Project Title:

Conflict in Equations: Computing future growth of informal settlements

Thesis statement:
This project investigates conflict, community, and competition as shaping variables in the growth and future densification of informal settlements in the city, particularly Mumbai. It also explores the potential of an algorithmic model to consider conflict, and produce a variety of solutions to the future development of these areas, while considering the problem of an optimum.

Abstract:
At the end of the day today, five-hundred farmers will have decided to stop farming, and move to Mumbai in attempt to feed their starving families. The city of Mumbai, however, has no infrastructure to provide for this influx of lower-income classes, and because of this, these farmers will have to seek housing in illegal settlements. Given a tense relationship between upper and lower classes, conflict and hierarchy have been controlling mechanisms in these areas. This project seeks to understand the growth and future densification of informal settlements in the city, whilst considering competition, conflict, and community as influential shaping factors. Today, while algorithms have been used to model self-organized growth, very few have considered elements like conflict in the shaping strategy. What is the future of these informal settlements? How are conflict, community, and competition shaping mechanisms in the formation and future densification of these areas? And given their lack of infrastructure, can these ground-up settlements have a way of making infrastructure in a ground-up way? Is it possible to push the algorithm http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5xkDx_-kv3I/TQ3CI8TwBRI/AAAAAAAAAzg/WOtz5EBeCaM/ s1600/Dharavislums1.jpg as a tool to input conflict, process data, and output a solution, given that any one solution may not be enough? By investigating settlement patterns, building construction techniques, and locations of existing infrastructure, this project attempts to algorithmically model potential strategies for how these settlements will become denser, whilst engaging conflict, community, and competition as shaping mechanisms. It will attempt to reduce conflict in informal areas by addressing the infrastructure-based problems that occur by designing a ground-up way of producing infrastructure, which could potentially alter the existing ground-up building strategy. While it may not be possible to reduce conflict altogether, it is possible to address problems that are architectural and infrastructural within informal settlements.

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Article:

Urban Footprint

Slums Footprint

Green Footprint

P.K. Das & Associates Urban Mapping - Slum Land Reservations

Since Indias independence in 1947, the population of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) has quadrupled; roughly 500 migrants per day move to Mumbai from rural areas. Because the city has no means to accommodate this influx of low-income migrants, the majority of these farmers seek housing in illegal settlements. The urban environment has become quite volatile due to this densification, and an instinctive culture of community, competition, and conflict are driving mechanisms in the growth of informal settlements in the city. This project investigates the formation and future densification of informal settlements in the city, focusing on Mumbai, and explores cultural elements like community, conflict, and competition as shaping mechanisms in the building strategy and patterning of settlements. In more recent years, algorithms have taken the forefront in modeling and simulating urban growth and self-organization, and this project also explores the algorithms potential as a tool to generate and simulate this process, given the difficulty in quantifying conflict and community. Another element of the algorithm is the possibility to model evolutionary fitness, in some cases outputting a potential optimal solution regarding a series of constraints. This project also attempts to evaluate the problems associated with one optimal solution, given that there may never be just one that is adequate enough. Mumbais current population is roughly at twelve million, half of which are housed in informal settlements. These settlements also take up only roughly 10% of the urban footprint. Generally, the settlements are found in a series of areas that would otherwise be open public spaces, unused land by private enterprises, or adjacent to construction building sites. P.K. Das & Associates, an architecture firm in Mumbai, did a study of the various slums and their locations relative to the zoning of land they have built over.
P.K. Das & Associates Slum Mapping
Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

When it comes to understanding how these informal settlements have aggregated, there have been several studies that use algorithms as a tool to simulate how self-organization creates informal settlements. Some have been more analog, in the case of Eda Shaur, in her Non-planned Settlements in IL 39. Here, she analyzes pathway organization, and relates to a minimized detour system as represented by a thread model.

Eda Shaur - Non-Planned settlements

Rahul Mehrotra and Alan Berger have also studied slum growth. They managed to find a slum caught by satellite imagery over time to see how it grows. Even here, there are some ways of understanding local growth, in a ground-up fashion.
City of Slums: self-organization across scales

