The Forgotten Dwellers: Spatial Hope for a Roma Ghetto
Constantly being pushed towards the ever-extending periphery of the urban, the Roma communities in Europe have been victims of systemic racism, spatial exclusion, and political discrimination for generations. This project is an effort to change that by developing the spatial tools to help those marginalized communities to regain a sense of agency and ownership over the land they inhabit.
Local
Spain
The project was carried out in Estella-Lizarra, Navarra, Spain although the principles behind it are universal.
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Constantly being pushed towards the ever-extending periphery of the urban and unwillingly housed in overcrowded ghettos, the Roma communities in Europe have been the victims of systemic racism, social and spatial exclusion, and political discrimination for generations. Intentionally forgotten by local, regional, and national administrations alike, they have been denied the assistance and support they deserve. This is materialized clearly in the cities we inhabit, where Roma communities can only find shelter in the least desirable neighborhoods or have to create their own shanty towns on the city's edge, where they usually lack access to electricity or the public sewage system.
This project is an effort to develop the necessary architectural and urban tools to help a new generation of architects, designers, and urban planners to tackle complex social and environmental problems, rejecting the top-down, generic, and inhuman solutions that have been proposed by political institutions in the past and that only result in expulsion or gentrification. By grounding the architect within the territory, situating it within the community, and making it accountable and vulnerable to the skills, desires, and needs of others, it is possible to propose bottom-up, sustainable, and long-lasting architectural solutions that create the right environment for ethnic minorities and marginalized groups.
These tools were tested in Estella, where, together with the Roma community, a set of spatial strategies based on the specific territorial and cultural conditions were developed. The core intervention, a bridge that acted as a pedestrian river crossing and a key infrastructural construction through which a crane would operate, allowed for the reintegration of the neighborhood into the city's ethos by redirecting the 'Camino de Santiago' path through the bridge, and provided them with the necessary infrastructure to develop a service of recycling and reuse of construction materials.
Roma Communities
Spatial Exclusion
Social Inclusion
Situated Architecture
Material Reuse
The concept is exemplary in regard to sustainability because it addresses the complexities of this term holistically rather than superficially as it is unfortunately common in the majority of mainstream, commercial sustainability projects that focus just on inserting sustainable techniques into a project rather than creating first an interdisciplinary sustainable framework from which the whole concept and subsequent interventions can emerge from.
Throughout the development of the concept and the prototype intervention in 'La Merced' neighborhood, the emphasis was first on developing a strong foundation of social sustainability from which crucial productive participatory progress could emerge, ensuring the involvement of the community and, therefore, increasing the probability of having a long-lasting impact in the territory. This latter part is key to a sustainable project, for no environmentally-minded intervention can be deemed successful if it lacks the commitment of those involved.
Once this social framework was developed, more normative sustainable techniques quickly surfaced from within the needs and desires of the community and its immediate context. In the case of the Roma community in Estella-Lizarra, the collective generational knowledge on recycling and reuse that had been developed due to their nomadic past as well as the poverty and exclusion they had been subjected to could be put into work as a way to tackle the increasing number of abandoned constructions present in the urban and rural landscape of the region. By means of their existing expertise, it was possible to develop a system in which the ruins of abandoned farms, factories, and residential blocks could be transformed into usable construction material. After a thorough mapping of the abandoned structures, it was concluded that a large amount of material could be reused within the region reducing considerably the large carbon footprint of the construction industry.
The concept is exemplary in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people because it rejects the obsession of architectural and urban praxis with the immutable and untouchable design object that transforms people into passive, alienated 'users' that have little to no say on the environment they inhabit. Instead, the concept proposes an understanding of spatial praxis that focuses on the production of an ever-changing, ever-evolving process in which people play a crucial role as proactive and involved agents. This concept, as well as the intervention proposed for the Roma community in Estella-Lizarra, exists within the interaction between space and people, that is, the 'event'.
It is this regained sense of agency that provides the people involved with a considerably more intense and less fleeting sense of happiness compared to the short-lived, vacuous, and superficial pleasure that a stylized and aestheticized intervention or proposal might bring. The goal of the concept is to provide the Roma community with the necessary tools to regain a sense of ownership that has been kept away from them for a long-time, as well as give them the space to interact and change their existing environment so that they can develop their own way to live and inhabit, not based on the often racist and paternalistic ideals of designers but rather on the richness and depth of their own culture. This autonomy and independence to explore their own fascinations is what will make this potential space aesthetically, emotionally, and culturally pleasing.
