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Governance model, behavior, and technology outline

 

2.1 Executive summary

On my assignment, I started pointing out some behaviors that could improve the lives insides these informal settlements. It intends to make the interaction between neighbors in these settlements more valuable, providing professional training and assistance. Government had created and supported organizations (such as Jauregui) to improve their lives, but they hardly give them the condition to make it on their own. Regarding housing solution, my ideas were based on the Quinta Monroy affordable housing project. They provide only initial steps of the construction where future residents can complete it later. They build, for example, only foundation, floor and partial structure. It would be a way to organize the internal plan configuration of these settlements. I also mentioned the “Favela-Bairro” project a few times. In terms of energy solution, I introduced nuclear fusion reactors, solar nanotubes and microbial fuel cells that I believe are appropriated once they are self-sufficient. In terms of infrastructures I would introduce the nanomembrane toilet, the Junicki Omini-Processor (J-OP). It’s such a crucial topic to be discussed! “I often compare the situation of living in the United States to being in the eye of the storm. When you are standing in the eye of the storm, everything seems calm. But as you step away...you realize that this storm you’re at the center of is changing the rest of the world dramatically.” Millions of American citizens, as well as billions of people around the world, battle the storms of inadequate services, unaffordable housing, and unsafe neighborhoods on a daily basis. It is only a matter of time before the winds of unrest and a rain of violence descend upon everyone, including those who may think their money and power can keep them permanently safe in the storm’s eye.” (Expanding Architecture/Design as Activism).

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2.2 Behaviors to incentivize

Beto is an old friend I have in Brazil and resident of the Hiliopolis favela in Sao Paulo City. After receiving a degree in physical education, he started to promote and teach soccer for teenagers and children in his community. The government sponsored his work and he has made several travels around the world to teach his “example” to other informal settlements. Talking with him, it can be learnt a little bit about how members of the Hiliopolis favela are willing to guide their lives. Beto has only the ambition to help his mom, and once it is done, he intends to help others as much as he can. Today, almost 7% of the Brazilian population lives in these informal settlements. Unfortunately, the social and logistic help from the government always arrive there late, once these communities do not have an important role in the elections… a sad reality of Brazil. On the other hand, the interaction between people of these informal settlements is beyond standard and has always been a tradition. I intend to incentivize this behavior by making these interactions more valuable for themselves by providing professional skills in order to decrease their external dependence. I would provide and implement conditions to make easier for people in there to have access to training and education, enabling them to provide additional services at a more professional level. For example, creating educational centers where residents could learn technical skills similar to those provided by community colleges in the USA, such as nursing, IT, construction, education, financing etc. In this way many of the residents could apply their own skills helping the neighborhood. Security, financial advisement, first-aid, construction, technical support, leisure activities, learning and many other things could be done from Rocinha’s residents, possibly even creating new employments opportunities.

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2.3 Housing solutions

“Architecture has become today an important tool to improve the lives of many people living in unfavorable conditions or unable to afford a house. Architecture has recently taken an important role in one of the Brazilian’s main city (Rio), where the Architect Jorge Mario Jauregui has been the head of an activist-projects to improve the lives of these people in some favelas of Rio de Janeiro City.” (Archetise 2004). Other similar works have been made in Latin America and I personally liked very much a recent work by a Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena from Elemental. My idea for Rocinha, the informal settlement I chose, would be his “The Quinta Monroy affordable housing project,” where they provide the first steps in the residential construction, where the future residents can complete the rest later. It brought notoriety to Aravena once it reduces government costs for more than half. They usually provide only a concrete floor and foundation with a partial wall or structure. I would also provide conditions to have access to the appropriated sustainable material. “Everybody is waiting for somebody else to move first,” Aravena said. “If you succed, you get copied immediately and nobody wants to do that investment first. If you fail, then you have to alone swallow all your losses.” The need for social building is becoming more pressing, with three billion people now living in cities and a third of them living below the poverty line. “The designs are knowledge that we have tested, that have proved to be beneficial to communities and that have been implemented accepting very pressing budget and policy constraints.” complete Aravena. This project was made in 2004 in Inquique, Chile, where Elemental is located. This idea also allows you to adequate the planning configuration of the future residences.

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Overview of technologies to utilize

Based on “the Quinta Monroy affordable housing project,” the foundations and only partial structure (such as a wall) would be provided and the future residents would build the rest. They would also be responsible for building the correspondent greenway section. It would avoid the lack of orientation in the plan, a characteristic of most in these settlements. The technological innovations that I would recommend based on this housing solution would be a self-explanatory video guide through Internet for these residents be able to do their own homes. The potential benefits of these technologies would be, for example, professional orientation for wood, steal or concrete structures as well any other proficiency required. I would also provide live orientation and eventual visits by professionals to ensure the minimum standard quality required. The idea includes also providing sustainable material for construction, avoiding accidents (such as fire) and negative environmental impacts. Simple devices like palm or cell phones technologies can address the housing challenges through a full support of specialized professionals. The channel created would also welcome volunteer programs such as Habitat for Humanities, to provide labor and proficiency. Following the great Norman Foster’s idea, drones could provide construction material. “The Droneport uses drone technology and clean energy to transport cargo to areas where there is little or no access to formal road networks. This cargo could include life-saving medical resources or commercial payloads” (Foster + Partners 2015).  

