DESPLAZADOS Y GRUPOS VULNERABLES: COLOMBIA

Investigation of the housing systems for the most vulnerable layer of society in Colombia summer 2010

Diversidad es Dignidad.
CONTENTS
I. Introduction II. Context of political, historical and economical facts Colombia Tolima & Ibague: the FARC and Invasions III. The process What will be the specific topic? Research in Informal Architecture Financial Possibilities Case Protecho Topacio: San Gelato II IV. Conclusion V. Credits VI. Contacts VII. Sources
Cover: Case Study House in Barrio San Gelato II, Protecho Topacio, Comuna 8, Ibagu, Tolima, Colombia Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

seor Fandio

Written by: Marie-Laure Pacquet 1MaAR 2010-2011 UOS Elective Promotor Belgium: Prof. Ir. Arch. Yves Schoonjans Hogeschool voor Wetenschap&Kunst, Gent, Belgium Promotor Colombia: Prof. Ir. Bernard Baeyens Universidad de Ibague, Ibague, Colombia

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IN ASSOCIATION WITH:

I. INTRODUCTION

Beautiful architecture has none of the unambiguous advantages of a vaccine or a bowl of rice. Its construction will hence never be raised to a dominant political priority. Alain de Botton El espacio pblico debe ser un sitio para aprender, recrear la mente, fortalecer fsicamente al cuerpo humano y de enriquecer los lazos comunitarios, a travs del contacto, la comunicacin y las relaciones. The public space should be a place to learn, to re-create the mind, to strengthen the body physically and to enrich the community ties, through contact, communication and relationships. A. Cuesta Beleo (2008)

The assignment given by both universities, was the following: The university of Ibagu (a smaller city in Colombia, the size of Gent) is working on a program to design social housing for some 600 families and economically weaker groups, that are in refuge. The project is in cooperation with the US-AID that is coordinating a program in several cities in Colombia for the strengthening of citizen participation and citizen oversight. The student will participate through the university, more specific the faculty of architecture, on a part of this project. It could be that this social project could be part of the CONVIVE design concours. An average of 20 architecture schools in Colombia participate in this project. It is always about real problems, this year it was about the displacement of a group who lived nearby the vulcano of Galeras. After reading this assignment, it still seemed quite vague for myself what I wanted to do there in Ibagu. Hence, my quest initiated concerning the housing of the economically weaker groups and refugees. Firstly, I started with the idea to understand the living and building culture in Colombia, before I could ever be able to do any propositions close to a design. And as a final stop I wanted to improve peoples lives with an architectural design. But eventually, the understanding of their culture seemed a non-stop process spread over the three month period of my stay there, that I never got to the point of making my own proposition. First upset with that result, but eventually realizing the goal of this project was being able to understand a tiny matter of a problematic and chaotic whole. Learning to understand instead of designing was the goal, with which an immense amount of patience and apprehension was necessary. Insight on the difference between priority and necessity was the key. Simplifying your thoughts and reducing the design to small measures, seemed to have a great impact as well. Sometimes architecture is an existing fact, space and architecture are around and within every single person. And sometimes the architect just has to accentuate and reinforce these matters, instead of creating them. These are all aspects you encounter facing reality, for example encountering laws and money situations, versus the dreamers life of the academic architect. As a conclusion of my research, I make this manual for beginners on the worldwide slum problematic, with all the information I was able to collect in my period of stay. Ofcourse, it is a general problem in the major lines, but I will describe specifically the onset to the slums in Ibagu, Colombia.

La reduccin de la pobreza y mejoramiento de los asentamientos precarios no ser possible a menos que las ciudades sean productivas y eficientes, y capaces de proveer a los pobres de oportunidades econmicas para mejorar sus bienes e ingresos. The poverty reduction and slum upgrading will not be possible unless cities are productive and efficient, and able to provide the poor with economic opportunities to improve their income and assets. Nelson Mandela

II. CONTEXT of political, historical and economic facts

Source: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibagu

Source: http://mapsof.net/colombia/ static-maps/png/where-is-colombialocated/

South-America

Colombia

Source: http://mapsof.net/colombia/staticmaps/png/mapa-de-los-departamentosde-colombia-32