The concept is exemplary in regard to inclusion because it avoids engaging in such complex topics as systemic racism and spatial exclusion from a paternalistic and top-down perspective. Alternatively, the concept proposes to acknowledge them as complex and multi-faceted issues that cannot be addressed by one single intervention or a single approach and encourages the designer to ground themselves within the existing cultural and social landscape in order to find existing currents and intensities of change to which they can provide their expertise, not as faceless agents of a political administration that imposes solutions but rather as a situated and vulnerable member of the community itself.
This is what was done in 'La Merced' neighborhood; the proposed intervention emerging from the needs and desires of members of the community and tapping into the existing individual and collective expertise. In this way, the result of this horizontal, bottom-up participatory process leads toward true progress and innovation for it ensures the commitment of the people involved. Rejecting the stereotypical presuppositions and assumptions that might arise from normative architectural and urban proposals it was possible to develop holistic proposals that integrated the Roma community of Estella-Lizarra into the city without kickstarting gentrification. This was achieved by reintroducing the 'Camino de Santiago' path into the neighborhood and, consequently, integrating the area and the community into the city's ethos. More importantly, this allowed for the development of a productive system of reuse that tapped into the already existing expertise of the Roma people in Estella, creating jobs and occupations that emerged from their own cultural and historical background rather than being uprooted and forcefully introduced into the traditional industrial system which had previously alienated them from their own desires and ways of living.
Depending on the role they play, there are several ways in which citizens involved with the concept will benefit from their involvement.
Firstly, the Roma community will benefit through the reappropriation of their own sense of agency and ownership over the land and the space they inhabit, both physically, through tangible physical interventions focused towards the betterment of the neighborhood, but most importantly culturally and politically. On the one hand culturally, because of the reintegration of the neighborhood into the city as the main entrance for the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims that follow the 'Camino de Santiago' every year, making the neighborhood and those within it a crucial space in the city's ethos and, therefore, exponentially increasing their sense of belonging and self-esteem as visible citizens. In addition, the development of a recycling and reuse facility for construction materials in the area gives the neighborhood and the community a sense of purpose and relevancy that is key to their well-being. On the other hand politically, because of the unavoidable visibilization of the Roma community and their quarters due to the constant and intense presence of pilgrims that forces the local and regional administrations to end the vicious spatial bullying and take accountability for the maintenance and well-being of the area and its inhabitants.
Secondly, the rest of the city of Estella-Lizarra benefits from being made aware of their own participation in systemic racism and prejudice and allows them to deconstruct their toxic behavior and be able to build new, more positive relationships with the Roma community and make the city a more welcoming, diverse and just space for everyone.
Finally, the local and regional administration is able to reflect on their own mistakes and aggressions and develop a more intelligent and humane strategy for minorities that have different cultural backgrounds.
Several stakeholders have been relevant throughout the development of this concept and the subsequent proposal for an intervention. Starting with the Roma community itself, represented by the Ker Kalí association at the local level and the Gaz Kaló federation at the regional level, they have been crucial for the research on the territorial condition of the neighborhood and the subsequent proposal of the architectural intervention.
The municipal architecture office and the social workers' office from the municipality have, as well, been helpful by providing necessary information to have a well-rounded and up-to-date perspective on the situation.
Finally, the Technical University of Delft has provided the teaching resources and educational facilities necessary to engage in a project of this magnitude and develop the theoretical framework as well as the architectural documentation of the proposed intervention.
Since architectural and urban praxis intervenes directly within the richness and complexity of the territory, it was important to approach the conceptualization of the intervention as holistically as possible while understanding that any of the resulting processes will be always partial and subjective, therefore, this effort has been notably multidisciplinary.
