Secondary Succession Urbanism

Are the principles of secondary succession in ecology transferable to the urban environment? Consider for a moment the effects the rapid urbanisation has had on the existing landscape. Could this be considered the "event' within the principles of second succession? If you could suggest that the kumpungs of Jakarta are in fact a landscape typology, in the way they act and react to forces around them, then is it not possible to suggest that they could be an important trigger in the process of ecological renewal of the urban environment?

 

Brainstorm.

Once again the 3rd landscape theory of Gilles Clement has emerged. Once again it can not be ignored. How do you design with these principles? Do not the creation of slums reflect in their emergence the same  principles as Gilles Clements theory of the third landscape?

"Secondary succession is a process started by an event that reduces an already established ecosystem to a smaller population of species". wikipedia.org

Jakartas Human System

Jakarta as a human system is a notion that suggest that the city as an entity is reliant on its urban poor population to function at a acceptable level. The above diagram is depicting the location of large scale Urban slums (incomplete) and the idea that they are responsible for material collection and recycling across the municipality. These communities are an extremely important part of the urban fabric and the idea that would be subjected to large scale relocation due to economic expansion leads to the hypothesis that Jakarta would chock under its own "progress".

 

The above mapping are an indication of the scale of urban poor communities within Jakarta, their possible commerce and materials collection range and a  negative hypothetical representation of the same system if all communities are eventually forced further out due to economic expansion.

 

Hypothesis of the extreme condition of demographic relocation.

Fractals in nature.

What is a slum? This question can be explored in many ways, from economic to social to political. To explain the beginning of my understanding I will try to frame my position in terms of Landscape and Architecture. I would suggest that even though these communities possess shelter which could be considered within the realm of architecture, that they posses a unique relationship to landscape. That they could be considered a typology of landscape. Adaptation, fluctuation, compression and expansion are all qualities of landscape. They are also all qualities of these communities. These spaces are not stagnant, the move and flow with the forces around them. Are they an extension of nature through the most basic needs of humans? What patterns can be seen through the emergence of these communities? They are not set in stone with a projected lifespan, they can last the life of the city and indeed become a city if given the opportunity, they are temporal, functional yet they could be considered in their infancy, with a obligation to be nurtured, not dominated..........

Below is a copy of a offshoot research proposal, its is a study of Tokyo and its ability to function in cohesion with its extreme density. Their are interesting comparrison that have yet to be explored.

Hmmm.......

Can the urban slum be used as a frame work to increase the presents of healthy ecology's within these cities? Are they strategically located to bleed out into the urban metropolis becoming the catalyst for improved environmental conditions???  To what capacity can the retrofit and the proposed "land grab" work parallel to one another ...............?

NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS,
and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

 1976, 1989 and 2004 documented growth of Jakarta, blue is urban area and red is vegetation.

Whats a diagram again?

Brainstorm Diagram

Numbers Game?

Has the objective changed or become less contained? 

How do you design for a demographic that is largely use to self survival and resourceful in their own right. How do you establish a condition that will allow for organic growth to a point that the community becomes self sustaining without giving over possible space to so called "developers"? Is it more important to focus on the creation of more communities or the continued growth of existing without giving consideration to the conditions that are present? These brainstorm designs have increased my awareness of the need for a parallel approach to the situation, a. being the search and creation of land for increased communities within the urban fabric and b. being the small scale ground up approach within existing communities. These designs would address issues such as water (drinking, washing, drainage) and vegetation ecology's, with an aim at improved sanitation.   

An Exploration in Networks and Typologies

 

A continuation in the exploration of form and networks. The first model above is an adjusted representation of the Kampung network studied in the previous site analysis. The scale of this network is what is interesting to me, in comparison to that of the road or rail networks. This models explores the idea of networks, form and layering, moving into the vertical plane. Is this a possible direction in the greater design? The idea of create space is very interesting, can these typologies which have previously been a direct physical boundary become ideal spaces for growth.

The inverted Folie exploration creates an amazing form which has varying differences from its original state. Surface area and light are obviously exciting discoveries which could help in the understanding and creation of usable space for the appropriation of these communities.

 Road, water and rail junction, Jakarta

Incremental site analysis

 

Location, networks and interesting spaces.

This test site provided me with a number of interesting conditions. Obviously it is a major water, rail and road junction with a large amount of Kampungs located adjacent to these typologies. These communities are established, with there own networks, occupying the total amount of space directly available to them. Yet they have edges that interest me in their potential for continued growth. Are these the available spaces for growth, areas that originally acted as a boundary could be come greater networks for housing and soft transport, tapping into the existing linear nature these typologies. Creating a layered network of potential, for land growth, housing & ecological improvement?