boundaries (streets of the existent city, which bound the site). Following this logic, the models rules are based on the idea that the spatial development of spontaneous settlements is both constrained and stimulated by the boundaries. The built structure is developed prior to any network and rough foot tracks arise in between built structures and often consolidate, connecting houses to local services situated on the sites borders (Sobreira, 2002). In the favela project the agents rules resemble the behaviour of actual people looking Mehrotra and Berger - settle. The behaviour rules tell the agents to wonder around the for attractive urban sites to Slum Growth site and, when reach an attractive boundary, to find an available place to settle. The model presents a feedback procedure in which the agents are fed with information about the On the technical side, in a series of their behaviour, which in turn drives environment and, based on that information, changeworking papers done by the Center of Advanced Spatial Analysis the spatial University to a different path. In this case, according to a density threshold, use algorithms to model growth and at the development College of London, some scholars attempted to the agents change their settling patterns (dwelling typology) and searching features. As it packing of the slums, particularly Joana Barros and Fabiano Sobreira. Here, they attempted to model can be observed on the snapshots in the figure 1, the sequence of outputs from the Favela City ofofSlums: self-organization across scales 6666 6 City Slums: self-organization across scales City of ofSlums:self-organizationacross scales City ofSlums:self-organization across scales City Slums: self-organization across scales 6666 6 City ofSlums: self-organizationacross scales City Slums: self-organizationacross scales City Slums: self-organizationacross scales Slums: self-organizationacross scales across scales the (figure of the city as the most desirable settlement to settle, andCityofofofofSlums:three colors represented higher, model center1a) resembles the development process of a location in Acera, Ghana Citythe self-organizationhigh-income zones, and vice-versa, what is caused by the residential areas within high-income zones, and vice-versa, what residential areas within high-income zones, and vice-versa, what is iscaused by bythe residential areas within high-income zones, and vice-versa, what is caused by thethe residential areas within high-income zones, and vice-versa, what is caused by the residential areas within caused residential areas within high-incomeof development. vice-versa, what residential areas discontinuousprocess ofdevelopment. vice-versa, what caused by the residential areas settle, residential areas within high-income development. within caused the accelerated and within high-income zones, and accelerated and discontinuoushigh-incomedevelopment. vice-versa, what accelerated anddiscontinuous process zones, the upper caused accelerated areas within high-income zones, process development. (figure 1b). This resemblance is not just related to the static features (spatial configuration) residential andanddiscontinuousprocessand andandvice-versa, what isisisiscaused bybythethe middle, and lower social classes. Over time, the lower classes accelerated andanddiscontinuousprocess ofofzones, and vice-versa, what is caused bybythe would discontinuous process ofzones, and classes accelerated and discontinuous process ofofdevelopment. accelerated anddiscontinuous process of development. accelerated anddiscontinuous process ofofdevelopment. accelerated accelerated discontinuous process development. development. but to the dynamics (development process) of the settlement, as well:the lower class settlements. They also tried to model starting with isolated would have to accommodate the permanence of building units combined with open areas and as the density increases, the clustering and competition, and human decision making in denoting which areas were desirable densification are inevitable. As the settlement gets dense and more agents come to the site City ofofSlums: self-organization across scalesto settle in. However, 6666 City ofSlums: self-organization across scales City ofSlums: self-organization across scales City Slums: self-organization across scales these for available do agents take longer in the searching process, as a clustering force,withinhigh-income zones, andasvice-versa,what isisisiscaused bybythethe orhigh-income zones, and vice-versa, what caused bybytheor conflict and vice-versa, what caused the a separating searchingalgorithmsspace,not take into account communityfinally settling in residential areas within high-income zones, and vice-versa, what residential areas within high-income zones, residential areas within residential areas caused Figure 2.Variations step and development. Figure 2. Variations of ofprocessconsolidation threshold parameters, time 2000. Figure 2.Variations step and ofconsolidation threshold parameters, time 2000. acceleratedFigure2.Variationsofofprocessconsolidationthreshold parameters, time ==2000. acceleratedand2.discontinuousstepandofofdevelopment. acceleratedanddiscontinuousstep and consolidation threshold parameters, time 2000. and discontinuous process ofdevelopment. and Variations step development. more restricted spaces, occupying vacant spaces between existing dwellers and, thus, acceleratedFigurediscontinuousofprocessandconsolidationthresholdparameters, time ===2000. breaking-down force. Figure 2. 2.Variationsofstep andandconsolidationthresholdparameters,time ==2000. Figure 2.Variations ofofstepandconsolidation threshold parameters, time =2000. Figure 2.Variations ofofstepandconsolidation threshold parameters, time ==2000. Figure 2.Variations step andconsolidation threshold parameters, time 2000. Figure Variations step consolidation threshold parameters, time 2000. ItItis isimportant totomention that ininthis kind ofofmodel thethe timecan only bebemeasured ItItis important to to mentionthat in in thiskind of of modelthe time can only bebe measured It is important tomention that inthis kind ofmodel the time can only bemeasured is important important mention that this kind model the time can only mention that this kind model time can only measured measured causing in this case the diversity of size of building clusters. 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Figure 2. 2.Variations ofofstepand consolidation threshold parameters, time ===2000. Figure 2.2.Variations ofstep and consolidation threshold parameters, time 2000. Figure Variations of step andand consolidation threshold parameters, time 2000. Figure Variations step consolidation threshold parameters, time = 2000.

