tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6286406474718131512024-03-14T11:13:50.330+07:00informalismhugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-88181515285800402962010-04-07T13:05:00.011+07:002010-04-07T15:16:21.331+07:00Asian Coaltion For Housing Rights in Suva, FijiTHE INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS OF FIJI.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7wmoDAB_NI/AAAAAAAAAtM/3Bqo0MrEhDY/s1600/muanivatu.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7wmoDAB_NI/AAAAAAAAAtM/3Bqo0MrEhDY/s400/muanivatu.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457279317908258002" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Muanivatu, a typical squatter settlement in central Suva</span>.<span style="font-size:85%;"> Photo by Tee.</span><br /></div><br />Fiji is not commonly associated with urban poverty by those from outside. But over the last 20 years an increasing number of Fijian citizens are moving from rural areas and housing themselves informally in the country’s cities. As of 2007 around 12.5% of Fiji’s population were living in informal settlements. This portion is intensified to around 20% of the population living along the Lami-Suva-Nausori corridor.<br /><br />Just under 88% of Fiji’s land is owned communally by <span style="font-style: italic;">matangali</span>, the traditional Indigenous Fijian clan structure. In theory, the <span style="font-style: italic;">matangali </span>system ensures that all Fijians have some land to go back to. But over the years many Fijians have lost touch with their ancestral lands after moving to the city for education, employment and health care. Also almost half of Fiji’s population is decended from Indian laborers brought by the british colonial government. These Indo-Fijians had traditionally leased land from the <span style="font-style: italic;">matangali</span> for farming (mostly sugarcane). Recently many of these leases where not renewed due to a campaign by Fijian Nationalist elements within the Native Land Trust Board. As a result many thousands of Indo-Fijian Families where made homeless and left with no option but to seek shelter in the cities like Suva and Lautoka.<br /><br />The People’s Community Network (PCN) was formed by a local social services NGO, the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA), to support people to find solutions to the problems they face. PCN took the examples of many similar organisations around Asia which are based on uniting communities around activities such as savings, securing land tenure and incremental upgrading. As such they connected with the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR)<br /><br />In a very short time the PCN has grown rapidly with many savings groups forming across Suva and in other cities like Lautoka and Labasa The PCN has also begun to develop its own housing project in Lagi Lagi, an area of Jittu Estate in Central Suva. As well as a road building project in and existing settlement.<br /><br />The PCN has now become independent of ECREA and are facing some challenges on how to consolidate the good work of the past few years and find the right direction ahead. To assist them in this process ACHR organised a visit by community members from Thailand and the Philippines who had faced similar problems in their own settlements and had much valuable experience to share on how to overcome them collectively.<br /><br />ACHR EXCHANGE. GLOBALISATION FROM BELOW.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7wpiH-tw4I/AAAAAAAAAtU/Zfz7EolhHz0/s1600/exchange.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7wpiH-tw4I/AAAAAAAAAtU/Zfz7EolhHz0/s400/exchange.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457282514700583810" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">One of the local PCN members speaks with Pa Chan, a community leader from Bangkok's slum settlements.</span><br /></div><br />Following from a previous visit in 2007 the Asian Coalition For Housing Rights (ACHR) was invited by the local urban poor federation (the People’s Community Network or PCN) to visit and share their knowledge and experience with the community members.<br /><br />The Asian Coalition for Housing Rights is a network of urban poor people’s organisations operating throughout Asia and the Pacific. They are as diverse as the communities and contexts from which the come but they also share a great deal in common, both in terms of problems and tactics to overcome them. Central to the activities of all members of the network is that it is always the people themselves who set the agenda for change.<br /><br />One of the most intereseting aspects of ACHR's work are the exchanges they facilitate between urban poor people to share ideas and experiences. So it was that Pa Chan from Bangkok, Pa Nong from Khon Kaen, Ate Ruby and Celia from Payatas (Manila) came to visit Suva and share their stories with the PCN.<br /><br />A central activity shared by all the groups connected by the ACHR is community savings. Community members deposit a small amount per day or per week to a pool of money which can be used within the community for welfare programs, funeral grants, small low-interest loans for setting up a small enterprise, collective leverage for housing loans and many other things besides. These groups are based locally in each settlement and network with other groups in city-wide and nationally to for federations which can drive larger scale programs.<br /><br />The discussions centered around very practical concerns with the mechanisms of the savings and it was clear that the visit was coming at a crucial time for the PCN. They had been working at setting up savings groups for two years now and had many questions related to the diificulties they had encountered. A common problem that many groups within the PCN were having was that people were dropping out because they could not see the benefits of participating in the savings. Ruby from the Philippines asked the members pat the meeting about all the activities that the groups were doing in their communities, They answered that so far it was mostly just savings. She then spoke about how important it was that the money from the savings should start to recirculate back into the community in the form of loans and small welfare grants. If people could see the benefits of gaining access to low interest loans they would be more encouraged to join and stick with the savings. The idea of handing out the precious savings was a bit frightening for the members of the PCN but Celia and Pa Nong both explained that although they have such a small amount of money, the only way to grow the money is to get it working in the community. One-way savings will never succeed, people have to see to believe.<br /><br />When some of the PCN members asked about how to select people to participate in the savings Pa Chan from Thailand spoke about how the savings groups should not be used to exclude anyone, even if they cannot participate in the savings to begin with. These people, the poorest, the weakest, the ones with the most problems should be put right in the centre of the group planning and be helped first. No-one should be left behind. Ruby spoke about how in their community in Payatas, they, the community leaders, the volunteers organising and collecting the savings, are always the last to get the benefits of the programs. They have not yet received houses even after 15 years in the group because they must set the example of prioritising the ones with most need. If people see the leaders and commitee members helping themselves first, they will quickly lose trust in the group and leave, making the group weak.<br /><br />The discussions then moved on to how to identify the problems and the people most in need. Pa Nong from Khon Kean, the metropolis of Thailand’s Isan region, spoke about their experience working with community architects like Nad (Chawanad Luansang) to conduct city wide survey and mappings of all the settlements in Khon Kaen. The community members mapped and surveyed all the households of their own settlements. Through this they were able to gather hard data about all the problems of the city and were they were felt most acutely. They could also begin to map the solutions, by mapping the skills and resources of the people in the settlements. From there they began to plan together ideas for overcoming their problems, exploring ideas of reblocking, land sharing and on-site upgrading. Through this process and with the support of CODI (Community Organistion Development Institute), the communities were able to solve the land and housing issues for all of their settlements in the entire city!<br /><br />Ruby also stressed that although they, the visitors, had lots to share about the way that things were done in their own community it is crucial that the community members here in Fiji should discuss amongst themsleves about the best approach to take. Together they could make policy about who to include, whether to charge interest, what activities to prioritise, what kind of loans could be taken, what to do when someone doesn’t pay back their loans and so on. These policies can be modified over time. If people are just following the rules set by someone else, there is no deep understanding and real problems can emerge. This was demonstrated by the way the Thai and Filipino federations had developed very different systems, because of their very different circumstances.<br /><br />Although most of the discussion revolved around the mechanism of saving, Pa Chan was keen to remind people that more than the groups being about collecting money, they are a means of collecting people. Once people have come together on something small like saving they can see the advantages of working collectively and can begin to fight for the positive changes they need.<br /><br />WAILOKU: A ROAD TO LINK SEVEN SETTLEMENTS<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7wvZpllktI/AAAAAAAAAtc/fmb_mwEOnWU/s1600/road.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7wvZpllktI/AAAAAAAAAtc/fmb_mwEOnWU/s400/road.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457288966172938962" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The new road in Wailoku, built by the community themselves with funds from the Asian Coalition for Community Action. </span><br /></div><br />Members of the PCN took us to see the upgrading work already undertaken by the PCN in the Solomoni settlement of Wailoku.<br /><br />Solomon Islanders (Solomoni) were also brought to Fiji three generations ago by the British to build the roads. In Wailoku the Solomoni have built their own community on land leased from the government as a community lease. Each household pays $60 per year in rent. The community of Wailoku have already begun upgrading their community with a small projects grant from ACCA (Asian Coalition for Community Action) of $3000US. They have combined this money with labour provided by the community themselves to build a new road connecting the 7 settlements which make up Wailoku. The people are now also constructing a community police post.<br /><br />MUANIVATU. COMMUNITY-LED MAPPING AND SURVEY.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7w18g56eWI/AAAAAAAAAt0/xj6UacAmtHo/s1600/survey.JPG"><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7w18g56eWI/AAAAAAAAAt0/xj6UacAmtHo/s1600/survey.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7w18g56eWI/AAAAAAAAAt0/xj6UacAmtHo/s400/survey.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457296162207463778" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mesaki, Pa Chan and their group discuss the important information to collect. Photo by Tee</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The group from ACHR included four community architects: Nad and Tee from Thailand, Chak Chak from Indonesia and myself from Australia. The PCN requested that we give a demonstration of the people-driven survey and mapping process which has been at the heart of many of the upgrading projects across Asia.<br /></div><br />On Friday afternoon, together with many community members from around Suva, we packed in a bus to head down to Muanivatu, a settlement on government land in central Suva. We had already divided into groups to discuss what information was important to know, from this discussion we made a list of questions to ask as a survey form. After being greeted by some Muanivatu residents we were guided into the community and began to speak with the households and draw them as we went. After a presentation of the maps and information gathered by each group we were treated to some Kava and made plans to return the next day to continue the mapping more deeply.<br /><br />The next morning we gathered with residents from Muanivatu as well as some representatives from other informal settlements across Suva. We began by asking the residents to tell us about Muanivatu and the problems they are facing.<br /><br />Muanivatu is a mixed community which has increased from 7 houses in 2002 to 72 houses today. Over the years they have been issued with 5 eviction notices from the Suva City Council, one of which gave residents only 24 hours to vacate before the demolition teams moved in. After lobbying from the PCN (people’s Community Network) last year the National government acquired the land from Suva City Council, and allowed the community to stay, at least for the mean time.<br /><br />The people of Muanivatu still face many problems. The owners of the land will not allow them to be connected to electricity, forcing those who can afford to use much more expensive petrol generators. Since the recent privatisation of the water supply the cost of aquiring a water meter (a precursor to water connection) has sky-rocketed from $23FJ to $300FJ, resulting in upwards of 8 families sharing a single tap. Toilets are also shared between multiple families and drain to self-built septic tanks or pit-toilets built out in the mangroves. The land is subject to flooding during each month’s high tide and the problems are compounded during heavy rain.<br /><br />We then asked about how to record the information that we had already discussed. What was the crucial information to get? How could it be useful in dealing with the land owners and service providers? We suggested to do a mapping excercise: The residents formed groups based on four areas of Muanivatu and sketched out rough arrangements of houses with the names of the families living in each. As they drew the map they added more information, about all the problems we had discussed earlier such as who had toilets, where were families sharing houses, who did not have water and so on. The people were able to do all this very easily because they already knew it so well, it is their home after all! Mostly the groups gathered on a verandah or communal grassy patches to draw, sending out a scout when they needed some extra information.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7w18Dc0maI/AAAAAAAAAts/xl4vRz1NgJE/s1600/mapping.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S7w18Dc0maI/AAAAAAAAAts/xl4vRz1NgJE/s400/mapping.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457296154300815778" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Residents of Muanivatu map their community. Photo by Chak.</span><br /></div><br />After about an hour or so we all got back together and discussed each map. Each group had done things differently. The people asked each other questions and we discussed what was important to consider when making a map, like having a key and using clear symbols. Altogether the maps presented a wealth of information. The people quickly saw that a community map was a very effective way to gather and organise quite complex information in a way which could be useful not only for understanding the extent of their problems but also to start to plan ways to solve them.<br /><br />Several community leaders from other settlements around Suva also attended and participated in the day. They had no trouble getting the idea and were keen to implement similar exercises with their own communities.<br /><br />The crucial thing in all this work is that by being involved in the research on their own community the people own and can use the knowledge produced much more effectively than if it is done by a group of ‘expert’ outsiders. The knowledge remains in the community and can be used many times over: to organise savings, negotiate land and services and plan for the future of the community.hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-67123625202739614862010-03-08T05:58:00.000+07:002010-03-08T06:02:32.565+07:00Activist Architecture: Tactics for a people-made city<div class="emfield-emvideo emfield-emvideo-youtube"> <div id="emvideo-youtube-flash-wrapper-3"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="350" width="565" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/i9hs8hQaQNI&rel=0&color1=0x151515&color2=0xB1171E&hd=1&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=1&playerapiid=ytplayer&fs=1" id="emvideo-youtube-flash-3">
<br /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i9hs8hQaQNI&rel=0&color1=0x151515&color2=0xB1171E&hd=1&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=1&playerapiid=ytplayer&fs=1" />
<br /> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain"/>
<br /> <param name="quality" value="best"/>
<br /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/>
<br /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"/>
<br /> <param name="scale" value="noScale"/>
<br /> <param name="salign" value="TL"/>
<br /> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerMode=embedded" />
<br /> <param name="wmode" value="transparent" />
<br /> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i9hs8hQaQNI&rel=0&color1=0x151515&color2=0xB1171E&hd=1&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=1&playerapiid=ytplayer&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" allowfullscreen="true" width="565" height="350">
