In 2013 Habitat Norway will draw attention to infrastructure in cities today. A seminar series will be designated to discuss the challenges related to various types of infrastructure and how the lack of infrastructure in urban informal settlements affect people’s living conditions. Infrastructure in cities will also be the subject of this year´s Habitat Day, 7 October.
Today, cities account for more than half of the global population. Over the last decades the world has urbanized rapidly, with an unprecedented pace in some areas. Highest is the urbanization rate in developing countries. With this growth cities face increasingly greater demands for services together with strained infrastructural systems.
Of more than 3,5 billions living in cities today, more than a billion live in informal areas and slums. In the three years to come it is expected that 200.000 on average will be added to the world’s urban population each day. 91 percent of this increase will happen in developing countries, a great influx to informal settlements. Many migrate to cities in search of a more prosperous life and settle where there is available land. Others are born in informal settlements that over time have taken a more permanent look. While informal settlements are profoundly different from one place to another, what many of the inhabitants have in common is that they will use their skills and creativity to build a home of whatever building material available for them, and continue to modify and improve their home according to ability. Hence, what constitutes some of the major problems regarding the physical environment for dwellers in poor urban communities are not always poor constructions of their home, but the lack of access to or possibilities to tap into the infrastructural systems vital for an adequate living. Often the lack of such systems poses serious health and security risks.
Throughout 2013 Habitat Norway will host a seminar series focusing on infrastructure and the following matters: Water, sanitation, electricity, public transportation and solid waste management. Furthermore the seminars discuss how infrastructural systems relate to planning, economy, informality, livelihoods and environmental degradation. What are good ways to respond to these challenges? The seminar series will consist of presentations from professionals from various fields, and screenings of short films and documentaries.
Program Infrastructure 2013:
Infrastructure 2013: Water. Wednesday 20 March, 19.00. Internasjonalen, Oslo.
Infrastructure 2013: Public Transport. Wednesday 24 April, 19.00. Gallery 0047, Oslo.
Infrastructure 2013: Electricity. Wednesday 12 June, 19.00. Kulturhuset, Oslo.
Infrastructure 2013: Waste. Wednesday 28 August, 19.00. Kulturhuset, Oslo.
Infrastructure 2013: Communication. World Habitat Day. Monday 7 October, House of Literature, Oslo.
Infrastructure 2013: Gran Horizonte. Habitat Day evening event, film screening. Wednesday 9 October, Kulturhuset, Oslo.
Infrastructure 2013: Sanitation. Wednesday 20 November, 19.00. Kulturhuset, Oslo.