T100

T300

T500

T1

T2

ItItisisimportant to to mentionthat in in thiskind ofof modelthethe time canonly bebe measured It is important toto mention that inin this kind ofof model thetime can only bemeasured It is important mention that this kind model the time can only be measured important mention that this kind model time can only measured through thethenumberofofiterationsofoftheagentswithin thethemodel.Thiscondition opens upup through thenumber ofofiterationsofoftheagents within themodel. This condition opens up through thenumber iterations through number iterations thetheagents within themodel. This condition opens up agents within model. This condition opens new possibilities ofofanalysis ofofthemodel considering that, atthethesamenumber ofofiterations new possibilities ofofanalysis ofthe model considering that, atthe same number ofiterations new possibilities analysis of thethe model considering that, atthe same number iterations new possibilities analysis model considering that, at same number of iterations (t),(t),the spatial development ofof the system will present variations depending onon the (t), thethespatial development ofof the system will present variations depending on thethe (t), the spatial development thethe system will present variations depending on the spatial development system will present variations depending parameters. This can bebeobservedin inthefigure 2, 2,wherethethevariationofofparametersattatt= = parameters. This can beobserved inthethefigure2,where thevariation ofofparametersat att=t= parameters. This can beobserved inthefigure 2,where thevariation parameters parameters. This can observed figure where variation parameters 2000 were tested. 2000 were tested. 2000 were tested. 2000 were tested.

Figure 1. (a) Sequence of Favela outputs, with attractive boundaries at the bottom and right hand side only; and, - Self-Organization of Slums settlement Sobreria and Barros (b) development process of AshaimanAlgorithmin Acera.

1.4.2. Peripherisation project The peripherisation model simulates a specific mode of growth, which is characteristic of

Different initial conditions were also tested, an attempt explore totowhat extend path Different initial conditions were also tested, inin anattempt toto exploretoto whatextend path Different initial conditions were also tested, in anan attempt to explore to what extend path Different initial conditions were also tested, inin anattempt totoexploreOsmaextend path Different initial conditions were also tested, attempt explore what extend path what Dossani Different initialinfluencesthewere alsobehaviour.Theanfigure3topresents two what extendofpath Different initial conditions modelsalsobehaviour.The attempt33explore totwosequencesofpath Different initial conditions models behaviour.inTheattempt 3presents twosequences ofofpath Different influences the models tested, inThe figure Different influences conditions models tested, were tested, attempt presents to what extend the explore what extend the dependenceinfluences the were Paper an attempt presents to what extend the dependence initial conditionswere also behaviour.ananfigure 3topresents twoto2012-2013 dependence influences thethewere alsotested, in-inMArchtoThesiswhat extend paththe dependenceinitialconditionsmodelsalsotested, in anattempt totoexploretwosequences ofpath dependence figure explore sequences Final behaviour. 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(consolidatedbeobserved,atthethebeginning citybothslums modelwith differentinitial conditions. As Asititcanbeobserved, atsettlements) in in cityofbothslumsmodelwith are no noinitial conditions.As ititcan spontaneousHughbeginning initial patches can spontaneous settlements) observed, Advisor: settlements) Hynes of bothslums modelwith are no initial conditions.Asit can spontaneous atthebeginning simulations with are no brown conditions.As can ofcityofslums model there differentbrown patches (consolidatedbespontaneousatatthebeginningin of cityof simulations there areareno brown patches (consolidatedbespontaneoussettlements) in ofofof ofsimulations there differentbrown patches (consolidated beobserved, settlements) in both simulations there differentinitial patches (consolidated observed, the beginning simulations there ofofvirtualsimulations thereareAfterbrowniterations,(consolidatedspontaneousallthethreesocial- in of thevirtualurbanlandscape. 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Figure 3.Experience with different initial conditions, polycentric (A)andcolonial grid (B) colonial grid Figure 3. 3.Experiencewithdifferent initial conditions, polycentric (A)(A)andcolonialgrid(B)(B) Figure 3.Experience with different initial conditions, polycentric (A)andandcolonialgrid(B) Figure 3.Experience with different initial conditions, polycentric (A)andcolonial grid (B) Figure Experience with different initial conditions, polycentric colonial grid Figure 3. 3.Experiencewithdifferent initial conditions, polycentric (A)(A)andcolonialgrid(B)(B) Figure 3.Experience with different initial conditions, polycentric (A)andandcolonialgrid(B) Figure 3.Experience with different initial conditions, polycentric (A)andcolonial grid (B) Figure 3.Experience with different initial conditions, polycentric (A)andcolonial grid (B) Figure Experience with different initial conditions, polycentric