The first step was to develop a clear and productive theoretical framework from which it was possible to create this localized intervention, that is, the one in 'La Merced' neighborhood prototype. Throughout this process, a thorough study of Roma culture and history was enacted, in order to understand the construction and evolution of Romaphobia. Afterward, the conclusions drawn from this were enriched, nuanced, and challenged by philosophical and sociological research to find the flaws within our own ethical systems that allowed for this discrimination and spatial exclusion to take place. This allowed for the development of a new subjective ethical system that had no space for racism. From this ethical perspective, it was then possible to engage with architectural theory and find several case studies that showed different ways to integrate minorities within a larger society without removing them from their cultural and political support systems.
With that theoretical background in place, a detailed geographical study was performed around the territory of which 'La Merced' in order to understand its idiosyncrasies as well as its geological, historical, social, economic, and political landscape in its entirety. The conclusions that were drawn from this process led to the architectural design of an intervention that addresses the issues found in the best way possible.
Lastly, to avoid the shortcoming of providing an immutable architectural object as the solution to such a complex problem, an artistic process of fictional layering was created to provide the Roma community the space to inhabit freely.
The innovative character of the concept compared to mainstream actions lies in its rejection of the main tenets of traditional architectural and urban praxis. By challenging the approach of the universal solution, the paternalizing and patronizing hand of the faceless institution that tries to solve complex inter-generational problems with simple and superficial proposals, the designer is free to explore the problems in hand understanding their own limitations, partialities, and biases, grounding themselves into the core of the problem, inhabiting the same space as those who suffer it and coming up with actions together with them, instead of for them.
Mainstream architecture and urbanism see people as users, passive and alienated from their own environment, subjected to what the designers and politicians think that a citizen should be. The concept that is being proposed here, and the intervention proposed for Estella-Lizarra negates the idea of an ideal citizen and tries to encourage the citizens themselves, the real ones, to engage with their environment as freely as they can, having an impact on it, changing it, making it themselves for themselves. In other words, turning from users to agents.
This concept is innovative, as well, in its chronology, for it expands decades and even centuries. Even if it has a starting point it does not finish, it is in constant change and constantly evolving. This is the core of its sustainability, the fact that it is designed with the intention for it to last, to be permanent, even if nature takes over.
The elements of the concept that could be replicated or transferred are the processes followed to position the designer within the complex context in which the subsequent intervention should take place. Since the basis of these efforts is mainly participatory, the focus is placed on the role that a spatial practitioner should take in order to streamline and enrich the processes themselves rather than imposing their own view as canon. It is important to emphasize that the result of the intervention in Estella-Lizarra is in itself not transferrable nor replicable and it shouldn't be, for it is highly dependent on the idiosyncrasies of the territory in which it exists. It is the situatedness within the territory, the accountability and responsibility towards the place, the space, and those who live in it, and the vulnerability towards others within that community, is the universality that can be found in this project and the principle that can be applied to any issue or problem that needs to be tackled. This is because, for a problem to be addressed, it has to be done from within, appreciating the possible help given by the administrations above but independent of them.
For this replication to occur, those that choose to engage in a similar process must do so humbly, from a place of understanding of their own partiality and biases, so that their expertise can be shared with others and others can share with them their expertise, finding in that point of collision the spark of sustainable and inclusive innovation.
The global challenges that the concept addresses through the proposed local solutions are those relating to systemic racism, social and spatial exclusion, and imposed poverty that the Roma communities suffer in Europe. It is crucial that local, regional, national, and international institutions such as the EU make a substantial effort to address the shortcomings and violence of the policies carried out throughout history that have made the Roma people second-class citizens, pushing them towards inter-generational poverty and normalizing Romaphobia.
'La Merced' neighborhood in Estella-Lizarra, Spain is but one example of a myriad of shanty towns and unofficial ghettos spread throughout a great part of Europe. It is unacceptable and contrary to the principles of the EU to maintain this state-sponsored spatial and social violence against an ethnic minority that has suffered greatly. There is no place for ghettos in Europe and it is the EU's responsibility to kickstart the process to provide Roma communities with the means to create an existence that embraces their cultural needs and desires in a dignifying and non-alienating way.
Moreover, the processes outlined throughout the proposal of this concept can be applied to any situation in which spatial violence is enacted on a marginalized group or ethnic minority, for discrimination and exclusion arise from systemic dehumanization, and the process of participation and regaining agency is contrary to it.