Tolima Department
Source: Mapsof.net

City of Ibagu

Source: http://maps.google.com/

(...) la sociedad latinoamericana fue dual en su composicion social y econmica, y ello se plasm en las nuevas ciudades. (...) En las ciudades precolombinas, coloniales y post-coloniales, las regulaciones de construccin se utilizaron fundamentalmente para centralizar las funciones administrativos, econmicas y religiosas en el centro de la ciudad. Por contraste, las areas de vivienda popular fueron ignoradas y descuidadas por las elites urbanas en todos los perodos. (...) la ciudad informal exista en las aldeas y pueblos durante la Colonia (...) los sectores habitados por indios, mulatos y negros se localizaron en las periferias de las ciudades, ordenadas por las instrucciones de la Corona.

(...) the Latin-American society was dual in its social and economic composition, and this is reflected in the new cities. (...) In the colonial and post colonial preColombian cities, building regulations were mainly used to centralize administrative, economic and religious functions, in the center of the city. On the contrary, popular housing areas were ignored and neglected by the urban elites in all periods. (...) the informal city originates from the villages and towns during the Colony (...) sectors inhabited by Indians, mulattoes and blacks were located on the outskirts of cities, ordered by the instructions of the (Spanish) Crown.
Julian Salas Serrano (2000)

In 1964 the FARC guerrilla group settled in Tolima, and manifestated practically all the farms in the mountains and kept this way post up high in Colombia. Life was hard for the farmers and did not improve since the Military Army under the regime of Uribe overtook the control of the FARC in the majority of the mountains. The farmers make hardly any income through the reputation of the FARC and the competition is hard with global pressure on their prices. Therefore, they see a better future living in the city, where all the facilities are in arm reach, even though there they have no land, no money and no education to maintain a good job. (EFE, 2011) Due to the topography of Ibagu and other settlements in the mountains, formal houses are more likely to be built on the flanks of the mountains than in the abysses, due to floods caused by heavy rainfall during the winter season. Nevertheless unbuilt does not equal to unowned, all the land in Colombia is owned by at least a particular someone Sketch section Ibagu Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet or the government. German Samper (2002:206-208) describes in his book how the formal houses on the flanks usually issue from a series of proceedings. Firstly, proper building land is selected, planned and approved by the authorities. Then follows the construction of an infrastructure (roads, water and electricity) and eventually the construction of the housing. At last, the families are relocated to their homes and an urbanized environment arises.
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The origin of the informal houses in Colombia are, as you can read, from Spanish origin, where the minorities or the local population were displaced to the outskirts of the cities. But in the Tolima department and more specific in Ibagu, the informal houses originate from a history from the 1960s.

Unfortunately, the poor farmers who move to the city, settle on land that is not theirs, namely the abysses. This is supposedly invading the land, because what they are doing is of illegal practice, so their settlement becomes an invasion. They follow the complete opposite order of formal housing; they invade, identify their lot with 4 stakes, build an improvised shelter in 24 hours and move in with their belongings. They have no infrastructure (no services, no streets), they struggle with ways of communication, public transportation, getting water, solving the problem of waste water and of having light and electricity. These people become misfits, displaced (in Spanish desplazados).

End of civilization: Barrio Protecho Topacio

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

Kitchen in Invasion San Gelato II

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

Contaminated stream in Invasion San Gelato II Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

And the spiral does not end there. Due to a lack of education, they find a very badly paid job or create their own employment on the streets, usually illegal. And the education level for their children in public schools hardly can compete with the proper education given in private schools and are mostly overcrowded as well. Happiness seems far away and the allure of drugs, violence and crime is always nearby, even for children. Hereby, the streets are not safe and the children do not have any environment to play, except school. And the lack of hygiene and solution of waste water cause the people to live in high risk disease zones with contaminated rivers, which does not improve the fact that when they fall ill, they have no money to pay for health care. The main part of the economy, education and health care are in private hands.

