May 17th, 2006
One billion squatters claim leftover spaces in cities and live in unauthorized dwellings made of locally available, oftentimes scavenged, materials.
Poverty is rapidly urbanizing. Rural residents affected by the decline of agricultural jobs (among other push-factors) relocate to cities in search of work, but often cannot afford the higher cost of living. As a result, informal settlements emerge.
Shantytowns can be found in almost every developing country. In Turkey, they are called gecekondus. In Turkish, gecekondu means “built at night”. This term refers the loophole in Turkish law that prevents authorities from removing houses built in a single night.
In other countries, however, squatter settlements are illegal. Shelters are built on land not owned by the builder, out of salvaged (stolen) materials, and do not meet construction standards. The rightful owner, often the local government, can demolish shantytowns at will. This obstacle is why shantytown residents are hesitant to invest in infrastructure or building improvements.
Despite the temporary and vulnerable state of informal cities, residents persevere. New cultures emerge. As Robert Neuwirth observes in his book Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World, the citizens of squatter cities are more effective at improving communities than government projects.
Often, governments are corrupt and unwilling to help the residents of shantytowns. In the rare situation that a government is willing to foster a partnership, the situation ultimately worsens. In one case, the government sold the illegally-occupied public land to a private developer who agreed to provide affordable housing for the shantytown residents. However, the rents were still too high and the residents were displaced to other shantytowns.
Self-help networks, churches, and primary schools are just a few of the institutions created by shantytown residents, for shantytown residents. Slum Dwellers International is another network established to create a voice for the Global South in international politics. Brancabika is a workshop “to design low cost housing for low income groups in order to keep the existing inhabitants of the neighbourhood where they live while providing them with a physically, socially, and economically sustainable and healthier environment to live in.” One Small Project is a collaboration of contributions from “community activists, filmmakers, industrial designers, preservationists, writers, sculptors, photographers, architects, and many others … building more for others, wanting less for themselves”.
These efforts are community development at its finest.
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May 9th, 2006
Design matters, even in the virtual world.
World of Warcraft is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, or MMORPG. It is so popular that over six million people play it worldwide. What makes MMORPGs unique is the in-game community, economy, and politics fostered by the players. Real phenomena occur in a virtual place.
Players in WOW create characters for either the Horde or the Alliance. Each faction has three major cities in which players congregrate to learn new skills, trade goods at the auction house, store items in the bank, rest at an inn, or train in a profession. These centralized hubs of activity are often so crowded that players’ computers cannot keep up with the graphical requirements.
Public places, whether real or virtual, should be designed with the user in mind. Orgrimmar, one of the Horde’s major cities in World of Warcraft, is no exception. Video game designers should never disregard the handicap of finite bandwith, but should also not sacrifice good design to this obstacle – especially in the virtual world where change is free from the politics and social costs present in real-life urban planning.
Orgrimmar is made up of six “districts”, each offering a specialized theme of services. The Valley of Strength is the social center of all activity. This is where the inn, the bank, and the auction house – services used daily by all players – are located. It is no surprise that the open space in front of the bank (and even the space on top of the bank) has become a gathering place for characters to meet. It is when players need a specific service that the geography of Orgrimmar becomes awkward.
Orgrimmar was designed to feel like a war camp. Buildings are situated haphazardly, as if the settlement is only temporary. Dirt roads connect each district, but the routes are only made more confusing by the twisting terrain. Furthermore, each district is not directly accessible from the Valley of Strength. If a player wants to get in queue for battlegrounds, he or she must walk all the way through the Drag and to the back of the Valley of Honor. This virtual walk takes two real minutes! In video game time, that is rough.
The layout of Orgrimmar, especially the separation of specialized services into districts, reminds me of our practice of zoning. Each land use is pulled apart and isolated. This results in poor use of space. A high density, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly design would be much more efficient.
Consider the Undercity. Another one of the major Horde cities, the Undercity is a model of good urban design. Its condensed and symmetrical layout provides players with a logical mind map of where things are supposed to be. Additionally, it’s circular shape with radial routes allows players to traverse from one district to another with ease.
I wonder if Blizzard employs urban planners. Perhaps I should reevaluate my career path.
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May 5th, 2006
Everybody wants a piece of the country – but when your piece gets too close to my piece, it’s not the country anymore.
There is a spectacular farm in Powhatan, Virginia called Oak Leaf. Soon, it will be a subdivision called Oak Leaf. The farm was recently purchased, rezoned, and divided into 50 residential lots. On Thursday, my dad and I drove there to pick out three lots we want to build on.
The monetary value of one of these lots is around $185,000. In a year or two, they may be worth an additional $100,000 each, proving to be a wise investment. However, the true value of this land, the value of its beauty and productivity, will be significantly diminished by its fragmentation. The damage called suburbia has already begun.
There is conflict in my head. I am contributing to the problem that urban planners are trained to fix.
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