Bombay 1930s - Mehrotra and Dwivedi Bombay: The Cities Within

In order to illustrate the forces of community and conflict, it is important to understand the historical background of Mumbai. Prior to independence, the urban environment was very segregated. Rahul Mehrotra, an architecture professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, explains, historically, particularly during the period of British colonization, the different worldswhether economic, social, or culturalthat were contained within these cities occupied different spaces and operated under different rules, the aim being to maximize control and minimize conflict between opposing worlds (Huyssen, 205). In a sense, the lower classes were continually at the mercy of the upper classes. Since then, despite independence, the lower classes are still at the mercy of the upper, and are continually used as pawns. Gyan Prakash, a history professor at Princeton University, explains, The emergence of the Shiv Sena in 1966 opened a new chapter in the history of Bombays public spaces as sites of confrontation (Huyssen, 199). Essentially, political parties found it in their interest to polarize the incoming migrant communities, and this tactic would actually help them get the majority vote. The continued polarizing, which had played an integral role in the creation of Pakistan, initiated conflict between tight-knit diverse communities. New, more homogenous, communities began to form, under the labels of religion and cultural background, and this eventually resulted in a slew of ghettos in the city. This resulted in, as Prakash states, public spaces as sites of confrontation. While incoming communities were polarized, the pressing power of the government over informal settlements was also manifested in frequent and undocumented demolitions of slum areas. This conflict, hierarchy, and power control created a tension between the lower and upper classes, and this tension actually influenced the building strategy that is prevalent in the slums today.

http://www.indiatalkies.com/images/riots47304t.gif

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

It is evident that the pressures from the formal city on the informal city actually influenced the building strategies. For example, most of the materials used are recycled from unused construction sites, and are generally very cheap to make; the informal city does not rely on the expenses that the formal city relies on for architecture. Katherine Boo, a woman who spent four years studying a slum in Mumbai, discusses that there is a mentality within the slum that the sturdier the hut, the less likely it is to be demolished. She explains the evolution of the partition wall between two slum dwellers huts. One year, there was enough to eat. Another year, there was more of a home to live in. The sheet was replaced by a divider made of scraps of aluminum and, later, a wall of reject bricks, which established his home as the sturdiest dwelling in the row (Boo, xvi). This constant renovation mentality is manifested in the slums; each hut will assuredly be made of a different composition, and this is reflective of the financial status of the hut. Roof Walls Connections

Cheap
cement sack tarp rope bamboo bamboo bundles corrogated metal corrugated metal plywood bricks mortar shingles screws stone concrete
Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

duct tape

sheet / tarp

Expensive

ceramic tiles

Each building material, as it becomes more expensive in price, also gains more rigidity and permanence. Boo explains that the sturdier hut seemed more like an insurance. Almost everyone improved his hut when he was able, in pursuit of not just better hygiene and protection from the monsoon but of protection from the airport authority. If the bulldozers came to flatten the slum, a decent hut was seen as a kind of insurance (Boo, 86). Each material has its own qualities, its own sturdiness, and its own ease of building. For example, a corner made out of bamboo sticks could sit at ninety degrees square, but often it does not. There is a variability will actually influence the hut adjacent to it, and so on, like a micro domino effect. Likewise, sheets of aluminum scrap will afford a planar edge, but it will more often than not be pieced together in an overlapping tectonic. More often then not, there will be hybrids in the material composition--plywood paired with aluminum paired with bamboo. Generally, the planar materials have an overlapping tectonic, and the filigree tectonics have their own tied tectonic.

Corner detail of Bamboo Hut

Overlapping of Aluminum

http://indiawires.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/mumbai-slums. jpg

http://www.worldsupertravel.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ slum-mumbai-india.jpg

http://image.yaymicro.com/rz_1210x1210/1/852/slums-inbombaby---mumbai--india-1852876.jpg

http://cdn.lightgalleries.net/4bd5ebfbeea0e/images/ Mumbai_3-2.jpg

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Due to the various building types, there is competition to build in the slums. In an attempt to simulate this competition on an urban scale, the following simulation engaged four students into building their own slum colony. The game began with an empty lot, and each blank lot had two resource points and three road outputs. Each person picked up a Fate card which told them how many huts to build, and they had to use scissors and tape to model a little hut and place it where they felt was optimal in relation to the resources and the roads. Once their hut was placed, they had to tie a string from their hut to the resource point; each player had a limited amount of string. Once everyone went one turn, they were allowed to draw in roads. Once the roads were in, it was a free-for-all; everyone had to build as many huts as they could given their limited amount of string. This simulation reflected the element of community as a clustering force in the development of slums. The final board had four completely different mechanisms of clustering, as each person represented a rural village whose inhabitants are migrating to the city. Some decided to take charge of the road on both ends; some felt the need to ambush a resource over the roads; others felt that if they spaced their huts out more they would have more control over the space in between. There was also a very key important element wherein speed and quality had an inverse relationship; the faster one went, the less quality of their huts, and potentially the less optimal their location. There was also a relation to skill--some huts were poor quality and were not built in a speedy manner either. Additionally, the competition became so fierce, that one player actually cheated by stealing anothers hut.

