Projects

The project involves the design and building of two anganwadis for children of farmers along the Yamuna in Bela Gaon Estate, in collaboration with grassroots organisation Basti Suraksha Manch & Samarpan. The space was to act as an angwanwadi in the morning, a school run by Samarpan in the afternoon & a community centre in the evening. The designs have been finalised with the parents, teachers and community leader through multiple design iterations. Plots of land have also been identified & we are currently in the process of fund-raising to begin construction, which has been pushed due to Covid19.

The idea behind our efforts have been to build such spaces as prototypes for better building practices & materials while also providing access to government schemes such as ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme). These spaces, thus, exist at the confluence of the formal welfare processes and the informal building processes of the community, with technical inputs from our team. The community driven building of these spaces leads to a great sense of ownership in the project starting from the selection of design ideas to that of the plot of land that exists as commons through collective ownership. The community takes over its leadership during construction as we step into the role of facilitators, and finally, it looks after its maintenance after its completion. Through the co-building process, we have seen greater social cohesion within the community, especially the team of builders who have volunteered to build it. Moreover, we believe that the co-production of these community spaces also helps support the residents in the gradual but persistent assertion of their right to the city.