The clarification of the classes of poverty in Colombia can be made with the poverty pyramid of German Samper, made in 1965. There are four different types of classes. The first three classes are the high class, the middle class and the low class families, that form 25% of the population and are above the absolute poverty line. Unfortunately, the fourth class, which is the informal class, is composed of 75% of the population and lives below the absolute poverty border. The pyramid contains vertical arrows hitting Above:The poverty pyramid in Latin-America the horizontal line, which imply the fourth class pop- Source: own sketch of the poverty pyramid made by German Samper, 2002, cover ulation wanting to climb up above the poverty line. Below: the Informality level anno 2005 It is also not closed on the bottom, because it is a Source: Vargas, Jimenez, Grindlay & Torres, 2011, p. 9 non-stopping grow of this class. By 2005 the conditions have improved of the informal class, yet still, 59% of the population in Bogota still belong in the informal class. So with all these aspects creating an unsafe environment, how to start thinking of creating a safe house? And also, the priority of placing these misfits in a safe environment in the nearby future, opposed to the necessities of fulfilling their daily basic needs and of a proper education at this very moment, is extremely dual. On the one hand is leaving behind the Belgian culture, the way of viewing society and understanding that it is compulsory to take on another point of view of designing, the hardest things of all. Everything that is known and seems to be correct, is objected by the different culture and lifestyle. The term privacy is on a complete different scale than in Belgium and the open society, selling food and working in public spaces has already long disappeared in this small country. On the other hand, the political struggle will not be easy. The local authorities seem to be subsidized by the government to solve the situation, but they would always answer that theres no money to solve the situation properly. Where does the money disappear to eventually? And what existing grants are there Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet for the desplazados exactly? And NGOs dont Proposition for public space seem to be active in Colombia, or more speimprovement Invasion San Gelato II cific in Tolima or in Ibagu.
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III. THE PROCESS

What will be the specific topic?
Arriving in July, two suggestions were made concerning the housing of Desplazados. The first suggestion was made by the Director of Architecture Department of the University, Seor Alvaro Gomez, to work with the Gestora Urbana (the Urban Committee of Ibagu, more or less the place where contractors and architects work for city projects) on a recently developped social housing project. Eventually moves the city the desplazados to the newly built community. The second suggestion was made by myself and co-students to create a theoretical approach towards the housing manifestation problem. So for the first suggestion, Seor Alvaro Gomez showed in the first week some sites demonstrating how regular formal houses are built in Ibagu, to firstly understand the normal way of working there. The construction of the houses in Colombia seems pretty easy. Solely single-layer brick houses, that have a reinforced concrete column every three metres, according to the norm for the stability during earthquakes. After showing a few sites, we went to the Gestora Urbana to meet Martha Ines Duque. She is the head architect of the Gestora Urbana. She welcomed me, said I could always contact her, if I had troubles and set up a meeting for me with an engineer, Ferney Arias, for the next day to go see some projects they are working on for social housing, to pick one to work on.

July 29, 2010 at 9.00 a.m, I met up with Ferney Arias, a very typical engineer, in the Gestora Urbana. Silently in the car, we visited two different projects. When we arrived at the first site, the situation did not look very bright. The site was just...awful. It could make anyone feel depressed, to see how the people were going to live in, what looked like some sort of animal barns.

Social Housing project by the Gestora Urbana, for a 1000 viviendas on one location

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

1000 houses of 4 by 4 metres for families of miminum 5 people. This is the work of an engineer. Not of an architect. He cares for the construction and the quantity that has to be made, but not for the quality of life that goes in it. Asking the engineer Ferney, how many people are supposed to live in here?, he answered boldly, With as many as they want. They can always expand the house to a second level. But in real life, in a house of 4 by 4 metres, you can only live there with maximum two persons? And if you think this is a solution, it is just another melting pot of violence, violations, and crime that is being created? If the father sleeps in the same area with his daughters, or brothers with sisters...If there is zero privacy... People here in Colombia do live outdoors, but it is the point though to create safe homes? The only plausible positive elements that had been integrated in this project, was that there is electricity, rainwater harvesting per house, and waste water collection for the whole community.

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet Construction Housing Project Sr. Gomez Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet Colombian local colourful facades Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet Interior photo of the first site: the square brick box is the shower and bathroom, the room in the right upper corner is a bedroom and the space where the foto is taken from, is the kitchen, living room and the other bedroom.

