The first interactions of the child with its environment can already have long-lasting impacts on its worldview (weltanschauung) and psychoanalytical state. This makes the architecture of housing, especially in poor regions, such as Nalasopara in Mumbai, a critical key point for the development of the next generations. However, after the economic liberalization of India, affordable housing has increasingly shifted from vernacular environments towards a dehumanizing accommodation of people in redeveloped chawls, so-called “vertical slums”. This thesis aims to investigate the matter and propose an alternative for the chawl redevelopment that can foster children's development and create a sense of community and identity in their dwelling environment without neglecting the pressing issues of density and affordability.

Humanitarian architecture is a field which is very open to different interpretations and for free uncontrolled experimentation. For architects willing to contribute to this field there is no defined framework that can support them in designing a suitable project. The core of this research is based on a case study in which three different cases in humanitarian architecture are investigated and analysed to create a framework with design principles for humanitarian architecture. These design principles can be used as a tool to evaluate projects or as a supportive framework by architects designing buildings with humanitarian purposes. The design principles are explicated as People, Planet, Profit, Place and Process. At the end of the research, Participation is added to this framework as the sixth principle to emphasise the importance of social design in humanitarian architecture. Those six principles are supposed to produce humanitarian architecture projects which can contribute to the creation of autonomy for communities in need. Project MIMPI includes a multidimensional design of a homelike orphanage in Jakarta in which the created framework is used and validated.

In recent years, Mumbai has experienced rapid urbanization due to its economic growth. This large influx of migrants, who are looking for opportunities in the city, has led to an issue of overpopulation. It has been estimated that the population will grow to 28 million within the next few years. More than 40% of these people live in informal settlements in extremely poor conditions while two-thirds of the population lives on only 5% of the total area of the city. A clear separation can be seen between different income groups within the city of Mumbai, as well as in the rest of India and the global south. This social polarization is not beneficial for the city nor its inhabitants and current housing schemes don’t provide the tools to tackle this problem. In Nalasopara the same issue is at hand where a city is divided into two part: the eastern area where most of the low-income lives while in the west more and more large towers are being constructed for the middle and high-income groups. This problem has only increased in the past 20 years. This increasing social polarization and a widening income gap lead to spatial and social inequality in Nalasopara and Mumbai. This contributes to unfairness between the rich and poor, unfairness in upward mobility, harsh borders between different income groups, different accessibility to public space and ghettoization of certain groups. Which leads to a disconnect between the city and its inhabitants. This project aims to design and create a framework where all income groups have access to accessible urban spaces & affordable housing. While softening the boundaries between income groups but maintaining the qualities, individuality and opportunities for each income group. Which in turn will encourage diversity within this framework to re-connect the people with each other and with the city. Thus creating an example which will stimulate the development of socially depolarized, sustainable urban settlements in the global south.

In many of the processes of urban renewal the Social Space produced by the inhabitants of the existing communities is often overlooked. The project makes a claim for the recognition of this "type of space" and further develops strategies so that the built form can be adaptable and open to the constant production and reproduction of Social Space. Ideas behind open system theory and open city planning are used to create a tool set for an acupunctural urban plan that can deal in this in-between of the purely physical urban environment and the social dynamics it holds.

The city of Lahore (Pakistan) is suffering from a severe environmental crisis. Water related issues such as droughts, floods and waterborne diseases have interrupted the accessibility of citizens to basic amenities. At the TU Delft, I have been approaching these issues in the Explore Lab Studio for my Master’s graduation. In my approach as a future architect, abandoned heritage – Bradlaugh Hall - will serve as an experimental laboratory for testing new ideas along with the reimplantation of local methods for climatization. In terms of programming, a common ground will be set up to narrate the existing boundaries to impede people from meeting fellow citizens out of their circle. Addressing the socio-economic segregation that has characterized Lahore since the colonial rule and has worsened in the last decades. The interaction and transgression among people will allow to learn, express and exchange ideas. Contributing to provoke awareness among citizens regarding their role in society. Along with an urban vision of reconnecting the city with the green structures as an mitigation strategy, the gardens culture will be reintegrated in the life of communities. Who have inherited the beautiful environment as part of their heritage.