<br /> </object></div></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-48453463298159749722010-03-02T10:22:00.002+07:002010-03-02T10:52:32.489+07:00Creating the conditions for communal life: Comunidad 12 de Octubre, Punto Fijo.<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKFgFZqxI/AAAAAAAAAtE/yjbj8zlicag/s1600-h/puntofijo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 114px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKFgFZqxI/AAAAAAAAAtE/yjbj8zlicag/s400/puntofijo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443877876700654354" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Oil refineries in Punto Fijo. Much of the government’s reform agenda, which has enabled the work of the CTUs, has been funded by oil</span><br /></div><br />In Punto Fijo, a coastal city in the North-West of Venezuela and home to its largest oil refineries, I visited a CTU which has now almost completed the construction of their new houses. The community, Comunidad 12 de Octubre, is now home to a group who have spent the last 15 years fighting for their rights to land and housing. In 1992 they enlisted the help of the local technical university to help them make plans for a new community on a vacant piece of land on the periphery of town. The results of that collaboration are just now being constructed on the land.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKFUPtGMI/AAAAAAAAAs8/IOTf2zHZT7Q/s1600-h/punto-houses.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 166px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKFUPtGMI/AAAAAAAAAs8/IOTf2zHZT7Q/s400/punto-houses.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443877873522645186" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Members of Comunidad 12 de Octubre work during the weekend on finishing their new homes. </span></span><br /></div><br />When the new government signed the decree which officially sanctioned the creation of the CTUs in 2002, Yuraima ‘Tiki’ Fingal and her association of Los Sin Techo ‘those without roofs’ were quick to become registered as the 35th CTU in Venezuela. The administration took special interest in the association and assisted them to get communal title over the land they had been occupying. The communal title grants all the members of the CTU permanent and secure land tenure, which cannot be bought or sold and remains the property of all members in perpetuity. The funding for the construction of the dwellings has been provided by the Ministry of Housing. The community manages the entire process and each family contributes a minimum<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKE9JfWyI/AAAAAAAAAs0/bIORFSspTps/s1600-h/reinaldo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 244px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKE9JfWyI/AAAAAAAAAs0/bIORFSspTps/s400/reinaldo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443877867322563362" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Reinaldo and his daughter take a break from painting and tiling. Reinaldo works in the refinery and joined the CTU ‘for the energy of the people’</span><br /></span></div><br />On first seeing the buildings I was stuck by their unusual ‘space-age’ form, lack of sun shading and the fact that every house was identical, with no apparent consideration of family size or solar orientation. I questioned the residents about why they had opted for this design. Their justifications were interesting. They saw themselves as doing something very new and exciting, the pioneers of a new form of socialism. As such they did not want traditional workers’ homes, rather they wanted something which would symbolise their attitude to community and equality. This also went some way to explaining the homogeneity of design, as the residents were adamant that everyone in the community was equal and thus should get the same house, if the family got too large they could simply get a second house. In this way the design which at first glance had seemed highly inappropriate was now beginning to make sense. For the community of 12 de octubre the symbolism of their houses was at least as important as their basic functionality.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKEYxeI2I/AAAAAAAAAss/bq-TjwgvM3k/s1600-h/tiki-house-sketch.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 252px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKEYxeI2I/AAAAAAAAAss/bq-TjwgvM3k/s400/tiki-house-sketch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443877857558143842" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Sketch of ‘Tiki’ Fingal’s new home. She lives upstairs with her husband and 3 children while her elderly mother lives in the ground floor.</span></span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKD8H3zmI/AAAAAAAAAsk/AUx-y3yY-O4/s1600-h/manzanas.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 260px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S4yKD8H3zmI/AAAAAAAAAsk/AUx-y3yY-O4/s400/manzanas.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443877849867472482" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The houses are arranged in small clusters, referred to as manzanas (apples). Each manzana consists of four ‘mico-manzanas’. Within each micro-manzana the neighbours share a central garden and playground</span></span><br /></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-81701118955763174652010-01-07T10:41:00.014+07:002010-02-08T02:43:29.550+07:00Auto-diagnosis and collective action: The Permanent Workshop for Participatory Design.<div><p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:18px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>Los Comités de Tierra Urbana</i></span><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; letter-spacing: 0px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;" >:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The<i> Comités de Tierra Urbana </i>(Urban Land Councils, CTUs) are self-organising federations of families living in the <i>barrios</i>. The CTUs, officially enabled by a presidential decree in 2002, are a direct continuation of the struggle by groups which began to form in the late 1980s around the campaign for rights to water and land.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">These CTUs, enabled by government land reforms, gain collective ownership of the land they occupy for housing. By granting security of tenure and removing the threat of eviction a fertile situation is created where incremental improvements of the barrios can occur under the guidance of the communities themselves and with the assistance of a wide range of urban professionals, including architects. The CTUs also form around the creation of new settlements (<i>Campamentos de Pioneros). </i>These settlements offer the chance to create new, customised living environments driven by the ideas and desires of people themselves.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"> </p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Crucial to the development of the new settlements is the fundamental participation of the community members at every level of the development of the place. The <i>Taller permanente de Diseño Participativo </i>(Permanent Workshop for Participatory Design) are a group of architects and planners drawn from universities and the public sector who are committed to providing communities with the resources they need to collectively develop their new homes.</span></p><p></p></div><div> </div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VZt5BodFI/AAAAAAAAAsc/V9nlkUVDkTc/s1600-h/northsouth009.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 73px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VZt5BodFI/AAAAAAAAAsc/V9nlkUVDkTc/s400/northsouth009.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423839971174282322" border="0" /><br /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: right; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:10px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A group of <i>pioneros </i>visit the site of their future community at Hoyo de La Puerta. Image courtesy of <i>Taller Permanente de Diseño Participativo</i></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: right; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:10px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i><br /></i></span></p></div><div> </div><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">At Hoyo de la Puerta, a new settlement being developed on the southern outskirts of Caracas, the process of designing new houses for 200 families has expanded to encompass a survey of all aspects of community life. The <i>Taller </i>describes this process as Auto-diagnosis, where the community members themselves research their own problems and situation and generate solutions from that understanding. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;">At Hoyo de la Puerta the auto-diagnosis began with a thorough analysis of the site, its connections to other parts of the city, as well as its local connections and characteristics (water, slope, orientation, access etc). The participants then began to ask many questions of themselves: How will we move around the new community? what areas do we need? what services? what kinds of production? how will we look after children? What emerged was a complex and richly layered vision for the community, a dense programmatic brief detailing all the requirements for the new community including housing, gas-lines, hostels for visitors, community childcare, workshops, clinics, orchards, chicken-houses, hairdressers, pathways, places for playing dominos and many other things. From this brief they then discussed how much of the site should be used for each purpose, how programs could be combined and spaces shared. <br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The group then returned to the site to begin to plan how these various functions could be applied to the specific piece of land. During multiple site visits and through the process of constructing a contour model of the land they identified the best locations for building (with low slope and without environmental protection constraints). With the use of the model they then began to arrange the various programs on the site, considering which programs needed to be physically linked, centrally located, public or private and in proximity to transport and services.</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VZtlMPpiI/AAAAAAAAAsU/Ki2f3Wnpt8k/s1600-h/northsouth010.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VZtlMPpiI/AAAAAAAAAsU/Ki2f3Wnpt8k/s400/northsouth010.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423839965850084898" border="0" /></a><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: right; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:10px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Participants plan where the specific parts of their new community will be located. Image courtesy of <i>Taller Permanente de Diseño Participativo</i></span></p><p face="News Gothic MT" size="10px" style="margin: 0px; text-align: right; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: News Gothic MT; font-size: 12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">With the large scale vision for the entire community now sketched out the workshop shifted focus to the micro-scale, that of the individual house. Continuing with the process of auto-diagnosis the participants began with an analysis of their current living situation. They compiled the demographics of who was in each house, studied what activities those people did, recorded the sizes and characteristics of spaces in which those activities took place and commented on the quality and practicality of those spaces. After this they discussed ways in which things could be done better and what they would change in their houses and surrounding areas. From these exercises the group was able to produce some model house designs drawn from the needs identified by the people themselves.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: News Gothic MT; font-size: 12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></p><p face="News Gothic MT" size="12px" style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </p><p></p> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VZtPfwk4I/AAAAAAAAAsM/KY81ibvpTB0/s1600-h/northsouth011.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 208px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VZtPfwk4I/AAAAAAAAAsM/KY81ibvpTB0/s400/northsouth011.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423839960026354562" border="0" /></a><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:'News Gothic MT';font-size:10px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:'News Gothic MT';font-size:10px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Participants use an analysis of their existing houses to create plans for some new house types. Images courtesy of Taller Permanente de Diseño Participativo</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:'News Gothic MT';font-size:10px;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;">The project is still in its early stages, waiting for approvals and funding to come through complicated bureaucratic channels, but the community now has a concrete plan for the development of their land. It is a plan which they own and understand inside-out because they created it, making it a powerful tool for argument. One participant mentioned to me that through the process she had learned to question everything about her situation. Not just the physical conditions but also social and political ones: “Why are we living in tiny shacks on the edge of a crumbly mountain when others have more than they could possibly use?<br /></p>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-21949493396330833702010-01-07T10:32:00.004+07:002010-02-08T02:18:57.164+07:00Urban Acupuncture: Chacao’s Vertical Gymnasium.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VXP8WpR4I/AAAAAAAAAr0/P7xbD76plqs/s1600-h/northsouth007.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 336px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VXP8WpR4I/AAAAAAAAAr0/P7xbD76plqs/s400/northsouth007.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423837257648392066" border="0" /></a><br /><div><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">One of Villanueva’s former students and long-time collaborators is Mateo Pinto. Together with his brother Matias and Austrian architect Hubert Klumpner, Mateo designed the Vertical Gymnasium, built on the edge of the small inner-city Barrio Santa Cruz by the municipality of Chacao. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The Vertical Gymnasium draws on the <i>barrio</i> practice of maximising the available resources by taking a single open air basketball court and raising it to the roof thereby creating 3 levels for multiple overlapping programs below. These include: a judo area, an indoor basketball court, an indoor running track, a weights gym, a medical centre, meeting rooms and a rooftop basketball court.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The intention of the Vertical Gymnasium is to provide a dense bundle of services and recreational opportunities to the residents of<i> </i>Barrio Santa Cruz. The centre is used by local schools and sporting teams and even those not actively engaging with the centre are accommodated by the undercroft seating where motorcycle couriers congregate and local men gather to read newspapers shaded from the heat of the midday sun.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i></i></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The Vertical Gymnasium could be seen in a number of ways. On one hand it is the generous gesture of the formal city stepping into the <i>barrio </i>to provide it with services. On the other hand, given that Barrio Santa Cruz is a relatively small<i> barrio</i> completely surrounded by formal development and that the Vertical Gymnasium presents a hard wall and opaque screens to the <i>barrio</i>, opening to and connecting more strongly with the formal street, it could equally be seen as the formal city encroaching on the<i> barrio</i> as providing services for it. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This raises questions more generally about the often non-participatory projects of ‘urban acupuncture’, which aim to connect the informal city more strongly with the formal city by inserting formal elements into it. But is it a connection or an invasion? Is it acupuncture or just a jab with a pin? </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-family: News Gothic MT; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> </p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VXPQhZW1I/AAAAAAAAArs/bbt8_TGeXW0/s1600-h/northsouth008+copy.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VXPQhZW1I/AAAAAAAAArs/bbt8_TGeXW0/s400/northsouth008+copy.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423837245882325842" border="0" /></a><br /></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-75510270536269033712010-01-07T10:23:00.007+07:002010-01-29T10:08:26.936+07:00Informal Inventories: the tactics of Federico Villanueva:<div><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Federico Villanueva is an architect, educator and activist. Together with his partner, Josefina Baldo, he has been researching and working on projects in the <i>barrios</i> for over 30 years. Together they oversaw CONAVI (<i>Consejo Nacional de la Vivienda</i> - National Housing Council) from 1999-2002. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The following is a summary of Villanueva’s ideas and tactics for architects working in the <i>barrios. </i>It is based on an interview with Federico Villanueva at his home in Caracas. Through our conversation I was able to learn some of the knowledge and tactics which he has developed through his long experience.