The technique was tried in the 1980s by the Atlantic Richfield Company, butGlassPoint Solar, of Fremont, Calif., which cut the ribbon on a pilot project Thursday, says its plant is the only one of its kind now operating. Other companies have discussed such projects.

The process is cheaper than using natural gas, even at today’s depressed prices for that fuel, and trims the carbon footprint of the gasoline, according to GlassPoint. The pilot plant, completed in January in Kern County, is very modest, occupying less than an acre and producing only about a million B.T.U.’s per hour. But the company says it could quickly be replicated on a larger scale and could eventually displace 80 percent of the natural gas used to produce a barrel of oil.

GlassPoint said that at a full-size plant, its technology could produce steam at a cost of $3 per million B.T.U., compared with a market price of gas today of around $4 per million B.T.U.

Whether GlassPoint can get that far remains unclear. The company has no track record in the oil industry and has had three different business strategies in less than two years. Formerly known as CleanBoard, GlassPoint changed its name in October 2009 when it abandoned plans to use a solar-powered factory to make gypsum-based wallboard and said it would work with other wallboard manufacturers. Last year, it refocused its business yet again on using solar power to extract oil.

Rod MacGregor, GlassPoint’s chairman, said that burning natural gas to make steam for oil recovery was the largest single use of natural gas in California. About 40 percent of California’s oil is produced through such “enhanced oil recovery,” and the steam can account for as much as two-thirds of the production cost of such oil, according to GlassPoint.

The amount of steam needed to produce a barrel of oil varies according to the age of the field, but two million B.T.U. per barrel is typical.

Several companies use curved mirrors to focus the sun’s light to make steam, but on Thursday, GlassPoint unveiled a radically different design, one it says could also be used to make steam for electricity production.

In existing steam-electric solar plants with curved mirrors, the mirrors sit on heavy, rigid frames so that they will not be deformed by wind and can survive storms.

GlassPoint has built a greenhouse and suspended extremely lightweight mirrors from the skeleton of the building. The greenhouse is kept at higher air pressure than the outside environment, so no dust can come in, reducing the problem of cleaning the mirrors. A robot crawls across the glass roof to wash it. The wash water is collected for reuse, an important point since many old oil fields are in deserts.

A different solar energy company, BrightSource Energy, is building a solar steam system at a Chevron oil field project in Coalinga, Calif. It is supposed to go into service in the second half of this year.

Using solar power for oil recovery makes moot one of solar’s most difficult characteristics, its intermittency, according to John O’Donnell, vice president of GlassPoint. “You’re heating a cubic mile of rock,’’ he said. “It doesn’t matter if you heat it up a little higher in the day.’’

In the pilot project, the greenhouse is too far from the wellhead to send the steam by pipeline, so it is preheating the water, which will then be boiled by natural gas, reducing natural gas use but not as much as in a mature production facility.

Another advantage, according to Mr. MacGregor, is that the well is not fussy about steam quality, in contrast to a steam turbine that makes electricity, which demands constant temperature and pressure. “If there are hot water droplets in the steam stream, the rock won’t care, but a turbine certainly would,’’ he said.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/using-solar-power-to-extract-oil/#more-92952

Final Presentation

We hope to continue to work to make the chart above an interactive website, hopefully in a partnership with an established social design organization.

The urban population has been rising for decades. Within this, the population of urban slums have been rising exponentially. Without land ownership, these citizens’ rights are limited or even obsolete. With their power in numbers, they have begun to organize.

INTERNATIONAL

Slum Dwellers International (SDI) [homepage]

• formed in 1996 by an alliance of NSDF, Mahila Milan, & SPARC

• endorsed by World Bank & USAID
• organized in a framework of federations who achieve their aims through
  • saving and credit groups
  • enumerations and settlement mapping
  • life-size model houses
  • exchanges
  • pilot projects
• applauded in Robert Neuwirth’s “Bricks, Mortar & Mobilization”

Homeless International [homepage]

• a UK charity that supports community-led housing and infrastructure related development

• in partnership with local partner organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America [partners]

• initiatives are all led, developed and managed by the local community groups themselves

Cities Alliance [homepage] “cities without slums”

