Savda Ghewra in Delhi, India
Julia King, PhD Research Thesis
Incremental City, the Interconnectedness of Making and Town
Abstract
Recent scholarship has highlighted the need for more inclusive urban development to abate the capitalist neoliberal narrative which questions the right of the poor to participate equally in city life. This debate goes beyond the politics of occupation and challenges the processes by which the city is made. The research learns from methodology of anthropology (and sociology) with a focus on participatory methods in combination with architectural research and spatial analysis.
The research uses the term ‘incrementalism’ as a way of investigating and theorizing ‘city’. ‘Incrementalism’ is seen as an alternative to high-capital, centralized, hierarchical and inflexible approaches that have dominated ‘master planned’ urbanism.
The research examines this approach in the specific context of Delhi and its slum resettlement communities, principally the peri-urban resettlement colony of Savda Ghevra. Asking the question: does ‘incrementalism’, defined within the context of sharing by collaborative making as a way of making the ‘city’, result in human freedoms and a human economy?
The research argues that there is a direct relationship between freedom for collaboration and the making of the built environment. By a series of practice-led live projects, the research documents and analyses existing and proposes new forms of social collaboration and sharing in Savda Ghevra.
The thesis argues that people empower themselves socially and politically – they craft a civic order - by being active participants in the process of making; a process characterized by sharing and incremental improvements, additions and developments. It also concludes that opportunities for engagement which are lost in large scale, one-stop, highly-capitalised projects are more readily available during incremental change. Furthermore through engagement with the incremental city/ town/neighbourhood, through shared making the sum total of human freedoms and capacities can be enhanced leading to a more consolidated and hence safer and more durable city neighbourhoods.
Research interests
Housing, infrastructure (water and sanitation), urban planning, development and participatory design processes.
Current research activities
The Core House(ing) Project
The Potty Project
Community-based total sanitation
Centre for Policy Research Workshop Series
Paradigm Shifts in Housing: Information and Incremental Housing
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