Rules: Start with blank lot

resources road outputs

Let everyone go one turn, and tie their string to resource point

After one turn, draw roads

Free for all--build as many huts as possible until string runs out

Final game board

Moment cheating of

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

The simulation above attempted to model competition, community, and conflict on an urban scale, but it is also possible to model this on a building scale. Given that the various materials used in hut compositions can be indicators of financial status, it is possible to look at a field of roof compositions to denote how that particular hut is doing in comparison to its neighbors. For example, if one roof is made of only vinyl, then it is not doing as well as his neighbor, whos roof is composed of shingles, tin, and vinyl.

Vinyl = $

Shingles + Tin + vinyl = $$$$$

Slum in Tathiana http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/Portals/0/images/Center%20for%20 Sustainable%20Global%20Enterprise/Center%20at%20large/ One%20of%20the%202000%20slums%20in%20Mumbai%20-%20 Tathiana%20Reis.JPG

Shingles + Tin = $$$

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Below is an adjacency algorithm that investigates the material quality of a hut with its neighbors. The concept behind the algorithm is that a hut may seem more superior to its neighbors when it has a higher quality roof. A hut with a tin roof, for example, can seem superior in a field of roofs with sheets, and seem inferior when surrounded by roofs with shingles; the same huts perceived superiority can rise and fall depending on the roofs adjacent to it.
Sheet Vinyl Tarp Tin / Aluminum Shingles # Less Superior # More Superior 8 0

Perceived Superior

Perceived Superior

# Less Superior # More Superior

2 0 Equal

Equal # Less Superior # More Superior 1 7 Perceived Inferior

Perceived Inferior

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

http://thinkchangeindia.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/dharavi. jpg

Existing

Roof Sampling Adjacency Algorithm

Perceived Superiority

With this algorithm, one can apply it to a sampling of roofs and come up with a gradient of perceived superiority in a neighborhood. In the example above, one can see that this can show trends in the neighborhood; there is a diagonal line of huts that seem to be perceived with higher superiority than their neighbors. The roof sampling shows a trend of who is doing financially superior than their neighbors, and the transition next to it shows who seems more superior, relatively, to their neighbors. While the shingle roof might denote financial wealth, if the hut is next to a slew of other huts with the same type of roof, he wont seem as superior than if he was around those with poorer quality roofs. The next question would be to ask: why are these huts perceived superior than their neighbors? And also, why are those with shingle roofs doing better than their neighbors? In an attempt to understand hierarchy on an urban scale, toilets became a focus of interest. Below are toilets that have been mapped in Cheeta Camp, a slum in the south west of Mumbai. Most of these toilets began as free toilets, and over time have changed into pay toilets. The reason for this is because free toilets generally are less clean, and pay toilets are there because they pay for their own cleaning. Even upon looking at the distribution of pay toilets to free toilets, one can see how hierarchy is spread over the settlement--there are mostly free toilets to one corner, but there is a smaller distribution of free toilets throughout the whole camp. The cell represents the extents of influence for any one toilet.

Pay Toilets

Free Toilets

Functional Toilet Locations

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Upon breaking down the dots into Pay toilets versus Free toilets, there is higher superiority to those who live near a toilet. The pay toilets tend to get closer to each other towards the center of the camp, and this could potentially denote that there is a higher percentage of people in that area that can afford a pay toilet. In terms of the free toilets, there is a higher concentration of free toilets in the west areas of the camp, and this was also noted to be closer to high amount of defecation in the street. This is a potentially poorer area of the slum. It also shows that anybody who lives elsewhere would have to walk a significant distance to get to a toilet, and potentially waste more time that they could be spending working. Essentially, these studies paint a picture of the urban fabric that highlights the areas that have hierarchy regarding proximity to a toilet. In the slums, there are a set of conflicts that are universal, and other conflicts that are specifically infrastructure-based. In this case, it is possible to envision conflict happening in the areas that are painted mostly red. Here is where people might have to fight over who can use the toilet first, who is waiting in line and who might be jumping the line, and so on. These toilet locations are hotspots--everyone in the cell allocated around these toilets will have to visit their designated toilet at least twice or thrice a day. In this sense, there might be a constant sense of traffic around these areas, potentially leading to conflict.