• global coalition of cities and their development partners committed to scaling up successful approaches to poverty reduction
• members:

  • Local authorities, represented by United Cities and Local Governments and Metropolis

  • Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States of America

  • Asian Development Bank, European Union, UNEP, UN-HABITAT and the World Bank

• the “Cities Without Slums” action plan was developed by the Cities Alliance in July 1999 and launched by Nelson Mandela at the inaugural meeting of the Cities Alliance in Berlin in December 1999
  • goal is now reflected as Target 11 of the Millennium Development Goals of the World Bank

Habitat International Coalition (HIC) [homepage]

• the offspring of NGO committee formed to help organize and coordinate the NGO input into the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements in Vancouver in 1976

• an independent, international, non-profit alliance of some 400 organizations and individuals working in the area of human settlements
• list of affiliated national and local organizations [link]

Misereor International [homepage]

• founded in 1958 by the Catholic Church in Germany
• all-encompassing benefactor for the poor
  • micro-lending
• works with many local/regional organizations: ACHR, Homeless Peoples Federation, etc

UN-HABITAT [homepage]

• the United Nations Human Settlements Program
• programs: Best Practices & Local Leadership, Housing Rights, Cities Alliance, Water & Sanitation, Slum Upgrading Facility
• list of accredited organizations involved [link]

ASIA

Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) [homepage]

• started in 1988 by a group of professionals and social activists involved with urban poor development activities in various Asian countries
• representative for Habitat International Coalition, for Asia
• main regional network on human settlements and urban issues consulted by many UN agencies such as UNCHS, UNDP and ESCAP
• active functional units
  • Regional Eviction Watch Program
  • Asian Women and Shelter Network
  • Young Professionals Program
  • Savings-and-Credit Activities
  • Community Organizing and Strengthening
• Nat’l networks in Nepal, Korea, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Japan
• Collaboration
  • United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP)
  • UN-HABITAT
  • CITYNET – the Regional Network of Local Authorities, NGOs and CBOs working on human settlements
  • United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
  • Habitat International Coalition (HIC)
  • UN Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS)
  • SDI
    
• Transparent funding [link] from governments and NGO’s
• Tel: (66-2) 538-0919
  Fax: (66-2) 539-9950
  Web: www.achr.net
  Email: achr@loxinfo.co.th
  Contact Person: Somsook Boonnyabancha, Maurice Leonhardt
  Address: 73 Soi Sonthiwattana 4 Ladprao Road Soi 110 Bangkok 10310 Thailand
  Community Organization Development Institute ­ (CODI)
  Urban Community Development Office ­ (UCDO)

Cambodia

Society of Urban Poor Federations (SUPF) [SDI link]

• formed in 1993 with support from the NSDF in India

• operates in 200 slums and has extended beyond Phnom Penh to 10 other cities and towns
• 1998, Prime Minister agreed to stop evictions and upgrade 100 settlements
• 20% of Phnom Penh’s 1 million people live in slums

• associated w/ SDI [link], ACHR
• Tel: (855-23) 720890
  Fax: (855-23) 720890
  Web:
  Email: updf@forum.org.kh
  Contact Person:
  Address: PO BOX 2242 Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Urban Resource Centre Phenom Penh [homepage]

• they assist communities to develop their own ideas for development
• bridge the gap between authorities and the urban poor
• two main objectives:
  • to provide technical and management support to community federations to equip them to plan, design, mapping, implement and maintain settlement improvement program
  • to increase dialog on key urban issues between the various interested parties through formal talks workshops and forums
• member ACHR
  

India

Indian Alliance

• Comprised of four organizations
  • NSDF
  • Mahila Milan
  • SPARC
  • Nirman
• Some achievements listed here

Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC) [homepage]

• founded by Sheela Patel [wiki] in 1984

• “social workers, researchers, students, doctors and other professionals who wished to participate in the creation of an institution which would explore new forms of partnerships with the poor in their quest for equity and social justice”
• concentration on pavement dwellers, women, & shelter
• affiliated with ACHR & Homeless International
• Tel: (91-222) 238 65053
  Fax: (91-222) 238 87566
  Web: www.sparcindia.org
  Email: sparc@vsnl.in
  Contact Person: Sheela Patel
  Address: PO BOX 9389 Mumbai 400 026, India