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Later on, a visit to a second site was made, where they had only started the urban aspect of the project, as in the roads, pavements, sanitary, and electricity. Engineer Ferney told that the site were only to be completed with infrastructure of electricity, waste water solution and roads, but there was to come one model of house on this site and would eventually get copied. The will to accept this project on this site was greater than the other site, because the impact of a design on the first site would remain small, as it were to be completed soon. One question that still remains unSite second project Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet clear. Some wait more than 8 years and are still not being relocated. What is the amount of time people have to wait until being relocated? Are there no possibilities for the existing neighborhoods? But one thing remains prior; the will for me to fully understand the informal Colombian way of building and living, and the usage of uncommon building materials, was present. Definitely before being able to create one or multiple prototypes for the social housing project.

German Samper (2002:208-210) formulates in the chapter the Richness of Poverty (La riqueza de los Pobres) the advantages and disadvantages of informal housing:

Invasion San Gelato 2

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

- no lease

ADVANTAGES

Research in Informal Architecture

In the beginning of August, classes with Seor Fandino in Lacor (the university of Ibagu) started, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a group of architecture students of the last year, doing a project on social housing. That was the only thing in common. The only difference was, my project was on social housing for the informal class, the 75% of the Colombian population that live under the poverty line, and the rest of the class was designing for the lower social class, that is above the poverty line. However, the basic idea behind social housing is not the beauty or the individuality of the housing itself, but the creation of a safe habitat/environment, which includes housing, health, work, education and recreation. As well as including access to the urban system, in means of service and transport. These aspects learned in the design studio classes and of reading in the library were quite new, and the desperation of the project grew. The first suggestion of creating a house for the desplazados seemed useless, as they prefer to construct their houses themselves. And the second suggestion of writing a theory of the so many already existing ones on the social housing problem for desplazados seemed absurd as well. What can you accomplish if you write a theory, that would slowly fade, if no one would read it. So the conclusion was to just continue reading until a new idea would arise.
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- are self-constructed - non-credit - are built while living within - no prior planning - own aesthetic standards - the final cost is not important - no need to pay taxes - progressive development is productive (for rent, shops, workshops)

- no green areas - no social equipments - no city road systems - no infrastructure - no consideration of the topographical conditions

DISADVANTAGES

If these hypotheses are true, the solution to the problem of spontaneous urbanization would be easy to solve: - the town planning should be undertaken by the State or specialized institutions - housing can be left to the villagers themselves, with some technical advice And what exactly is the role of the state in the intervention of the housing? - RECOGNITION of the gigantic effort, Guided by a policy of improving the housing stock built by the informal - RECOGNITION that the informal self have found a habitat - DEVELOPMENT of new housing projects - ACCEPTANCE of the logic of the housing development - All this while social and economic policies improve the imbalance in revenue

Then, we architects, can never, for more good intentions that we have, plan internal spaces appropriate to the necessity for the working class, because no one knows, not themselves, the end result of a building.

With this input and the question on any possibilities for existing neighborhoods, the proposal for a strategy, architecturally or urban, to improve the everyday situation of the desplazados in their existing homes (the viviendas) and their environment was the aim.
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At first thought, improvement seemed possible on at least 3 different scales. On an urban scale, an infrastructure has to be realised. For example, water supply and drainage, electricity, transport, public spaces, public buildings and common green areas. On an architectural scale, better construction possibilities and technical advice should be offered. And on an interior scale, the compartition of the spaces, such as living room and bedrooms should be improved. But soon enough all of this seemed impossible. On an architectural and interior scale, it is impossible to oblige someone to live in a certain way (if the law does not prescribe it) and who are you to take away someones freedom of living, by involving in their individuality. His necessities are different to what you think are his necessities, like German Samper (2002:210) describes. And the question of how improving is dual, concerning the way people should live. In what way are you wanting to improve it? For example, I could say, they need a table to eat on, while the locals think we dont need a table to eat on, we can sell the table for food. Who is correct? Which is priority? Which is necessity? But on the other hand, offering different types of small measures, for example, more hygiene, a clean kitchen, a clean bathroom, and a distinct place to sleep, can make differences.