Pay Toilet Dispersal

Free Toilet Dispersal

Perceived Inferior

Perceived Superior

Equal

Source: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?vps=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=21328154417404370262 3.0004b617c56e89532fff9

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Upon analyzing the types of conflicts that happen in the slum areas, there are conflicts that happen to be universal, and ones that are particularly slum-related. These slum-related problems are primarily infrastructure-based. By addressing the infrastructure-based problems in the slums, one could potentially reduce that typology of conflict in the area. If it were possible to design a way in which infrastructure could be self-organized the way the building patterns of the slums were, then it would seem like an optimal solution to implement a strategy like this in the slum areas. Given the tense relations that the slum areas have with the government, it is potentially in the slum dwellers interest to CONFLICT an extra set of rules when they build to accommodate elements like infrastructure once they have MATRIX aggregate to a significant amount.

UNIVERSAL

SLUM-RELATED

DISLIKE NEIGHBOR CAUSES OF CONFLICTS

WAITING FOR TOILET

MISUNDERSTANDING

WAITING FOR TAP

DISHONESTY

FLOODING

CRANKINESS

CRUMBLING WALLS

POLITICAL OPPRESSION

ROOF / WALL LEAKS

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Store Hidden Cooridor

Food

Convenient Store Tea Stall Residential Store Residential Grocery Grocery Residential Residential Thomas Enterpraises Residential Grocery Grocery Residential Convenient Store Pottery Restaurant Grocery Residential Music and Food Shop Residential Food Convenient Store Residential Closed Pottery Food Closed Convenient Store Under Construction Food Textile

Food Reside Grocer Conven Textile

A Walk Through Nehru Nagar Slums in Mumbai: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=lIaq_5GNI1I

By looking at a street after the monsoon, one can begin to decipher potential ways of creating ground-up infrastructure. Ground-up infrastructure would be a way in which slum dwellers build that could connect to a greater system that they would build in pieces, and locally. A good example of this is illustrated in Steve Johnsons book on Emergence: The connected lives of ants, brains, cities, and software. He describes how Deborah Gordon, of Stanfords Biology department, discovered the ordered logic of ants. He explains that initially it was believed that there were special ants that had superiority and ordered solider-like ants. These ants, he explained, were supposed to be ants that told other ants what to do, and this was how the organism cooperated so efficiently. Instead, Gordon found out that these ants dont have a central command system at all--it is all self organized. They communicate in a way that is pattern-based, and very simple. Each has a certain set of rules, and when they are confronted with a certain pattern upon meeting another ant, they operate accordingly. They even manage to locate cemeteries and trash dumps in locations that are furthest from each other, and furthest from the colony (Johnson, 32). Things like cemetries and trash dumps are normally taken care of infrastructurally in big cities, however, the ants managed to self-organize the locations of these on their own. Here is a prime example of ground-up infrastructure. When one looks at the street presented above, one can think of potential ways that the slum dwellers could develop the area in a ground-up way to accommodate the flooding that happens every monsoon in Mumbai. Each house, for example, could dig in front of their own plot in a way that makes a central stream in the middle of the street, and this might lessen the flooding, to a certain extent. Alternatively, if the roofs of these huts were positioned in a way that could retain water longer, then perhaps the streets would flood more slowly. One way of attempting to create a ground-up algorithm for infrastructure is to pick a type of infrastructure, determine how it would be best performed, or its fitness, and then choose the hut component to manipulate in order to achieve this performance on a larger scale. Essentially the process would be trying out a detail, and see how it performs when aggregated.

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

algorithm formation method:

Pick infrastructure

Lay out Requirements Determine fitness Yes

Choose hut component to adjust No Test / Iterate Does it work?

In this particular case, drainage was the infrastructure being tested, and water retention was the strategy of fitness--the longer the roofs can retain the water, the more optimal the roof structure. The hut component used to adjust was the roof itself. Then came a series of testing of which roof slant was the optimal slant for this particular fitness.

ex: drainage water retention

ex: roof
Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Galapagos roof variations Galapagos, a program that simulates evolutionary fitness, was used to simulate the optimal roof slant. The roof was given only two dimensions to rotate in (X-Z plane and Y-Z plane), and from there, the algorithm that to determine which slant was the fittest. Above are three of the myraid of final outputs, each having their own pros and cons. To the left is the existing roofscape, and below the application of the optimal roof. There are many problems with any kind of optimal output in this scenario. Given the low probability of constructing a roof of this kind of slant, the actual simulation becomes obsolete. The simulation could be useful if a type of jig could be fabricated out of this, and then the optimal roof would be more achievable. The application of this simulation also makes one question exactly why water retention would be a good route to go in the optimization scheme--perhaps water deflection is more optimal if the roof cannot handle the weight of water. In the end, one is left with many questions--what is the optimal roof, and how can it be achieved? Could there be another way of treating the roofs that could allow for better roof drainage, or water retention? One optimization, instead of producing satisfactory results, actually incites a slew of critical questions about the output.
Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Existing roofscape

