T: Shortage of materials makes repairs difficult.  Much is left to individual initiative and the unofficial economy. It is a recognized problem. Yet, the initiative to rehabilitate  “Old Havana” with its outstanding Spanish architecture is both promising and exciting. Initially the project had international sponsors. Today it is a self-sustaining, multifaceted (architectural, social and economic) project.    

WE: What does Habitat-Cuba do?  

Habitat-Cuba’s Motto is: collective action for sustainable habitat. 

Implementation Criteria:

-   complement and support government policy  and             action

-   active participation of all partners and particularly the community in the production and social management of habitat  

New Housing Development, photo by I. Leon, Arch.

-   technological, energy, economic and environmental sustainability of solutions

-    social and gender equity

-    democracy and transparency

-    efficient and effective management

(Estrategia de Desarrollo (Development Strategy), Habitat-Cuba, Aug. 2000)]  

T:  One of Habitat-Cuba’s programs is to eliminate slums and build new communities. With the agreement of local governments Habitat-Cuba has initiated projects in six of 14 provinces. International agencies from countries such as Norway, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and even the Global Ministries of the Methodist Church in the US provide funds. These are used exclusively for materials, which need to be paid for in dollars. The provincial governments, in coordination with provincial housing offices finance nationally produced materials. To pay for staff and administration Habitat-Cuba offers services such as professional courses such as the use of clay as a construction material and the method of participatory design, created by Argentine architect Rodolfo Livingston. 

Deteriorating Rural Housing,  photo by I. Leon, Arch
This is the method used by  Community Architect. (Ed. Most staff, including the president, are women. Teresa herself is a retired architect and volunteers much of her time).
 

At least half of all architects in Cuba are women. “Community Architects” is one of Habitat-Cuba’s more exciting programs, and my favourite. It started in 1995 and received a “Best Practices Award” at Habitat II in 1996. Since then about 500 architects, most of them women, have been advising owners who wish to improve or renovate their units. The whole family, including children over 10 years, gather with the architect for an initial discussion. When the architect returns with alternative concepts a second family gathering takes place before plans are finalized. Since 1998, the National Institute for Housing has administered the program.  
 

Habitat-Cuba started a movement exploring alternative local materials, especially clay and bamboo. Through the “special period” architects have had to adjust to available materials. Bamboo promises to be useful for housing carpentry and furniture. Cuba needs to import all wood, as she has no indigenous wood. The program is even looking for plant species, which could adapt to the conditions of Cuba’s different regions.  Such construction materials are more labour intensive yet require no energy or oil. They are suitable for particle board, windows, doors and furniture, but are suitable only for constructing small-scale housing projects. Building five storeys makes sense in major cities, but not in rural areas. The people there prefer lower-scale housing and it is there that clay construction is most efficient.  
 

Another program is Community Development. In 1999 alone, Habitat-Cuba was involved in 19 projects. Introducing a gender perspective in all of its projects is another mandate of Habitat-Cuba. A Spanish professor who came to Cuba offered a course on how to incorporate gender sensitivity into projects, which greatly helped to implement this objective. When we build houses to replace a slum,  many of the women household heads prefer not to marry the men they live with, so as not to have to share ownership of the new units.     
 

WE: How about co-operative housing?  

T:  Cuba’s Housing General Law does not provide for housing co-operatives. Habitat-Cuba has experimental co-operative projects. We have obtained a special provision for two experimental co-operative projects in two towns: Sancti Spiritus and Ciego De Avila. These are now in development and if successful, the Housing Institute may evaluate the experiment and reproduce it.  

WE: Is there a homeless problem in Cuba as there is in the rest of the world?  

T: Seeing the homeless, when I was in Canada, greatly concerned me. While many Cubans live in poor housing conditions, practically none are homeless, except may be a very few who are mentally ill and have wandered away from the hospitals where chronically insane are institutionalized at no cost to their families.     

WE: Support services in neighbourhoods are very important for women. How are they developed?

T: Primary and secondary schools as well as day care centres are built at the same time as housing. Some day care centres accept children from the age of three months, but generally, children enter when they learn to walk. Children of women who work in priority areas, such as health care, research or education, have first right to public day care centres. The fee for childcare is also geared to income. There are many informal caregivers, who are licensed; they serve children up to the age of five years. Children in such care receive additional education two to three times a week. There is also a network of special schools for children with disabilities in Cuba, though the goal is to encourage children with special needs to be integrated into the normal stream.  

WE: How are general conditions for women in Cuba?