Financial Possibilities
The proportion of Desplazados and inhabitants in Ibagu is relatively high. With over 400.000 inhabitants, over 50.000 people are displaced.The City Council needs certain financial means to affront the issue. And as earlier mentioned, the City Council of Ibagu receives certain grants from the government to create new neighborhoods, so relocating the desplazados would be easier, or to grant to the displaced so they can build on their own future in existing neighborhoods or in newly developped neighborhoods. For the last mentioned, the City Council hands the grants out in phases. The first phase is to buy a lot and the last one is to finance the finishing of the house. Every time the desplazado finishes a phase, he receives the next grant to complete the next phase. This system surprisingly works very inefficient. When a desplazado has almost reached his last phase, he finds another desplazado and sells the house for a lot more money than the house is worth and moves to another city. This leaves the new desplazado with an unfinished house and zero grants left for the same plot. So the City Council prefers to work with another system, where they can maintain the financial means. They create an infrastructure and relocate the desplazados to a new community. But as you have read in a few pages ahead, the houses are not proper houses and the desplazados do not want to give up their freedom and their shack which feels more like home than to live in a new community. After having several conversations with people of the City Council, the awareness soon arose that the City Council can not keep up with the amount of desplazados. Building new communities for them and having endless waiting lists of people to move in their new communities is not the way to roll. The measure to work with is something that works now. Improving the existing neighborhoods and legalizing them eventually is something that is possible. The decision quickly fell on not working with the City Council for improvement suggestions, but thinking of looking for possible support of NGOs. On a quest to find a suitable measure, the NGO UN Habitat crossed relatively fast my quest. They publish certain handbooks concerning Slum Upgrading. In these handbooks, the main focus is the advising of the necessary economical improvement in slums, and how the community itself can be autonomous and upSource: UN Habitat Cover Slum Upgrading Facility Handbook grade their slum economically.
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Invasion San Gelato 2, Urban Scale

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet Invasion San Gelato 2, Interior Scale

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

So with this information, the design was reconsidered; I would stay on an urban scale and imply changes through small measures. For example, creating a public space, rethinking rainwater collection and reviewing the cheap possibilities to make better roads. The public space should contain a necessary part of a childs youth, which is sports and in Colombia, playing soccer is the number one sport. For the elderly, it would be good that they can keep an eye on the young ones and have their own places to sit and play dominoes. But what are exactly the financial means to realize small measures on urban scale? How can you also get help for a community that does not get any support from the local City Council?

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Giving the advice they need, not immediately financing projects and giving money. For this project, it offered the theoretical support and the economical advice to what Slum Upgrading is. Instead of reading handbooks and staying in the theoretical layer, it is important to explore the reality and finally researching a real case. On a motorcycle with a local Colombian, different slums were explored figuring which one would fit best. After visiting several ratherly large and dangerous slum neighborhoods, we arrived nearby an existing neighborhood Protecho Topacio that had a stripformed slum neighborhood right next to it, named San Gelato 2.

Case: Communa 8, Barrio Protecho Topacio, San Gelato 2

San Gelato 2 is a slum neighborhood that invaded the land on the banks of the river stream running next to the neighborhood Protecho Topacio in 2002. About 200 people live in 75 homes, built along the water. The inhabitants invaded the land and were previously illegal. But since several years, they have a contract with the family of the land that the house they built is their very own property, and they are as well owners of whatever they build. But that is not the main goal of the community. The chairman of San Gelato 2, Henry Mejia Gonzalez, explains me they want the whole community to become acknowleged and be owners Plan Protecho Topacio and San Gelato 2 Source: Gestora Urbana of specifically the land where their house is on.
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Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

