:Enabling Through Open Infrastructure

WHAT’S THERECAPTURING

WHAT

STUDENTS

TUTORS

WHERE

DIPLOMA PROJECT, BERGEN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, FEB. - AUG. 2011

SILJE KLEPSVIK / s.klepsvik@gmail.com / +47 936 76 783STINE BJAR / stinebjar@gmail.com / +47 950 36 240

DEANE SIMPSON / SIXTEN RAHLFF / VIBEKE JENSEN

LUANDA, ANGOLA

Luanda (Angola), a city of 6 million informal dwellers, faces great challenges related to it’s rapid growth. Our project proposes an alternative to the existing One Million Housing Plan by provid-ing infrastructure instead of housing. We see the vast number of people as a great resource and key to achieve a sustainable development. The project aim to acknowledge and empower both the human and physical assets already there, by exploring the performative potential of infrastructure as an active urban ecology providing accessibility and spatial qualities.

BACKGROUNDAngola has undergone 500 years of Portuguese colonial power, followed by a 20-year devastating civil war. The war forced millions to migrate to the larger cities which were considered safe, leading to a tremendously rapid urban growth, particularly in the capital Luanda. Due to the loss of agricultural land and the urban advantage, the urban growth has continued to escalate in post-war Angola.

In only the last two decades, Luanda has grown from 800 000 to 8 million inhabitants. This has caused the capacity of the city’s infrastructure and urban logic to break down. As Africa’s top-oil producer, the country has experienced an economic boom, bringing Luanda to the top of the list of the world’s most expensive cities to live in. Concurrently, 80% of Luanda’s inhabitants live in musseques (informal settlements and urban slums), materializing in a rapidly expanding low-rise carpet surrounding the city core. It is evident that the oil revenues do not reach the vast majority of the urban poor, and the urban divide is being further intensified.

The rapid pace of the urbanization of Luanda is a weighing challenge for the city, and the urban planning of the coming decade will be a crucial factor in determining the future of Luanda. The Government has recently launched a One million housing plan, addressing the overcrowding and need for basic accommodation. The plan’s aim is to build one mil-lion new homes by the end of 2012 for the urban poor.

To execute the plan the government is mainly contracting Chinese and other foreign construction companies instead of utilizing local labor. The housing projects are located far outside the urban core. creating an augmented poverty trap as the spatial distance to urban facilities increases. In addition, urban informal settlements situated on valuable land in the city centre have been relocated by force, which easily leads to agony and political unrest.

Struggling to meet the escalating implications of a war-torn country experiencing rapid urban growth, the Government should undoubtedly be accredited for its aim at poverty reduction and at rebuilding the country. The hasty solutions built on foreign ideals can however pose even larger challenges in the near future. The danger of building up large uniform neighborhoods consisting primarily of social housing and mainly designed as re-cidential hubs, segregated and isolated from the rest of the urban society, can foster social discontent and ghetto cities.

TURNING PROBLEM INTO RESOURCEThe rapid growth of Luanda imply major problems, but also create outstanding oppor-tunities. By understanding that problems are also opportunities, hidden resources can become visible. By capturing and acknowledging the potential that lies within existing structures, as well as within the vast human resource, a city can become less dependent on large-scale, top-down, and costly development, and can encourage local initiative and breed productivity.

Reacting to the one million housing plan, we argue that infrastructure should be provided instead of housing.

Our argumentation is accentuated by the report from Development Workshop, a non-governmental organization working with bottom-up strategies and extensive research in Luandas’ musseques, which notes that:

“Poor urban residents identified water supply and better sanitation facilities as problems for which they require assistance (...). Housing and constructions, however, were not iden-tified by the poor urban resident as problems for which they needed assistance.”

FIRST HAND IMPRESSIONSSpending one month in Luanda, we experienced the city’s infrastructural challenges first-hand. The missing capacities for water, power and food supply were evident, so was the lack of sanitation and waste management, the loss of agricultural land, and the chaotic traffic situations.

Also apparent was the high degree of productivity and initiatives within the informal sec-tor and settlements, the extraordinary vibrant and pulsating Angolan urban life, and the powerful human networking and social collectiveness. Not to mention a highly efficient water-usage and a resource awareness that we in the West have a lesson to draw upon.

INFRASTRUCTUREWe see the role of infrastructure as crucial in order to create a foundation for demo-cratic access to urban advantages and basic needs for the city’s recidents. Infrastructure can also act as a spatial organizer, framing the urban Angolan life.

Infrastructure can be understood as an urban ecology, embodying the natural and social cycles of the city.

