RSFA SCHOLARS
Razia Sultana and Farida Akbar (RSFA) Research Grant for Sustainability in the Built Environment
Navigating Waters: Architectural Strategies for Flood Mitigation and Adaptation in Vulnerable Communities | A Research by Abeer Usmani
This project by Abeer Usmani addresses the integration of flood-resilient strategies in the design of a rural settlement in Sindh, Pakistan. It focuses on enhancing community resilience in the face of climate-induced challenges, particularly flooding. The research emphasizes a holistic approach that considers environmental sustainability, cultural relevance, and practical design solutions. A mixed-methods approach was used to inform the design, drawing on community preferences, socio-economic structures, and site-specific environmental conditions. The proposed strategies aim to mitigate flooding through the use of floodplains, green buffers, and permeable surfaces while maintaining the cultural integrity of the settlement through responsive housing designs. The project thereby lays the groundwork for further exploration of these concepts in detail in other projects with the aim of developing adaptable, resilient, and contextually relevant architectural solutions for flood-prone regions.
Build Environment Together!
Ecotourism can be defined as sustainable travel to natural places that incorporate explanation and education, preserve the ecosystem, and maintain locals’ well-being.
To put things in perspective, Zain-Ul-Abideen, an RSFA scholar from NED University in Karachi investigates Pasni and its cultural and ecological significance through the lens of sustainable tourism. Pasni is a city in Balochistan that is situated on the Makran coast of the Arabian Sea. Because local resources are essential to sustaining the residents’ way of life and economy, Pasni’s rich legacy is closely linked to its biophysical environment. Pasni’s heritage has deep cultural origins, particularly in the arts and crafts. But all of this runs the risk of being lost due to a lack of environmental protection laws, awareness, and general development practices. Vernacular architecture, a design idea that uses locally accessible materials and traditions to fulfil local building and design concerns, enters the picture in this situation. A resort or ecolodge focusing on fostering cultural immersion through a pedestrian-friendly design seeking to improve interactions between residents and tourists would be a design intervention to solve this issue. The youth of Pasni would be the focus of local ecotourism projects through a community center nearby the resort, highlighting their arts and crafts and helping to preserve their culture while being environmentally conscious.
Social marginalization of the indigenous fishermen communities of Karachi is both a systematic process and a condition where the victims face exclusion from certain social, political and economic activities, mainly due to the rapid shift in power and climatic changes that tend to deteriorate their relationship with the land.
Rehri Goth is a 400 year old fishermen settlement, located in Landhi, one of the largest industrial areas of Karachi. It faces the Korangi backwaters and lies opposite to the Bin Qasim Port.
The “community center of Rehri Goth” is proposed as a pilot project by and for the local low-income community. Built as a social development project, it seeks to explore the potential of built environment and architecture as a tool to uplift the fishermen settlement and improve their socio-economic and environmental conditions. The project aims at creating a self-sustaining community that functions as a loop, makes the most of its resources, is green and uses indigenous materials and products.
Designed on the concept of ‘metamorphosis’, it tends to take inspiration from the existing morphology of workplaces within the community and integrates spillover spaces within formal workspaces for leisure, play and social cohesion while facilitating surveillance and the wellbeing of people. A compact and locally sourced modular bamboo and mud-brick structure is proposed for the on-site construction. Mudbrick retaining walls, permeable pavements, drainage notches and a rain garden have also been made part of the overall design to prevent urban flooding during high tides and monsoon seasons. The project carefully crafts utilitarian and recreational functions to increase the influx of local tourists and boost the local economy.