In vain, shall I attempt to describe Zaira, city of high bastions. I could tell you how many steps make up the streets rising like stairways, and the degree of the arcades’ curves, and what kind of zinc scales cover the roofs; but I already know this would be the same as telling you nothing.
Many rapidly growing urban areas seem to share a similar characteristic that development has occurred in large discrete sub-divisions. These areas of the city appear visually (from the air) as clear layers; dense development could be flanked by vacant land, the design of one sub-division may have no relation at all to the area next to it, one sub-division – or a network of highway infrastructure – may have been layered over the top of an exiting area with no regard for it. On the ground often these areas are infuriating to use – illegible, confusing and complex.
This study uses the findings from the field work of London Metropolitan University student’s to ask whether the socio-economic segregation which has been observed at the wider scale in other Indian cities is also reflected in Agra’s slums. Linking these findings with spatial analysis shows that micro-scale patterns of activity and occupation within slums are closely related to local spatial structures. The paper discusses whether the spatial mechanisms which allow a highly segregated society to live within close physical proximity to each other – and which brings economic and environmental benefits in these circumstances – can off set the longer-term impact of social segregation.
This text has been extracted from a longer paper published as part of the 8th Space Syntax Symposium that took place in Chile in January 2012 (www.sss8.cl).
1.0 Introduction
This paper aims to link three areas of study which have been carried out separately over the last five years, to help further develop the spatial understanding of slums and informal settlements.
In late 2010, an opportunity arose to study Agra, and some of its 350+ slums. This study was carried out remotely to contribute to the work of students in the Architecture of Rapid Growth and Scarce Resource (ARGSR) studio at the London Metropolitan University (LMU), who were based in Agra for a period of time. Through a process of literature review, the study was developed further to test whether the relationships identified between the socio-economic segregation of inhabitants by Caste at the scale of the city (Vithayathil, Singh, 2011), and in Delhi, at the scale of the ward (Dupont, 2002), are also present in Agra. It also provided the chance to understand whether there are any further relationships to the local scale spatial structure of slum areas.
The final part uses the findings of a literature review (where relationships between Caste and slum occupant are identified at the scale of the city and the ward), and the results of spatial analysis, to compare them with qualitative, observational, socio-economic surveys carried out by ARGSR students from a set of six case study areas.
This study has been extracted from a longer paper submitted for the 8th Space Syntax Symposium that took place in Chile during January 2012 (www.sss8.cl). It uses Space Syntax analysis to study a range of issues concerning slums, using examples in the Indian city of Agra and the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah.
1.0 Introduction
This paper aims to help further develop the spatial understanding of slums and informal settlements. The foundations of this paper lie in the unplanned settlements ofJeddah,Saudi Arabia, where the development of strategies to improve more than 50 unplanned settlements has formed a major component of Space Syntax Limited’s work of the past five years. In late 2010, an opportunity arose to studyAgra, and some of its 350+ slums. This study was carried out remotely to contribute to the work of students in the Architecture of Rapid Growth and Scarce Resource (ARGSR) studio at the London Metropolitan University (LMU), who were based inAgrafor a period of time. This enabled work to be carried out initially to test whether there are consistencies in the spatial properties of each city’s slums.
Urban D.A.S. 