Kiosco Mágico Building communication and social capacity

A current exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art  (MOMA) in New York  deals with architecture and social responsibility – illustrating how small, simple and cost-efficient architectural solutions can significantly help improve citizens’ living conditions and social life in slums or “underserved” communities. Shown are projects realized – be it in Chile, India or France (Paris) – until Jan 3, 2011. http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/smallscalebigchange/

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A public library in Medellín, Colombia, that also serves as a local community center, and which has helped change the face of one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city.

Photo: Mónica Cuevas Urizar

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The architect Volker Bollig volunteered to help the Ugandan NGO “Lernplus Foundation” to bring ahead their project of building a Secondary School and Language Center in Entebbe, Uganda. By 2011 the new building shall be inaugurated. See “Link” (left column of blog: “Interview on Project in Uganda” with Bollig.

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Kiosco-Mágico-architect Volker Bollig in Haiti, assigned by the German NGO GTZ (Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenheit), develops a concept for constructing a new neighbourhood after the earthquake.

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Participation and solidarity between the neighbours was a precondition for starting any building activities.

For the foundations of the new transitional wooden shelters were used the “debris” of the collapsed dwellings.

only after the whole neighbourhood (between 15 and 40 units) has finished

the foundation prepartation the wooden structures were delivered.

they could be errected- even by unskilled people- within one day. That was made possible due to a carfully planning which allowed to precut and predrill all the lumbers, so that the whole house only needed to be assambled on the spot.

The houses do resist earthquakes and hurricanes but also- in contrast to many other proposed solutions- take in consideration the tropical climate by providing natural ventilation.

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Architect Volker Bollig (left), here on a mission for Médicins Sans Frontières in Ethiopia  in the autumn of 2009, is explaining how to handle hazardous medical waste in Addis Abeba Hospital Yekatit 12  to the cleaning-staff.

Previously the waste management area was improved by installing a sharp box reducer to avoid the transmission of deseases like Hepathites B or HIV through sharps.

For more images klick “project pictures” link in the column, left, to get to flickr.

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“While we can argue about what a slum is, everyone understands what a city without slums could look like.”

In Egypt’s capital Cairo, located in an urban region of 16 million inhabitants total, seven out of ten citizens live in so-called Muntiqat al-Ashwa’iyya (slums). These informal settlements originated planlessly and illegally. The German GTZ, a governmental organization that initiates PPP-projects in developing countries around the world, has recently published a book on Cairo’s slums with good photography and journalistic stories on the history of the informal settlements, challenges and potentials, everdyay life, nightmares and neighbourhood projects.

Cairo’s Informal Areas. Between Urban Challenges and Hidden Potentials. Facts, Voices, Visions. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, Cairo, 2009. (see PDF column left).

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The US American writer Jon Lee Anderson, best known for his book
on the Irak War (“The Fall of Bagdhad”), has recently published
a captivating story on the life and (drug) business in the streets
of Rio, Brazil. (The New Yorker, October 5, 2009, p.47).

See “Gangland” under “Links” (column left)

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The first part of understanding the Kiosco Magico as a tool/concept for social change in small slums.

This will be a workshop run by lecturer Micke Svedemar at Malmö University together with a number of students at Arts and Communications. The goal is to create posters and models for understanding how to use and design the Kiosco Magico artefacts.

Would you like to join us? Then contact Micke Svedemar michael.svedemar@mah.se. Welcome to Arts and Communications at Malmö University. Kick off  at 17.00, 16 June, Lecture hall 11.

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Soon, travellers who book a trip to Rio’s favelas may notice some unexpected technological developments: high-speed internet access has arrived in the slums of Rio.

http://matadorpulse.com/brazilian-favela-gets-wired

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Since 2007, more people have lived in cities than in the countryside – globally viewed. Be it in South America, Africa or Asia, cities are growing at a very fast pace. Urban planners and architects nowadays try to meet the challenge by improving the cities’ infrastrucutre exactly at those points where they grow – in the outskirts, slums, favelas, where the very poor citizens live.  In order to improve living conditions, up-to-date communication facilities are key.

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