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>The barrio is more common, more successful and more efficient:</b> The<i> barrio</i> is often viewed as an aberration, but it is the <i>barrios</i> where more than half the people of Venezuela live. In reality it is the formal city which is strange. The <i>barrios</i> are also much more productive. Over the last 20 years the <i>barrios</i> have grown each year by an average of 3.1% almost double the growth rate of housing in the formal city of 1.6%! </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);font-family:Georgia;font-size:16px;" ><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VUsWqr8iI/AAAAAAAAArU/yxBVykKFyUI/s400/northsouth004.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423834447213228578" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 159px;" border="0" /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-family: 'News Gothic MT'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"></p><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Getting many horses to run together:</b> The key to successful projects is to get government, community movements and trained professions such as architects to all go in the same direction at the same time. This requires delicate negotiation and careful combining of often very different agendas.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>The Architect and the Community:</b> The architect brings the knowledge of alternative structures, materials and processes and the skills to analyse technical factors, manage multiple agendas, to see the big picture and coordinate individual actions. The community brings the knowledge of local conditions and relationships as well as the skills derived from constantly reconstructing their homes and facilities. Neither of these should be underestimated.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Architects at invasion:</b> If it is possible the best time for the architect to get involved is during the initial land invasion. If the architect can have input at this initial stage then things will not need to be redone later.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Counting the stairs:</b> The basis of any work must be a detailed study. Analyse the area, record the dimensions of every house, the slope of every road and path, the number of streetlights and stairs, the width and length of all the drainage channels. Then, when proposing improvements everything can be calculated and budgeted for: the length of electric cable required for new street lights, the amount of concrete to pave new pathways and so on.</span></p><p></p></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VUslLlFpI/AAAAAAAAArc/QMwIQJpyJiw/s1600-h/northsouth005.png"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VUslLlFpI/AAAAAAAAArc/QMwIQJpyJiw/s400/northsouth005.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423834451109287570" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 198px;" border="0" /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;font-size:100%;" ><b>Starting small:</b> After the detailed study, begin with a small project: one house, one day-care centre. The people may be dubious at first but once they begin to see results they will be much more open to get involved. A successful small project can create an explosion in community participation.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: News Gothic MT; font-size: 12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Staying separate:</b> When working with a community is it important to remain professional, don’t try to become part of the community. Treat them as you would any other client, explain the alternatives then leave the room. If you get too involved you may start to influence the outcome.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; min-height: 15px;font-family:News Gothic MT;font-size:12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></p> <p face="News Gothic MT" size="12px" style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-family: News Gothic MT; font-size: 12px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Build before you demolish: </b>If relocation or rehousing is unavoidable, make sure you build the substitution house before you tear the old one down.</span></p></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VUs8srt-I/AAAAAAAAArk/lxco0Wz7bFk/s1600-h/northsouth006.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 117px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VUs8srt-I/AAAAAAAAArk/lxco0Wz7bFk/s400/northsouth006.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423834457422149602" border="0" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline;"><div><br /></div><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VUslLlFpI/AAAAAAAAArc/QMwIQJpyJiw/s1600-h/northsouth005.png"></a><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VUsWqr8iI/AAAAAAAAArU/yxBVykKFyUI/s1600-h/northsouth004.png"></a><br /></div></div></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-78924261055613540902010-01-07T09:44:00.010+07:002010-01-07T10:40:12.043+07:00Building the City Twice: An Introduction to Venezuela’s Barrios.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VRla44SCI/AAAAAAAAArM/tmWThMZMjh0/s1600-h/northsouth003.png"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VLJQenwTI/AAAAAAAAAqk/kmM_4CTIVMc/s1600-h/northsouth1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 368px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VLJQenwTI/AAAAAAAAAqk/kmM_4CTIVMc/s400/northsouth1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423823948651938098" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'News Gothic MT'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">View to <i>Barrio San Agustín </i>from <i>Parque Central </i> in the centre of Caracas.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'News Gothic MT'; "><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'News Gothic MT'; "> </p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'News Gothic MT'; "></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">In Venezuela more than 50% of the population lives in the <i>barrios</i>, those sectors of the city built by residents themselves without official rights or provision of services, on unstable land, under constant threat of eviction and with no legal rights to the homes which they have, in many cases, occupied for generations.*</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><br /></span></p></div><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-family:Georgia;font-size:16px;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VNORG2AwI/AAAAAAAAAqs/q3Cs3GtzbJ4/s400/northsouth002.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423826233743246082" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 237px; " /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"> </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"> </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"> </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'News Gothic MT'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i>Barrio Mamera </i>as seen from the Metro station.</span></p><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:10px;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The <i>barrios</i> are the spatial expression of a deep segregation within Venezuelan society. They contain within them many other types of exclusion; unemployment, lack of access to medical services and education, exposure to crime and violence.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The official city has always had an ambiguous relationship with the barrios. The <i>barrios </i>are home to the builders, drivers, nurses, teachers, cooks and cleaners on which the official city depends. It is a vast pool of cheap labour. Yet the official city refuses to recognise the crucial function of the<i> barrio</i>, referring to it only as a problem, a source of crime, an eyesore, and an urban blight. On most official maps the <i>barrios</i> do not exist at all, they are depicted as blank ‘green zones’.</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><br /></p></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:48px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-size:16px;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/S0VRla44SCI/AAAAAAAAArM/tmWThMZMjh0/s400/northsouth003.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423831029552531490" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 380px; " /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);"><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal 'News Gothic MT'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">A view from central Caracas towards the surrounding </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">barrio</span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic;font-family:'News Gothic MT';font-size:10px;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">In Caracas they say the residents of the <i>barrios</i> had to build the city two times. First, brought into the city as cheap labour, they came as the construction workers who built the highways, stadiums and apartment buildings of the official city. Secondly, on finding no place for themselves in that city, they also worked by night, in solidarity, with rough materials and much imagination, to make their own city - the <i>barrios</i>.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">In such a way the <i>barrios</i> are on one hand the expression of segregation and on the other the expression of the fight against that segregation. The residents of the <i>barrios</i> have had to fight over many generations to claim their right to occupy land, their rights to clean water, sewerage and electricity, their rights to medical care, to affordable, good quality food, to education and employment. This struggle continues in Venezuela today with growing support from the government as well as many urban professionals, including architects. </span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT"><br /></p></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic;font-family:'News Gothic MT';font-size:13px;"><br /></span></div> </span></div> <p></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px News Gothic MT; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'News Gothic MT';font-size:10px;"> </span></div> </div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-81076371982294523482010-01-07T09:12:00.004+07:002010-01-07T09:22:16.171+07:00SOUTH-NORTH. Transgressing Borders & Emerging Forms of Activist Architecture in the Americas.In the second part of Working with the Informal, Learning from the Informal the exploration of ways that architects engage with and learn from communities broadens to encompass case studies from three very different contexts accross South, Central and North America. What is interesting is that despite the very different approaches taken by the practices described here, common threads emerge. Despite being situated on different ends of the old first world/third world, formal/informal spectrum of ‘development’, they are able to influence and inform one another - often not as one would expect.<br /><br />Venezuela, particularly its capital Caracas, provides a clear example of the forces which give rise to informal settlements and which perpetuate the dynamic of simultaneous neglect and exploitation which take place in almost any city, made more potent by the fact that more than half the population are housing themselves informally in the precarious, self-built settlements know locally as barrios. This ongoing situation has given rise to two concurrent movements which are resetting the way residents of the barrios relate to their city. On one hand architects are becoming more interested in the barrios, in the way they form and operate and in the way that architecture can be used to provide a better living situation for their residents. On the other hand the residents of the barrios themselves, through collective organisation and with the support of government reforms, are taking a central role in how their communities develop and relate to the rest of the city. These two movements have produced an wealth of ideas and models of participation, becoming particularly interesting where they intersect.<br /><br />The divided city of Tijuana/San Diego is split by the border of Mexico and the USA. As such it is a microcosm of the unequal exchange which occurs between the nations more generally of North and South. It is also the site of a much more fruitful exchange: between individuals and communities coming from very different contexts but sharing the same physical landscape. On one side of the border waves of Latino immigrants are transforming mundane Anglo-American suburbia into something more dense, lively and communal. On the other side, the exploitative practices of transnational corporations are being used to fuel new, pre-fabricated housing solutions. Perhaps most interesting is the way tactics are drawn from the informal settlements of Tijuana to inform proposals for the improvement of San Diego, a reversal of the traditional ‘knowledge flows’. Architects and artists such as Teddy Cruz working in this bi-polar context have developed some very potent tactics for revealing the contradictions of their context and harnessing them to create proposals for change. The nature of the city is such that by commenting on local conditions they are simultaneously commenting on much broader, global concerns.<br /><br />If Caracas is the archetypal informal city then New York City is perhaps the archetypal formal city. Yet architects in both contexts are working with local communities toward strikingly similar aims. In fact the questions of ‘how-to-engage’ become even more pressing in a context where the majority of people live out their lives without having the smallest involvement in how their environment is created around them. In this context the tactics of participatory design, developed and refined by practitioners working mainly in informal settlements worldwide, take on a new flavour as they are imported into the very different context of the formal city. As such they are another interesting example of the reversal of the traditional view of knowledge flows between the ‘developing’ and the ‘developed’ worlds. The practices working in New York are also interesting in that, through their determination to pass maximum autonomy to the ordinary citizen, that they have shifted their role from the design of physical places into the design of the tools-of-change themselves.<br /><br />Although superficially employing very different strategies to address very different problems, all these practices can be regarded as examples of a new kind of ‘activist architecture’. A way of practicing architecture which takes the whole city as a client. A practice which pairs the skills and resources of architects, artists and designers with the motivation and drive of strong community organisations to change the places we live our lives, working towards better cities for all.hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-24108904699332106662008-12-18T09:33:00.007+07:002009-02-15T04:58:05.378+07:00Border Poetry: La Mona and the Writing on the Wall<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SUm40eb-loI/AAAAAAAAApE/UKOcRl2F_T8/s1600-h/BB.la-mona-composite.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 506px; height: 378px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SUm40eb-loI/AAAAAAAAApE/UKOcRl2F_T8/s400/BB.la-mona-composite.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280955249731737218" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">La Mona (the Doll), or Tijuana III Millenium,</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" ><span style=""> a 17 metre high sculpture built by</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">Armando Muñoz Garcia in his backyard </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">in Colonia Aeropuerto as a tribute to his city</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">on the occasion of Tijuana's first centenary in 1989,</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" ><span style="">and a tribute to the strength and beauty<br />of Tijuana's women.</span></span><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:courier new;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:courier new;font-size:100%;" >The following are 3 excerts from texts found pinned and written on the walls of Estudio Teddy Cruz:</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Refugees inhabit a divided world, between a country in which they cannot live and a country which they cannot enter.</span><br /><br /> <span style="font-size:85%;">- Eyal Weissman.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SUm_LtOxDnI/AAAAAAAAApM/IZymEw9pD54/s1600-h/BB-blackboard.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SUm_LtOxDnI/AAAAAAAAApM/IZymEw9pD54/s400/BB-blackboard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280962245909614194" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">- Ann Micheals, 1958.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Pobre mexico, tan lejos de dios<br />y tan cerca de los estados unidos<br /><br /> <span style="font-size:85%;">- Porfrio Diaz </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />translation:<br />Poor mexico, too far from God</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and too close to the united states.</span></span></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-64033465519201342092008-11-30T02:52:00.008+07:002008-12-05T00:05:41.549+07:00Borderlands: San YsidroI took the Blue line trolley from San Diego Old Town to Beyer Blvd in San Ysidro, one stop before the international border. I was going to meet with Casa Familiar, South San Diego's most important community-based organisation and one of Estudio Teddy Cruz's longest standing collaborators.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGCFfyfwI/AAAAAAAAAoM/FV59xpA53f8/s1600-h/blue-line.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGCFfyfwI/AAAAAAAAAoM/FV59xpA53f8/s400/blue-line.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274355115253464834" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGCw2jyHI/AAAAAAAAAok/PMrIaERedWQ/s1600-h/street.