Engineering as a tool for improving human habitat

The conventional approaches to poverty alleviation in the slums entail a cocktail of interventions in health, education, governance and physical improvements, often stretching the scarce resources far and thin. Driven by the 'poverty' mindset, physical measures such as minimal paving, public water posts and community latrines actually brand the slums apart instead of assimilating them into the urban infrastructure fabric. The concept of Slum Networking proposes comprehensive water and environmental sanitation infrastructure as the central and catalytic leverage for holistic development. At costs less than the conventional 'slum' solutions, it tries to penetrate a high quality urban infrastructure net deeply into the slums to assimilate them into the city rather than lock them in as disadvantaged islands. Further, it transcends resource barriers and 'aid' through innovative partnerships and the latent resource mobilisation potential of the so-called 'poor'. This paper examines Slum Networking as implemented in Sanjaynagar in Ahmedabad, India and compares it with a similar settlement with no interventions in Ahmedabad. It assesses the knock-on impact of physical infrastructure on health, education and poverty. Finally, it evaluates the multiplier effect of physical infrastructure and the partnerships on the subsequent investments by the community in its own shelter and habitat. Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The role of infrastructure in improving human settlements

This paper considers how the provision of integrated household-level infrastructure – particularly water and environmental sanitation (including water supply, sewerage, roads, storm drainage and solid waste management) –can play a leading role in improving the conditions in slum settlements. Around 700 socio-economic interviews were carried out in India and South Africa to investigate an innovative approach called slum networking, which sees the strong correlation between slum locations and drainage paths as an opportunity for improving the wider urban environment. This recognition allows resources to be mobilised locally, thereby removing the need for external aid funding. The evidence from the 700 families shows that communities perceive water and sanitation inputs to be their top priority and are willing to contribute to the costs. If slum upgrading is led with access to integrated water and environmental sanitation at household level with community contributions to the cost of infrastructure, then slum communities subsequently invest considerably greater sums in improved housing and education, with longer term contributions to poverty alleviation, improvements in health and literacy and an increase in disposable incomes.

Alternative approaches to slum upgrading in Kibera, Nairobi

This paper discusses the sustainability of two different approaches to upgrade water and sanitation infrastructure in Kenya’s largest informal settlement, Kibera. A background to the urbanization of poverty is outlined along with approaches to urban slums. Two case-studies of completed interventions of infrastructure upgrading have been investigated. In one case-study, the upgrading method driven by an NGO uses an integrated livelihoods and partnership technique at community level to create an individual project. in the other case-study, the method is a collaboration between the government and a multi-lateral agency to deliver upgraded services as a part of a country-wide programme. The ‘bottom-up’ (project) and ‘top-down’ (programme) approaches each seek sustainability and aim to achieve this in the same context using different techniques. This paper investigates the sustainability of each approach. The merits and challenges of the approaches are discussed with the projected future of Kibera. The paper highlights the valuable opportunity for the role of appropriate engineering infrastructure for sustainable urban development, as well as the alleviation of poverty in a developing context.

Community-led resettlement: From a flood affected slum to a new society in Pune, India

This paper describes the resettlement process of a community devastated by annual floods, to newly constructed housing in Pune, India. The relocation from Kamgar Putala slum to a housing society at Hadapsar was organized by a community-led NGO partnership in 2004. The housing development was coordinated by the local NGO Shelter Associates with significant community participation. The housing has been revisited in 2010 to evaluate the sustainability of the resettlement project’s delivery model via stakeholder perception. The process of organizing for resettlement after natural disaster is described along with the implementation and evaluation of the new housing nearly six years after initial occupation. The strong partnership approach overcame a series of political and financial hurdles at various stages of the relocation project. The story of resettling Kamgar Putala is detailed alongside an outline of the current political climate for an alternative slum-upgrading policy in India and Pune. The advantages of an empowered community supported by an influential local NGO demonstrate a commendable team effort which has tackled the threat of floods. The paper highlights the merits of a community-led partnership approach to housing development for achieving sustainable urban development as well as the alleviation of poverty in a developing context.