An alternative proposal for the densification needs of Gerji site in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The design itself is systematic and highly flexible, on a larger scale, it could be an example of a gentler way of deification that is caring for the people involved.

Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa but only 20% of its population lives in urban areas. The relevance of this fact entails that traditions, economic activities and their social structure are still highly attached to the rural, which is reflected in the ‘’ruralization’’ of the urban areas, that have retarded the progress of cities according to the goals set by the government to achieve modernization. In The capital, Addis Ababa, traditional practices rooted in the countryside are part of the daily activities fostering a juxtaposition and fragmentation of land uses emphasizing the proliferation of informal economies and the unforeseen urban growth where lower and higher-income groups live side by side. In that sense, I find in these challenges an opportunity to propose an inclusive scenario enabling adaptations over time, while pretending to dignify the lives of the current residents and newcomers by granting the same accessibility to decent homes and healthy environments through the sense of appropriation for their own living environment.

In São Paulo, Brazil, the urbanization of workers without education or a steady income has caused a large demand for social housing, with 800,000 families forced to live in settlements and slums without a legal basis. At the same time, the crime rates of the past decades brought forth a standard of ‘enclavement’ of urban blocks, with fences protecting shared outdoor spaces. These add to the segregation of a city that already has immense inequality. Although many have written about creating a safe living environment with architecture in the Western world, applications in the global south are lagging behind. This thesis explores how architectural design can positively influence safety in the periphery of São Paulo, taking into account socioeconomic segregation, local building practices, and social equity. For this, a literature review, a comparative analysis of precedents, a contextual analysis, and research by design are used. The design is made for Parque Cocaía, a greenfield site with environmental restrictions on the outskirts of the city, in Grajaú. It shows how the design of building types that foster the creation of communities, public space that invites life into the streets, and dwelling types that allow watching over the public realm and shared spaces can all contribute to a safer living environment. The design combines lessons learned from Western theory, social housing precedents, and the local context and thereby offers an alternative to enclavement as a means to assure safe living. Future research and design can build on this to prevent further segregation of Brazilian society.

Addis Ababa is a city experiencing a huge population boom, and where the vast majority of housing can be classified as “slum”. State-owned kebele housing, which houses an estimated 40% of the city’s inhabitants, has very low rents but is not maintained, leading to deterioration. Thus, the city is left with a severe shortage of adequate housing. Current state-led developments intended to alleviate the acute housing problem do not address the specific situation of Addis Ababa, and do not allow for the flexibility and adaptability that is required by residents. This research and design project focusses on a specific site in Gerji, owned by the Federal Housing Corporation, and proposes a new model for mid-density, low-rise development which is specific to the context of Ethiopia and suitable for the varying and different living patterns of people in Addis Ababa. The project includes ethnographic research, looking into the lifestyles and daily habits of local residents, as well as documenting their homes and living spaces. Further research was conducted into vernacular and historical building styles and construction methods present in Ethiopia, which was used to inform the design and better understand the specific context of Ethiopia. The research concluded that many different living patterns must be accommodated in a new development, and that this should allow for flexibility and adaptability as household incomes and expectations change over time. Moreover, homes should be suitable for the climate and materials and construction techniques should be informed by local customs in order to aid social sustainability. Finally, tenure options, functions and typologies should be mixed to create a diverse and resilient neighbourhood. The proposed design addresses the research by offering three distinct typologies of building, all of which offer the flexibility needed to allow for different functions and uses. These three typologies are aimed at different sectors of the community and are proposed to be offered in different tenure models. The design is simple and uses adobe bricks and laminated bamboo lumber as its main construction materials. These both use raw materials that can easily be sourced locally and can be processed cheaply on site, using local labour. Ultimately, the proposal achieves a density similar to that of local state-funded housing developments, known as “condominiums”, suggesting that this more varied and site-specific approach to tackling the housing shortage is feasible for Addis Ababa. Adopting such an approach, which looks to local customs and vernacular styles for inspiration, is a radical alternative to the unsustainable route currently being taken in Addis Ababa.