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGCw2jyHI/AAAAAAAAAok/PMrIaERedWQ/s400/street.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274355126891694194" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGTRd1KsI/AAAAAAAAAo0/GaAA6hkgv0E/s1600-h/letterbox.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGTRd1KsI/AAAAAAAAAo0/GaAA6hkgv0E/s400/letterbox.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274355410524252866" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGTD5WdBI/AAAAAAAAAos/IWIJH8Am4fs/s1600-h/apartment.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGTD5WdBI/AAAAAAAAAos/IWIJH8Am4fs/s400/apartment.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274355406881584146" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGTaNTj5I/AAAAAAAAAo8/bynMwTVLqls/s1600-h/night-house.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGTaNTj5I/AAAAAAAAAo8/bynMwTVLqls/s400/night-house.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274355412870860690" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Casa Familiar officially began in 1973, serving the monolingual Spanish-speaking residents of San Ysidro, it has since expanded to serve all of South San Diego's residents, regardless of background, although the demographics of the area guarantee that their clientelle is overwhelmingly Hispanic. Casa Familiar provides a wide variety of services to the community, from assistance with immigration, tax preparation, financial and family counselling to computer literacy, aerobics-for-seniors and Aztec dance classes (for more information see <a href="http://www.casafamiliar.org/index1.html">Casa Familiar's home page</a>).<br /><br />Tonight Casa Familiar is holding a Thanksgiving dinner for the community. Andrea Skorepa, Casa Familiar's heart and CEO, tells me that the Anglo tradition, with it's rather doubtful of native-pilgrim friendship, is a kind of 'exotic cultural experience' for the mainly Hispanic attendees. It is an impressive sight, over 1200 people will be fed tonight, over 4 sittings, served by an army of volunteers.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGBzvG3TI/AAAAAAAAAoE/UJnOYwW4l1o/s1600-h/andrea.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGBzvG3TI/AAAAAAAAAoE/UJnOYwW4l1o/s400/andrea.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274355110485876018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Andrea draws the raffle.<br /></span></div><br />The volunteer waiters include a large presence from the local border patrol. I wonder how the community here feels about close proximity of the force whose illuminated sign at the Mexican border 2km away boasts of 1200 'wanted felons' aprehended in their neighbourhood, coincidentally the same number of people they are helping to feed tonight.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGCy-ldiI/AAAAAAAAAoc/avJzrryaGjs/s1600-h/gunman.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGCy-ldiI/AAAAAAAAAoc/avJzrryaGjs/s400/gunman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274355127462229538" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Tonight is also a celebration of the centenary of San Ysidro's founding in 1908. Today San Ysidro is probably known best for being home to the world's busiest border crossing.<br /><br />Andrea welcomes me heartily and when I mention my association with ETC she responds 'Teddy Cruz! We made Teddy Cruz!". We discuss Casa Familiar's housing program in the community hall kitchen while volunteers scoop cranberry sauce into tiny plastic cups.<br /><br />She tells the story of the of the Casitas de las Florecitas, a complex of 8 affordable houses for first time home owners, to illustrate the disriminatory, anti-logic of many official housing regulations. A common feature in many Latin American homes is a sink, built at ground level, by the back door for use in mopping, washing feet after the beach and party ice-buckets. The San Diego City Council had not seen such an item before and labelled it illegal. After some negotiation the SDCC agreed to recognise the legitimacy of such an item (now refered to as a 'janitorial sink') but still refused to allow it's construction, flagging it as a potential problem of mixing sewerage and storm water. Accordingly the architect, David Flores, designed a movable rain cover for the sink. The SDCC also rejected this, as it could be left open during rain. Finally Flores designed a fixed awning for the entire area, which met with the SDCC's approval despite Flores' own contention that rain rarely falls straight down. 'As we get more civilised, sometimes we don't get any smarter' Andrea concludes.<br /><br />Later I continue the discussions with Flores himself who became involved with Casa Familiar in 2001 by being awarded the Rose Fellowship to fund his work with the organisation. He outlines the numerous mismatches between the planning regulations, the structures of grants and subsidies for affordable housing and the reality of people on the ground.<br /><br />Such issues have been central to ETC's collaboration with Casa Familiar. Teddy has also been working with the organisation since 2001 and the results are two highly innovative projects currently in the pipeline: <span style="font-style: italic;">Living Rooms at the Border</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Abuelitos (Senior Gardens)</span> these projects will be the subject of the next post.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGCkAE0II/AAAAAAAAAoU/taMmwYVYIfo/s1600-h/church.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/STJGCkAE0II/AAAAAAAAAoU/taMmwYVYIfo/s400/church.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274355123441946754" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">This church, built in 1927 was bought by Casa Familiar in order to preserve an important piece of local heritage. It is the site for their collaboration with Estudio Teddy Cruz; <span style="font-style: italic;">Living Rooms at the Border.</span></span><br /></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-3561848456785519682008-11-20T02:09:00.014+07:002008-11-20T07:37:11.780+07:00Estudio Teddy Cruz: Manufactured SitesWhile the border condition of San Diego/Tijuana is central to all of ETC's projects, the majority have been focused on gleaning from the informal settlements tactics of invasion and organisational strategies by which catalytic projects can be inserted into San Diego's suburban homogeneity, variously challenging notions of public space (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">InfoSite 05</span>) and pairing with grassroots organisations to 'contaminate the planning code' (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Houses on the Border, Senior Gardens, Hudson 2+4</span>).<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Manufactured Site</span>s is ETC's first major proposal for intervening in Tijuana's informal settlements. Cruz describes the proposal as follows:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">MANUFACTURED SITES:<br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />The most trafficked border in the world is mainly characterized by a series of illegal 'off the radar' two-way border crossings. While 'human-flow' mobilizes Northbound in search of dollars, 'infrastructural waste' moves in the opposite direction to construct an insurgent, cross-border urbanism of emergency. <br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXNbhAlfI/AAAAAAAAAm0/8f86eptwNMo/s1600-h/Bimmigration.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 280px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXNbhAlfI/AAAAAAAAAm0/8f86eptwNMo/s400/Bimmigration.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270503720910624242" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSWeul3DZI/AAAAAAAAAmM/YThi1e1FlkI/s1600-h/Bdisposable-housing.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 280px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSWeul3DZI/AAAAAAAAAmM/YThi1e1FlkI/s400/Bdisposable-housing.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270502918577393042" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXNGkyzwI/AAAAAAAAAms/irc-BcxteYs/s1600-h/Bhousing-recycled.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 303px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXNGkyzwI/AAAAAAAAAms/irc-BcxteYs/s400/Bhousing-recycled.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270503715289353986" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSWefgrWcI/AAAAAAAAAmE/ls5aOTgDxzw/s1600-h/Bdiscarded-tires.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 280px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSWefgrWcI/AAAAAAAAAmE/ls5aOTgDxzw/s400/Bdiscarded-tires.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270502914529122754" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSbuEWi4bI/AAAAAAAAAn0/PYLwmDdfTgM/s1600-h/Btire-wall.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSbuEWi4bI/AAAAAAAAAn0/PYLwmDdfTgM/s400/Btire-wall.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270508679674913202" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZpT5Yq3I/AAAAAAAAAnM/o6dwLp7OsPk/s1600-h/Brecycled-pallets.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 280px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZpT5Yq3I/AAAAAAAAAnM/o6dwLp7OsPk/s400/Brecycled-pallets.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270506398924974962" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXNgXv9vI/AAAAAAAAAnE/C14YYBuLKCA/s1600-h/Bpallet-house.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 259px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXNgXv9vI/AAAAAAAAAnE/C14YYBuLKCA/s400/Bpallet-house.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270503722213963506" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZpxHFnAI/AAAAAAAAAnU/eBc5LO6h4fw/s1600-h/Brecyled-garage-doors.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 280px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZpxHFnAI/AAAAAAAAAnU/eBc5LO6h4fw/s400/Brecyled-garage-doors.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270506406767074306" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSWfGhwaYI/AAAAAAAAAmc/EVF6Jy9wRbU/s1600-h/Bgarage-door-truck.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 232px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSWfGhwaYI/AAAAAAAAAmc/EVF6Jy9wRbU/s400/Bgarage-door-truck.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270502925002631554" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSWep-TJ5I/AAAAAAAAAmU/Rf9LaNS2vRE/s1600-h/Bgarage-door-house.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 231px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSWep-TJ5I/AAAAAAAAAmU/Rf9LaNS2vRE/s400/Bgarage-door-house.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270502917337720722" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br />Taking advantage of NAFTA generated free economic zones, large maquiladora (assembly) factories position themselves in close proximity with the emerging slums in Tijuana in order to easily extract cheap labor from these informal settlements. Can the maquiladora industry contribute with its own logics and processes of prefabrication to produce surplus, micro-infrastructural support systems that can reinforce the transitional, informal housing environments that dot the periphery of Tijuana?<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZsKpeXzI/AAAAAAAAAnc/yXR6O4oTE0k/s1600-h/Brelationship-diagram.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 191px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZsKpeXzI/AAAAAAAAAnc/yXR6O4oTE0k/s400/Brelationship-diagram.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270506447981928242" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /><br />a maquiladora produced frame : micro-infrastructure for housing in the informal urbanism of tijuana<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSfCGmRSLI/AAAAAAAAAn8/2rJtvc7NtLU/s1600-h/Bthe-piece.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 208px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSfCGmRSLI/AAAAAAAAAn8/2rJtvc7NtLU/s400/Bthe-piece.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270512322410006706" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;">How Mecalux can use their exisitng processes to produce a 'surplus piece'</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />The Manufactured Sites proposal consists of a maquiladora produced prefabricated frame that acts as a hinge mechanism to mediate across the multiplicity of recycled materials and systems brought from San Diego and re-assembled in Tijuana. By giving primacy to the layered complexities of these informal sites over the singularity of the object, this small piece is also the first step in the construction of a larger, interwoven and open-ended scaffold that helps strengthen an otherwise precarious terrain, without compromising the temporal dynamics of these self-made environments. By bridging between the planned and the unplanned, the legal and the illegal, the object and the ground, as well as man-made and factory processes of construction, this frame questions the meaning of manufacturing and of housing in the context of the building community.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXNhNPmLI/AAAAAAAAAm8/LJVJJcdgZ58/s1600-h/Bmaterials-arrive.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXNhNPmLI/AAAAAAAAAm8/LJVJJcdgZ58/s400/Bmaterials-arrive.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270503722438334642" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;">Materials can be delivered to the site</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZtGU_OzI/AAAAAAAAAns/Lu7oJY-D8nE/s1600-h/Bsetting-up.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZtGU_OzI/AAAAAAAAAns/Lu7oJY-D8nE/s400/Bsetting-up.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270506464002128690" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small; font-family: georgia;">The frames can be set up by community members themselves</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZs89RzWI/AAAAAAAAAnk/SMqFGtrlYIs/s1600-h/Bset-up-houses.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 269px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSZs89RzWI/AAAAAAAAAnk/SMqFGtrlYIs/s400/Bset-up-houses.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270506461486763362" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 10px;">And added to, using commonly available material and typical building processes</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'courier new';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">The design is a scaffold system comprised of metal frames manufactured by Mecalux, a maquiladora of heavy-duty industrial pallets. The components are produced by lightly altering existing factory methods and systems of production in order to create, in a sense, a ‘surplus piece’ that is given to the informal communities that are the industries’ surrounding support infrastructure. The scaffold is built, in turn, on top of an artificial pad bulwarked by recycled rubber tires that are interwoven to create a highly functional retaining system. Overall, Manufactured Sites is a transitional architectural system made of PARTS – not an architectural object – that can support and better the unavoidable recycling and improvisational realities of low-income environments. The notion of prefabrication here depends on a triangulation of human and material resources, agencies and institutions. The relationship produced by community based activists in charge of distributing the frame, the community’s participation in building their own housing stock, the architect’s collaboration in designing and facilitating the process, the municipality’s efforts in mediating between the maquiladora industry and the informal sector, and the factory’s support in providing the infrastructure, all suggest an expanding concept of mass-production methodologies.</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXMBk5acI/AAAAAAAAAmk/8EQZbfP_nK4/s1600-h/Bhillside.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSSXMBk5acI/AAAAAAAAAmk/8EQZbfP_nK4/s400/Bhillside.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270503696767740354" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">A vision of how the 'surplus piece' could become a stabilised site for further development by the community</span></div><br />The proposal has been in circulation for some time now, being exhibited from Istanbul to New York. ETC now sees its task as making it work on the ground. An upcoming exhibition at The Museum of Contemporary Art is an opportunity to build a firm coalition: community, NGO, maquiladora, municipal government, media, art agencies and philanthropic foundations needed to take the project from the Utopian to the Real.<br /><br />This project represents a 'perfect' example of how, with only minimal effort, a maquiladora can positively contribute to the communities on which it depends. How can this story create a momentum, encouraging other maquiladoras to sponsor micro-infrastructure projects for their own workers? What part can the municipality play to encourage this 'scaling up'? To what extent can the media be used to offer positive PR incentives to those maquiladoras who participate?<br /><br />The strength of ETC's approach is its grounding in the real situation, based in a thorough understanding of the economic forces at play (from those encouraging factories to set up in Tijuana to those encouraging small enterprises to import used materials from San Diego). It is an example of 'urban acupuncture', seeking maximum effect from minimal change. It is a nimble and light form of activism: engaging with the maquiladoras rather than opposing their presence, reimagining their exploitative relationship with their workers from the inside out.hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-74841901594981825992008-11-19T02:08:00.010+07:002008-11-19T06:06:43.738+07:00Borderlands: TijuanaI went with Cesar Favela from Estudio Teddy Cruz (ETC) down to the San Diego neighbourhood of San Ysidro to cross the border into Tijuana.