Pobreza Extrema e Habitação - Um Teto para o meu País - Uma Hipótese de Solução

Abstract

Today it is verified a return to the subject of housing in relation to architecture and urbanism. Problems related to urban growth and its implications in space (or lack thereof) in its quality, distribution and access lead us to question the share of responsibility of those disciplines on this matter. In fact, the problem is far from ceasing to be a current theme. Present in all societies at all times, the issue of housing as a social problem has changed over the time. This alerts us to the constant need to create solutions in this area. This paper describes an attempt of solution to the problem. Um Teto Para Meu País (UTPMP), a Non Governamental Organization (NGO), created in 1997 in Chile and present in 19 countries of Latin America, aims to eradicate extreme poverty in this Continent. To do so, it acts in human settlements through an integrated intervention which seeks the active participation of the population, university students and society in general. In the first stage of its intervention UTPMP proposes the replacement of precarious for emergency housing built by volunteers in direct collaboration with the family or the individual who will inhabit it. Through this strategy, UTPMP provides the beginning of a relationship that has two distinct objectives: the immediate improvement of quality of life for people in need and the possibility of training volunteers through the empirical knowledge on the field. This was also the step that I experienced in one year of collaboration with UTPMP-Brazil. Through my personal experience, I propose the analysis of these aspects in the design and construction of emergency housing. Thus, I could presence a similarity between the spatial and social issues and the impact of the former over the latter in all that relates to human beings and their development.