The study aims to investigate humane housing solutions for rapid urbanisation happening all over the globe, specifically engaging with the case of Nalasopara, Mumbai, taking into account issues of density, affordability, economic development, gender and participation.

Urban densification is essential to keep the green spaces surrounding Dutch cities, especially in the Randstad. The current Dutch housing stock, of which a significant portion was built during the 1960's and 1970's, lacks a flexible layer in which people in urgent need of housing can find (temporary) affordable housing. Short-stay housing, which encompasses people living somewhere for a day, up to a couple of years, could provide this flexible layer. Target groups for short-stay housing fare well by social interaction, stimulating integration into Dutch society and opening up new possibilities in their life. This social interaction can be partially provided by introducing the sharing economy into an existing neighborhood, providing sustainable options regarding ownership or mobility. The project 'Between a Day and a Lifetime' therefore proposes an urban densification strategy in which a short-stay housing concept, based on principles of co-housing and the sharing economy, creates densification in a way that it enriches the lives of the current ánd future inhabitants.

Coinciding with the decline of post-war neighborhoods and the housing shortage in the Netherlands the trend towards individualism and one-person households has emerged since the 1950s. This report investigates the densification and reinvigoration strategies of these post-war neighborhoods by using co-housing as a strategy. In the past co-hous- ing has been tried as a solution for social injustice and vulnerable groups within a society. To develop these strategies, case studies of postwar renovation projects have been analyzed as well as co-housing spatial principles and fundamentals to combine into a design strategy for the renovation plan of IJssel- monde. The results are a design approach for densification of a postwar neighborhood that takes into account the current resi- dents while providing suitable housing for new residents and connecting them through co-housing.

The goal of the graduation studio is to research and design housing solutions that improve the livelihood of Addis Ababa’s urban dwellers. Combining analysis, planning and design, the participants of this graduation studio were challenged to use multidisciplinary research methods and tools to elaborate design proposals for the development of a pilot housing project in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia is following the urbanization trend which can be seen across Africa. This is reflected in the population growth in Addis Ababa which has doubled from 2.3million in 2000, to 4.5million in 2020. The primary reasons for this rural-to-urban migration are education and work. We find that unmonitored overcrowded households, long commuting distances and high urban expenses pose obstacles to the progress of all Ethiopian students. This project places due importance on arriving students, as I believe that acknowledging this group as critical to the future development of Addis Ababa and Ethiopia as a whole.”

Housing projects being developed in the future, must challenge the previous problematic development trends built on efficiency in the past. In order to do so, Jan Bredenoord, Paul Van Lindert and Peer Smets state, within their book ‘Affordable Housing in the Global Urban South: Seeking Sustainable Solutions’, that new communities being developed for the future must foster resilience. Resilience is a systems ability to adapt to change. Cities and urban spaces make up, as Charles Correa once said, “a whole system of spaces that people need (Correa, 1989).” “Urban living involves... a whole system of spaces that people need.” Charles Correa In nature, Bredenoord and his colleagues explain, “ecosystems have survived over time by adjusting to changing circumstances resulting in a search for equilibrium between two opposing poles, of efficiency and resilience. The healthiest systems have an optimum balance between the two extremes, which may be described by the term sustainability (Bredenoord et.al, 2014).” Furthermore, cities and urban spaces can be seen as patchworks of “green space, biodiversity (including people), non-biological structures (buildings), biophysical processes and energy flows, and are in that way comparable to natural ecosystems (Maddox, 2012).” The balance between the two extremes, sustainability, can be defined as a trade-off between efficiency and resilience. On the one hand, too much efficiency will lead to little diversity and stagnation in the system, while too much resilience will lead to too much diversity and a lack of coherence and purpose to grow. The goal for future housing developments should therefore be at aiming for an optimum balance between the two. It is upon this background that the graduation project’s topic of ‘Resilience’ and the research question of the project was defined.