<br /><br />From the ramp leading over the border wall we could see the now closed Tijuana hostel where people would stay while waiting to use the tunnel which used to go from the house accross the road through a concealed hole in the fireplace through a tiny tunnel under the border wall to a stormwater grate in the San Diego parking lot over which an open bottom van would park to collect the new immigrants and take them deeper into the US.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdlwZ3rhI/AAAAAAAAAkM/6mmBLpxqeV4/s1600-h/B-border-over-tunnel.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdlwZ3rhI/AAAAAAAAAkM/6mmBLpxqeV4/s400/B-border-over-tunnel.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270088523439386130" /></a><br /><br />We pass over the cars streaming freely into Mexico and waiting bumper-to-bumper into the USA. There is are no passport checks or metal detectors entering Mexico. Just a metal turnstile which lets people in but not out. Passing back over requires passports, visas, security checks and waiting in line for typically 2-3 hours.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdmqJ6JkI/AAAAAAAAAkk/qEXSa0oEY_k/s1600-h/B-contasted-flows-eve.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdmqJ6JkI/AAAAAAAAAkk/qEXSa0oEY_k/s400/B-contasted-flows-eve.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270088538941695554" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">into Tijuana / into San Diego</span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMfJUgI_OI/AAAAAAAAAlk/0oC95evxnGA/s1600-h/B-turnstile-to-mexico.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMfJUgI_OI/AAAAAAAAAlk/0oC95evxnGA/s400/B-turnstile-to-mexico.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270090233936411874" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Turnstile into Mexico</span></div><br />We walk to Tonya and Fernando’s house (Tonya also works at ETC). Fernando grew up in San Diego, he and his parents crossed over illegally when he was five years old. Two years ago, during his 3rd year of Architecture at Woodbury College, Fernando and his class went on a field trip to Rome. Fernando bought a ticket from Guadalajara via Chicago, during the Chicago stopover Fernando was pulled aside, questioned and officially deported. He is now living in Tijuana, working odd jobs and trying to get back to his family and finish his degree.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe4dp2ePI/AAAAAAAAAlU/u-_vjaaBuxE/s1600-h/B-tonya-fernando-janet-cesa.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe4dp2ePI/AAAAAAAAAlU/u-_vjaaBuxE/s400/B-tonya-fernando-janet-cesa.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270089944335284466" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Tonya, Fernando, Janet and César</span></div><br />We drive past the dense, lively neighbourhoods, the big freeways, the mega stores and maquiladoras, the squatted settlements climbing up the dusty hillsides, smoke billows from a tree on fire by the road in a dense neighbourhood, we turn off the highway and drive up the mountain to look more closely at the way people are building in the informal settlements.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe4HsZddI/AAAAAAAAAlE/zO8xsXlIP8M/s1600-h/B-megastore.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe4HsZddI/AAAAAAAAAlE/zO8xsXlIP8M/s400/B-megastore.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270089938440386002" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMfJSq36UI/AAAAAAAAAlc/p4bcEyEvrhQ/s1600-h/B-tree-on-fire.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMfJSq36UI/AAAAAAAAAlc/p4bcEyEvrhQ/s400/B-tree-on-fire.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270090233444559170" /></a><br /><br />Retaining walls of old tires filled with dirt, timber garage doors used as walls, reinforcing cages reaching out of concrete frames, ready to extend (the same strategy that is so common in the Philippines and Thailand, is it a globalised idea or a case of convergent evolution?). ETC has studied the processes invading, settling and acquiring land and has investigated the ways in which used materials (ranging from tires, pallets and garage doors to entire houses) are trucked from the US to Mexico for reuse.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdm5qdx1I/AAAAAAAAAks/KO5b4Oyg8z4/s1600-h/B-garage-door-house.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdm5qdx1I/AAAAAAAAAks/KO5b4Oyg8z4/s400/B-garage-door-house.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270088543104780114" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Used tires from the US are a common material for retaining walls on the steep hillsides</span></div><br />The road is falling apart from erosion, we stop at the fringes of the settlements and walk: small gardens between parked cars, a dirt football field with chairs for posts and a carpet for the goalkeeper, sofas under the shade of eucalypt trees. Electricity lines are added to, bendy pvc shoots out from pumped header tanks. Rainwater tanks are also common, but unconnected: not much rain either.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdmXhHZ8I/AAAAAAAAAkc/AIWTX8nn1n0/s1600-h/B-community-garden.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdmXhHZ8I/AAAAAAAAAkc/AIWTX8nn1n0/s400/B-community-garden.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270088533938759618" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Small garden in public space</span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe4K1x1aI/AAAAAAAAAlM/rzg2SYzakFo/s1600-h/B-soccer-field.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe4K1x1aI/AAAAAAAAAlM/rzg2SYzakFo/s400/B-soccer-field.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270089939285038498" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Football field</span></div><br />We chat to a lady who owns a small store: not much buisiness up there at the top of the hill. She tells us that most people in the area work for the maquiladoras, the international factories who have moved across the border to take advantage of the low wages and lax labor laws in Mexico. The relationship between the maquiladoras and the communities who work for them is the grounds for ETC's project 'Manufactured Sites' which will be discussed in further posts.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe397x98I/AAAAAAAAAk8/bEfb05KsAbc/s1600-h/B-maquiladora-%26-houses.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe397x98I/AAAAAAAAAk8/bEfb05KsAbc/s400/B-maquiladora-%26-houses.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270089935820552130" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">A maquiladora, in distance, and the informal housing of those who work there.</span></div><br />I am surprised by signs advertising plots of land for sale. There is a law in Mexico that if land is unused, anyone who makes use of it can own it after continuous settlement for 5 years.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe3zeigNI/AAAAAAAAAk0/zLIPgEj1iF8/s1600-h/B-land-for-sale.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMe3zeigNI/AAAAAAAAAk0/zLIPgEj1iF8/s400/B-land-for-sale.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270089933013549266" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Sign advertising two plots of land for sale</span></div><br /><br />After a good lunch of baja california fish tacos we cruise down Avenida De La Revolucion, the major tourist strip dotted with bars, discount pharmacies, donkeys painted as zebras to pose with etc. Around the corner we enter Tijuana’s red light district: girls young and old stand out the front of short-stay hotels in miniskirts and stilettos, pig-tails, plaid skirts and white socks were particularly common. They work from the hotels and are protected by pimps or ‘owned’ by the police. It is not hard to see why many mexicans are not proud of Tijuana. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal summed up this attitude by describing the city as 'the armpit of Mexico'.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdlwCiaCI/AAAAAAAAAkU/2sVraoq_1pk/s1600-h/B-cheap-drugs.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMdlwCiaCI/AAAAAAAAAkU/2sVraoq_1pk/s400/B-cheap-drugs.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270088523341522978" /></a><br /><br />We then go to meet Giacomo (http://www.archivobc.org/?secc=2&a=104&letra=C) a peruvian architect/artist who came up to San Diego to work with Teddy but settled in Tijuana, and his partner Lucia who works for the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego.<br /><br />After returning from America, Giacomo explored the informal in his native city of Lima, photographing and cataloguing the street vendors, transport networks and informal housing... what emerged was an understanding of how these informal processes develop and grow, incrementally. For example: tracing how an attendant (only a person) can become a vendor (person carrying goods) can become a cart (person with vehicle) can become a stall (person inside vehicle) can become a small store (vehicle becomes immobile) and so on, there is a development in scale but also a formation of a networks of peers and relationships between scales.<br /><br />This led to an interest in DNA, geological processes, the philosophies of Deleuze and Guattari and the internet as models of self organising systems, ones in which the part is never separate from the whole and where heirarchic control structures and pre planning is impossible.<br /><br />This in turn led to the development of his own design studio GERMEN (germ in spanish) and his practice of micro-urbanism in Tijuana such as the portable bench for those waiting for family on the mexican side of the border.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMfJ2qkBPI/AAAAAAAAAl0/a8WyMcGNpyE/s1600-h/B-waiting-bench.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMfJ2qkBPI/AAAAAAAAAl0/a8WyMcGNpyE/s400/B-waiting-bench.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270090243106931954" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">GERMEN's border waiting chair (micro-urbanism)...</span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMfJ6yHs8I/AAAAAAAAAls/zVJ8Z6OdOmc/s1600-h/B-waiting-at-the-border.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/SSMfJ6yHs8I/AAAAAAAAAls/zVJ8Z6OdOmc/s400/B-waiting-at-the-border.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270090244212372418" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">...and those who wait.</span></div><br /><br />The micro-park is another example. Originating in a convergence of lack of public space, lack of green space and abundant waste: a tree, planted in a recycled tractor tire, becomes a unit to be arranged and painted through a process community involvement. The process included handing out flyers to communities and enrollment forms for those who want to get involved. He tells of how the dream hit political reality as one community wanted a massive project of soccer fields and water infrastructure and another wanted their political party to be credited for the project while excluding access to a rival section of the community.hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-29349807737579444162008-06-13T03:23:00.008+07:002008-10-08T17:08:13.391+07:00Publication of part one.Informalism has published Part One of <span style="font-style: italic;">working with the informal, learning from the informal </span>online<span style="font-style: italic;">.</span> The publication details the work and research undertaken with CASE Studio in 2007.<br /><br />As well as covering some territory familiar to readers of this blog the publication also includes much of material which never made it onto the blog, including the end of the <span style="font-style: italic;">On Another People's Land </span>project and a review of some of CASE's past projects as well as an attempt to capture some of their methods and philosophies.<br /><br /><a href="http://photomoline.com/Informalism/Informalism00.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Working with the Informal, Learning from the Informal: CASE Studio</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://beta.yudu.com/library/item_details/12300/Informalism--CASE-studio."><img src="http://beta.yudu.com/item_image/11872/0dce3be60/thumb/page1.jpg" alt="Informalism: CASE studio." style="border: 0pt none ;" target="_blank" /><br />Informalism: CASE studio.</a>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-88669280211172172842007-11-14T22:43:00.000+07:002007-11-15T01:25:06.662+07:00บ้านแฮด Baan HaetContinuing our journey into the Isan, we continued north to the district of Baan Haet in the province of Khon Kaen and visited the community of นิคมโนนสมบูรณ.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6YOjEAdI/AAAAAAAAAVc/RYNxnR1HZ9o/s1600-h/walking-the-cow-2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6YOjEAdI/AAAAAAAAAVc/RYNxnR1HZ9o/s400/walking-the-cow-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132760388215243218" border="0" /></a><br />The community was founded in 2507 (1964), when 460 hectares of crown treasury land was set aside for people suffering from leprosy to live together and try to heal themselves. To begin with there were very strict rules, no-one was allowed to marry or have children. Human nature being what it is however, people did have children and the population has swelled to 3,111. As leprosy has now been eradicated only 1 in 4 of the people in นิคมโนนสมบูรณ have ever suffered from the disease. the hospitals and 'group houses' have been emptied and the villages appear much like any other in the area.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6Y-jEAgI/AAAAAAAAAV0/44U8O12-mlI/s1600-h/pooyai-sketch"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6Y-jEAgI/AAAAAAAAAV0/44U8O12-mlI/s400/pooyai-sketch" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132760401100145154" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6ZejEAhI/AAAAAAAAAV8/VfOS3g3oS-c/s1600-h/poo-yai.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6ZejEAhI/AAAAAAAAAV8/VfOS3g3oS-c/s400/poo-yai.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132760409690079762" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">ผุใหญ่สุภาพเลพล, the village head, explains the situation to the CASE team<br /></span></div><br />By regaining their heath, however, the people now face the possibility that the crown treasury department may take back their land. It was this concern that brought the community to CODI to join the Baan Man Kong Chonabot project and to begin negotiating for a long term lease of the land.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6YujEAeI/AAAAAAAAAVk/JYcPqekWh6U/s1600-h/hawm-dee-sketch.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6YujEAeI/AAAAAAAAAVk/JYcPqekWh6U/s400/hawm-dee-sketch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132760396805177826" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6Y-jEAfI/AAAAAAAAAVs/PNqS-1zkkBs/s1600-h/hawn-dee-land.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rzs6Y-jEAfI/AAAAAAAAAVs/PNqS-1zkkBs/s400/hawn-dee-land.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132760401100145138" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">พ่อหอมดี (Papa Good Smell), the person who originally contacted CODI, shows us his land. He is able to grow enough rice to feed his family all year round and has space left over to grow vegetables and raise fish and cattle.<br /></span></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-1097324340361595412007-11-08T10:27:00.000+07:002007-11-14T22:41:14.076+07:00วังนำ้เขียว Wang Naam KhioMoving up to the mountains of Wang Naam Khio, in Nakhon Ratchasima province, we reached the cool air and green hills of นิคมเศรษฐกิจพอเพียง (settlement for self sufficient economy) .<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPyujEAcI/AAAAAAAAAVU/hVkBIOtLMYc/s1600-h/general-scarecrow.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPyujEAcI/AAAAAAAAAVU/hVkBIOtLMYc/s400/general-scarecrow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132713564481782210" border="0" /></a><br />Like นิคมปลูกหน่อไม้ฝรั่งอินทรีย์ in Wang Sombun, นิคมเศรษฐกิจพอเพียง is a 'start up' community which began from a survey by the municipal government to identify impoverished families without land for livelyhood. The municipality contacted สปก (so-pa-kaw), an organisation which supports agricultural development, to set up a project for the people. In 2545 (2002) สปก purchased land for the project (around 4000 sqm per family) and began to train the members. The project was set up to grow gradually, with members joining in groups of 50 each year (so far 3 generations have joined). In 2548 (2005) a delegation from the new community approached CODI and was invited to join the Baan Man Kong Chonabot project.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPFejEAZI/AAAAAAAAAU8/IYGolV1zzeo/s1600-h/president.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPFejEAZI/AAAAAAAAAU8/IYGolV1zzeo/s400/president.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132712787092701586" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">พี่อำไพ, from the first generation to join the community and head of the commitee which approached CODI, explained to us the history of the settlement and the many works which the community is currently undertaking.</span><br /></div><br />The community have set up 3 livelyhood study groups, one experimenting with growing vegetables, one focusing on raising animals, and one attempting to develop tourism. Particularly interesting is the tourism group's plan to tap into the growing trend of health tourism: 'Come to Wang Naam Khio, ride bicycles in the cool mountain air and eat fresh vegetables, its good for you!'.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsNkejEATI/AAAAAAAAAUM/YeAlLv6TC64/s1600-h/cabbage.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsNkejEATI/AAAAAAAAAUM/YeAlLv6TC64/s400/cabbage.