PARTICIPATORY PLANNING
The people and their plans
PARTICIPATORY PLANNING : The people and their plans

By listening to residents, and understanding the needs that have driven them to organic solutions, it is possible for Master Plans in cities to be a lot more attentive to the lived realities of people.

#Cities #Urban Poor #Government
URBAN SPACES
Recognising the right to the city

The Delhi HC ruling in Ajay Maken offers hope to residents of informal settlements by protecting their right to housing and enhancing their role in decision-making about urban space.

#Cities #Urban Poor #Laws
RIGHT TO HOUSING
Urban poor lack a roof over their head

Looking into what’s happening in the State of Karnataka, Kathyayini Chamaraj discusses the housing needs and rights of the urban poor.

#Urban Poor #Government #Poverty
SLUM DEMOLITIONS
Justice eludes Mumbai's homeless

Displaced by the flawed implementation of Slum Rehabilitation Authority's policy and an unholy nexus of real-estate mafia, slum-dwellers continue to fight for their basic right to shelter.

#Displacement #Human Rights #Poverty #MAHARASHTRA
FLOODED OUT
A permanent address at the river's edge

Families in Majuli island are used to the vagaries of the Brahmaputra. But the floods this year have been particularly harsh on them. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

#Poverty #ASSAM
VOICES FROM THE GRASSROOTS
Can I build my own house?
VOICES FROM THE GRASSROOTS : Can I build my own house?

Were we interested in a comfortable home for Medhi, or were we looking to give her just another house from our stable of development schemes? R Balasubramaniam remembers a lesson he learned well.

#OP-ED
URBAN POVERTY
Street-side story
URBAN POVERTY : Street-side story
Though the homeless exist in large numbers, society tries to render them invisible, says a recent study on homelessness in four Indian cities. Arpan Tulsyan reports on the findings.
#Cities #Urban Poor #Poverty
HOMELESS IN THE CITY
Where is our space?
HOMELESS IN THE CITY : Where is our space?

I could smell her before I could see her. She had layers of clothes once white, laced with the acrid odour of incontinence, of old age. Arpan Tulsyan reports on one woman's poverty and homelessness.

#Poverty #DELHI
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
Codifying indigenous ways of building
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE : Codifying indigenous ways of building
How do we bring back to our streets the Indian identities they once had? The answer lies in documenting and codifying the many elements of construction in the past, for evolving an architecture with an Indian identity, writes Kiran Keswani.
#History #Society
SLUMS
A model for sanitation for the urban poor

A systematic, participatory effort to map and understand the need for sanitation in Sangli's slums has helped bring about a change in the mindset of civic officials and residents alike.

#Cities #Sanitation #Government #MAHARASHTRA
SLUMS
The great garbage rush

The belief that slum dwellers convert any structure they are given into another slum is thoroughly disproved in Charkop. There is clearly a sense of community, and each cluster feels proud to maintain the cleanliness of its surroundings, writes Kalpana Sharma.

#Cities #Kalpana Sharma #Urban Environment #OP-ED #Kalpana's Commentary
2005 MUMBAI FLOODS
A spate of neighbourliness
2005 MUMBAI FLOODS : A spate of neighbourliness

While the sheer scale of the flooding in Mumbai last year made relief operations difficult, there was still much that the government could have done, but failed to do. The citizens themselves, were far more resourceful and sensitive to the plight of others, writes Darryl D'Monte, who served on the Concerned Citizens' Commission.

#Relief #MAHARASHTRA
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Low cost rural houses from local materials
A traditional rural residence is almost always based on adaptations to the local environment, and is often built with the labour of the villagers themselves without the need for external mechanised inputs. Surekha Sule reports on the Rural Building Centre, a NIRD initiative showcasing several such homes.
#Economy
OPINION/HOUSING
Nobody touches the Act
OPINION/HOUSING : Nobody touches the Act

"This building is dangerous. It may collapse at any time. Enter at your own risk." So goes a warning sign at the entrance to a building in Mumbai. Buildings that crumble are an old tradition in this city, with at least one cause being the Rent Control Act. Dilip D'Souza says the pernicious law must go.

#Dilip D'Souza #OP-ED #MAHARASHTRA #Thoughts for a nation
'Middle class' palaces

Who is buying the new homes that are mushrooming in every city? What income group does this class belong to, and how does their affluent consumption compare to the national average, or to home-buyers elsewhere in the world. Darryl D'Monte finds some of the answers at a session with a human geographer.

#Economy

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