Some Contextual Considerations When Designing for the Majority World
Life styles
An integral part of universal design and its principles is to understand the contextual life styles, value systems and modus operandi of its intended beneficiaries.
The picture shows professional 'ear cleaners' and their customers squatting close to the ground as they practise their trade in the centre of a Northern Indian city. It is a fairly common sight in many Indian cities.
The two people standing together in the photo are Shori on the left, who is deaf and dumb and Ramu, his friend and companion has learning disabilities. The former is fifty and the latter twenty years old. They live in a small village where they run a small successful general store. Despite their problems they have a clear role in the village for which they are fully accepted.
The picture shows a dentist's stand in a small town. It has all the old-style tools of the trade on show, such as pliers, hand drill, herbal anaesthetic and samples of false teeth. The job is undertaken squatting on the floor and can be exceedingly painful and bloody. For the poor it is available and affordable when compared with a properly accredited dentist .
Metaphorically, these two in the picture could be said to be sellers of 'snake oil' - which is indeed one of the many health potions, lotions and tonics sold by them. As there is no proper process of accreditation or verification the solutions could be anything ranging from sugar water, genuine herbal mixtures to steroids and amphetamines. The tonics are meant to enhance virility and drive but also to build up a strong muscular body as illustrated by the photographs in the front of the stall. These are passed off as photos of previous clients. The main customers of this stall are the poor who cannot afford Western medicines or proper herbal remedies.
A bullock lies dead on the street pavement in a North Indian city. It lay there for another three weeks, bloated to twice its size - as pedestrians went by their daily business seemingly unconcerned. The out-stretched municipal services did not wish to know. "What can we do with a dead bullock when we have tens of dead bodies of people a week to deal with!" In the end a few enterprising leather workers (one of the lowest castes) managed to load it onto a manpowered cart and took it away.
Refuse collection in most villages is spasmodic and disorganised despite some excellent efforts by some village councils ( Panchayats ). The photo shows the organic household rubbish, mud from open drains and remnants of dung that are dumped on any unclaimed land in the village. Increasingly, non-biodegradable plastic containers are either recycled or added to the rubbish heaps. Barefoot children of the poor use these heaps to defecate on. Usually, when the heap has reached a certain size some enterprising farmer will remove the plastic pieces and take the rubbish to fertilise his fields. During the rainy season particularly, the heaps are a major source of contamination, ill health and breeding ground for flies and mosquitoes.
Lack of access to safe drinking is a major killer - around 3.4 million people die annually from water-related diseases. About 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean water especially the poor who often have to rely on untreated water sources for drinking and washing - unlike my nephew who is seen pumping water in the picture. Water remains one of the greatest challenges in the majority world despite strenuous efforts by various governments, charities and NGOs (non governmental organizations). More efficient and cheaper to produce pumps that can be manufactured and installed locally would greatly ameliorate the situation.
Picture shows a small section of a village with cowpats drying on the walls for fuel. A chicken breeder and egg seller shares his large three-window room with hundreds of chickens. He has built a wire-mesh cage inside the room for himself and his wife to sleep in. The cooking is undertaken outside on the other side of the building. Given the present SARs epidemic this is an example of makeshift solutions that are common to the majority world. Often the risk to health is ignored in order to make ends meet. A billion people (mainly women and children) are exposed to indoor air pollution from inadequate ventilation and the burning of traditional fuels, such as wood and dung. Unhealthy room shared with over a hundred chickens.
Urban transport of goods and raw materials is still very much labour intensive. It is not particularly efficient in terms of carrier design, whether it is the single bull-drawn gada piled high as shown, or the manpowered rickshaw or the wooden cart. Better design using local materials could significantly improve efficiency.
Much of the produce, water, fodder or firewood for daily use is still carried on the head as seen by this woman carrying a load wider than her height. This is meant to be good for the posture but it can result in long-term neck and back problems.
One of the most insidious aspects of poverty is the exploitation of young children, directly or indirectly by multinational companies. The photo from my ancestral village of Bhakna Kalan shows children from poor families, as young as five, sit for over 12 hours a day in dark cramped rooms weaving carpets for middlemen for export to Europe and North America . Their daily rate for this effort is about $1. These are survival wages. (Fig 23) alt tag: Young children work over ten hours a day weaving carpets.
