Planning and Design for Voluntary Relocation

Pamir Mountain Village Planning & Design for Disaster Mitigation

Location: Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan
Design Workshop, MIT Summer and Fall 2019
For Aga Khan Agency for Habitat
In Collboration with MIT Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture and KVA Kennedy & Violich Architecture, Ltd.

This design workshop addresses a major challenge in Multi-Hazard Risk Reduction in a village in the high Pamir mountains of Tajikistan through a Voluntary Planned Relocation approach. The village of is one of many small settlements (population 667; elevation 2367 m) in the Pamir mountains that face a wide range of natural hazards, including: earthquake, rockfall, landslide, mudflow, flooding and drainage.

This workshop focuses on relocation alternatives for Basid, first, as a village with great aspirations for the future; second, as a potential hub for nearby villages in the valley; and third, as a case study for villages that face similar problems in the Pamir mountain region. This workshop report has three parts. The first part presents a Conceptual Framework and Design Methodology. The second part addresses five major design challenges identified in community interviews and field work. The third part discusses the potential benefits of the design options, recommendations, and an implementation approach.

Link to Project︎︎︎

Excerpts from the Final Report