Typologies and Design Concepts

 

Slums create interesting growth typologies, located in  often inhospitable places, they take root and grow outwards, becoming more compact and dynamic. Their networks are entirely human in scale with paths that allow for access of people, bikes and carts. Cars are not accommodated for the obvious reason that the requirements for their size would be wasted space. Also noting that the majority of residents in these cities do not own or use cars, they are for the wealthy minority, all the same the occupy an out weighted amount of land. There is often an obvious start point for these communities, pressed up against a boundary, be it a rail line, waterway or extreme topography, they can cluster or run parallel, become adaptive to climate conditions or unavoidable human influx due to displacement. What now happens when land is almost all used up, economic growth is demanding construction of infrastructure, is the squeeze defensible or is the situation of mass displacement imitate? How can you create something from nothing? How and where do you build space?

Slum Extension Over Water, Jakarta

Kawloon Walled City: Cross Section

Expansion & Compression

Sau Paulo Slum Expansion

 

Jakarta Slum Expansion

Mumbai Slum Compression

 

Examples of slum expansion and contraction over the last 10 years, interesting to note the type of land that has been acquired by the communities and the reason for the Mumbai contraction. It should also be noted that the Mumbai example would have an exponential increase in population running parallel to the decrease in land. 

Interesting Urban: Modelling the mega city.

RQ3:
Can design help facilitate the continued organic growth of slum communities in large scale 3rd world cities whilst improving ecological conditions and urban networks?

Incremental Research:
Location location location. Understanding the relationship between community establishment and growth.
What is the relationship between slum communities and their inhabited space, including location, topography and proximity to typologies? What rules dictate their form and growth? Can design help to improve their relationship with public and private infrastructure?

The condition of the slum community exist across all 3rd world mega cities. The aim of this micro assignment is to attempt to understand the reasoning behind location and how this effects their outward growth. Although cities vary in their size climate and topography, this condition of the slum community remains. What are the comparisons that can be made, is their an underlying set of rules that can be viewed as transposable or cross-cultural. As space within these cities becomes more premium due to economic advancement what then happens to these communities, are the viewed as established, temporal or disposable?

The Act of Making

 

In the end there was something else!

The most interesting aspect of these follies was their continued state of change, whether it be a ground up construction or their ultimate demise. Each stage reviled something new and exciting. It became clear after the first follie that the void spaces, for me were most exciting. How they began to dictate the form of both the 2nd and 3rd iterations is something that I will continue to experiment with throughout this stage research. Construction destruction construction, produced a number of interesting moments, the light within the void and the form created through the destruction of the paver's is something unplanned, yet it followed a simple set of rules. It had a certain level of organic growth, all be it through my actions. How did my decision making effect this form? I would suggest that the rules set up by myself were constant, "break - place", however the end point was never ascertainable until the tipping point was reach. As the rules of construction did not change at this point the follies ultimate transition to a new state was imitate. Growth of a construct was an attempt to model through the inverse or void conditions. Once again a process was put in place which was not deviated from. This model provided me with some very unexpected condition, for one its continued growth was very exciting and its ability to withstand the tidal conditions for an extended amount of times offered up a large number of conditions of change. Time, perseverance, shadow and form were all a strong aspect of the beauty within this model.

   

Research Question(s)

Q
How do you establish an adaptive framework that can facilitate the rapid growth in urban population in cohesion with improved living and ecological conditions?
SQ
To what capacity can ecology's exist within the ever increasing urban environment?
Are the success of these “urban ecologies” directly related to the mental, physical and social well being of the immediate population?
SQ2
Will the future urban environment be able to support the unavoidable growth in human population? Do ecology's need to give space over to the 'urban' or is there an equilibrium that can be obtained and maintained? At some stage the question of space must be addressed, how do you design for a space that is constantly being compacted inward by form whilst being pushed outward by humanity?

Precedents

Getting Started

Where to begin? Always the hardest question! Above is a diagram representing the 20 most populated mega cities on earth, and their geographical relationship to Melbourne. Interesting to note that of the of the 20 only 6 can be classed as 1st world with the majority located within the Asian region. My research is going to be directed towards Asia with a intentional pull towards Jakarta, Indonesia. The following diagram is an intended design research methodology.

Research Intention

I wish to establish a design methodology that is transferable across highly populated urban environments by understanding the approach taken by the lower socio demographic members of large scale, highly populated cities. What is fundamentally important to the majority of people which live within these mega cities. (Income, space, food, water?) Why is the current situation no longer socially and economically viable? What are the current hierarchies and why? Does an initial small scale design approach then lend itself into large scale master planing?