Constructions
Over the years my ancestral village has progressed from mud to brick houses - many of which have most of the goodies of modern life: refrigerators, TVs, air-conditioners, fans, gas cookers, audio systems, etc. However, the poor and low caste cannot afford these and still live in mud houses shown in the photo, on the edge of the village. In the monsoon season there is no difference between the land in front of their houses and the public drain. During heavy rains many of the poorly built houses dissolve and fall apart.
In the cities of the majority world the housing of the poor is largely constructed from found materials: pieces of Hessian or plastic for the roof, held down by sticks and stones; wooden uprights, found stones or bricks for the main infrastructure; woven sticks for the doorway. These are precarious structures against the elements.
Picture shows the home of a Rajastani gypsy family, which has graduated from frequent travelling and living in ad hoc shelters to a more permanent abode - as reflected by the mudbrick walls. These are painted white and as a sign of permanence have elaborate designs painted by the lady of the house, who is seen emerging from the doorway. A standard Indian string charpoy or bed can be seen propped up on its side in the right foreground.
Picture shows a close up of the decorations on the front walls that are derived from traditional images in the Kota area of Rajastan. The motifs are also derived from textile decorations and blocks.
Other signs of permanence of abode is this large mud screen, storage and wind shelter for outdoor cooking in summer. It has elaborate traditional designs incorporated into its structure. At the bottom left of the structure is the famous 'tandoor' or oven that is used for a variety of cooking purposes. (
The picture shows a close view of a wall-based ingithi or slow oven. This was built by my mother for various purposes: boiling milk, cooking mustard spinach, fermenting yoghurt, etc. Its main fuel is cow dung. An air vent at the bottom controls the level of heat required.
Like some of the other pictures of majority world housing this one has proved to be a constant mystery to many of my European and especially American colleagues. It provides the key and impetus for this whole illustrated section specially selected as Resource material for Universal Design Educator's Online. Pig sty or chicken coop is the nearest that colleagues could recognise. I found this both offensive and shocking. Could there really be such a gap in understanding human realities? In fact, this is a house created and shared by a widow and her young daughter. It lacks everything - including a window to the outside world. But it is a home and a precious one at that. The occupants have endeavoured to make it as habitable as possible within their extremely poor financial circumstances.
Bamboo is one of the most common and versatile building materials used in the majority world - from temporary atap hut to providing a very high building superstructure as shown. The picture also highlights that bamboo has its limitations in terms of modern demands for taller buildings. A section of the scaffolding can be seen to have collapsed. In this case it resulted in the death of four building workers.
Post-Graduate Student Project: Multipurpose Flatpack Housing - An Attempt at Synthesis
The Lee/Tickle/Sandhu House
As an offshoot of the Design for the Non-Average course I initiated at the School of Architecture , Polytechnic of Central London I was asked to initiate an optional project for 6 th Year Diploma students in 1977. The brief was to design an affordable house for a maximum of five people that could be easily transported and erected. Given its broad climatic remit the house had to be waterproof.
Hong Lee and Vince Tickle, two outstanding students, wished to go beyond the sketch and scale drawing stage and actually build and test their design. In view of my earlier lectures on the majority world they agreed that the best material for construction should be local: wood, bamboo, mud, rattan, palm, atap, etc. This realisation made them focus on emergency housing for earthquake, flood or war victims - including housing for the homeless.
As I had previously undertaken a range of designs in Triwall, a stiff triple-layer corrugated card used for packing, boxes and temporary walls, I suggested to Hong and Vince that they explore its possibilities, and I put them in touch with the manufacturer. Triwall was extremely supportive as it was keen to enlarge its market sectors. Moreover, it had already established the best methods and compounds for fire and waterproofing.
The final design, a number of which were fabricated, was set-up in the Marylebone Campus of the Polytechnic. It measured 20'X 10' X10' and weighted just under 200 pounds. Several students lived in the house during the summer of 1977. Picture shows the front of the house. Windows were cut out of the stiff cardboard, which was scored and shaped to create sloped side walls and a peaked roof.
In addition to the ground floor the Lee/Tickle/Sandhu House has a built-in platform, which can be used for storage and for sleeping by two adults. As shown, access is by a ladder.
Overall view of the house.
For more information contact Jim Sandhu, jimsandhu@onetel.com
