By Girish Kulkarni | Founder
The residents of a slum have been living under a constant, unsettling threat of eviction. Developed under the central government scheme in India, the slum redevelopment project in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra is collaboration between the slum dwellers, Snehalaya and CSDC. Residents of Sanjaynagar are active participants in the design process.
Sanjaynagar is a slum in Ahmednagar city in Maharashtra, home to 298 families. The redevelopment plan addresses the need for formal housing for these families, while also providing safe and adequate community spaces, preserving the strong social fabric and bonding of the community.
As the first in-situ slum development project in this district, the initial focus of CSDC and its partners has been on trust building and empowering the residents of the slum to take on the development and construction of their homes. The apartments have been designed with the help of the residents such that they allow for multiple iterations and combinations based on the needs of the families. To retain the social fabric of the slum, the G+2 buildings have been designed around seven courtyards of varying sizes, a community center, gymnasium, a government-run creche or aanganwadi, shops, etc.
While slum redevelopment in itself may be rather mainstream, the Sanjaynagar project has been developed with design, social and financial components unique to the needs and aspirations of the community. The success of this participatory model has the potential to impact housing policies and help build thousands of such thoughtfully designed communities in the future.
Community Representatives (CRs) are young men and women from the Sanjaynagar Slum who help with the work at the slum redevelopment site and act as facilitators between the residents and the architects from CSDC. During the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown, most families lost their livelihood and were struggling to feed themselves. The CRs rose to the occasion and helped galvanise resources to help their neighborhood survive the hardships.
Watch the video to learn more about our efforts.
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