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2.4 Energy solutions

“Projects of urban relevance must intensify the connections, mobilize the territory, track down possibilities, and take advantage of the opportunities at hand.”(Architise - Jauregui) He departs from the principle that the right occupation of the spaces can improve surrounding conditions. People worldwide do not understand how a country like Brazil still lacks alternatives today. “Henry Hill, a US Consul in Rio, considered the Brazilian people “wholly incapable of self government.” Sometimes travelers suggested that Latin Americans did not diserve the natural wealth of their own countries. They however did never care about questioning the Iberian colonization instead.” (from the Article Informal Cities) This natural wealth gave space to expensive and maybe wrong choices, such as relying only on hydroelectric power plants. Therefore, the proposed energy and infrastructure from Module 6 seems to be ideal for such informal settlements. As mentioned in our readings, finding sustainable energy sources that are practical enough to be deployed in informal communities without destroying their social fabric would be a primary objective. Nuclear fusion reactors are appropriate for this scenario, once the reactor could be placed inside a “favela” like Rocinha and they have a great potential to generate vast amounts of clean energy. One of the advantages of it is due for being a localized energy production. “They have also made it possible for such reactors to be compact enough to fit on a truck.” (Lockheed Martin, n.d. from handbook). “Carbon nanotube (CNT) antennae would be a second energy alternative.” A third implementation would be the cells powered by urine, known as microbial fuel cells (MFCs), “that can power small electronic devices,” mainly considering the high number of cell phones inside these settlements. “They are all sources that would contribute to the overall health by non-compromising and placing people’s lives at risk.” (handbook)

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Overview of technologies to utilize

As mentioned in our readings, “finding sustainable energy sources that are practical enough to be deployed in informal communities without destroying their social fabric would be a primary objective.”(handbook) Nuclear fusion reactors are appropriate once they have a great potential to generate vast amounts of clean energy by fusing together deuterium and tritium, two hydrogen isotopes. Its energy production is also localized. Carbon nanotube (CNT) antennae would be appropriated for informal settlements where solar panels might be stolen. Also, lights generated by solar power would bring safer conditions. A last implementation would be the cells powered by urine, known as microbial fuel cells (MFCs), I believe these are new technologies introduced in our Module 6 that fits into informal settlements, once they are independent from a major central plants or need major connection to function. I have always been aware of the power provided by nuclear fusion and since Angra 1, 2 and 3 projects in Brazil, I believed it would replace hydroelectric plants one day, mainly after few environmental catastrophes in the past, such as Sobradinho. Nuclear fusion can became safer with new discoveries. CNT would also be very appropriate once solar energy is probably ideal for homes that do not require much energy and Rio is sunny during most of the seasons. Lastly, cells powered urine seems a revolutionary way to get energy, and it could make great impact for people who intends save money under difficult conditions.  

 

2.5 Distributed infrastructure solutions

“The favelas are living organisms characterized by a process based on the gradual substitution of the most precarious buildings for more durable ones, for the increase of its area and its densification.” (Jauregui). Concluding these perspectives, “the strategies for the construction of the “informal city” could be synthesized as follows: first, use of tactics and mechanisms adaptable in time, accumulation and concentration of the socio-spatial conditions, with high levels of participation in the solutions; second, spaces in constant reconfiguration, implying the subdivision of ground, of uses, supplies of infrastructure, and interaction of public and private spheres, with adaptability and third, restructuring of the centers through the introduction of new attractions for urban life.” (Jauregui) It is a plausible and different approach that I had in mind; however, there is no doubt about the complexity of any implementation in the settlements. New strategies must be used to ensure that residents of these communities are not excluded from economic opportunities or unnecessarily exposed to human-made or natural disaster. “Informal settlements produce challenging conditions for the development of centralized facilities for sewage treatment or large energy-generation projects such as solar farms.” (handbook) So it is also important to apply alternative ways to improve their living conditions including ideas from our Module. One would be the nano membrane toilet. It is designed to treat mixtures of liquid and solid human waste without using any external electricity or water. The other would be the Janicki Omni Processor. The J-OP converts large amounts of mixed liquid and solid waste into ash, electricity, and drinking water, powered only by natural gas (Yu 2018). Greenways would also be a crucial infrastructure to improve the quality of the community lives and give access to everyone, once safety issues has always been a major concern in these settlements.

