Community
The discussion in class Tuesday concerning slums and impoverished communities, particularly on their reliance upon community, collaboration, and communication to be successful, has caused me to reflect on my own living situation.
On Monday night, at around 11:30pm, as I was modifying a ramp in Revit, an alarm sounded throughout my room. After ten seconds trying to ignore it, I laboriously rose from my chair, put on some pants, and went outside. As I reached the front of the building, I was greeted by the sight of the other residents gathered together. Each and every one of them was a complete stranger to me. In the year and a half I have lived in that apartment, I have never had a need to meet, interact, or even communicate with my neighbors.
After about twenty-five minutes of waiting about awkwardly, the fire department arrived, turned off the alarm, and I returned to my apartment.
Slums have such dynamic communities because, in the absence of utilities and services, other people are the only resource that can be relied upon. In the modern, consumption driven apartment complex, the opposite is true. When a user's every need is met and provided for, what need is there for other people?
This why I think the idea of slums isn't such a bad thing. The dynamic communities that they create are something to be admired and the social interaction that they can create is something that everyone needs to certain extent.
ReplyDeleteA quote from The Wolf of Wall Street comes to mind: "There is no nobility in poverty. I’ve been a rich man, and I’ve been a poor man. And I choose rich every f*cking time."
DeleteThis is not to say we can't ̶c̶a̶p̶i̶t̶a̶l̶i̶z̶e̶ ̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶r̶o̶p̶r̶i̶a̶t̶e̶ be inspired by the community aspect of slums and encourage more social interaction through our designs.
2011 called. they want their memes back
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to note you prefer to model in Revit with your pants off, but you also bring up an important comparison between those with means and those without. Those with means tend to wish to be self-reliant, and find it tacky to ask for help from their neighbors. This could mean, after further study, that community-orientated housing archetypes may not work for those with means, but only for those without? It would be interesting to further investigate how often shared program spaces are used in apartment complexes and how often occupants actually interact with one another.
ReplyDeleteMaybe irregular mid-night fire alarms are what non-slum communities are missing.
ReplyDeleteI'd prefer fewer fire alarms, actually.
Delete:)