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132711120645390642" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">The vegetable group has been trialing various crops as well as systems of irrigation and composting.<br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPE-jEAXI/AAAAAAAAAUs/jl8uLS0CnIU/s1600-h/the-others.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPE-jEAXI/AAAAAAAAAUs/jl8uLS0CnIU/s400/the-others.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132712778502766962" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">พี่อัคคี (centre page), from the second generation and head of the tourism study group runs a group of guest houses for those looking for healthier holidays.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPGOjEAbI/AAAAAAAAAVM/ndMA9wkD0mQ/s1600-h/conference"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPGOjEAbI/AAAAAAAAAVM/ndMA9wkD0mQ/s400/conference" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132712799977603506" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">The tourism group also runs a kind of open air conference centre. CODI held a conference here for the members of Baan Man Kong Chonabot to exchange ideas and experiences.<br /></span></div><br />The community have also started various other support projects, including a community shop, a micro finance group and a small workshop producing bricks for use in building houses. The brick making technology was developed by Kasetsart University.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPFOjEAYI/AAAAAAAAAU0/vhssfOaRz3U/s1600-h/rong-it.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPFOjEAYI/AAAAAAAAAU0/vhssfOaRz3U/s400/rong-it.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132712782797734274" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">The brick making workshop</span><br /></div><br />Some problems have occured with the 'generation' system of adding members in groups each year, members from different generations have tended to stick together and not trust one another. There have been complaints from later generations of nepotism and a lack of transparency from the initial generation.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPFejEAaI/AAAAAAAAAVE/dUngacRtfZM/s1600-h/meeting-complaints.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsPFejEAaI/AAAAAAAAAVE/dUngacRtfZM/s400/meeting-complaints.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132712787092701602" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">There is conflict within the community between different generations of settlers.<br /></span></div><br />The community are now looking to move on from livelyhood projects and begin building houses and moving in permanently.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsNkujEAUI/AAAAAAAAAUU/eOjo8G61VKM/s1600-h/nighttime.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RzsNkujEAUI/AAAAAAAAAUU/eOjo8G61VKM/s400/nighttime.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132711124940357954" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Some families have already established themselves permanently on the land.<br /></span></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-13867655556983003162007-10-29T20:12:00.000+07:002007-11-08T19:57:47.540+07:00วังสมบูรณณ์ Wang Sombun<div align="left">In Thailand’s Northeastern 'Isan' region, close to the Cambodian border, the municipality of Wang Sombun, in the province of Sa Kaeo, has gathered together some of the poorest families of the district to join in a start-up agricultural scheme, growing organic asparagus.<br /></div><p></p><p></p><div align="center"><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiafHhsSI/AAAAAAAAATs/c9Z3kw_yllg/s1600-h/lung-gongkaa.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126752695488721186" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiafHhsSI/AAAAAAAAATs/c9Z3kw_yllg/s400/lung-gongkaa.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Lung Gongkaa shows us around the asparagus fields<br /></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"> </div><br /><br />The project was the idea of the local อบต (office of the municipal government) who conducted surveys to identify those in the district most in need of assistance. The land was given by CODI as part of Baan Mankong Chonabot. The water, roads and electricity was provided by the อบต who also connected the new community with SWIFT. Co, a Thai agricultural company specializing in growing organic fruit and vegetables.<br /><br /><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126752699783688498" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiavHhsTI/AAAAAAAAAT0/fB4O1KkQGW0/s400/rows.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:78%;">Sprinklers were provided by the </span><span style="font-size:85%;">อบต<br /><br /><br /></span></div><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiDPHhsNI/AAAAAAAAATE/jSm2oJ4h-mo/s1600-h/mai-farang.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126752296056762578" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiDPHhsNI/AAAAAAAAATE/jSm2oJ4h-mo/s400/mai-farang.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Asparagus, <em>mai farang</em> in Thai, translates as 'caucasian bamboo'.</span><br /></div><br /><br />SWIFT. Co provided the people with seeds and training on organic methods of farming. The people have signed a 5 year contract with SWIFT guaranteeing SWIFT will buy all their produce at a fixed (and by the people’s accounts quite good) price. In exchange the people have to live with plenty of rules imposed by the company, for example, no smoking and no living on site. These rules are intended to maintain the strict organic status of the produce.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiDPHhsOI/AAAAAAAAATM/lvv6K8GdnsQ/s1600-h/swift.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126752296056762594" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiDPHhsOI/AAAAAAAAATM/lvv6K8GdnsQ/s400/swift.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:78%;">SWIFT Co. shows its contribution to the project</span></p><p align="center"><br /></p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126755439972823362" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXk6PHhsUI/AAAAAAAAAT8/OlEAmXjRruM/s400/prachum-lung-gongkaa.jpg" border="0" /></p><p></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">The CASE team speaking with Lung Gongkaa</span></p><p align="center"><br /></p><p></p><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiDfHhsQI/AAAAAAAAATc/vp-BLwdpNJ8/s1600-h/sketch-hut.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126752300351729922" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiDfHhsQI/AAAAAAAAATc/vp-BLwdpNJ8/s400/sketch-hut.jpg" border="0" /></a><p> </p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Lung Gongkaa's simple, but sophisticated resthouse</span><br /></div><p></p><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiDvHhsRI/AAAAAAAAATk/mAv7lin_FIM/s1600-h/prachum-obataw.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126752304646697234" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXiDvHhsRI/AAAAAAAAATk/mAv7lin_FIM/s400/prachum-obataw.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Speaking with the</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">อบต</span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span> </p>Many are happy with the money they are now getting, even in the dry season (which is severe in the Isan Region) they can usually make around 500 Baht a day (around 20AU$) which is a lot more than they can get outside.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXhkvHhsII/AAAAAAAAASc/i2kxhMnMss8/s1600-h/happy-farmer.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126751772070752386" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXhkvHhsII/AAAAAAAAASc/i2kxhMnMss8/s400/happy-farmer.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:78%;">One of the farmers tells us of her new, more profitable, livelihood </span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></div><div align="center"></div>The intention was to give a chance to the poorest . But for most it is not a fresh start. They carry debts from former working arrangments. Debt cycles are a common problem of the rural poor In Thailand (as in other semi feudal rural contexts). The farmer rents land on which to work, he borrows money from their landlords or potential buyers (the only locals with money to lend) in order to purchase new seed, fertilizer and pesticide, which are all necessary to produce enough to make ends meet and service the debts. The landlords and buyers often exploit this relationship with high interests or reduced payment for produce.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126751780660687026" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXhlPHhsLI/AAAAAAAAAS0/p50Gyz06w84/s400/home-made-spirit-house.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:78%;">Even the most makeshift constructions are equipped with a Thai flag and (in this case home-made) spirit house</span><br /></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><p>Some of the people do not fully trust the new system and continue to work outside as day labourers, disrupting their chances of making a fresh start and forming strong links with their fellow participants. There is a feeling amongst many in Wang Sombun that this artificial grouping of people is not yet a ‘community’, they have, after all, only been living together for the past 3 years. There are practices in place however, such as the common germination of seedlings, which are intended to build stronger relationships amongst the people.<br /></p><p align="center"><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXhk_HhsJI/AAAAAAAAASk/z8E5WPUJz1s/s1600-h/packing.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126751776365719698" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXhk_HhsJI/AAAAAAAAASk/z8E5WPUJz1s/s400/packing.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:78%;">A man packs asparagus.</span></p><p align="center"><br /></p><p><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXhlPHhsKI/AAAAAAAAASs/5OnAAyxVUdk/s1600-h/sketch-packing.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126751780660687010" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXhlPHhsKI/AAAAAAAAASs/5OnAAyxVUdk/s400/sketch-packing.jpg" border="0" /></a><u><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"></span></u></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;">The people make the most of any opportunity to socialise</span><br /></div><p align="left"><br /></p><p align="left">In two years time the contract with SWIFT Co. runs out. There is some discussion about what else they could do with their land but most likely they will renew the contract for another 3 years.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXhlfHhsMI/AAAAAAAAAS8/5GJUSBppqCM/s1600-h/little-fishermen.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126751784955654338" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RyXhlfHhsMI/AAAAAAAAAS8/5GJUSBppqCM/s400/little-fishermen.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">A couple of kids go off fishing at the nearby dam</span><br /></div><p align="center"><br /></p>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-47268863167663450472007-10-19T16:11:00.000+07:002007-10-22T22:17:01.967+07:00อัมพวา Amphawa<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124164857942904562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxywyhA6DvI/AAAAAAAAAR4/MxmgmJMXNVE/s400/river-life.jpg" border="0" /><br />An old market town on the Mae Klong river, Amphawa has long been famous for the fireflies which live amongst the mangroves in the esturine waters where the Mae Klong meets the sea.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124165897324990210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxyxvBA6DwI/AAAAAAAAASA/NMLiUWcpN3c/s400/hing-hoi.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">The <em>hing-hoi </em>(fireflies) are one of Amphawa's big drawcards</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span> </div><br />The CASE team began their investigation by wandering along the riverside, Pi Sut was filming, Ae was sketching, the rest of us were taking photos, asking questions and chatting with shopkeepers, homestay owners, residents, and anyone who had the time to tell a little of their own story of Amphawa.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124175500871864098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rxy6eBA6DyI/AAAAAAAAASQ/ZBAceFxZMG8/s400/community-walking.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Having a laugh with the community</span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124157354635038178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rxyp9xA6DeI/AAAAAAAAAPw/NYBnlREd0uE/s400/homestay-lady-and-wan.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">and listening to their stories.</span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><br />Amphawa has recently been targeted for rejuvenation through a number of tourism initiatives. A floating market has been set up. The old Chinese shop-houses have been renovated for use as shops, cafes and accommodation assisted by a partnership of Amphawa Municipality, the Office of Natural and Environmental Policy and Planning, the Faculty of Architecture at Chulalungkorn University and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). In just a few years, the numbers of visitors to Amphawa has gone up dramatically, especially on the weekend, attracting hoards from nearby Bangkok. People go there for the fire flies, but is their habitat being threatened by the tourism which they attract?<br /><br /><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124166958181912338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxyysxA6DxI/AAAAAAAAASI/oM00st_kMNA/s400/talaat-naam-best.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">The <em>talaat naam </em>(floating market) is a popular new addition to Amphawa</span></p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124162564430368306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxyutBA6DjI/AAAAAAAAAQY/jGTztJr_6Vg/s400/store.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Renovated shophouses</span></p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124164192222973666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxywLxA6DuI/AAAAAAAAARw/2SzCnxO_Y2o/s400/seedlings.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Esturine saplings, they will grow to form part of the fireflies' habitat.</span></p><br /><p>We also met with some of the community representatives who are coordinating with CODI on the Baan Man Kong assistance for Amphawa. They described some of the conflicts within the community. While the market is thriving, the economic benefits of the new visitors are not spreading to the surrounding areas. They are feeling only the negative effects: the rubbish, the noise of firefly tour boats at night. They have tried setting curfews for the boats, but they are hard to enforce. They have tried employing people to collect the rubbish but there are squabbles over who will pay their wages. </p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124162573020302962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxyuthA6DnI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/cQvHOGnywWU/s400/prachum-amphawa.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Meeting with community leaders.</span></p><p align="center"></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124162568725335650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxyutRA6DmI/AAAAAAAAAQw/iiZbSY3bo_Q/s400/busyyy.jpg" border="0" /></span></p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124157376109874722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rxyp_BA6DiI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/ztcAZbov1o4/s400/videoclip.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">While parts of Amphawa are booming...</span></p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124163152840888002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxyvPRA6DsI/AAAAAAAAARg/uGYvuYsIe8Q/s400/those-left-behind.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">others are left behind.</span></p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124157358930005490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rxyp-BA6DfI/AAAAAAAAAP4/iCb44-HlCVY/s400/tour-boat.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Tour boats have been a noise problem for residents at night.</span></p><br /><p>There have been some successes though. Pi Daeng described an inovative strategy, sponsering a public, open-air karaoke initiative to bring people over to formerly overlooked areas of the market.</p><br /><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124163144250953346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxyvOxA6DoI/AAAAAAAAARA/mU0-zCieEfo/s400/pi-daeng.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Pi Daeng explains...</span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124163148545920674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxyvPBA6DqI/AAAAAAAAARQ/J7r3e3Girjw/s400/karaoke-pi-daeng.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124163144250953362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxyvOxA6DpI/AAAAAAAAARI/heqsjIT_Q9U/s400/karaoke-man.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:78%;">...public karaoke.<br /></span><br /><br /><div><div><div><div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-85128190112753532352007-10-16T13:44:00.001+07:002007-10-22T09:51:32.742+07:00On Another People's LandBetween August and September, CASE began a new project on the behalf of CODI (Community Organisations Development Institute) <a href="http://www.codi.or.th/">http://www.codi.or.th/</a> . CODI has, among its other activities, been implementing the large scale บ้านมั่นคง (Baan Mankong- 'secure housing' in Thai) projects across Thailand for the last 4 years. The Baan Mankong projects are an innovative programme of urban upgrading projects which place Thailand's urban poor at the centre of a process of developing long term, comprehensive solutions to their cities' land and housing problems.