The river stream is contaminated and the inhabitants let their waste water flow in the stream. Therefore, the stream is filled with black water. The question if the river stream was contaminated before the invasion, is still unclear. In the afternoon the heat of the sun makes the stench unbearable and causes fumes. These fumes cause several diseases for the surrounding inhabitants. The stream forms a hazard for the inhabitants, so a solution must be provided. To arrive in San Gelato 2, it is shortly said, a hell. The road is extremely bumpy, so public transport does not even risk driving here. People have to walk several minutes to the next bus stop. The roads are not a problem of San Gelato 2 itself, but also of Protecho Topacio. Apparently it is also a poor neighborhood, so there is no emergent money needed for paving the roads in this neighborhood. If there is a cheap way of providing roads for this small community, Protecho Topacio would also benefit from this. Border of Society; Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet The other downside of the non-developed roads is the downward direction of the roads working as a funnel for the rainwater. This is how all the houses of San Gelato 2 get flooded. If the public roads would contain a possibility to catch the rainwater or would have a barrier to stop the rainwater, or both, it would improve the community.
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left San Gelato 2, right Protecho Topacio

Existing Sewage System in San Gelato 2: straight in the contaminated river stream

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

There is no better architect than the inhabitant of the house itself.

Concerning the architectural and interior scale, it must be said that these inhabitants are extremely witty with the materials. The way they mix the guadua (sort of bamboo), carton, curved steel plates and some bricks to make their homes, is amazing. It somehow has the feeling of how a child would build a house, but it still feels more than ever like a home for him and for outsiders.

-Jeroen Stevens

Unfinished Roads work as a Funnel for the rainwater towards San Gelato 2

This is enough reason for the City Council to relocate them in another community. But they are put on the waiting list. So to improve their life now, Seor Mejia Gonzalez has been able to discuss with the City Council to provide electricity and running water in every house. But the waste water solutions and community issues are put on hold, because those are issues to talk about when they are legalized. Moving through the community, some elder lady, Doa Florinda, who lives there wanted to say something as well. The past 8 years she has been applying for grants to improve her house (in Spanish: Subsidios para mejorar las viviendas), but the City Council keeps denying the grants. Because the Community does not own land. And as long as they are not acknowlegded, the Government does not give grants.

All these aspects are easy to notice just observing the community. But what is most interesting, is hearing the people who live in the neighborhood. The chairman seor Mejia Gonzalez was so friendly to have a meeting to explain the other troubles of the community. Seor Mejia Gonzalez is a very motivated person, who would do anything for his neighborhood. The past years he has set up a website to find support for his communityn and has emailed the presidents of the USA, Chile, Costa Rica and so on, to find support. But the past 8 years, the city has not wanted to legalize the community. Mainly because they live in a high risk zone, living nearby Chairman Henry Mejia Gonzalez Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet contaminated water.

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

House of the Chairman

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

Doa Florinda

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

Some houses have the qualifications of being legalized, but the inhabitants have a very solidary spirit. They all want to be considered legal, or none at all. Their main priority is legalizing their neighborhood and creating a community feeling.

