Slum settlement behind the Bouwkunde

I just spent a few minutes looking at the pictures of our slum settlement the others have posted. It struck me that the interiors are very similar to the ones we created in Stockholm when we had our introduction workshop ages ago (no pictures, sorry, it was before the digital camera age). Many groups built the same kind of communal space, around an improvised table of some kind. I think the workshop was a very good team building exercise (both the one I did my first week in School of Architecture and this one). How do we build a community? It's interesting that our identity as urban body-students suddenly got a different meaning when we had to face adversity (AngryMan) and try to achieve cooperation. Standing around a fire in the cold night is probably one of the most basic communal activities, and a very enjoyable one. Too bad television has entered our lives.

The two most important things I take with me from the workshop is the fact that we became a team and the sensibility to creative solutions that Daniele talked about. Without having myself experienced hands-on the kind of problems that arise in such a situation I would probably be blind to them in Dharavi. The pictures Daniele showed us were simply amazing, each one telling the story of a problem and its solution. It's interesting that some of the creative solutions were a bit difficult to identify as creativity, for example the picture showing oil on the pavement. Who would have guessed it was an "urban device" to keep people away? Only a true detective can unfold the story. It's not enough to watch, we need to talk to people to understand where and how their creative solutions are crucial.