<br /><br />CASE studio has been working with CODI (and its previous incarnation UCDO) since 1996 and has been highly involved in the development of the Baan Mankong programme. The success of CASE studio’s 1997 Akarn Songkroa project, for community led upgrading in Ayutthaya contributed to the original drafting of the Baan Mankong Project. CASE was then asked by CODI to undertake the largest and most ambitious of 10 pilot projects for Baan Mankong in Kaoseng, Songkla. CASE has subsequently facilitated 8 other Baan Mankong projects across Thailand.<br /><br />CODI has now asked CASE to undertake a pilot project for the development of บ้านมั่นคงชนบท (Baan Mankong Chonabot) a version of the Baan Mankong project specifically tailored to rural areas.<br /><br />A team of four of CASE studio’s architects and a film maker have proposed to visit 7 of the communities participating in the Baan Mankong Chonabot programme to document their situations, problems and the solutions which are emerging. This broad understanding will then be the background to a specific pilot project where the CASE team will work with one of the communities on the issues identified.<br /><br />The project has been titled บนแผ่นดินของคนอื่น (bon phean din khawng khon euhn - 'on another people's land' in Thai) the title has a double meaning reflecting both the situation of the communities who live upon land legally owned by another and our own situation as outsiders attempting to enter and work with a community which is not our own.<br /><br /><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxhsrBA6DYI/AAAAAAAAAPA/YecGL4g49G4/s1600-h/journeymap.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122964062396353922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RxhsrBA6DYI/AAAAAAAAAPA/YecGL4g49G4/s400/journeymap.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><div><div><div>The Sites:<br /></div><div>1. อัมพวา (Amphawa, Samut Songkhram)<br />2. วังสมบุรณ์ (Wang Sombun, Sa Kaeo)<br />3. วังน้ำเขียว (Wang Naam Khio, Nakhon Ratchasima)<br />4. บ้านแฮด (Baan Haet, Khon Kaen)</div><div>5. นาน้อย (Naa Noi, Nan)</div><div>6. บ้านแม่ละนา (Baan Mae La Naa, Mae Hong Sorn)<br />7. ปิล๊อก (Pilok, Kanchanaburi)</div></div></div></div></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-33960580227244279202007-08-11T13:43:00.000+07:002007-08-13T09:31:39.179+07:00Week 10. The grande finale!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-73VJlGEI/AAAAAAAAANw/qCw_rHSoLxM/s1600-h/zzz.-poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-73VJlGEI/AAAAAAAAANw/qCw_rHSoLxM/s400/zzz.-poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097999862451214402" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Because last weekend was ‘Wien Tian’, an important Buddhist celebration and national holiday, everyone took well earned rest. When we visited the community to put up posters about the weekend off we saw the progress that Pi Un, Gop and others had made finishing the retaining walls. This will keep in the sand (a much gentler and more economic alternative to asphalt) and also leave a space by the existing house for emergency use in flood or fire. This wall will also be used as planter beds for more plants in the week to come.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vjFJlF1I/AAAAAAAAAL4/rzH5xEtTmuE/s1600-h/retaining-wall.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vjFJlF1I/AAAAAAAAAL4/rzH5xEtTmuE/s400/retaining-wall.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097986320419329874" border="0" /></a><br />Each time we come to the community more people greet us and more kids run out to see us and help put up the posters. It seems like we are gaining popularity and have the people’s trust. The kids have even begun to call me ‘Pi Hugo’, a title of friendly respect used for addressing older people.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-2_VJlGBI/AAAAAAAAANY/J6DnAhtt7cg/s1600-h/postering.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-2_VJlGBI/AAAAAAAAANY/J6DnAhtt7cg/s400/postering.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097994502332028946" border="0" /></a><br />The workers at CON CASE are helping us make the new structure for the playground. Although the budget is not enough to build it exactly to the kids design, we have designed it to incorporate plenty of their ideas (like the hang and swing bridge).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1gVJlF4I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/_1bre-AVh7g/s1600-h/tying-rope.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1gVJlF4I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/_1bre-AVh7g/s400/tying-rope.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097992870244456322" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vjVJlF2I/AAAAAAAAAMA/m7RxJWC4xPM/s1600-h/transport.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vjVJlF2I/AAAAAAAAAMA/m7RxJWC4xPM/s400/transport.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097986324714297186" border="0" /></a><br />When we go to the community to advertise this week’s ‘closing ceremony’ we see the planter beds have been filled and planted, the place looks amazing! The flowers of the plants we planted have also begun to bloom.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vjFJlF0I/AAAAAAAAALw/ZQpWwjSGMyM/s1600-h/planter-beds.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vjFJlF0I/AAAAAAAAALw/ZQpWwjSGMyM/s400/planter-beds.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097986320419329858" border="0" /></a><br />The night before the party and we are all working overtime to get the structure finished in time for the party.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vi1JlFzI/AAAAAAAAALo/weE9uKz7MbM/s1600-h/night-weld.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vi1JlFzI/AAAAAAAAALo/weE9uKz7MbM/s400/night-weld.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097986316124362546" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vi1JlFyI/AAAAAAAAALg/y4_1qInXlho/s1600-h/DSCN6510.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-vi1JlFyI/AAAAAAAAALg/y4_1qInXlho/s400/DSCN6510.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097986316124362530" border="0" /></a><br />The day of the party arrives. The community has set up chairs and a marquee, food has been brought by CASE and the volunteers. We set up a projector in the shopkeeper’s warehouse to show the painting day movie and slides of all the work we have all done over the last 10 weeks.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1g1JlF7I/AAAAAAAAAMo/dIkrARfKGEI/s1600-h/z.arch.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1g1JlF7I/AAAAAAAAAMo/dIkrARfKGEI/s400/z.arch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097992878834390962" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-12FJlF_I/AAAAAAAAANI/nWhHY4_7zRs/s1600-h/z.slider.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-12FJlF_I/AAAAAAAAANI/nWhHY4_7zRs/s400/z.slider.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097993243906611186" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1gFJlF3I/AAAAAAAAAMI/-LJ6STS9CJc/s1600-h/film.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1gFJlF3I/AAAAAAAAAMI/-LJ6STS9CJc/s400/film.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097992865949489010" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1glJlF6I/AAAAAAAAAMg/H-IOl4cOn6c/s1600-h/z.-slideshow.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1glJlF6I/AAAAAAAAAMg/H-IOl4cOn6c/s400/z.-slideshow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097992874539423650" border="0" /></a><br />Everyone has a great time, there are games and gifts for the kids. Gop is on the music. The head of the community, Khun Pa Sunee, gets the names of all the kids who helped in the project. She is going to take them on a trip to reward them for all their hard work for the community.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-111JlF-I/AAAAAAAAANA/bxY2SehNplY/s1600-h/z.musical-chair.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-111JlF-I/AAAAAAAAANA/bxY2SehNplY/s400/z.musical-chair.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097993239611643874" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-101JlF8I/AAAAAAAAAMw/zLDMUxpdaxY/s1600-h/z.balloons.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-101JlF8I/AAAAAAAAAMw/zLDMUxpdaxY/s400/z.balloons.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097993222431774658" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-111JlF9I/AAAAAAAAAM4/K1NAh8Jv_ps/s1600-h/z.gop-music.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-111JlF9I/AAAAAAAAAM4/K1NAh8Jv_ps/s400/z.gop-music.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097993239611643858" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-12FJlGAI/AAAAAAAAANQ/c8ZZkoiMpo8/s1600-h/z.trip.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-12FJlGAI/AAAAAAAAANQ/c8ZZkoiMpo8/s400/z.trip.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097993243906611202" border="0" /></a><br />It has been wonderful to see the way people in the community have got involved, more and more each week, taking control of the project and really making it their own, a common effort to be really proud of. Pi Un enjoyed the process so much that he offered to help out in the future on CASE’s next project!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1glJlF5I/AAAAAAAAAMY/nUxyU2gprjA/s1600-h/z.-kong-len.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-1glJlF5I/AAAAAAAAAMY/nUxyU2gprjA/s400/z.-kong-len.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097992874539423634" border="0" /></a><br />It is hard to believe that it’s all over! It’s been such an amazing effort by so many people and in the end it looks fantastic! But even more important than the physical improvement is the connection that the people have made to this place, what was a burnt out wasteland has become a real community space. A place for kids to play, adults and teenagers to play football or just sit in the shade by the canal to relax and chat with friends and neighbours. It has been their efforts which made this place, so it is is somewhere they will always be connected to.<br /><div style="text-align: right;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> Before....</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-73VJlGDI/AAAAAAAAANo/zLGiS3qrHWk/s1600-h/zzz.-gawn.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-73VJlGDI/AAAAAAAAANo/zLGiS3qrHWk/s400/zzz.-gawn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097999862451214386" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-731JlGFI/AAAAAAAAAN4/nIpaJA4NvPg/s1600-h/zzz.-Process-small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-731JlGFI/AAAAAAAAAN4/nIpaJA4NvPg/s400/zzz.-Process-small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097999871041149010" border="0" /></a><br />...and After</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-73FJlGCI/AAAAAAAAANg/qX10-w8KT6s/s1600-h/After-copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rr-73FJlGCI/AAAAAAAAANg/qX10-w8KT6s/s400/After-copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097999858156247074" border="0" /></a></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-76470370389182410322007-07-23T06:46:00.001+07:002007-07-23T09:45:40.977+07:00During the week we went to the community to show the kids the video we made of last weeks painting work. They really enjoyed the movie and wanted to watch it again, unfortunately it started to rain so we all had to run home.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqPzYlJlFqI/AAAAAAAAAKg/DqG7HvlPcOE/s1600-h/video.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqPzYlJlFqI/AAAAAAAAAKg/DqG7HvlPcOE/s400/video.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090179607473493666" border="0" /></a><br />Two days later we returned to show some more kids the movie. This time we also did a small workshop to get the kids ideas on the design of a new structure for the playground that we will get built. We made a model of pieces of the structure that we could make, platforms, bridges, ladders and so forth. While the kids played we wanted to get them to really think about the design, without giving them the ideas of what they should do. So we asked them lots of questions: ‘if you do it like that, how do you get up there?’, ‘what if it’s too long for the space? can we make it fit?’.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqPzXlJlFnI/AAAAAAAAAKI/fumfN0-JyyQ/s1600-h/the-many.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqPzXlJlFnI/AAAAAAAAAKI/fumfN0-JyyQ/s400/the-many.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090179590293624434" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqPzYFJlFoI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/Q8qMiSumPhE/s1600-h/wdoclose.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqPzYFJlFoI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/Q8qMiSumPhE/s400/wdoclose.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090179598883559042" border="0" /><br /></a><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=248447&server=vimeo.com&fullscreen=1" height="300" width="400"> <param name="quality" value="best"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"> <param name="scale" value="showAll"> <param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=248447&server=vimeo.com&fullscreen=1"></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">While we are there Pi Un and Ploy discuss making a low wall around the playground, this is Pi Un’s idea of how we can keep the sand from washing away.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqP1n1JlFrI/AAAAAAAAAKo/QI62tQKi_-4/s1600-h/ploy%2Bpiun.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqP1n1JlFrI/AAAAAAAAAKo/QI62tQKi_-4/s400/ploy%2Bpiun.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090182068489754290" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">We bought some plants and on Saturday everyone helped to plant them, the volunteers also brought some from their own gardens. This week even more members of the community are getting involved. More sand has also been delivered and more and more of the site is now covered. The place really looks great!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQP-1JlFuI/AAAAAAAAALA/qqJWLiOa2kc/s1600-h/sandpile.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQP-1JlFuI/AAAAAAAAALA/qqJWLiOa2kc/s400/sandpile.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090211050929067746" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQP_FJlFwI/AAAAAAAAALQ/2dF2vAwqh4Q/s1600-h/working.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQP_FJlFwI/AAAAAAAAALQ/2dF2vAwqh4Q/s400/working.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090211055224035074" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQQclJlFxI/AAAAAAAAALY/ybNKnBdoZ7s/s1600-h/slider%2Bton.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQQclJlFxI/AAAAAAAAALY/ybNKnBdoZ7s/s400/slider%2Bton.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090211562030176018" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQP-1JlFvI/AAAAAAAAALI/DwYlrt_RUos/s1600-h/tonmai.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQP-1JlFvI/AAAAAAAAALI/DwYlrt_RUos/s400/tonmai.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090211050929067762" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQP-lJlFtI/AAAAAAAAAK4/y6glceGZFzo/s1600-h/finished.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RqQP-lJlFtI/AAAAAAAAAK4/y6glceGZFzo/s400/finished.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090211046634100434" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /></div></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-49197003270795099492007-07-16T13:16:00.000+07:002007-07-23T09:47:15.975+07:00Old Minburee Market Playground: Week 7<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsbauZsLjI/AAAAAAAAAI8/T0yJQs7T4OY/s1600-h/ver-8-copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsbauZsLjI/AAAAAAAAAI8/T0yJQs7T4OY/s400/ver-8-copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087690349991439922" border="0" /></a><br />When we visited the site to put up posters this week we saw that another load of sand had arrived and that Pi Un and other members of the community were already shifting the new sand onto the playground! These guys never take a break!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsbauZsLkI/AAAAAAAAAJE/beEvqn36wWY/s1600-h/kids-poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsbauZsLkI/AAAAAAAAAJE/beEvqn36wWY/s400/kids-poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087690349991439938" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpsba-ZsLlI/AAAAAAAAAJM/86Mh5X3LhYU/s1600-h/com-work-apron.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpsba-ZsLlI/AAAAAAAAAJM/86Mh5X3LhYU/s400/com-work-apron.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087690354286407250" border="0" /></a><br />Over the past week some of the construction workers at CASE have built some timber benches for the playground.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpsba-ZsLmI/AAAAAAAAAJU/7vWxKMl6cXg/s1600-h/bench-making2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpsba-ZsLmI/AAAAAAAAAJU/7vWxKMl6cXg/s400/bench-making2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087690354286407266" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">This morning we are taking them to the site for the kids to paint them.<br />Its going to be a competition, the team with the most spectacular bench wins! The kids rush to form teams and claim their benches for painting. Some GE volunteers help the kids mix the colours they want and everyone starts painting.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsbbOZsLnI/AAAAAAAAAJc/8_NKR4-rADo/s1600-h/mixing.