National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF)

• established by Jockin Arputham in 1974
  • contractor turned activist who fought and won an eviction order for 70,000 people in his settlement
  • winner of the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding
  • Homeless International Interview
  • Ramon Magsaysay Award Citation
• 2004 membership of 750,000 households spread around almost 70 towns and cities in India
• smaller local networks; eg. Railway Slum Dwellers’ Federation in Mumbai

Mahila Milan “Women Together”

• formed in the 1980s, by NSDF
• sister organization to encourage more women to enter leadership roles in slum development and poverty alleviation
• four tier program
  • Milan Nagar, a cooperative designed to seek alternative siting for their housing
  • open bank accounts establishing saving schemes to assist women towards purchasing new homes
  • provideeach family with essential food and clothing
  • deal with crises, such as the provision of emergency loans, or assisting with police-related problems

SPARC Samudaya Nirman Sahayak (SSNS or Nirman)

• non-profit founded by SPARC, NSDF, and Mahila Milan in 1998
• support building and construction projects
• Homeless International’s partner in implementing CLIFF (Community-Led Infrastructure Finance Facility) in India

Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP)

• founded in 1979 to provide cost-effective and long-term solutions to inadequate housing and water supply in Tamil Nadu
• grant funding and guarantee arrangements to encourage banks to lend for very poor families to develop their houses
• Associated w/ Homeless International

Indonesia

Urban Poor Consortium [homepage] [SDI link]

• Jakarta-based NGO
  
• issues of urban poverty, land and housing
• coordinates local networks, “Urban Poor Linkage” (Uplink), a coalition of community-based organizations, professionals and NGOs around Indonesia founded in 2002
• Tel: 62 21 864 2915 – / 86902407
  Fax: 62 21 869 02408
  Web:www.urbanpoor.or.id
  Email: upc@centrin.net.id
  Contact Person:Wardan Hafidz
  Address:Billy Moon Blok H-1/7
  Jakarta 13450
  Indonesia

Korea

Korea Center for City and Environment Research (KOCER) [homepage]

• formed by the merging of the Urban Poor Research Institute (UPRI) with the Korean Space and Environment Research Association (KSERA) in 1994
• four division: Community Action Division, Land Use and Housing, Industry and Labour Division, Environment Pollution Division
• policy-oriented, training for community leaders
• member ACHR

Nepal

Lumanti [homepage]

• NGO dedicated to the alleviation of urban poverty in Nepal through the improvement of shelter conditions
• works in 68 slum and squatter communities throughout Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Thimi facilitating three programs :
  • The Urban Community Empowerment Program (supported by Action Aid Nepal)
  • Water and Sanitation Programme (supported by Water Aid Nepal)
  • Support for Displaced Poor Urban Communities (supported by Ockenden International)
• Tel: (9771) 544 926
  Fax: (9771) 523 822
  Email: shelter@lumanti.wlink.com.np
  Contact Person: Lajana Manandhar
  Address: PO BOX 10546 Kathmandu Nepal

Nepal Settlement Protection Society (Nepal Basobas Basti Samrakshan Samaj)
National Federation of Squatter Communities (Nepal Baso Bas Basti Samrochan Samaj) [SDI link]
National Federation of Women’s Savings Collectives (Nepal Mahila Ekta Samaj)

• ACHR & Lumanti affiliated
• establishment of the Kathmandu Urban Poor Support Fund
• implementation of Nepal’s first community-driven and municipal-supported housing relocation project for river-side squatters at Kirtipur

Pakistan

Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) [homepage] [wiki]

• Orangi, Pakistan’s largest squatter settlement on the outskirts of Karachi, a city of 12 million
  • 1.2 million people on 8000 acres (density 96,000/sq mi)
• OPP began in 1980
• programs in low cost sanitation, housing, health, education and credit for micro enterprise
• partner w/ Homeless International
• helped over one million people to improve sanitation since its foundation
• infant mortality rates have fallen from 130 (1980) to 40 (2006) per 1000 (UN Human Development Report)

Urban Resource Center-Karachi [homepage]

