Rising Core House: a proposed low-income urban housing model linked with income generation for slum upgrading and poverty alleviation

BACKGROUND

Cities in the developing world are confronted by rapid urbanization, population explosion, poverty, political instability, unemployment, natural and man made disasters and environmental degradation. This project intends to help make human settlements in cities and urbanizing areas more livable, vibrant, dynamic, humane, politically stable and sustainable.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Rising Core House {RCH} is a housing delivery system and it`s corresponding prototype house design with a development process that can create income-generating opportunities directly for low-income earners within the settlement site.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

The main point of the project is that the poor should not remain poor. The project gives the poor a vehicle for self determination, it creates opportunities for them to evolve their potentials. This is done by harnessing their own initiatives, creativity, energies and resourcefulness to improve their conditions over time.

PROJECT IMPACT

The RCH was conceptualized by combining the characteristics of vernacular architecture with slum development patterns and sustainable building approaches. It develops incrementally while creating jobs from new construction, expansion, upgrading, renovation and repairs. Such construction activities can create multiplier effects on other sectors of the economy and stimulate the growth of micro-enterprises {MEs} and small and medium enterprises {SMEs} creating more income generating opportunities for the poor in urban areas.

URBAN POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY

It could be an effective tool for poverty reduction or urban revitalization when combined with security of tenure, micro-finance and support for home based enterprises {HBE} in micro, small and medium enterprises.

PROJECT GOALS

1. Provide a responsive shelter that has the flexibility to accommodate future requirements and adapt to changing conditions.
2. Create livelihoods or income-generating opportunities in urban areas that the poor can be busy working on. This can eventually foster political stability

A THEORETICAL NARRATIVE STORY

This is a story of some poor people living together in a community, all having an opportunity to build their lives with the proposed housing model. The human interaction in healthy competition may spur further development while the human interaction in cooperation and mutual support fosters community building within the settlement site.

Philip is a barber that has saved enough money to construct a second floor, he hires Vashi the carpenter who lives nearby for the expansion. He orders steel grilles from Haddad, the steel welder/fabricator living on the next street. Cement, fiber boards, steel bars, paints, pipes and other construction materials were ordered from Hong small hardware store a few houses away. Vashi would usually buy food from Fiorenza`s bakery/food store located next to Philip`s house. Fiorenza buys herself a new dress from Francoise`s tailor/dress shop located on the streetcorner nearby. Francoise has no time to do her laundry so she sends them to Luzviminda`s laundry shop. Luzviminda ran out of soap and rushes to Constanza`s neighbourhood store across the street to buy soap. Taro drives a taxi cab for a living; one ocassion he bought a gift for his mother-in-law from Nicolai`s gift shop a block away from his house. Nicolai`s T.V. broke down one day so he called on Lema`s husband, an electronics repariman to fix it. Lema`s daughter has a well paying job in the formal sector and they start planning the expansion of their house. Her husband is excited and starts talking to Haddad what kind of grillwork he wants installed. Arun since he was laid off had been down on his luck finding a permanent job. One day after he made some money when he was hired as an unskilled laborer for the expansion of Hong`s one-story house to a three-story structure, Arun then takes his 6 year old son to Philip`s barbershop. While his son is hav

Rising Core House: a proposed low-income urban housing model linked with income generation for slum upgrading and poverty alleviation by albert zambrano in Philippines won the WA Award Cycle 3. Please find below the WA Award poster for this project.