Optimized roofscape

In conclusion, having investigated conflict, community, and competition as shaping factors in the growth, formation, building strategy, and future densification of informal settlements, it is possible to conceive of a way to address infrastructure-based conflict by designing algorithms that can account for infrastructure in a self-organized way. These algorithms would follow similar rules that existing slum dwellers follow to build their huts, but would add elements that could improve up on the hut building strategy in efficiency, quality, speed, and skill. While this project may seem to be targeted at infrastructure alone, the actual negotiation of creating a ground-up algorithm that accounts for infrastructure will eventually alter the building strategy itself. It also recognizes that while algorithms can spout out a potential optimal output, that the reality of these outputs would have to be questioned in relation to probability of their execution. Future applications of this algorithm could better improve the building strategies existing in the slums, as well as consider a sustainable way for the future densification of these areas that takes into account the influences of conflict, competition, and community.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5xkDx_-kv3I/TQ3CGQTSxWI/AAAAAAAAAzc/buzPXQNfZIM/s1600/Dharavislums.jpg

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Literary Bibliography
Dwivedi, Sharada, and Mehrotra, Rahul. Bombay: The Cities Within. Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd. 2001. Boo, Katherine. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. Penguin Books.New Delhi. 2012. Barros, Joanna, and Sobreira, Fabiano, P. (2002), City of Slums: Self-Organization Across Scales, CASA Working Paper Series, 55, available on-line at www.casa.ucl.ac.uk. Sobreira, Fabiano, P. and Gomes, Marcelo (2001), Geometry of Slums: Boundaris, Packing & Diveristy, CASA Working Paper Series, 30, available on-line at www.casa.ucl.ac.uk. Huyssen, Andreas. Other Cities, Other Worlds: Urban Imaginaries in a Globalizing Age. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008. Print. Johnson, Steven. Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. New York: Scribner, 2001. Print. Mathur, Anuradha. Soak: Mumbai in an Estuary. Rupa Co. 2009. Mason White: Making Plans, Archinect, 2008 Manuel DeLanda: Tactics, Strategies, Logistics, War in the Age of Intelligent Machines () Manuel DeLanda: Opportunities and Risks MVRDV. Space Fighter. Urban Mapping; Tactical Games or Critical Theories Anthony Burke: The Urban Complex: Scalar Probabilities and Urban Computation, Post-Traumatic Urbanism, Architectural Design, vol. 80 #5 (London: Wiley, 2010) Keller Easterling: Introduction, Enduring Innocence (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005) Sundaram, Ravi. The Visceral City and the Theater of Fear. Architectural Design, Vol. 77 Issue 6. pp. 30-33. Nov/Dec 2007. Sarkis, Hashim. The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 2005.

Image Bibliography
Bombay Riots 1960s - http://www.indiatalkies.com/images/riots47304t.gif Mehrotra and Berger Slum Study - http://informalsettlements.blogspot.com/ Arial of Dharavi Slums - http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5xkDx_-kv3I/TQ3CI8TwBRI/AAAAAAAAAzg/WOtz5EBeCaM/s1600/Dharavislums1.jpg Arial of Dharavi Slums 2 - http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5xkDx_-kv3I/TQ3CGQTSxWI/AAAAAAAAAzc/buzPXQNfZIM/s1600/Dharavislums.jpg Youtube Video Nehro Nagar Screenshots - A Walk Through Nehru Nagar Slums in Mumbai: http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=lIaq_5GNI1I Cheeta Camp Toilet Locations - https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?vps=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8& msa=0&msid=213281544174043702623.0004b617c56e8 Slum Roof Diagram Image - http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/Portals/0/images/Center%20for%20Sustainable%20Global%20Enterprise/Center%20at%20large/One%20of%20the%202000%20slums%20 in%20Mumbai%20-%20Tathiana%20Reis.JPG Slum hut - http://cdn.lightgalleries.net/4bd5ebfbeea0e/images/Mumbai_3-2.jpg Slum hut 2 - http://image.yaymicro.com/rz_1210x1210/1/852/slums-in-bombaby---mumbai--india-1852876.jpg Slum hut 3 - http://www.worldsupertravel.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/slum-mumbai-india.jpg Slum hut 4 - http://indiawires.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/mumbai-slums.jpg