• founded 1989 at the Department of Architecture and Planning of the Dawood College in Karachi
• create a space for interaction between poor communities, NGOs, private (formal and informal) sector interest groups, academic institutions and government agencies

• member of ACHR
• “The Rational Behind The Urban Resource Centre Concept” by Arif Hasan

Philippines

Philippine Action for Community-Led Shelter Initiatives, Inc (PACSII)

• 40% of the Philippines 82 million people live in slums
• partner w/ Homeless International
• grew out of a church based organisation called the Vincentian Missionaries Social Development Foundation, Inc. (VMSDFI)

Homeless People’s Federation of the Philippines (HPFP) [homepage ] [SDI link]

• incorporate over 70,000 people in 25 cities
• began on the dumpsites of Payatas,Philippines
• priorities on communities on dumpsites, etc
• provides communities with information about city development plans and draws local authorities into dialogue
• land has been secured in several cities and houses have been constructed
• supported by the Vincentian Missionaries Development Forum (VMSDF)
• affiliated with SDI, ACHR, Cities Alliance, Misereor International
• saved over US$1.38 million
• Tel: (63-2) 455-9480
  Fax: (63-2) 4542834
  Web:http://homelesspo.blogspot.com
  Email: vmsdfi@info.com.ph
  Contact Person: Father Norberto Carcellar
  Address: 221 Tandang Sora Avenue, PO BOX 1179, NIA Road 1107, and Quezon City, Philippines

Sri Lanka

Sevanatha [link]

• founded in 1989 by a group of professionals and community leaders of the urban poor in Colombo
• implementation of community empowerment projects in urban poor settlements, implementing housing and infrastructure programmes to improve physical and environmental conditions in low-income settlements
• organizing an Urban Resource Center – a network building and experience sharing programme among NGOs and CBOs
• engaged in a micro-credit program
• affiliated with ACHR and Homeless International
• Tel: (94-33) 222 7962
  Fax: (94-33) 222 7962
  Web:
  Email: wdbf@sltnet.lk
  Contact Person: Upali Sumithre, Murin Fernando
  Address: No. 30, Kandy Road Galtotamulla, Yakkala, Sri Lanka

Women’s Development Bank Federation (WDBF)

• emerged out of a pilot project of women’s mutual help groups in 1991
• loans are made from women’s own savings for small businesses and emergencies and to pay off crippling debts to money lenders
• 30,000 members

Thailand

Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) [homepage] [SDI link]

• formation and strengthening of myriad forms of community networks
• assisting various forms of community savings and credit organizations to be set up
• ACHR affiliated & SDI [link]
  
• 2044 / 28 – 33 New Phetburi Road, Khet Huai Khwang,
  Bangkok 10320, THAILAND
  Phone (66-2) 716-6000
  Fax (66-2) 716-6001
  e-mail : codi@codi.or.th
  website : www.codi.or.th

AFRICA

Angola

Development Workshop-Angola [homepage]

• since 1981, non-profit organisation working to improve settlements and livelihoods of the poor in less-developed communities
• shelter, peri-urban upgrading, water supply and sanitation, microfinance and small enterprise development, peacebuilding, governance and disaster mitigation
• funded on a project basis by grants from NGOs, national and international development agencies and private foundations
• HIC affiliated
• Allan Cain, Director
  C. P. 3360 · Luanda
  Rua Rei Katyavala 113
  Luanda
  Angola
  P: (+ 244 2) 44 83 66 / 71 / 77
  F: (+244 2) 44 94 94
  W: http://dw.angonet.org/
  E: dwang@angonet.org

Ethiopia

Integrated Holistic Approach Urban Development Project (IHA-UDP) [homepage]

• launched in June 1989 following detailed research, planning, budget preparation, and signed agreements with government and donors
• begins programs in Community Development, Physical Upgrading, and Primary Healthcare. Programs are slowly handed over to newly organized community organization to run with help and oversight. Programs listed here
  
• due to increased need and popularity, IHA-UDP started the Institute for Urban Workers (IUW) to teach both grass root and professional workers at certificate, diploma and soon Masters degree level
• PO Box 6889 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

