Van yatiri tot privékliniek – Interculturaliteit in de gezondheidszorg in Bolivia – deel 2

• door: Marjolein van Rijn

Foto: Chakana

4. El Alto: Capital Andina
Net als dat Bolivia een bijzonder land is, is El Alto een bijzondere stad in Bolivia. Oorspronkelijk is El Alto ontstaan als een sloppenwijk van La Paz. La Paz ligt in een dal naast de hoogvlakte. Toen het dal van La Paz vol raakte, is de stad letterlijk ‘over de rand’ gekropen, de hoogvlakte op.

Van sloppenwijk tot miljoenenstad
De bevolkingsgroei in deze sloppenwijk nam een vlucht na de Nationale Revolutie van 1952. De hierin afgedwongen landhervormingen zorgden ervoor dat kleine boeren niet langer konden overleven van de landbouw (Kranenburg 2002). Deze voornamelijk inheemse (Aymara) boeren hoopten op een beter leven in de stad en kwamen in El Alto terecht, wat ook weer andere migranten van Aymara afkomst aantrok. Zij voelden zich het meest thuis in deze stad waar ook hun eigen inheemse en plattelandstradities behouden bleven (Muriel Hernandez 1995). Nadat in de jaren ’80 veel mijnen sloten, trokken ook de voornamelijk Quechua mijnwerkers naar El Alto (Kranenburg 2002). In 1985 werd de wijk een onafhankelijke gemeente. Bijna alle inwoners van El Alto (alteños) komen van de hoogvlakte, en dan niet alleen uit Bolivia maar zelfs een deel uit Peru. Ook voor deze inheemse Peruanen is de culturele overgang van hun dorp naar El Alto kleiner dan naar bijvoorbeeld de Peruaanse hoofdstad Lima. Migranten uit andere delen van Bolivia zijn er eigenlijk nauwelijks, al neemt de laatste jaren het aantal migranten  uit La Paz toe. Zij ontvluchten de dure woningmarkt van La Paz. Inmiddels wonen er naar schatting tegen de één miljoen mensen in El Alto. Hiermee is het de grootste stad op de hoogvlakte en ze wordt dan ook wel ‘Capital Andina’ genoemd (van Rijn 2006).

Ondanks dat in Bolivia stedelijke gebieden gemiddeld rijker zijn dan het platteland, leeft tweederde van de inwoners van El Alto onder de armoedegrens. Nog eens 17% leeft in extreme armoede. Dit is lager dan het nationale gemiddelde. Basisbehoeften zoals sanitaire voorzieningen, onderwijs en toegang tot zorg worden niet vervuld (INE 2005). Veel huizen, vooral in de nieuwere wijken aan de rand van de stad, hebben nog geen goede sanitaire voorzieningen, al wordt hier wel aan gewerkt door de gemeente (van Rijn 2006). Read more

Scientists Looking to Solve the Problem of Slums Devise a New Way to Look at Big Data

by Rebecca Ruiz – January, 22, 2013 – txchnologist.com

Photo txchnologist.com

Around the world, slums are home to an estimated 1 billion residents. From Manila to Sao Paolo to Mumbai, they are crucibles of urbanization where the poor try to eke out an existence without crucial public services like sewage, electricity and water.
For years, Slum Dwellers International, a network of community organizations working in 33 countries, has collected data from thousands of slums globally in an effort to provide leverage to settlements during negotiations with local officials to improve living conditions.

Looking at the details inside the big picture

Now, in the era of big data, that information may have a reach far beyond slum limits. In November, SDI partnered with the Santa Fe Institute, a nonprofit research center, to study the collected facts and figures to better understand slums worldwide and build a scientific view of cities.

Read more: http://txchnologist.com/scientists-looking-to-solve-the-problem-of-slums-devise 

Social Housing Crisis Calls for a New Vision for Architecture

guardian.couk. Jan. 23, 2103. Semi-detached houses were a revolution in affordable 20th century modernity, but social diversity and high density housing must be part of a new future.
In times of housing crisis such as these architects have traditionally asked, how can we create better social housing? What should it look like?
One answer is that social housing should look like other sorts of housing; or, perhaps, other sorts of housing should look like social housing.

Between the two world wars, architectural visionaries certainly agreed. Influenced by the radical ideas of Russian constructivism, Italian futurism and the great modernist architect Le Corbusier, a vision of state-funded, egalitarian housing with all mod cons and fabulous standards for space was implemented in the UK in an attempt to mend Britain’s bomb ravaged and slum ridden cities following the second world war.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/crisis-vision-architecture-social-housing

Domus: Intelligent Architecture for Current Times

domusweb.it. While European cities present very low demographic growth today, they have extraordinarily urban and even agriculturally built environments. Adding to these circumstances circumstances certain environmental and social sustainable values, and bearing in mind the current economical situation, you can reach the conclusion that the re-use existing built patrimony – obsolete after new and continuous social, economic and technological changes – is a need. In this context, French architects Anne Lacaton & Jean Philippe Vassal have been developing an uncommon philosophy marked by their interest in preservation and social living improvement refurbishments, very far from the professional positioning of most reknown architects. Among their recent works are projects like the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and others like the new Architecture School of Nantes and the peripheral extension of Bois-Le-Prêtre tower in Paris.

Read more: http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/intelligent-architecture-for-current-times/

Social Housing Watch – A Brief History of Social Housing

Why do we have social housing? What trends did it arise in response to? And how has it changed over the years? Take at look at our brief history of social housing.

1800 — 1850
Urban overcrowding

Between 1800 and 1850 the population of the UK doubled in size from 8 to 16 million people, and as the Industrial Revolution progressed more people moved out of the countryside and into cities to find work. By 1850 over half of the UK population lived in urban areas – mostly in squalid and overcrowded slums with open sewers and no running water. With living conditions so poor and disease so widespread, life expectancy in 1830 was a mere 29. Over the next century the need for decent housing, even for the poorest in society would become an ever larger issue.

Read more: http://socialhousingwatch.co.uk/a-brief-history-of-social-housing/

Squatters Vow To Fight City Over Land

westcapenews.com – Cape Town – January, 15,  2013 – After having failed to forcibly remove families illegally occupying land in Joe Slovo Park near Milnerton, the City of Cape Town is seeking an eviction order against the approximately 218 families from the Western Cape High Court.

Attempts by the City’s Anti Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) in November to forcibly remove the residents were unsuccessful as the informal settlement residents simply re-erected their shacks after they were demolished.

The residents also launched violent protests, stoning ALIU officials and burning tyres on Democracy Road — the main road in the township which leads to Montague Gardens. Several businesses run by foreign nationals were also set alight by residents who claimed they were being targeted while foreign national’s running businesses illegally from shipping containers were being allowed to continue.

The city has since sought an order from the High Court to have the people evicted.