Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The success and outcome of the project ROLE OF ENGINEERING IN
IMPROVING THE WELFARE OF SLUMS would not have been
satisfactory without the help of respected Maam Mrs. SEEMA SINGH
We would like to show our deep gratitude towards her. We would like
to thank her for giving us the opportunity to compile this project and
help us understand the real scenario of engineering in our society.
Lastly, we would like to express our regards towards our friends and
seniors who help us complete this project successfully on time.
Thanking you.
INTRODUCTION
What is a Slum ?
A slum is a heavily populated urban informal settlement characterized by substandard housing and squalor.
While slums differ in size and other characteristics from country to country, most lack reliable sanitation
services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, timely law enforcement and other basic services.
Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally-built dwellings that because of poor-quality design or
construction have deteriorated into slums.
The picture that conjures up in our minds, when we talk about slums, is that of a dirty, unhygienic
cluster of impoverished shanties with long lines of people crowding around a solitary municipal water
tap, bowling babies literally left on street corners to fend for themselves and endless cries and found
voices emanating from various corners. Most of them are engaged in eking out their daily lives, always
below the poverty line, by working as construction labourers, domestic helps, rag pickers and chhotus
in neighbourhood dhabas. Though their living conditions are utterly unhygienic, gloomy, and dismal
and dehumanized, many of them still dream of improving the quality of their lives. Many of the
younger generation, irrespective of gender, income level and educational attainment express their
regard for education and foresee upward social mobility for their children by educating their offspring
as much as possible. Our slums are indeed very dingy, dark and dismal. But the dark clouds are now
fading. They were encouraged to come to cities and work. People, who migrated to the cities and
found work, brought their cousins and rest of the families to the cities. Conniving governments
provided electricity and drinking water. Politicians looked at the slums as vote bank.
CASE STUDY 1
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Community Cooker
Because the stove burns rubbish at over 800 degrees Celsius, it achieves complete
combustion, producing smoke that is white in colour and almost odourless. At the bottom of the
stove there is a wide metal chute that allows rubbish to be pushed from the trash storage racks
into the combustion chamber of the stove. The rubbish is manually fed by the stove operator,
according to the number of hot plates being utilized and the level of heat required for cooking a
given dish. The Community Cooker is designed with locally available materials so that repairs,
maintenance and operation can easily be carried out by member of the local community.
Mitigation/Adaptation
A Community Cooker,managed responsibly and operated for a year will save the caloric heat
equivalent of burning 2,400 mature trees in a year.
More than 80 percent of Kenyas urban dwellers, many of whom live in poor, informal settlements,
use charcoal made from wood as their primary source of energy, according to government statistics.
Their heavy dependence on wood for fuel has contributed to the rapid decline of Kenyas forests,
with negative effects for the local climate, wildlife, water sources and forest dwellers, says the World
Rainforest Movement.
In March 2011 the Community Cooker in Laini Saba site was tested for stack emissions and residual
ash. The results show that the Community Cooker has combustion efficiency of 99 per cent and that
the levels of SO2 , NO2 and heavy metals detected fall within the regulatory limits of United States
EPA and World Bank IFC guidelines. These Results also meet Kenya Air Quality and Waste
Management Standards. Environmental Measure Report NRB1152-009421 March 2011.
Community
Cooker
Case Study 2
iShack
The iShack Project
can be incrementally
upgraded in a
sustainable and
Principle of iShack
The iShack uses a flexible DC multigrid system that allows for additional
appliances to be added to the core unit over time.In addition, through the
installation of a grid interface module, the system could be seamlessly be
integrated into the AC grid.
From a distance, it is its shiny exterior that first catches the eye. As you step closer, a rooftop solar
panel, an outdoor security light and a roof overhang make Nosango Plaatjie's shack stand out
amid the sprawling cluster of makeshift wooden structures and rusty corrugated iron dwellings
where her neighbours live.
Welcome to the iShack, or improved shack, an innovative approach to housing that's being tested
in the windswept slum of Enkanini, just outside Stellenbosch, South Africa.
The dwelling, developed by researchers at the University of Stellenbosch, is intended to raise the
living standards of slum residents while improving their access to electricity and protecting them
from extreme temperatures in an environmentally friendly way.It is fully equipped with a
photovoltaic panel capable of producing enough electricity to power three lights, a mobile phone
charger and an outdoor motion detector spotlight.Its windows are strategically placed to achieve
better air circulation and sunlight heating, while the roof is sloped so that rainwater can be
harvested during the winter months.
Recycled cardboard boxes and old Tetra Pack containers are used for insulation
between the exterior zinc surface and the interior, while a flame-retardant paint is
used to lessen the risk of fires. Inside the shack, rows of recycled bricks create a
sturdy flooring base and act as "thermal mass," protecting against temperature
change.
"Shacks are becoming the new norm" explains Andreas Keller, one of the developers
of iShack. "So what can we do today in order to improve the living conditions of people
through energy intervention, lighting, cell phones, communication, upping security?
That's where the planning comes in and the technology takes it one step further.
"Now, thanks to a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the iShack
project will be trialled over the next year. Up to 100 shacks will either be built or
retrofitted to determine whether the system can be applied on a larger scale.
Case study 3
case study 4
Slum Rehabilitation with Fast Track Techniques
Slum before and after
Changes to dwelling
Engineers have a collective responsibility to improve the lives of people around the world.
In the next two decades, almost two billion additional people are expected to populate the Earth, 95
percent of them in developing or underdeveloped countries. This growth will create unprecedented
demands for energy, food, land, water, transportation, materials, waste disposal, earth moving,
health care, environmental cleanup, telecommunication, and infrastructure. The role of engineers will
be critical in fulfilling those demands at various scales, ranging from remote small communities to large
urban areas. If engineers are not ready to fulfill such demands, who will? The emergence of large
urban areas is likely to affect the future prosperity and stability of the entire world. Today, it is
estimated that between 835 million and 2 billion people live in some type of city slum and that the
urban share of the worlds extreme poverty is about 25 percent.
Considering the problems facing our planet today and the problems expected to arise in the first half
of the twenty-first century, the engineering profession must revisit its mindset and adopt a new
mission statement - to contribute to the building of a more sustainable, stable, and equitable world.
Sustainable development will be impossible without the full input by the engineering profession.
Summary
Bibliography
https://impactchallenge.withgoogle.com/india2013#/shelterassociates
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http://worlddesignimpact.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slum
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slum#mediaviewer/
File:Urban_population_living_in_slums.svg
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Cooker
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https://itunews.itu.int/en/509-Improving-the-lives-of-slum-dwellers-throughinnovative-uses-of-ICT.note.aspx
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20943256