Observation Interior Scale

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

What is there to observe in the photos? The bedrooms of most of the children are in the living room. They have mosquito nets hanging over the beds, but they all contain holes and rips, so the net does not work efficient anymore. The shower consists of a tube where cold water runs out and they have a toilet and a small bassin to wash their clothes. Some kitchens are built out of clay and bricks to make a kitchen dresser, but most kitchens are just a table and a fridge. The lighting is quite minimal. They try to benefit as much as possible of natural sunlight, and have one lightbulb in the main living area. The spaces are in most cases separated with bamboo or curtains.
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The priorities of the community San Gelato 2 for the improvement of their own neighborhood, is creating a security feeling for the children, with public spaces, and creating a possibility of collecting the rainwater, for the community. Then in a later phase, they would like to improve each house. So the design for a community space started and parallel the research on the possibility of the legalization of the community. There is an existing decree that explains that every house in the city of Ibagu, has to be built at least 25 metres away from any river stream, to prevent inundations. The river stream needs enough banks during rain season. Unfortunately, some houses reach these 25 metres, but the majority of the houses are built quite close to the river stream, between the 10 and 15 metres. So this might explain why some houses would be legalized and others no. The proposition for the community public space was finished, with a football field, space for the elderly to play dominoes and observe, and some extra buildings on the other side of the football field, for the school nearby to give some certain classes there, if the schools are overcrowded. But it seemed quite impossible, with the existing decree of a 25 metres distance.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
Before going to Colombia, in the three months investigation there, and the past year back in Belgium, many conclusions on architecture were made. Architecture is an existing fact, Space and Architecture are all around us and within every single person. It is just the task of the architect to accentuate these aspects. Every architect should be a social architect as well, because you build for people, and the understanding of what people want as an individual and as a community, is very essential to the task of an architect. The key to this project was to learn how to reduce and to simplify the designs, seeing how simple measures have a great impact. For example, a clean kitchen and bathroom, more hygiene and a distinct place to sleep. You do get the best results in architecture, by not trying too hard or by not focussing to make architecture. The urban scale is more important than the architectural one. The only way of creating (or letting the people themselves create) safe homes, is creating a safe environment. For example, a good school (safe harbour for children), shops, public green, playgrounds, and so on... A positive context must be created to improve the housing. But the measures that the people of the community want, are solutions for now, and not in 4 years. They want roads and public spaces on urban scale and electricity, running water and waste water solutions on architectural scale. And especially, they do not long for other people to do it for them. Give them the means and they will do it themselves. Give them the materials and not the money to go and buy them. Guide them and let them do the work. Also the academic world is completely apart of the real world. In the academic world you focus mainly on the design, but there are no real people to build for, just yourself. In the real world you listen to people, but you also have juridical and economical measures you have to respect. It is highly recommendable for every student to participate in a development project, not solely in architecture. What would have made this project slightly more interesting, is to work in a team with people from different sectors, for example an economist, a lawyer, an engineer, an architect and a doctor. Then you can learn faster of the different fields and come faster to conclusions. It is a world issue and reaches many different fields. The question of the project to improve the situations of the slums, is still quite dual. How exactly are we improving them or are we reducing them? The spontaneous slumhousing (in Spanish vivienda popular) is every architects nightmare, but at the same time every architects utopia. There is nothing to plan, it is an ever changing community, with its own architectural language. The spontaneous slumhousing has its advantages and disadvantages. (cf. German Samper)

Proposition for public space improvement Invasion San Gelato II

Source: Marie-Laure Pacquet

But the Chairman Henry Mejia Gonzalez was put to the dilemma from the City Council to choose for a water purification treatment of the contaminated river, or the legalization of his neighborhood. But this is an impossible choice, and very unlogical, because you can not purify the water if the community is not legalized and hooked to the neighborhoods sewage pipes. If they remain illegal, their waste water still flows in the river stream and continues contaminating the stream, no matter what measures of water purification happens. So most likely, the City Council was giving the Chairman another reason for non-legalization. Hopefully the Invasion of San Gelato 2 will reach their goals in the end, because it is a community of humble people with just one specific goal: being able to live in a legal context in their beautiful homes.

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V. CREDITS
I would like to thank the VLIR-UOS organisation for granting me the possibility to go to Colombia, as well my university Hogeschool voor Wetenschap & Kunst, and the University of Ibagu for the guidance, for having the faith that I would make the best possible effort for this project. More particular, Yves Schoonjans, my Belgian promotor, Seor Bernard Baeyens, my Colombian promotor, Seor Fandio, my Colombian Design Studio teacher, and Seor Alvaro Gomez, the head of the department of Architecture in Ibagu. Thanks to Oscar Mauricio Garcia, for taking me into the neighborhoods and thanks to Yessica Rey Montealegre and Juan Felipe Godoy Zarate, for the guidance on life and history in Colombia. Thanks to Chairman Henry Mejia Gonzalez, to be able to explore his community and for his time and effort.