With almost 110 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the largest and most populous country in the Horn of Africa. In the current trend of global urbanization, Ethiopia’s cities are rapidly growing. A tripling of the urban population is to be expected in 2050, putting a big pressure on the housing stock and employment opportunities. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital is growing at 3.8% per year, as more and more people from smaller villages or rural areas search for a better life standard. Statistics show that among the relatively young migrants, 6 out of 10 is female, coming from different social and cultural backgrounds. Women in Ethiopia, and to a larger extent those living in rural areas, suffer from a lower social status in the patriarchal society. They struggle more to find appropriate housing and supporting networks. This thesis invests the opportunities to create gender sensitive housing to pave the way for these new urban women. Furthermore, it proposes an alternative to the current mass housing strategy.

The shortage of affordable housing is the biggest challenge of today’s Mumbai. These days, more than a half of the population of Mumbai dwell in the informal settlements, dealing with poor living conditions and low standard of living. Since the nation’s Independence in 1947, India experienced different approaches and policies towards slums: Slum Clearance Act (1956), Slum Improvement Program (1971), Slum Upgrading Program (1985). All of them in some sense are products of evolution of many schemes before11. Eventually, it became obvious that these strategies failed to achieve the required demand due to different reasons. Being unable and unwilling to provide the Economical Weaker Section (EWS) with the adequate housing and with the aim to resolve the problem of informal settlements the state government passed the reins of control of the housing issue to the market. After the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme was introduced in 1995, it quickly became popular among the private sector due to the abolition of restrictions on profits. However, while chasing the profit developer ignored the necessities of the urban poor. Proceeding from the ideas of extreme densification, the redevelopment consumed the whole complexity of existing social and economic networks, which is crucial for the inhabitants of the informal settlements due to the social engagement and income generation. The developer-centric approach neglected the fact that most of the working population of Mumbai is involved in the informal sector, which apart from dwelling is also consists of working areas for the urban poor. Their plans lack of spaces containing different forms of small-scale labor, which play an important role in the informal economy. Therefore, it requires an innovative approach towards dwellings’ design. In chase of higher FSI, the stakeholders did not take into account patterns of social activities. Therefore, it lacks both outdoor spaces and places for gathering that could reinforce the sense of community. Sticking to the same strategy of redevelopment, which provide people with shelters instead of adequate housing is a contradiction to the goals of the Sustainable Development 2030 of the United Nations Habitat commission, which addresses the topic of the housing problem in the Urban Global South. If we do not want to repeat the fate of the Kowloon Walled City, which was demolished due to its unlivable conditions, it is time to reconsider the approach towards housing design for the urban poor.

Mumbai is one of India’s most heavily populated cities, ranking as the biggest metropolitan region in the country. As a result, a design for a new city called Navi Mumbai was presented in 1964. It was originally planned to further extend the urbanization of Mumbai to the mainland instead of any further northwards. This satellite town needed to decongest the population, absorb the migration from the countryside, reduce the concentration of economic activity on Bombay Island and lower the traffic congestions. Navi Mumbai was a city planned for the common man; with jobs and housing in different sectors. But instead of becoming a city for the common man, Navi-Mumbai today is, as many cities of the so-called Global South, a place where social inequality is growing and housing becomes a commodity. Housing is a primary human right, but for the urban poor it is a prerequisite of political and social citizenship. For them a house is not only for life alone, but a house is also a production and marketplace. So the project focuses on a better integration of the people from the lower income groups into the city’s urban fabric. So they have fuller access to wider social networks, a more dignified social role and a deeper source for accumulating information, credibility and dignity for the urban poor in public life as well. Two World Merge is about two different scales. One being the unit scale, by combining economic and domestic activities within one housing unit to create healthier working and living conditions. The other is at the scale of the neighbourhood or city, by integrating the lower income groups with their home-based enterprises and businesses into the city. This economic integration of the lower-income groups will lead to an empowerment of their livelihood.