P: +251-1-714671
E: iha-udp@ethionet.et
W: http://www.ihaudp.org

Ghana

Ghana Homeless People’s Federation

• info on HI website [link]
• began in Ghana’s capital, Accra, in response to the looming mass eviction of the entire Old Fadama settlement
• working in 6 out of the 10 regions in Ghana and in 4 of Ghana’s 5 largest urban localities, namely Accra, Kumasi, Ashaiman, and Takoradi
• affiliated w/ SDI [link] & Homeless International
• Tel: 09233-21-682896
  Fax: 09233-21-682896
  Web:
  Email: pdghana@idngh.com
  Contact Person: Rabiu Faruk Braimah
  Address: 10 Perigrino Aryee Street, Abossey Okai, Accra

People’s Dialogue Ghana

• a community-based NGO working with Ghana Homeless People’s Federation

Kenya

Muungano wa Wanavijiji

• formed by residents of informal settlements at the peak of forced evictions and land grabbing in 1996
• organize the urban poor threatened by eviction, to advocate for their rights and to resist forced evictions or land grabbing by politically and economically advantaged individuals, organizations, institutions and companies
• advocates for permanent status and alternative resettlement areas for residents, by demonstrating constructive community-led approaches to slum upgrading
• affiliations: Homeless International [info], SDI [info]
• Tel: (254) 2 0 565 752
  Fax:(254) 2 0 571 204
  Email: landrite@pamoja.org
  Contact Person: Jane Weru
  Address: PO BOX 10269 Nairobi, Kenya

Pamoja Trust

• legal rights focus
• aids communities gathering information about their slum settlements to work with communities in advocating for research and funds to be used to support community-led upgrading processes
• affiliations: SDI & Homeless International

Malawi

Centre for Community Organization and Development (CCODE)

• spawned Malawi Homeless People’s Federation

Malawi Homeless People’s Federation

• savings groups
• clean water advocate
• affiliations: Homeless International [info link]
• Tel/Fax: +265 1 756781/2
  Mobile: +265 8 8206258
  Email: sikunkhoma@ccodemw.org
  Contact Person: Siku Nkhoma
  Address: 2nd Fl Nasa Blg, Near Area 3 Market, Lilongwe, Malawi

Mozambique
Savings Groups

• SDI affiliate [link]
• South African Federation started savings groups in Inhambane in 2005
  
• links to communities in Maputo and Quelimane
  • in Quelimane there is a close working relationship with the city authorities
• groups in Maputo are linked to UN Habitat.

Namibia

Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG)

• voluntary association formed in 1992 to assist low-income housing groups
• restructured to become the support NGO for the newly created Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia
• affiliations: Homeless International [link] & SDI [link]

Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia

• organization of savings groups
• savings groups have led to land acquisition and tenure
• affiliations: Homeless International & SDI
• Tel: (09 264 61) 239398
  Fax: (09 264 61) 239397
  Email: nhag@iway.na
  Contact Person: Anna Muller
  Address: PO BOX 21010 Windhoek Namibia

Sierra Leone

Savings & Enumeration Group

• SDI [link]

• the Ghana Federation linked up with Y Care International in Sierra Leone and assisted them to start a savings and enumeration programme in mid 2007
  
• mobilization has started in the slums of Kroo Bay and Dworzack

South Africa

Abahlali baseMjondolo [homepage] [wiki]

• a movement of shack dwellers in South Africa which started with a road blockade in the city of Durban in early 2005
• now operates across the province of KwaZulu-Natal
• elected head – S’bu Zikode [wiki]

South African Homeless People’s Federation

• founder member of SDI
• helped communities to organize through the establishment of savings and loan schemes, mapping and settlement enumeration exercises, and pilot housing and toilet development
• built links with national, provincial and municipal governments across South Africa, enabling slum and shack dwellers to access land, claim housing subsidies and tackle other facets of poverty in their communities
• 2005, restructured as the Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP)
• affiliations: HI, SDI

Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP)

• active in all 9 provinces
• forty-thousand savers in about 700 settlements
• driven by local, settlement-based leadership, with regional and national structures only playing facilitative and advocacy roles, unlike SA Homeless People’s Federation
  