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Overview of technologies to utilize

“Informal settlements produce challenging conditions for the development of centralized facilities for sewage treatment or large energy-generation projects such as solar farms.” (handbook) The distributed infrastructure technologies that I recommend for Rocinha were the nano membrane toilet and the J-OP. “The innovative nano membrane toilet is designed to treat mixtures of liquid and solid human waste without using any external electricity or water” (Nano Membrane Toilet n.d.), there is no connection to a sewerage system or running water. The other would be the Janicki Omni Processor. “The J-OP converts large amounts of mixed liquid and solid waste into ash, electricity, and drinking water, powered only by natural gas” (Yu 2018). It is important to emphasize that distributed infrastructure would be more beneficial once they do not require the usual costly interventions and connections. I have learnt in Module 6 about different solutions for the infrastructural challenges that are faced by informal settlements. “Informal settlements’ isolation and lack of access to amenities present also an opportunity to address these challenges in unconventional ways and that self-sufficiency is the main issue for a community that does not have the help from most formal governments.” “Moving away from central sewerage or energy systems not only saves money and energy, but also free up space and resources to be used in more efficient ways.”(handbook) For example, J-OPs could be used to process waste and produce clean water, which could then be used for municipal functions.  

 

2.6 Justification of planned interventions

‘Favela-Bairro’ is a Portuguese name that means Informal-Formal Settlements. I will justify my interventions by making a parallel and comparing my approach to the successful ‘Favela-Bairro’ project in Rio. It must be said that the following governor of Rio, Sergio Cabral, did not gave sequence to the project and is in jail today under corruption charges. The current governor, Wilson Witzel, intends to recover the time lost and is mainly concerned with public security. “The Favela-Bairro project was in the international news in the first day of its creation. Rio de Janeiro aims to invest a total of US$1 billion in its internationally acclaimed ‘Favela-Bairro’ neighbourhood improvement programme, Rio city leaders told City Mayors at a seminar held at the Inter-American Development Bank’s Washington headquarters in October 2003. Favela-Bairro is the name given to a programme that brings basic infrastructure as well as municipal and social services to favelas, Rio's urban squatter settlements.” (Folha de S. Paulo). Favela-Bairro, which has inspired at least ten urban improvement programmes in other Latin American cities, departed from the traditional policies of eradicating slums. The interventions I made was focused to solve known problems places like Rocinha and other informal settlements in Brazil faces, based on readings and news I have seen in the past. For these reason most of my choices aimed to deal with solutions that would not require fundamental changes to be implemented. The housing solutions from Elemental as applied in Qunita Monroy affordable housing project would help further construction in Rocinha in a more organized and cheaper way. Nuclear fusion reactors, solar nanotubes and microbial full cells are all independent from more complex construction or installation as well. In the same way, nano membrane toilet and Janicki Omini Processor dispense further interventions to be installed. Greenways with would require considerable work, but without the necessity of moving people out of their homes. I have seen news on Brazilian TV Channels showing how poor the circulation and access inside these communities make difficult the lives of authorities reaching criminals. I also believe an study similar to the one made in our previous modules applying the CityScope program have been a great tool to justify my interventions as well, only considering informal settlements requires special attention. Unlike the Favela-Bairro project, most of my solutions are independent of governmental help and could be independently implemented. These are the main goal of my choices.

 

2.7 Application in a developed city

All the choices I made, the Quinta Monroy housing idea, the nuclear fusion reactors, solar nanotubes, microbial full cells, nano membrane toilet, Janicki Omini Processor and greenways would all fit properly in a city like Orlando. Its wide range of use is actually the most valuable thing of theses distributed infrastructure solution studied in Module 6. Orlando does not face difficult conditions, as the informal settlements do, not even close. We made a CityScope study in the city of Orlando in Module 4 and proximity and density were one of its main negative indicators. On the other hand, informal settlements may require few adaptions in the CityScope program. Rocinha for example, can have better indicators than Orlando, but the infrastructures in Rio are much worse. Orlando on the other hand, faces different kinds of problems. The lack of proximity from most places for example, require already the need for very costly infrastructure. I have worked for Habitat for Humanity Orange County in the past making homes for financially unprivileged people and the Quinta Monroy project suggested in this assignment would be very welcome and even better regarding costs and time. People in Orlando also face very high energy costs mainly as a result of its high temperatures. Nuclear fusion reactors could be an alternative way to provide power and increase efficiency. Likewise, solar nanotubes and microbial full cells are technologies that would also help. It is also very costly to have a car here; gas prices are high as a consequence of the long distances between most places and alternative solutions such as greenways and public transport would make difference, even not being so explored inside informal settlements. Lastly, the nano membrane toilet could allow homes to be located anywhere, and many people would like to be close to Disney.