waiting planning putting up with enduring l iving
urbanism permanently temporary by samo pedersen
samo pedersen
The other day I found a migrant village on the top of my building. Just to clarify I live in a 22 storey apartment building in Shanghai. I have found out since, by climbing some more rooftops, this is not an uncommon phenomenon. Through my travels I have seen quite some different settlements, floating villages in Halong Bay and Lake Titicaca, housing-caves in Tunisia and outback Australia, various favelas and shanty towns. However I must say I was caught by surprise. It is actually wrong to mention previous listed settlements in this context, as they have very little to do with my newly discovered rooftop habitats. First the rooftop migrant worker housing is not an informal settlement, but mainly for people who are employed within the building, as cleaners, security guards, porters, kitchen staff in case there is a restaurant. Further it is not an isolated village. Mainly these people from the rooftops are working in the service sector, positioning them in a vital part of the urban network. The reason for being surprised was not so much for finding people living among plant and AC units but the fact that their rooms were planned to be there. The developer, architect and whoever else was designing the building agreed that the best way to use the penthouse/rooftop terrace was to create some very low quality units, that most of all remind me of lift shafts with beds and televisions in them. A worker told that in his case it is only temporary, this living under these conditions. When he has saved enough money he will move back to his home town and start his own business.
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