• manages uDondolo Trust: a conduit for resources for its core organizational activities: advocacy, learning, governance and documentation
• development finance for land, infrastructure and housing is managed jointly with uTshani Fund, FEDUP’s long term urban development partner
• receives 6000 subsidies per annum in 6 provinces as a result of a pledge by the national Minister of Housing
• affiliations: HI [link] , SDI [link]
• Tel 27 82 900 3187
  Fax 27 21 4474741
  Web: www.utshani.org.za
  Email: rose@utshani.org.za
  Contact Persons: Rose Molokoane, Patrick Magebhula

uTshani Fund [homepage]

• not-for-profit housing finance and development company
• invests in innovative partnerships between organised slumdwellers and the South African government, as part of a process to change relationships within slum communities, and between them and the state, around issues of human settlement and livelihoods
• works jointly w/ FEDUP

Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORK) [homepage]

• a nucleus for professionals and grassroots activists who think independently yet plan and act collectively
• provides support to networks of urban and rural poor communities who mobilize themselves around their own resources and capacities
• enable communities to learn from one another and to create solidarity and unity in order to be able to broker deals with formal institutions especially the State

Swaziland

Swaziland Homeless Peoples Federation

• Peoples Dialogue Swaziland, support NGO
• launched in 2001
• made up of community organizations in rural areas
• support from the South African Federation and has also received exchange groups from Zimbabwe and Namibia
• SDI [link=]
  
• Tel:09 268 611 5478
  Email: siyatele@netactive.co.za
  Contact Person: P Makora, People’s Dialogue Swaziland

Tanzania

Center for Community Initiatives

• established in 2004 with a vision of having an improved quality of life (socio-economic) status for all Tanzanian particularly the urban
• operates in Dar-es-Salaam and Arusha, and has supported the Homeless People’s Federation of Tanzania to emerge
• by the end of 2005 the Federation comprised 15 savings groups in Dar es Salaam and 5 in Arusha
• SDI [link]
• Tel: +255 744 300345
  Email: cci_tz@yahoo.com
  Contact Person: Mwanakombo Mkanga
  P.O.Box 31515
  SIDO Hqtrs-Plot No.892-95
  Mfaume/Fire Road Junction Upanga

Uganda

Centre for SDI Learning

• Uganda was the first “Centre for SDI Learning” proposed by the Board in late 2002
• engagement has resulted in savings groups in three slums (Kisenyi 1,2, &3)
• savings collectives in Kampala and Jinja were first established in late 2002 when the Indian, South African and Kenyan Federations began to work with the Uganda Government to design and implement citywide slum upgrading programmes
• SDI [link]
• Tel: 09 25641342934
  Fax: 0925641342232
  Email: saban@imul.com / saban@info.co.ug
  Contact Person: Sarah Ibanda
  Address:P O Box 10, Entebbe, Uganda

Zambia

People’s Process on Housing and Poverty in Zambia

• support NGO for the Zambia Homeless and Poor People’s Federation
  • formed in 2001 from a nationwide network of collective savings groups
  • 22,000 such families across 14 towns and cities nationwide collectively saving
• affiliations: HI [link ] , SDI [link]
• Tel: +260 9 7580409
  Email: nelsonvusa@yahoo.com
  Contact Person: Nelson Ncube

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation

• NGO support from Dialogue on Shelter for the Homeless in Zimbabwe
• began in 1998 as a network of community savings schemes made up of households living in poor urban communities
• extensive negotiations with Govt. and enumerations
• work closely with the South Africans and the Namibians
• affiliations: HI [link] , SDI [link]
• Tel: (263 4) 704 027
  Fax: (263 4) 704 123
  Email: beth@dialogshelter.co.zw
  Contact Person: Beth Citekwe-Biti
  Address: PO BOX CH 934 Chisipite, Harare Zimbabwe

SOUTH AMERICA / CENTRAL AMERICA

Argentina

Fundacion Vivienda Y Communidad (FVC) (Federations of the Urban Poor)

• linked to the Trade Union movement
• interacted with SDI groups in Kenya and South Africa
• affiliations: SDI [link]
  
• Tel: 054 11 4567 3719
  Fax: 054 11 4567 3719
  Web:
  Email: fvc@fvc.org.ar
  Contact Person:Susana Murphy (Fundacion Vivienda Y Comunidad)
  Address:25 de MAYO 381 (B1702FKG) Gudadela, Province of de Beunos Aires, Argentina

Bolivia

Fundación Pro-Hábitat

• formed in 1993 with the aim of “responding to the challenge of promoting community participation and management as an essential strategy in the development of human settlements in Bolivia”
• works with community organizations to coordinate participation and management in settlement development
• seeking to organize a credit program to aid in this
• affiliation: HI [link]

Brazil

Intercao [homepage]

• support NGO, organized in 2005 as an arm of SDI in Sao Paulo
• 2004, the first savings schemes were started by a South African exchange team with support from the Sao Paulo Housing Secretariat
• working together with the Brazil Foundation to develop a working relationship with private sector institutions to secure finance and access to materials and technical assistance for slum upgrading
• affiliation: SDI [link]
• Tel: 0955 113159-2621
  Web: www.redeinteracao.org.br
  Email:contato@redeinteracao.org.br
  Contact Person: Anaclaudia Rossbach
  Address: Rua Marques de Itu,58 –Conjunto 908, Vila Buarque – Sao Paulo, SP, Brasil
  CEP: 01223-905

Brazil Foundation [homepage]

• a public nonprofit organization that provides financial and technical support to local Brazilian nonprofits in their pursuit of a more equitable society
• acts as a bridge connecting concerned corporations and individuals in the US — largely from the Brazilian Diaspora community — with social leaders who are taking action on the local level
• mobilizes resources and talents to contribute to the improvement of social conditions
• support new strategies to address Brazil´s entrenched social problems
• Av. Calógeras, 15 / 13º andar – cobertura
  Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20030-070
  Brazil
  Tel: (021) 2532-3029
  Fax: (021) 2532-2998
  info@brazilfoundation.org
• 345 Seventh Ave. #1401
  New York, NY 10001
  U.S.A.
  Tel: (212) 244-3663
  Fax: (212) 244-4334
  newyork@brazilfoundation.org

Colombia

Leticia Saving Group

• formed in 1999,hey receive support from Gaia Colombia (Gaia Amazonas Foundation) [homepage]
  • NGO that works in partnership with indigenous communities and organizations for the development of their rights and the conservation of Amazon forests
• 67 members who are saving to purchase land in this southern Amazon town on the border with Brazil and Peru
• affiliation: SDI [link]
  
• Email:fiona@cable.net.co
  Contact Person:Martin Hildebrand

Honduras

Women’s Savings Groups

• The Brazil NGO, Interacao started women’s savings collectives in the capital city of Tegucigalpa in early 2007
  
• A support NGO has been established

After giving this more thought, I am proposing a slightly modified direction. Taking into account our resources (in terms of time/expertise), I think we should consider how we can be most effective with our work. The prior post about Mumbai highlights the complexity of the issues we are engaging. It is difficult to speculate on how the specifics of slum redevelopment in Mumbai (or any other city) are transferable across cities, nations, continents. Essentially, they may be too specific to be meaningful at the larger scale – nevermind the effort required to do a truly effective case-study or find a novel collaboration between two organizations.

Despite this, there are certain paradigms present in the Mumbai example that are transferable or have value in the fact that they are distinct from practices in other contexts. I propose that we operate more at the level of paradigm rather than nitty gritty. More after the break…

We argue that to work effectively in this context, architects must first understand its scope. As such, our challenge is to present and diagram the scope of slums and methods/mechanisms for working within them. I propose that we establish a superstructure for categorizing types of slums, types of action within slums, and the entities that carry out that action. Tentatively, I am calling these Places of Action(WHERE), Types of Action(WHY), and Bodies of Action(HOW). Hypothetically, architects can work anywhere within this spectrum and by outlining the whole spectrum, we free ourselves from making a value judgment concerning the architect’s role – should it be service or profit? I don’t believe that it is our responsibility to predetermine that, but instead to unpack the scope of this new territory of work and expose the cracks that are open to architects.

Here is a start at establishing the superstructure, within which we can infill more finely tuned categories. At the moment, they have a polar nature, but I think we can fill in the middle to produce a fluid spectrum. For instance, there is a lot of grey area between investment and aid, we can begin to infill that. Think of a political spectrum. As we fill these in, we can use a specific examples we have come across for each notch in the spectrum.

Context/Places of Action: Muture Slums v. Emerging Slums
Where the question of slums in Lagos is one of rapid growth, the problem in Brazil and Mumbai (evidently) is one of transitioning slum populations/land into the formalized city. Is this transition done on an investment basis or aid basis? Is it coordinated by local government institutions or outside organizations? Seems to me that these require a both/and answer.

Paradigm/Types of Action: Investment v. Aid
Concurrent with the distinction between muture v. emerging slums is the concept of investment v. aid. In the case of muture slums, the market sees the potential for investment (often at the expense of the slum community). In the case of Dharavi in Mumbai, the project is profit-driven – an investment. Its approach and potential for success is debatable, but worth our attention. In emerging slums a paradigm of aid is more prevelant – financial resources committed to basic needs of health and safety.

Mechanisms/Bodies of Action: Internal v. External
Both paradigms – investment and aid – can take one of two forms: internal bodies operating locally within the immediate context, or external bodies which operate outside a particular locality. The Slum Redevelopment Authority in Mumbai is internal while the UN is external. Countries such as India and Brazil are organizationally/financially sophisticated enough to operate internal bodies. This is not always the case in areas of Africa, where resources and organizational stability are absent, leaving external organizations as the only capable bodies of action.

Mechanisms/Bodies of Action II: Knowledge v. Money
this one is a late addition… we can edit these as we go, suggestions are appreciated…
Distinguishing between organizations that contribute knowledge v those that contribute financial resources. Again, there is a whole spectrum of both/and in the middle.

The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) was established on December 15th, 1995, to serve as the planning authority for all slum areas in Greater Mumbai and to facilitate the rehabilitation schemes. SRA’s responsibilities are: to survey and review the existing position regarding slum areas in greater Mumbai; to formulate schemes for the rehabilitation of slum areas; to get the slum rehabilitation schemes implemented; to do all other such acts and things as may be necessary for achieving the objective of rehabilitation of slums.

The objective of SRA’s Slum Rehabilitation Scheme is to not only redevelop, but also rehabilitate the slum and its inhabitants. Through the scheme, rehabilitation flats are built free of cost to the slum dweller by cross-subsidisation provided by free-sale flats. Developers are allowed to construct sale flats on slum land, whether it is government or private land, in exchange for the construction of flats for slum dwellers.

This article provides a slum dweller’s perspective on SRA’s initiatives.

And more interestingly, a memo regarding the transition from ‘informal settlements’ to ‘formalized city.’ Post-war Tokyo is seen as a precedent.

“This memo attempts to show that from a slum, Tokyo incrementally developed to become the future city” that we know today. Slum-type urbanism is a legitimate form of urban development characterized by the primacy of “lived” space over “conceived” space.

The memo regards the redevelopment of Dharavi, a slum of 1 million people in Mumbai. Described as a ‘Boomtown’, major efforts are underway to suture the slum land and inhabitants into the formal space and economy of the city.

The site is being sold to private development interests at a price of $2.3 billion dollars. In exchange for reurbanizing the 230 acres (according to specific gov’t guidelines) the developers must rehouse the 57,000 families currently residing in Dharavi. Here is a good introduction, Blueprint for a New Dharavi. Googling it will lead you to hordes of information/articles. I’m writing a follow-up post to think through how we may be able to use Mumbai, the SRA, and Dharavi as part of our research and proposal.

I came across a series of papers addressing the ‘Culture of Open Networks.’ Although the majority of the writing addresses new media, a pair of essays by Mike Davis and Saskia Sassen examine the presence/evolution of slums in the contemporary city. The specific focus is Bangalore, but their analysis of ‘slum production’ is a helpful addition to our general research. As we look further at the opportunities available to us as architects/designers, it is important to remain cognizant of the larger socio/econ/poli structures influencing the physical context we see in front of us.

Here are the Davis/Sassen essays
Here is the full publication entitled In the Shade of the Commons: Towards a Culture of Open Networks