The role for low carbon electrification technologies in poverty reduction and climate change strategies: A focus on renewable energy mini-grids with case studies in Nepal, Peru and Kenya

As a potential poverty reduction and climate change strategy, this paper considers the advantages and disadvantages of using renewable energy technologies for rural electrification in developing countries. Although each case must be considered independently, given a reliable fuel source, renewable energy mini-grids powered by biomass gasifiers or micro-hydro plants appear to be the favoured option due to their lower levelised costs, provision of AC power, potential to provide a 24. h service and ability to host larger capacity systems that can power a wide range of electricity uses. Sustainability indicators are applied to three case studies in order to explore the extent to which sustainable welfare benefits can be created by renewable energy mini-grids. Policy work should focus on raising awareness about renewable energy mini-grids, improving institutional, technical and regulatory frameworks and developing innovative financing mechanisms to encourage private sector investments. Establishing joint technology and community engagement training centres should also be encouraged. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Toward designing with three-dimensional bumps for lift/drag improvement and buffet alleviation

The desire to design more efficient transport aircraft has led to many different attempts to minimize drag. One approach is the use of three-dimensional shock control bumps, which have gained popularity in the research community as simple, efficient and robust devices capable of reducing the wave drag of transonic wings. This paper presents a computational study of the performance of three-dimensional bumps, relating key bump design variables to the overall wing aerodynamic performance. An efficient parameterization scheme allows three-dimensional bumps to be directly compared to two-dimensional designs, indicating that two-dimensional bumps are capable of greater design point aerodynamic performance in the transonic regime. An advantage of three-dimensional bumps lies in the production of streamwise vortices, such that, while two-dimensional bumps are capable of superior performance near the design point, three-dimensional bumps are capable of breakingup regions of separated flow at high Mach numbers, suggesting improvement in terms of buffet margin. A range of bump designs are developed that exhibit a tradeoff between design point aerodynamic efficiency and improvementinbuffet margin, indicating the potential for bespoke designs to be generated for different sections of a wing based on its flow characteristics. Copyright © 2012 by Jeremy Eastwood and Jerome Jarrett.

Community-led resettlement: From a flood-affected slum to a new society in Pune, India

This paper describes the resettlement process of a community devastated by annual floods, to newly constructed housing in Pune, India. The relocation from Kamgar Putala slum to a housing society at Hadapsar was organized by a community-led NGO partnership in 2004. The housing development was coordinated by the local NGO Shelter Associates with significant community participation. The housing has been revisited in 2010 to evaluate the sustainability of the resettlement project's delivery model via stakeholder perception. The process of organizing for resettlement after natural disaster is described along with the implementation and evaluation of the new housing nearly six years after initial occupation. The strong partnership approach overcame a series of political and financial hurdles at various stages of the relocation project. The story of resettling Kamgar Putala is detailed alongside an outline of the current political climate for an alternative slum-upgrading policy in India and Pune. The advantages of an empowered community supported by an influential local NGO demonstrate a commendable team effort which has tackled the threat of floods. The paper highlights the merits of a community-led partnership approach to housing development for achieving sustainable urban development as well as the alleviation of poverty in a developing context. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

Alternative approaches to slum upgrading in Kibera, Nairobi

This paper discusses the sustainability of two different approaches to upgrade water and sanitation infrastructure in Kenya's largest informal settlement, Kibera. A background to the urbanisation of poverty is outlined along with approaches to urban slums. Two case studies of completed interventions of infrastructure upgrading have been investigated. In one case study, the upgrading method driven by a non-government organisation uses an integrated livelihoods and partnership technique at community level to create an individual project. In the other case study, the method is a collaboration between the government and a multi-lateral agency to deliver upgraded services as part of a country-wide programme. The 'bottom-up' (project) and 'top-down' (programme) approaches both seek sustainability and aim to achieve this in the same context using different techniques. This paper investigates the sustainability of each approach. The merits and challenges of the approaches are discussed with the projected future of Kibera. The paper highlights the valuable opportunity for the role of appropriate engineering infrastructure for sustainable urban development, as well as the alleviation of poverty in a developing context.