from the top: Soviet transformation of old Ulaanbaatar An urban alternative for rural migrants
The nomadic perception of free rural land usage is dramatically different from that of an urban sense of ownership with a cost. Government guidance to orderly development of land, infrastructure and economic development should come first as the framework for growth, but the pace of rural-urban migration far outpaces government’s capacity. Families can’t wait and the building always happens first. Real life replaces planning. Government then struggles to overlay some form of land tenure and insert infrastructure into the organic form of an informal settlement.
Incremental processes of development and densification over time are readily evident in Ulaanbaatar’s suburbs. New families arrive on the edge and plant their ger behind a new fence. Whatever plan, infrastructure and control exist have not made the transition to urban needs. Someone will claim land ownership, official or not, and payment for a ‘fence’ will be needed, but without recourse to a Central Land Titles Office. It may be hundreds of metres to the nearest source of water with a wheelbarrow to pay market prices up to 20 times that of the subsidised urban core. The sanitation system is a hole in the ground. Food comes from a shop and shops want money and that needs employment.
On Site review 24
58
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator