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Economics Project

Role of Engineering in Improving the Slums

Arshiya Vohra (2K13/EP/017)


Danendra Singh(2K13/EE/044)
Shipra Sharan (2K13/EP/065)
Tanmay Sardana(2K13/EP/074)
Varsha Jain (2K13/EP/076)

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.

Percent Urban population of a


country living in 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

A brief explanation of the project


The Community Cooker is a simple machine and
can be built anywhere. The cooker itself is made of
welded steel with eight circular hot-plates for
cooking located on the top of the stove. The
cooking pots are partially submerged into the hotplates in order to minimize heat loss from the
combustion chamber, while increasing cooking
speed. The cooker has two ovens for baking
located underneath the hot-plates. In the centre of
the cooker there is a chimney which carries the
smoke from the combustion chamber to the
chimneys outlet high above the neighbourhoods
roofline.

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

Social & Environmental benefits


The locals in the Laini Saba village in Kibera have
been instrumental to the success of the activity.

This came as a one-time solution for not only our


waste management problem but for so many other
related issues as well. Free usage of the Community
Cooker is given to anyone from Kibera slum who
shows up with a sack of garbage.

The greatest thing about the cooker is that it is


much cheaper than buying charcoal or kerosene,
which are the most commonly used fuel sources in
the slum.

The Community Cooker offers resourceful slum


dwellers a fuel source that is far less expensive than
wood fuel, charcoal, gas or kerosene, and very
much less expensive than electricity and reduction
in Acute Respiratory Infections due to household
air pollution.

The activity employs seven young people who sort


the solid waste in Laini Saba Kibera.

Case Study 2

iShack
The iShack Project

uses solar electricity


to show how slums

can be incrementally
upgraded in a

sustainable and

socially just way.

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

THE SRI PROJECT, RANCHI.


In a project implemented by SRI, Ranchi for micro-watershed development
for Tati, Ranchi, Jharkhand, technologies based on land and water
activities have been promoted.

Planning and construction


of biophysical structures,
w a t e r h a r ve s t i n g a n d
moisture conservation
features have been designed
and implemented in costeffective manner. After
establishing these natural
resources utilization
facilities, efforts have been
made for sustainable use of
such resources for value
addition through training
of local people in
biodynamic gardening,
cultivation of cash crops,
food processing, poultry
management, erosion
control, micro irrigation
and biomass based gasifier
technology.

This has led to creation of


positive environment in the
project area and people's
participation in adopting
such need based technologies
resulting in increase in crop
and vegetable yield leading
to generation of additional
income. Such an
intervention to make science
and technology visible and
accessible to rural
population through
w a t e r s h e d d e ve l o p m e n t
approach has resulted in
actual technological
empowerment and skill
upgradation of the people,
c o nve r g e n c e o f i n c o m e
generating activities and
creation of sustainable
livelihood. The operational
structure is easily managed
by people's group.

case study 4
Slum Rehabilitation with Fast Track Techniques
Slum before and after

Changes to dwelling

Slum before and after

Fast track techniques are associated with using


methods that reduce the project overlapping and
total duration of the project at sustainable finance.

Slum rehabilitation can be defined as,


rebuilding the homes, improving the
standard of living of the group of people
living under deprived conditions of
basic amenities like adequate living
area and shelter, water, sanitation and
electricity. Due to large urbanization
population of cities is increasing
leading to lack of equal opportunities
making rich people richer and poor
people poorer resulting in increased
lower income groups. Land is a fixed
asset which cannot increase with
demand and is proving to be a
challenge to satisfy the housing demand
of our country leading to haphazard
settlement. The land meant for
residence when used for industries or
vice versa leads to formation of slum
due to negligence in planning of
housing arrangements for labours and
workers

Fast track techniques proved to be useful to


serve the purpose. Fast track techniques are
associated with using !
methods that reduce the project overlapping
and total duration of the project at sustainable
finance. This paper !
focuses on fast track techniques like Tunnel
form and Rapidwall compared with recent in
use technique Aluform !
in terms of cost, duration, benefits and their
utility in Indian conditions.!
Fast track techniques are necessary as
rehabilitation is long term process including
costly affairs which !
generates problems to slum dwellers and
ultimately to the country. Tunnel form and
Rapidwall helps in reducing rehabilitation time
by completing the project in optimum cost and
duration.

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

Technological interventions for slum


area development
Development of portable gasifier cookstove suitable for community cooking
facilitating on line biomass feeding and proper regulation of gas generation
and its burning.
Development of low cost double-jacketed honey processing equipment with
effective filter suited to rural mass application.
Development of village information network through computerized support
system and database for use by local communities in effective planning and
access to technology in the areas of health, sanitation, sustainable agriculture,
education, watershed management, etc.
Development by establishing multi purpose service cum training centers/IT
vans for repair, maintenance, demonstration and training.

Low cost bio -fertilizers production.


Extraction and purification of natural food color
and dyes under controlled conditions.
Organic cultivation and processing of medicinal
and aromatic plants.
Dissemination of solar photovoltaic systems and
training in operation and maintenance.
Development of solar powered
refrigerator.Utilization of non-conventional fruits
and vegetables; NTFP for value added quality
products.
Utilization of non-conventional fruits and
vegetables; NTFP for value added quality products.

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

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