Garage Italia in Dakar is a professional school for mechanics based on the model already developed by the NGO Bambini nel Deserto in Burkina Faso.The structure will rise on the shores of Lac Rose, traditional arrival location of the Paris – Dakar rally. The proposed architecture uses the containers as main elements so …
The project for a new market for the Kakuma refugee camp was developed for the 2017 IDevelopment international competition. Around a large square with an elliptical shape shaded by an innovative bamboo structure, there are spaces for market stands and environments that can be used as classrooms for professional training or as shared laboratories for …
In the village of Mukwamba, not far from Lusaka, the NGO Sport 2 Build has built several schools over the years. To complete the educational offer it is necessary to build an arena that can be used for sports and theater activities. The metal structure has been designed using modular elements but varying the heights …
The activities concerned the preliminary design and the feasibility study for a program of restoration and rehabilitation interventions of dams and small reservoirs for the collection of water for irrigation purposes in the region of Lubombo, eastern Swaziland. The projects were carried out for the participation of the NGO COSPE in the call of the …
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Technical assessments, masterplan design and evaluation of alternative management plans of dumping for the new Aysakrom dump site. The masterplan for the new dump site, located in the northern outskirts of Axim is based on the innovative use of recycled materials for the leachate layers, the use of phytoremediation technology and a dynamic waste disposal …
Continue reading “Waste management plan and dumpsite – Ghana”