RAILWAYThe recently reopened railway going from the city centre of Luanda towards the interior of the country, will act as a generator for a natural densification along the line. This is the starting point for our project, where we see the railway as the base for additional infra-structural interventions aiming to facilitate the existing informal settlements and future densification.

CROSS-SECTIONWith the railway stations, which are naturally a meeting-point and hub, as the starting gates for further infrastructural development strategies, we work with a cross-section growing out of this central point. The linear development can be seen as a first step in an evolving and larger system. We are looking at how this cross-section can be played out in one of the stations, in an area called Viana.

CASE STUDY: VIANAViana Station is located in the urban perpheri of Luanda. Lately it has experienced a rapid growth in population as housing prices are a lot cheaper in the periphery than in the ex-pensive city centre, and as the reopening of the railway has made the city and its facilities more accessible. Economically, the railway is now by far the cheapest public transport in Luanda, and physically, the travel goes about three times faster by train than by car due to the major traffic congestions in Luanda.

BRIDGINGViana is physically divided in two by the railway and the highway. The two sides of Viana are also divided in their character, with one formal side built originally by the Portuguese colonisers, and one informal side with poor access to water, sanitation and electricity. The bridging of this divide is crucial for obtaining an inclusive and diverse urban environment. Our project works with this cross-section, bridging the spatial and social division, and facilitating accessibility and inter-active civic spaces.

THE VOICE OF THE ARCHITECTIn the new urban age that we are in, we need to reinterrogate our perception about what sustainability is, and question our established ideals. As architects we should take a stronger part in the discussion around the larger questions about the performance of the city, and dare to take on a more holistic thinking.

The African continent will experience the strongest urban growth among all regions of the world until 2050 (UNHABITAT). Luanda is predicted to be among the four most rapidly growing cities on the continent, and the development taking place at this present in Luanda should be of extreme interest for both architects and planners.

With our project Capturing What‘s There we approach a development of a new breed of urbanity, rooted in physical and social qualities already there. We see potentials of a more sustainable coexistence based on resource awareness and participation. The proj-ect is a contribution in the debate on what we see as one of the greatest challenges in our time –sustainable urban living.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

AT STAKE: LUANDA INTERPRETATIONS & REACTIONS

LUANDA

AT STAKE

LUANDA

LUANDA CENTRE

RECONSTRUCTED RAILWAY

Areas of forced migration

1 million housing projects

Vian

a St

atio

n

Orig

inal

col

onia

l sea

fron

t

Typi

cal c

olon

ial c

ity r

esid

entia

l blo

cks

from

th

e m

id 2

0th

cent

ury

(5-8

floo

rs)

New

hig

hrise

sea

fron

t,m

assiv

e bu

ildin

g ac

tivity

New

pro

men

ede

Wea

lthie

r re

siten

tial a

rea,

tow

nhou

ses

and

villa

s w

ith h

igh

fenc

es

Muc

cequ

e ar

eas

Ca

80%

of L

uand

as p

opul

atio

nIn

form

al h

ousin

g, us

ually

one

-sto

ry

INFORMALFORMAL

LUANDA: A CITY IN TRANSITIONAfrica will experience the strongest growth among all regions of the world until 2050 (UN-HABITAT). From 2000 to 2030, Africa’s urban population will grow from 294 million to 742 million people, an increase of 152%. In the forecasts, Luanda will be among the four most rapidly growing cities on the African continent. The Economist

The rapid growth of Luanda will both imply major problems and create outstanding opportunities. The challenges are obvious. They range from infrastructure gaps and missing capacities for power, water, and food supply to loss of agricultural land and chaotic traffic situations, not to mention the huge health problems originating from air pollution, lack of sanitation, and huge piles of garbage.

In this challenging urban haze, we need to understand problems are also opportunities. Clever city planning methods, innovative waste management procedures, and cost efficient water treatment technologies, belong to this category of opportunities.

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 201087 04 05 090275

PORTUGESE COLONY

Angola has been a Portugese colony since the 15th century

1500

09

2002Peace declarance

CIVIL WAR

1975Independence

Before the war, most people supprted themselves by small-scale farming.

“The key globalization issue for Luanda how more people can be productively engaged in the development process”. Allan Cain. Architect, and founder and head of Development Workshop, Luanda.

FORMAL

INFORMAL

RAPID URBANIZATION

0

1000000

1900 1950 2000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

7000000

8000000

Year

1700 1850

THE URBAN ADVANTAGE & OVERCROWDING

1 man = 2 landmines

The urban advantage implicates the abundance and variety of goods, services, amenities and opportunities, as well as social connections or ‘’human capital’’. In the cities there is also a high concentration and availability of social, cultural and health facilities. Other benefits are the access to water and sanitation, and transportation networks.

RAPID URBANIZATION

During the civil war people migrated to Luanda as it was considered the safest city to live in. The war left the country devastated by mines, and the degradation of the soil left large rural areas useless for farming. People were forced to leave the periferi and migrate to the city for better opportunities.

Luanda experienced an immense growth, and the migration to the city has only accelerated with the post war economic boom which has strengthened the hope in the urban advantage.

LuandaLuanda

Cabinda

Malanje

HuamboBenguela

Lubango

Luanda 1964 Luanda 1986 Luanda 2001 Luanda 2010

FORMAL SETTLEMENTS

INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

COUNTRY-ESCAPE

Angola is one of the world most land mine affected countries. It was estimated a spread of two land mines for each inhabitant during the war.

Luanda was build originally by the portuguese to house 400 000 people. Today the population exceeds 6 million, which means a ten-doubling of the population in only ten years. This immense urbanization, today at a rate of 55.8 per cent, is a hard pressure on the city, and the Government is struggling to meet the challenges of overpopulation and poverty.

80 % of the population in Luanda live in informal settlements. With the immense growth comes fewer access to facilities that make urban living possible, such as water and electricity, and the rapid growth coming out of a 25-year civil war has caused a huge bottleneck in infrastructure, most notably transportation, housing, public utilities and fixed communications.

“This is where the possibilities are, possibilities for creating a life and arranging employment”.Pedro Sapista. Police / Micro Finance.

CITY EXPANSION: A LARGE DIVISION IN FORMAL AND INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

LUANDAS EXPLOSIVE GROWTH IN POPULATION

0

1000000

1900 1950 2000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

7000000

8000000

Year

1700 1850

GROWTH VS DEVELOPMENTOIL AND THE ECONOMIC BOOM

Angola is Africa’s top oil producer and among the fastest growing economies on the continent with a growth rate of 10 % per year since the end of the civil war in 2002. Oil accounts for almost 90 % of the country’s exports, and 83 % of its national income. The majority of it’s revenues come from oil and diamond exports. The oil-rich country is a magnet for foreign workers who push up already high prices inflated by a reliance on imports.

Despite the abundant natural resources, output per capita is among the world’s lowest. Subsistence agriculture provides the main livelihood for 85% of the population. The growth in population is outstripping the rapid economic growth, and together with the damages from the 25-year civil war it has put a strain on the country. In Luanda, large-scale slums, known locally as musseques, are suffering from poor access to water, electricity, and proper sanitation.

Today several Chinese companies have been contracted to large-scale projects of construction and infrastructure to repair the country. All in exchange for Angola’s oil, and a deal that 70% of tenders for public works must go to Chinese firms.

5500

5000

4500

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0.60

0.58

0.56

0.54

0.52

0.50

0.48

0.46

0.44

0.42

0.40

Madagascar

Human Development Index

HDI and GDP data refers to 2010 as reported in the HDR 2010.

GDP per capitaPPP US $

Angola

BUILDING BOOMFive years ago there were only two high-rise buildings in this skyline.

OIL BOOM

1991

2000

2015 (estimated)

2010

3 000 000 bb/d

2 100 000 bb/d

750 000 bb/d

=100 000 bb/d Oil Exported

=100 000 bb/d Oil Used Internally in Angola

1991

2000

2015 (estimated)

2010

3 000 000 bb/d

2 100 000 bb/d

750 000 bb/d

1991

2000750 000 bb/d

20102 100 000 bb/d

20153 000 000 bb/d

TOP-DOWN APPROACH & THE FOREIGN IDEAL

The horizon of Luanda is in constant transformation, with numerous prestigious high-rise building-projects about to shape its skyline. It reveals a desire to exhibit an image of a world-class city. In contradiction, slum dwellers constitute the majority of the urban population.

Most building materials in new constructions in Angola are imported, along with the construction workers, and the design repeatingly take on a foreign look with large glass-facades and extensive use of steel.

The importation of foreign ideals and techniques is not necessarily the best solution to address the local climate conditions or the Angolan urban lifestyle. In addition it should be argued that an emphasis on local materials and techniques could boost local production and create job opportunities for the Angolan people.

Chinese large-scale planned city being build 30 km outside of Luanda city. Mainly planned a residencial hub for the lower-income class.

There are widespread construction projects in Luanda, many of them housing projects contracted to Chinese companies. Most of the rebuilding is sponsored by Angola’s government.

Monolithic blocks and striking uniformity, looking more like China than Southern Africa.