VII. SOURCES
During my investigation/INTERNET Voluntary Project of Architects for Humanity http://architectureforhumanity.org/ (consulted on 19/08/2010) BXL 100: Brussels based architects on transformation of public spaces with small measures in Brussels www.bxl100.be (consulted on 26/08/2010) Proyecto Vida (Life Project) - Menos tramites (Less Paperwork) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOj1ssQxmpU (consulted on 20/08/2010) Colombian Ministry of Housing: Decretes http://www.minambiente.gov.co/documentos/dec_0798_110310.pdf (consulted on 10/08/2010) UN Habitat: UN organisation that focusses on the living aspect of societies http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=2467&catid=1&typeid=24&subMe nuId=0 (consulted on 19/08/2010) Carvajal Foundation: foundation that helps improve situations for poor families, concerning housing, but also education and so on. http://www.fundacioncarvajal.org.co/sitio/index.php?option=com_content&vi ew=article&id=83&Itemid=135&lang=en (consulted on 23/08/2010) Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1BLgchs-zc&feature=player_ embedded (Spanish, consulted on 23/08/2010) Explanation of the FARC history in the Tolima Region EFE/Bogot, http://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/500390.divulgan-fotos-ineditas-del-archivo-historico.html (Spanish, consulted on 03/05/2011) UN Habitat Handbook on Slum Upgrading http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=2358 sulted on 19/08/2010) (con-

VI. CONTACTS
Gestora Urbana - Martha Ines Duque, head architect of the Gestora Urbana - Ferney Arias, engineer in the Gestora Urbana Universidad de Ibagu - Seor Fandio, Design Studio teacher in semester 9 - Seor Alvaro Gomez, head of the Department of Architecture - Seor Bernard Baeyens, head of International Relationships (IAESTE) Invasion San Gelato 2 Henry Mejia Gonzalez asoaprovi@hotmail.com http://asoaprovi.blogspot.com Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4EGvzHAsAQ Tel Celular: 3112590223 3178553979 Tel Casa: 2678413 Address: San Gelato 2 Casa 20

Social Housing Project Maipor of the Colombian University Universidad de Los Andes http://mesavis.uniandes.edu.co/Presentaciones%202010/Proyecto%20maipore%2029%20abril.pdf (consulted on 15/08/2010)
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During my investigation/BOOKS, PAPERS AND ARTICLES Text on Informal Colombian Architecture (Viviendas Populares) SAMPER GNECCO, G. (2002) El tringulo de la pobreza. In: Recinto Urbano: La Humanizacin de la Ciudad. Bogot, Escala Ltda., p. 204-232 Text on Formal Colombian Architecture SANTIAGO MORENO, G. (1993) Clima y Arquitectura. In: Arquitectura, Hombre y Clima. Bogot, SENA, p. 31-78 Book on the General Latin American House and its possible industrialization SALAS SERRANO, J. (2000) La Industrializacin Posible de la Vivienda Latinoamericana. Bogot, Escala Ltda., 276 p. Text on Implementation of Public Space systems in Sustainable Habitats CUESTA BELEO, A. (2008) Caracteristicas de los elementos basicos para un desarrollo sustentable. In: Sistema y sofisma de espacios publicos en el habitat sustentable. Bogot, Universidad La Gran Colombia, p. 29-51 Project entries of the third CONVIVE competition SOCIEDAD COLOMBIANA DE ARQUITECTOS; ASOCIACION COLOMBIANA DE FACULTADES DE ARQUITECTURA; CONSEJO PROFESIONAL NACIONAL DE ARQUITECTURA Y SUS PROFESIONES AUXILIARES (COLOMBIAR) & UNIVERSIDAD DE BOGOTA. (2009) Convive III : Concurso de Vivienda Econmica: concurso nacional universitario de ideas y anteproyecto urbano y arquitectnico de hbitat rural y urbano para La Mojana. Bogot, Sociedad Colombiana de Arquitectos, p. 20-44

Paper on PROCESSES OF PARTICIPATIVE NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS: Integration proposals in Ibagu VARGAS, JIMENEZ, GRINDLAY & TORRES, http://www.revistas.uchile.cl/index. php/INVI/article/viewFile/8350/8118 (consulted on 05/05/2011) Sources worth checking/BOOKS Book on Slum upgrading and Participation RUSTER, J. & IMPARATO, I. (2003) Slum upgrading and participation: lessons from Latin America. World Bank Publications, 489 p.

Sources worth checking/INTERNET Cooperations of Non Profit Organisations and Politics in Belgium, concerning problems in the South www.partnerinhetzuiden.be Extra information concerning Non Profit Organisations in Belgium www.ngo-openboek.be Informality: Re-Viewing Latin American Cities http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/1324/86

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