Off the Rack

How High-Tech Maps Could Help Urban Slums Plan Better Streets

Image AP Photo/Felipe Dana

In slums, buildings are often so densely packed that many are cut off from streets and pathways. This creates a literal roadblock to much-needed public resources.

It’s a serious matter. Across the global south, hundreds of millions live in slums lacking piped water, proper drainage, and sanitation—ideal breeding grounds for virus-carrying insects and other types of disease. To fight epidemics such as Zika, experts warn, living conditions for the urban poor must be improved. But to do so, many slum communities first need to open up space.

A new tool might help. Open Reblock is a free, open-source platform designed to simplify the process of thoughtfully reorganizing slum communities. Funded through OpenIDEO, it’s the product of a major research collaboration by the Santa Fe Institute, Sam Houston State University, UC Berkeley, and Shack/Slum Dwellers International, a global network of community-based organizations representing the urban poor.

The only input that’s required for Open Reblock is a good-quality map with details on each property inside a community and its access to the street network. The tool uses an algorithm to identify the least disruptive reorganization of a cluster of slum blocks so that each parcel gets access to the street—nudging this house two meters east, extending that road a few meters south. It produces a new map of this “reblocked” community, which residents can adjust to their needs and use to push local government (or other support sources) to begin construction.

“How to change the physical slum? You tap into the knowledge of the people who live in the slum,” says José Lobo, an economist and sustainability researcher with Arizona State University who has worked on the project. The tool, he says, captures that knowledge—physically, on a map—so it “can be shared, examined, revisited, and acted on while minimizing disruption.” Indeed, the philosophy behind the tool is that no one is better positioned to help plan a community than those who actually live in it and have the social knowledge to understand how people need to move around their neighborhoods.

The researchers are very clear on what the Open Reblock tool will not do: command community members to raze their houses and rearrange them into straight, neat grids. The source code favors pathways that do not get in the way of existing homes or neighborhoods fixtures, which means they sometimes turn out a bit wiggly. And the physical construction process is meant to be gradual, with community members working with government to upgrade clusters of blocks at a time.

The Under-Appreciated Brown Suit

Since most traditional men’s clothing comes from England, so do most of its rules. A commonly cited one is, “no brown in town.” Back when there were still such things as dress codes, men choose clothes according to geography. Business attire was worn in the city (e.g. navy suits with oxfords), while sporting clothes were reserved for the country (e.g. brown tweeds with heavier shoes). Never did the two mix. 

Today, dress codes have largely relaxed, if not altogether disappeared, and suits are mostly worn for the serious business of weddings, job interviews, and menswear meet-ups. Since men only wear suits on formal occasions, you rarely see casual colors such as brown anymore – whether you’re in the city or not.

Which is a shame because I think brown suits look great in the warmer months. I myself have two: one in cigar linen and another in tobacco fresco. The rule of not wearing “brown in town” should probably still be adhered to in 2015, but nowadays, that means keeping them out of busy financial districts, rather than cities in general. They work well in more relaxed environments, when you want something more casual than a navy suit, but dressier than a sport coat (think: lunch at a swanky hotel restaurant). 

If you’re thinking about getting a brown suit, consider what seasons you’ll wear it most. Linen works well in the summer months; cotton in the fall; and gabardine in the spring and fall. Eidos also has something in an open-weave raw silk, which would be good on a cool summer day. You can pair these with causal ties, such as black knits, and either black or brown shoes. The combination of formal black shoes with a casual brown suit might sound strange, but they work if the suit is dark enough. Besides, Hardy Aimes is supposedly buried in his favorite brown suit and black oxfords, and the guy knew a thing or two about style.

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