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Spring Proposal: Michael Weinstock, in his Architecture of Emergence publication, has written, Emergence requires recognition of all the forms of the world not as singular and fixed bodies, but as complex energy and material systems that have a lifespan, exist as part of the environment of other active systems, and as one iteration of an endless series that proceeds by evolutionary developmentto study form is to study change. The process of this studio will function a lot like Weinstock suggestscreating iterations in an endless series that proceeds by evolutionary development. The work done in the fall semester involved studying the slums in Mumbai to understand how an algorithm might be able to consider conflict, community and competition, in relation to the economy and politics, to output potential areas of intervention and produce an iterative and evolutionary way of testing interventions in the slums. After visiting India in the winter, I will choose a site that I will grow to know well, and will use it as a case study until later in the semester where I will test my strategic equations in other areas. I will take the information gleaned over the winter break to make a very concrete typology of building tectonics and strategies that slum dwellers have access to, including structural and energy capacities. How does one intervene in an already very dense area? How does one do it in a way that is complimentary to the way the area worksin a bottom-up fashion? What parts of this intervention would have to be designed by the architect, and what other parts would be the work of the design of the algorithm? Can this project be done without government infrastructure or intervention? The trajectory of the studio will follow a series of optimizations, beginning with the optimal footprint, moving to optimal hard infrastructure, then soft infrastructure, and then finding a way to resolve the existing condition with the iterations of optimal conditions. I will go through a series of iteration testing, wherein I will try and utilize the architectural languages they developed to intervene in the site, and create a set of testing criteria that will allow me to evaluate the level of success the optimizations reached; it is very possible that what seems optimal, after inputting it in the real world, will not seem optimal anymore. I will also go through a process of scaling down and back up againbeginning on an urban scale, moving to architectural, and back to urbanin order to first understand the needs as a whole, test out a detail, and then apply the detail back to the whole again. The process can begin algorithmically, where I develop strategic equations, but may evolve in order to test if the algorithm can really accomplish what the needs of the area are. The goals is to test if an algorithm is capable of addressing the needs of the slums, and if not, what is the method that can.

Osma Dossani Final Paper - MArch Thesis 2012-2013 Advisor: Hugh Hynes 12-16-2012

Spring 2013 Syllabus

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Footprint Optimization
Generate an intervention that optimizes the footprint, and reduces clashes. Start from an empty lot, and produce 3 iter. - max, min, avg

Mon Mon Mon Mon Mon Mon

1/21

Wed 1/23
Choose site, decide needs, develop strategy equation

Fri

1/25

MLK Day
1/28

Iteration 1 + decide evaluation criteria

Wed 1/30
Iteration 3 - evaluate

Iteration 2 - evaluate
2/4

Fri 2/1 CRASH TEST Review Fri Fri Fri Fri

2/8

Hard Infrastrcutural Optimization

Locate optimal roads

Develop building language based on materials

2/11

Wed 2/6

Develop equations for intervening in dense area

Iteration 1+ 2 - building composition

2/15

Week 4 Locate optimal areas for electricity Week 5

Locate optimal areas for tap Locate optimal drainage Locate optimal areas for toilets Locate optimal areas for garbage / recycling Intervene into existing and accordingly

Wed 2/13
Choose site, create 3 scales of site models, decide needs

Develop matrix of new building languages and their effects

2/18

Test building language detail in small scale - building equation

2/22

Wed 2/20
Test building language detail in large scale - entire slum

Test building language detail in medium scale - neighborhood

2/25

Report malfunctions - re-develop strategy equation

3/1

Week 6 adjust or add or subtract Week 7 Week 8 Week 9

Wed 2/27
Test algorithm at all scales redevelop - Iteration 3

Test algorithm at all scales redevelop - Iteration 2

Evaluate if equation meets site needs. Get feedback in Mid-Review about this.

Mon 3/4 Mid-Review Mon Mon Mon Mon

3/11

Wed 3/6 Mid-Review Wed 3/13

Develop last iteration further add more to equation

Fri 3/8 Mid-Review Fri Fri Fri

3/15

Soft Infrastrcutural Optimization

Locate areas for health Locate areas for education Locate areas for economy Locate areas for government Locate areas for green

Detail step-by-step process of how strategy equation works

3/18

Iteration 4 + small model evaluate

3/22

Wed 3/20
Mock-up 1/4 scale model of last iteration

Iteration 5 + small model evaluate

3/25

Iteration 6 - evaluate
3/29

Week 10 Spring Break Week 11 Week 12 Week 13

Production Resolving Optimal and Existing

Wed 3/27
Develop argument for Defense Review

Catch-up all week

4/1

Given ideal model - how do you intervene? Resolve existing condition and Mon 4/8 optimal. condition.

Collect and re-organize for review Readjust equation and strategy based on review

Wed 4/3 Thesis Defense Review Wed 4/10

Iteration 7 - evaluate

Fri 4/5 Thesis Defense Review Fri Fri Fri Fri

4/12

Iteration 8 - evaluate
4/19

Mon Mon Mon

4/15

Wed 4/17
Production - 2D graphics

Production - 3D models
4/22

Production - 3D models
4/26

Week 14 Week 15

Wed 4/24
Production - 3D models

Board-Mock-ups
4/29

Production - 2D graphics
5/3

Wed 5/1
Develop Boards

Review on Sunday

Production - 2D graphics

Print Boards