"Research and projects of land valorisation and upgrading for residential settlements in developing countries"

This presentation is about three ongoing research projects about, respectively, the study of projects for Braldu Valley (Pakistan) protection and valorization, the implementation of a global plan for the physical re-organization of five informal settlements in the Huruma neighborhood in Nairobi (Kenya) and a consultancy to the Department of Special Projects of Guayaquil Municipality (Ecuador). The first project, responsible me, was born thanks to the partnership agreement signed in 2006 between the Architectural Design Department (DPA) of Politecnico di Milano and EVK2CNR Committee, promoter and coordinator of the Karakorum Trust project, involving, besides Politecnico di Milano, among others, also the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Education, University and Research, the Italian National Research Council (CNR), the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the United Nations Environment Program – Asia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kashmir and Northern Areas and the Karakorum International University. Among the priorities identified within the Karakorum Trust Project, has emerged the need to protect and valorize the Braldu Valley within the general framework of Pakistani Northern areas and aiming for local population sustainable development. From what had been planned, in may 2009 a museum-house has been opened in Askole at the foot of the Karakorum mountains. This small museum-house witnesses how a community can discover itself around a museum and entrust it as instrumental to keep the continuity alive between a past rich in cultural traditions and historical significances and the evolving present. The second activity, responsible me, has been developed within an urban upgrading project of five informal settlement in the Huruma neighbourhood in Nairobi (Kenya). This project has been set up by the Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI), a Milan based Ngo, and co-funded by Lombardy Region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and COOPI itself, with the intent to facilitate Huruma residents through a process of institutional strengthening of the community, and with the implementation of advocacy, networking and sensibilization activities, and the infrastructural upgrading of services and residences. The DPA project has been partially completed between 2007 and 2008 with the cooperation of COOPI Nairobi, Pamoja Trust (a local non-profit organisation) and the local communities. The third activity, responsible Prof. Marina Molon, starts in 2008. The consultancy refers to a number of assessments related with projects of infrastructures upgrading and creation of new services taking place in the informal settlement of El Fortin (about 60.000 inhabitants), particularly: a) assessment of construction work of the sewerage network; b) survey and drafting of the actual situation and preliminary project of the upgrading and completion of the internal road system and of the main exchange points on its limits; c) preliminary project of the new services framework and green areas to be located in a large area about to be expropriated.