Campaign
GerHub's 4th year anniversary
Date
04/22/2020
What we learned about
ger areas?
When was the last time you thought about the ger areas? Do ger areas inspire? Do these places have any assets? Or are they just unplanned sprawls that need to be wiped out?
For many, the ger areas are our home. We’re used to its dirt roads, tall fences, and trash-filled gullies. While getting water from the water kiosk is arduous, it’s just another task that needs to be done. For others who are not living in it, the ger areas can be overwhelming - in its sheer size and number of issues.
At GerHub, we spend a lot of time thinking about the ger areas. We like to reflect on its historical significance, its current expansion, and its potential for the future. For our anniversary this year, we want to challenge prevailing public perceptions and misconceptions of the ger areas that we have learned from working in this sector for the past four years. We want to address these misconceptions as we think they are essential learnings. These learnings have come to guide the work we do, and we hope they are helpful in guiding your thoughts about the ger areas, too.
Our learnings come from working on various projects with international partners and local community members. It comes from our team members who have navigated their ways around this city for most of their lives, leading various roles spanning multiple sectors, including local youth and community development, international development, private education, corporate marketing and branding, and mining.
Here are our takeaways
What we talk about when we talk about infrastructure
There is a common theme that pervades presentations and representations about the ger areas, especially on government and international agency agendas. In these presentations, ger areas are usually depicted as places in dire need of hard, solid, physical infrastructure. Rightly so, the ger areas do need physical infrastructure. Better roads can facilitate pedestrians to get water from water kiosks more easily, more street lighting will make the streets safer, and heating infrastructure will mitigate the city’s air pollution problem. There are a number of reasons why providing these types of infrastructure has proven to be challenging, including Ulaanbaatar’s extreme climate, the ger areas’ low dense sprawling nature, and divisive political interests. In short, the installation and maintenance of these types of infrastructure require huge political will, inclusive land use restructuring plans, and substantial financial means.
However, what we have come to realize while conducting design workshops with visiting students, researchers and local residents is that people not only need physical infrastructure but social infrastructure as well. Residents long for vibrant streets where they can interact and exchange ideas. They want safe playgrounds for their kids, and places they are proud to call their own. In other words, people want infrastructure that fulfils their basic human need to socialize.
Social infrastructure, such as libraries, museums, playgrounds and community centers fulfill these needs. They foster a sense of community and belonging, which are essential for claiming their right to the city. By right to the city, we mean the ability to gather and mobilize to protect what is their own. Too often, we have witnessed the demolishing of community spaces and buildings because there wasn’t a strong community fighting for them. While social infrastructure doesn’t make up for better roads, they are vital to people’s well-being and human development. We have learnt that their importance should not be regarded as secondary and left out of the development agendas. We need to rethink what type of infrastructure people need when we talk about infrastructure so that basic needs to play, learn, work, and live aren’t taking the back seat.
At GerHub, we are working towards showcasing the importance of social infrastructure by building our first community space - Ger Innovation Hub. Our community space hopes to become a place where community members can come together to empower each other to become agents of positive change in their communities.
Ger areas represent our past, present, and future
To many outsiders, development agencies, and even the local population, the ger areas are another slum area, not unlike the Kibera of Kenya or Dharavi of India (perhaps more spacious). Many, including locals, believe the ger areas should be wiped out and redeveloped. While it may seem like the ger areas are a recent phenomenon, few realize that they are the original form of settlement for Mongolians. The ger areas are a part of our urban DNA and have an enormous potential to become cultural heritage spaces that showcase the rich history of Ulaanbaatar. People visit New York, Rio de Janeiro, London, and Beirut because there are no other places like New York, Rio de Janeiro, London, and Beirut. We have to hold onto what keeps us distinct while improving them.
The ger areas not only have the potential to become unique parts of our city, but in a world that is ever searching for collaborative solutions to become more sustainable, more grassroots, the ger areas can become an excellent place to experiment with energy-efficient, alternative, and sustainable solutions and lifestyles. GerHub has worked with The University of Hong Kong’s Rural Urban Framework to showcase an alternative housing model that uses the existing gers that households occupy and turn them into housing that meets the needs of a modern-day urban lifestyle. The Ger Plug-In has shower and washroom facilities, an indoor toilet, and a dual heating system. We have been avid supporters of ideas and concepts that seek to modernize the traditional gear to make it more energy efficient and fit for the 21st century, a sedentary form of living. We believe there is a potential for us to keep our heritage home - the Mongolian ger - a part of our urban future. Because, why not?
Resilience, creativity, and courage in the people
Last but not least, it’s easy to feel hopeless when we think about the current state of the ger areas. The problems can be overwhelming and people have grown wary of the many development plans proposed by politicians looking to gain votes. Even good-intentioned people who talk about change are often viewed with suspicion.
At the same time, the most resilient, creative, and resourceful people have emerged from the ger areas as leaders to inspire others with their hard work and commitment. We have met and worked with many who are working to bring positive change into their communities. S.Ulziitogtokh, for instance, has worked hard to rehabilitate a former quarry mine-turned-trash-dump into a community park. His boat rentals in the summer and his ice-skate rentals in the winter provide the community with a safe environment to spend their free time and promote good social behavior. Our Ger Innovation Hub community partner, G.Odgerel, is another inspiring figure who works hard to mobilize his community to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle by promoting eco-housing solutions and improving his neighborhood. Our international partners often highlight the resourcefulness and innovative nature of Mongolians when they visit regular households in the ger areas even when we fail to see them.
Lastly, the most inspiring group of people we have worked with in the past four years is children and youth. Their energy, excitement, and creativity inspire the work we do everyday. They are also the most impacted by poor living conditions in the city. These insights have made us realize that one of the most impactful things we can do as an organization is to directly invest and focus on the people, especially the youth. That is why one of our main pillars is education and capacity building, because we believe that with the right tools, skills, and mindset, we can empower people to collectively work towards solving the urban issues of our city. Our education and capacity-building programs are specially designed to strengthen people’s creative problem solving and soft skills to enjoy taking on challenges and thrive under uncertainty and complexity.
The past four years have been challenging and have illuminated so many things we have not considered before. We are sure we will continue this learning journey as we work to make marginalized urban environments healthier and more vibrant. We hope to keep sharing with you all our insights and learnings, so that you can apply it to your work as well!