The world is increasingly urbanised. Especially in those countries that are in rapid development, the migration to the city is extreme. This is the case for Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Its population growth exceeds the number of newly built housing, and the housing that exists is unfit for a majority of the urban population. People create their own solution and move to informal neighbourhoods: neighbourhoods where they build their own houses and earn their money on the streets. While the conditions in the informal settlements are far from optimal, people can live their life and create their own opportunities. Somehow, they make a living that they cannot make in formal housing units: either due to the rent they cannot afford to pay, or due to the inability to earn an income in the way they do in the informal neighbourhood. In this way of living the life in the informal neighbourhoods, temporality plays an important role. People are versitale, can adapt to different situations, different circumstances. They can build up a process, starting something from scratch with the resilience to improve it, one step at the time. The streets are vital: pedestrian flows are economic opportunities. Converting any moment, any place into an opportunity that fits the situation the best: from a kitchen to a shop through the window, from a outdoor stall to an outdoor cooking spot, from a place of moving and travelling, to a place for gathering and meeting. Spaces can transform, dwellings can transform, adapt to circumstances, adapt to serve the opportunity that seems most succesful. It is this temporal element that makes them resilient. But these people are also vulnerable. With the current neighbourhood conditions, a lack of good quality housing, a lack of a well patterned street-network, a lack of services and hygiene, a lack of legal ownership, the dangers are clearly visible: fire, flooding, eviction and disease are potential enemies, created by their living situation. These people, of which there are so many in a city like Addis Ababa, deserve a home that caters their needs, actively engages them to use their abilities to improve their neighbourhood with the right acces to services, streets, economic opportunties. How can we use the theme of temporality to create such dwellings? In this project, a built environment is envisioned that combines the informal way of living (earning an income, having social relations), with a good quality of dwelling. It provides a framework in which people can built their dwellings tehmselves, keeping them affodable, and being able to constantly adapt the home to what they need most. It generates outside space as well as people flows on lower as well as higher levels to increase the economic opportunities for all of the people living in the area.

This research delves into the understanding of self-constructed settlement as a complex adaptive system, specifically focusing on Anchieta Occupation in São Paulo, Brazil. The design hypothesis posits that informal settlements embody highly adaptable systems, offering valuable insights for housing development strategies. The complex socio-economic and historical context of São Paulo’s rapid urban growth, coupled with the array of housing solutions that have arisen, underscores the necessity to reassess these informal settlements. This research explores the concept of a mutual-aid social housing cooperative as an alternative approach guided by the principles of complex adaptive systems, capable of addressing the evolving needs of the community. Drawing inspiration from the successful model of mutual-aid housing cooperatives in Uruguay, this study employs a structured framework based on seven fundamental characteristics of CAS: aggregation, building blocks, flows, diversity, tags, internal models, and non-linearity. Understanding the dynamics of land occupation and guiding housing development or upgrading strategies without stifling self-building and selforganizing forces can lead to remarkable robustness.

Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, is challenged by the phenomenon of rapidly growing urbanization. The city is targeted at the risk that fast-tracked urbanization will cause loss of existing habitats and socioeconomic qualities (Tesfaye, 2012). The initiated condominiums have caused a mismatch between the Architectural approach and the anthropological features, lifestyle and aspirations of the inhabitants themselves. This highly influences the quality of life in the urban context of Addis Ababa. The objective of this design project is to redress this mismatch and reflect on striking findings of the research that have been made throughout Ethiopia. By following the striking needs of Ethiopians, the goal of this design project is to realize a well-integrated design, which allows Ethiopian variety and differences of their lifestyle, aspirations, and needs. The report will communicate my vision for this project. A combination of sketches, short writings, flashes of Ethiopian inspiration and common interests argue the choices that have been made. It will lead you through the rural- and urban living all the way until the new proposed urban design project for Addis Ababa, a systematic approach that can adapt to cultural and lifestyle differences on various scales.