Luanda calls itself the “New Dubai”. The similarities are evident, with several show-off projects aimed to give a portrait of wealth and high-class.

“Luanda Sul is the opposite of development. Sure, it’s creating something, but development is creating works for people, like jobs and houses. This is nothing. It’s only for rich people who have houses.”

Justine Pinto de Andrade, director of the economics department at Catholic University in Luanda.

There are more than 100 Chinese construction companies in Luanda, and these are responsible for about 90% of all new construction work. They are working on oil credit.Hermenegildo Nunda, BI

China came and proposed a “China house”. The Brasilians did the same. The buildings are not adapted for Angolan life. And the quality is not good.”

Mauricio. Architect and Professor at ULA

We teach the architectural history of europe and try to bring what we learn from European and the Portuguese development to AngolaMaria Joao. Teacher in Architecture, Lusiada University in Luanda

THE URBAN DIVIDE

INFORMAL SETTLEMENT80%

FORMAL SETTLEMENT20%

THE URBAN DIVIDE

The rapid urbanization in Luanda has brought an even larger share of urban residence into total poverty, making out a huge challenge for Angola in the coming decades. Along with the increase in urban poor, the informal sector is growing largely. The development taking place seem to further a polarization of groups, with social housing projects being built far isolated from the city.

The transformation of the city should call for a more nuanced apprehension of the slums, which, apart from its negative implications, also demonstrates substantial economic potential and productivity. A sustainable growth of the city should acknowledge the dynamics of all layers within the urban fabric, encourage integration and foster diversity.

THE MOST EXPENSIVE CITY IN THE WORLDRatings of july 2011 puts Luanda on top of the most expensive cities in the world. This rating do obviously not include the informal city in their measures. A standard flat in the centre of Luanda costs $10,000-$15,000 a month to rent or at least $1million to buy. Many urban dwellers are pushed to the outskirts of the city because of the high cost of housing.

“The state do not acknowledge the qualities and productivity that exist within the informal structures in Luanda.”Mauricio. Architect and Professor at ULA

Joao Handanga Gil Administration Manager, Dof Subsea Angola

“In Luanda you will find all the indexes you are looking for. You name it, you will find it.”

You want to find the richest of the richest, with five swimmingpools, with excess water spilling over; you will find it. You want to find the poorest who do not even have access to one cup of water; you will find it.

“I would say there are three key issues that are important, not only for the city itself but for the whole of mankind. One is the problem of mobility. Another is the problem of sustainability.

The other is social diversity and co-existence”.Jaime Lerner. Architect and Mayor of Curitiba, Brasil.

1 MILLION HOUSES 30 KM OUTSIDE LUANDA

AT STAKE

FORCED MIGRATION

Massive seafront highrise development

...OUTSIDE THE CITY

GOVERNMENT OFFERS AN APPARTMENT IN ONE OF THE 1 MILLION HOUSING PROJECTS

RE-ALLOCATION; A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?

1. THE GOVERNMENT PLANThe urban sea-front is high value land with its pictur-esque view and closeness to the beach. A develop-ment of high-class prestiguos projects including casinos, hotels, luxury apartments and commerce, are planned for the area.

2. THE INFORMAL DWELLERSToday, the sea-front surrounding the city is inhabited by informal dwellers who depend on the cities opportunities and networks. The informal settlements remind you that Luanda, with its immense economic boom, still faces many challenges. The Government see the informality as an unwanted portrait of poverty.

3. THE NEW SOCIAL HOUSING CITYAddressing the need for social housing, large-scale projects are being built 30 km outside the city, where the informal dwellers are offered apartments. The large distances to work and urban amenities does however cause a worsened poverty trap. It also require huge investment in connecting the new with the old if congestion is to be avoided.

“Re-settlement is the term the Government is using for the forced movement of dwellers from high value areas in the city centre to periferic locations. The urban slum-areas will be replaced it with high-class, multi-storey buildings.” Allan Cain. Architect, and founder and head of Development Workshop, Luanda.

8 appartments á 8 stories = 68 appartments, housing about 200 inhabitants (3,1 person per unit)

1 000 000 / 200 = 5000 blocks

TH

E G

REA

T N

UM

BER

“The flats are not prepared for the Angolan people and it will become difficult for them to adapt to this new imposed lifestyle. In the high-rise city you take the responsibility and the engagement away from the people.”

You can critizice the projects happening in Luanda, like the sea-front development, if they are good or not good, but that is not important. The problem is how the people are treated. They are treated like rubbish, moved far out of the city centre. Mauricio. Architect and Teacher in Architecture, Lusiada University in Luanda.