Print Email Facebook Twitter Revitalization of the Baixa de Maputo (Mozambique) through dense informal housing Title Revitalization of the Baixa de Maputo (Mozambique) through dense informal housing Author Willeumier, E.B. Contributor Meijers, L. (mentor) Koopman, F. (mentor) Faculty Architecture Department Architecture Programme RMIT Date 2012-02-02 Abstract The heart of the Baixa de Maputo, the place where the city originated from and which now is both the historical centre and part of the Maputo CBD, is under threat of 1.) further deterioration (socially and physically); 2.) losing its identity to the rapid growth of large scale real estate development and 3.) the quickly expanding number of cars in Maputo. To treat these three issues simultaneously, I propose small scale “acupunctural” interventions aimed specifically at imposing functions on currently vacant sites in the heart of the Baixa. In due time, this will turn the tide of the general deterioration, which is partly due to vacant plots being inhabited by homeless, causing a dirty and generally unsafe environment. Introducing a function of “informal living” on one of the vacant plots offers a solution to both the vacancy of the plot and the dirty environment. Moreover, the large scale property development on the edges of the heart of the Baixa will force only more semi-homeless away from their makeshift homes and onto the streets. Not offering these people a suitable alternative will only further deteriorate the streetscape of the Baixa. By introducing these small scale interventions the character of the heart of the Baixa can be maintained, protecting it from further large scale property development. Encouraging people to live in the Baixa can eventually help limit the number of people having to travel into and away from the Baixa daily. The design can be summarized as followed: to provide a structure for ‘urban informal living’, adapting the informal settlement typology into a dense urban context. Based on four ‘pillars’ (uitgangspunten): 1.) an alternative for living on the streets or far outside the Baixa, offering a place to sleep, work and recreate and thus have people ‘living’ in the Baixa; 2.) to be sustainable and self-sufficient (water and waste), to limit costs and react to the currently unstable water and sewage system; 3.) the growing building typology, typical for the informal settlements on the outskirts of the centre of the city, and allowing inhabitants to start off with a very small home, and building on to it as their wealth and family increases; 4.) to be flexible in use over time, to easily adapt to a new function if first function is not successful. Subject MozambiqueinformalBaixa To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:1f4322f7-2967-4aa9-8099-6dabe8450f2a Embargo date 2012-03-05 Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights (c) 2012 Willeumier, E.B. Files PDF Graduation_report_Evert_W ... _FINAL.pdf 41.31 MB PDF P5_presentation_v3.pdf 88.63 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:1f4322f7-2967-4aa9-8099-6dabe8450f2a/datastream/OBJ1/view