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsbbOZsLnI/AAAAAAAAAJc/8_NKR4-rADo/s400/mixing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087690358581374578" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">All the teams have different strategies, some start with painting on a base colour, others try stripes or get straight into painting a beach scene!<br />Now it’s time for the finishing touches: the kids are very inventive with their methods of decoration, circles are made by dipping the base of a bottle in paint and using it like stamp, leaves and flowers are used as stencils and sand is used to really bring the beach to life!<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpscFeZsLoI/AAAAAAAAAJk/iGLDOnSjk9U/s1600-h/painting.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpscFeZsLoI/AAAAAAAAAJk/iGLDOnSjk9U/s400/painting.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087691084430847618" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Meanwhile the other volunteers have been busy sanding the old pieces of play equipment, preparing them for a fresh coat of paint while others have continued levelling the ground under the direction of the unstoppable Pi Un.<br />The benches are finished and all look amazing! We have to wait until the playground opening in three weeks time for the winners to be chosen.<br />Now its time to paint the old playground swings and slides. The kids chose the colour schemes (after some fiery debate!) and everyone pitches in to paint. Pretty soon they are done, they look great, better than new!<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpscFuZsLpI/AAAAAAAAAJs/mhQQ87izrrM/s1600-h/swings.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpscFuZsLpI/AAAAAAAAAJs/mhQQ87izrrM/s400/swings.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087691088725814930" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Finally everyone cleans up and takes another look at their masterpieces. It really show how creative and talented these kids are, its something for the whole community to be proud of.<br /></div><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=241789&server=vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&video_info=1" height="300" width="400"> <param name="quality" value="best"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"> <param name="scale" value="showAll"> <param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=241789&server=vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&video_info=1"></object></div>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-14089989933094025862007-07-16T12:58:00.000+07:002007-07-23T09:48:35.668+07:00Minburee Old Market Playground: Week 6<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMOOZsLcI/AAAAAAAAAIE/IuC9QgLzMqk/s1600-h/poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMOOZsLcI/AAAAAAAAAIE/IuC9QgLzMqk/s400/poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087673642568658370" border="0" /></a><br />After a week away I am amazed at the change that has occurred to the site. The rubble from the around the site has been redistributed over the lowest part. Ploy tells me that most of this has been done over the week by local people on their own initiative. Sand has been delivered to cover the rubble in preparation for the football field. This week we have the most volunteers to date and we have prepared posters showing them the work done so far and illustrating the tasks and numbers of people needed for the work today.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMOuZsLfI/AAAAAAAAAIc/3grdLc6Q2nI/s1600-h/tasks.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMOuZsLfI/AAAAAAAAAIc/3grdLc6Q2nI/s400/tasks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087673651158593010" border="0" /></a><br />As the roads are too narrow for cars and trucks to enter, the sand is dumped at the entrance to the community and carted into the site. One team fills the barrows, one team carts the barrows to and fro, one team flattens the sand over the rubble at the site and another team continues cleaning the remainder on the site. The sand is quickly moved and the whole team continues to level the remainder of the site.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMOeZsLdI/AAAAAAAAAIM/PvAHu_Lthqo/s1600-h/loading.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMOeZsLdI/AAAAAAAAAIM/PvAHu_Lthqo/s400/loading.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087673646863625682" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMOuZsLeI/AAAAAAAAAIU/4pHO8dUcFJg/s1600-h/unloading.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMOuZsLeI/AAAAAAAAAIU/4pHO8dUcFJg/s400/unloading.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087673651158592994" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsOBeZsLhI/AAAAAAAAAIs/tQ4zz5HBdqk/s1600-h/spreading.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsOBeZsLhI/AAAAAAAAAIs/tQ4zz5HBdqk/s400/spreading.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087675622548581906" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMO-ZsLgI/AAAAAAAAAIk/wtZZ8mLk8G0/s1600-h/rubbish.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMO-ZsLgI/AAAAAAAAAIk/wtZZ8mLk8G0/s400/rubbish.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087673655453560322" border="0" /></a><br />Pi Un and Ploy discuss getting some asphalt to cover the levelled ground, protecting it from erosion and making a safe playing surface.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsOBuZsLiI/AAAAAAAAAI0/-2ZoNRpG3pU/s1600-h/sand-drawing.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsOBuZsLiI/AAAAAAAAAI0/-2ZoNRpG3pU/s400/sand-drawing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087675626843549218" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsMO-ZsLgI/AAAAAAAAAIk/wtZZ8mLk8G0/s1600-h/rubbish.jpg"><br /></a>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-16290243039704353652007-07-16T12:20:00.000+07:002007-07-23T09:52:03.586+07:00Old Minburee Market Playground. Week 4.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDh-ZsLTI/AAAAAAAAAG8/rXMbvsPA044/s1600-h/poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDh-ZsLTI/AAAAAAAAAG8/rXMbvsPA044/s400/poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087664086266424626" border="0" /></a><br /><br />When we arrive at the old market the kids greet us and show us the plans they have made over the past week.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDh-ZsLUI/AAAAAAAAAHE/6qjuMaYVGJE/s1600-h/plan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDh-ZsLUI/AAAAAAAAAHE/6qjuMaYVGJE/s400/plan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087664086266424642" border="0" /></a><br />We had planed to make the first part of the day about marking out and then move to a little cleaning after lunch. The kids really surprise us, however, with how eager to clean they are. As soon as the brooms are unloaded the kids take them off and begin sweeping and cleaning.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDiOZsLVI/AAAAAAAAAHM/awbeHRMrer8/s1600-h/water.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDiOZsLVI/AAAAAAAAAHM/awbeHRMrer8/s400/water.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087664090561391954" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDheZsLRI/AAAAAAAAAGs/vc4lzMrjytY/s1600-h/cleaning.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDheZsLRI/AAAAAAAAAGs/vc4lzMrjytY/s400/cleaning.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087664077676490002" border="0" /></a><br />So we change our plans and one group continues to clean while another group goes to mark out with string all the areas that they made in the model of the previous week and the kids' new drawings, designating where the football field, volleyball court, gardens and playground will eventually be.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDhuZsLSI/AAAAAAAAAG0/tH-Ju7BfnvY/s1600-h/marking-out.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsDhuZsLSI/AAAAAAAAAG0/tH-Ju7BfnvY/s400/marking-out.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087664081971457314" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsFteZsLYI/AAAAAAAAAHk/jFs7DCKyxSI/s1600-h/signs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsFteZsLYI/AAAAAAAAAHk/jFs7DCKyxSI/s400/signs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087666482858175874" border="0" /></a><br />The cleaning continues to build in strength with other, older members of the community joining in and shifting lots of rubble and rubbish. One local leader, Pi Un, calls Ploy aside to tell her of some concerns community members have about how prone to flood the site is. He suggests some alterations to the plan to include levelling of the site to prevent the current on-site ponding.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsFteZsLXI/AAAAAAAAAHc/Rf8FaRcf4BY/s1600-h/rubbish.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsFteZsLXI/AAAAAAAAAHc/Rf8FaRcf4BY/s400/rubbish.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087666482858175858" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsFtuZsLZI/AAAAAAAAAHs/rBDTfiN_ARo/s1600-h/rubbish-long.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsFtuZsLZI/AAAAAAAAAHs/rBDTfiN_ARo/s400/rubbish-long.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087666487153143186" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsHouZsLaI/AAAAAAAAAH0/Zlka3qF8USI/s1600-h/older.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsHouZsLaI/AAAAAAAAAH0/Zlka3qF8USI/s400/older.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087668600277052834" border="0" /></a><br />By the end of the day the site has changed a lot. Everyone is tired and dirty but satisfied with all that we had done.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsINeZsLbI/AAAAAAAAAH8/iFspxIhFBQM/s1600-h/end.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsINeZsLbI/AAAAAAAAAH8/iFspxIhFBQM/s400/end.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087669231637245362" border="0" /></a>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-21557363336356657912007-07-16T11:17:00.000+07:002007-07-23T09:51:03.167+07:00Old Minburee Market Playground Week 3: Model Making!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr2nOZsLGI/AAAAAAAAAFU/iVcdWF-78mc/s1600-h/poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr2nOZsLGI/AAAAAAAAAFU/iVcdWF-78mc/s400/poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087649882809576546" border="0" /></a><br />'Let’s try mocking up your playground first!’<br /><br />This week we have moved the workshop in a different location. During the week one of the community leaders suggested that we do this as there was some conflict between the locals near the playground site. We are concerned about what this means, is this project causing tensions? What does this conflict mean for the future use of the site as a playground? Ploy assures me that it was the community leaders who chose this site to begin with.<br /><br />Once the kids have arrived we set up outside but it is again too hot and we move into an adjacent house offered to us. There are not so many kids this week and none bring old packaging or plants clippings for model making materials as we suggested in the poster. This is most likely because we put up the posters later than on previous weeks.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr16eZsLFI/AAAAAAAAAFM/voBityA2RRM/s1600-h/postering.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr16eZsLFI/AAAAAAAAAFM/voBityA2RRM/s400/postering.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087649114010430546" border="0" /></a><br />Ploy tells the kids about the plan for this week, to make a model of the playground. We lay three big sheets of cardboard on the floor. Based on the drawings of the previous week we have divided the playground into 3 main areas, one part for sports fields, one part for playground equipment and one part for gardens and planting. The kids choose which area they want to design and move to that board.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-S-ZsLPI/AAAAAAAAAGc/3Oev2tIPQGs/s1600-h/start.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-S-ZsLPI/AAAAAAAAAGc/3Oev2tIPQGs/s400/start.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087658331010247922" border="0" /></a><br />Very soon everyone is getting very involved, discussing and making all the things they can imagine from plasticine, cardboard and wire. Some kids go out into the community to get plant stalks to use as trees.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsAquZsLQI/AAAAAAAAAGk/QrJF44ngrNA/s1600-h/making-group.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpsAquZsLQI/AAAAAAAAAGk/QrJF44ngrNA/s400/making-group.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087660938055396610" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-SuZsLMI/AAAAAAAAAGE/cU74rahPtA8/s1600-h/making.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-SuZsLMI/AAAAAAAAAGE/cU74rahPtA8/s400/making.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087658326715280578" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-CuZsLLI/AAAAAAAAAF8/5Fa8M0lZAmI/s1600-h/plant-collector.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-CuZsLLI/AAAAAAAAAF8/5Fa8M0lZAmI/s400/plant-collector.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087658051837373618" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-CuZsLKI/AAAAAAAAAF0/UswLYq0OPX8/s1600-h/IMGP4042.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-CuZsLKI/AAAAAAAAAF0/UswLYq0OPX8/s400/IMGP4042.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087658051837373602" border="0" /></a><br />By the end of the day the model looks amazing. Some of the ideas represented include: football field (complete with high fence and stadium seating), basketball court, volleyball court, see saws, slippery dips, swings, merry-go-rounds, a sandpit, fishponds, romantic seating, fountains, a bike path, kiosk, toilet, even a small theatre. Ploy later told me that one kids had also advised her that they will have a vegetable garden for all the community to use.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-CeZsLII/AAAAAAAAAFk/I3vtXU_s6_c/s1600-h/aerialplants.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-CeZsLII/AAAAAAAAAFk/I3vtXU_s6_c/s400/aerialplants.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087658047542406274" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-S-ZsLOI/AAAAAAAAAGU/tFkRtWKTog0/s1600-h/slide.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-S-ZsLOI/AAAAAAAAAGU/tFkRtWKTog0/s400/slide.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087658331010247906" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-CeZsLJI/AAAAAAAAAFs/rubzxXq3GRQ/s1600-h/bball.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-CeZsLJI/AAAAAAAAAFs/rubzxXq3GRQ/s400/bball.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087658047542406290" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-S-ZsLNI/AAAAAAAAAGM/rdg2j-ubMA8/s1600-h/plants.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/Rpr-S-ZsLNI/AAAAAAAAAGM/rdg2j-ubMA8/s400/plants.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087658331010247890" border="0" /></a>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-628640647471813151.post-80781705544745066202007-07-11T20:15:00.000+07:002007-07-23T09:52:58.664+07:00Old Minburee Market Playground, Week 2.I arrive in time for the second week of the 'playground as catalyst' project. Ploy a young architect in her second year at CASE is running the project, she has given me some background and we have visited the community earlier in the week to put up posters advertising the saturday workshop.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpTbUoZ-WDI/AAAAAAAAAEs/xQdgvQCB9FI/s1600-h/week2-poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpTbUoZ-WDI/AAAAAAAAAEs/xQdgvQCB9FI/s400/week2-poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5085931026698360882" border="0" /></a>When saturday arrives, we meet the kids at the playground site and go to a nearby building for shelter from the heat. Ploy introduces the activity and distributes the cardboard and crayons for drawing. The kids gather on the floor and draw their ideas of how their playground should be. Ploy encourages them to draw not just the playground but also all the things they like to play.<br /><br />The kids draw in four groups, some are shy to begin, but Ploy and the GE volunteers prompt them and soon they are discussing amongst themselves and drawing so much they all flip over the cardboard to use the other side!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpTewoZ-WEI/AAAAAAAAAE0/8BVj6OpbL_c/s1600-h/drawing-aerial.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpTewoZ-WEI/AAAAAAAAAE0/8BVj6OpbL_c/s400/drawing-aerial.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5085934806269581378" border="0" /></a><br />The drawings are very diverse, there are birds-eye views of football fields and gardens as well as side views of plants, slippery dips, swings and other play equipment. There are also more whimsical and abstract drawings.<br /><br />Ploy and the volunteers then go to each group in turn and ask what each drawing is, the kids explain and label the drawings as well as write their names on it. they do this one by one so that everyone gets to hear the ideas of each group.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpTew4Z-WFI/AAAAAAAAAE8/7yxe_i7fSbg/s1600-h/kids-explaining.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpTew4Z-WFI/AAAAAAAAAE8/7yxe_i7fSbg/s400/kids-explaining.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5085934810564548690" border="0" /></a><br />Once everyone has had a chance to explain, each group holds up their drawing and the others clap. the ones who get the loudest clap get to have their picture on the poster for next week.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpTgPYZ-WGI/AAAAAAAAAFE/WxMaXQsII_g/s1600-h/clapping.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_tEwpA8nFTxw/RpTgPYZ-WGI/AAAAAAAAAFE/WxMaXQsII_g/s400/clapping.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5085936434062186594" border="0" /></a>hugohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105911903279429226noreply@blogger.com0