How does civic action produce an understanding of the city at particular points in time? How can archival practices excavate and activate these submerged knowledges? These are questions that S. Bharat engaged with to create an archive of these narratives in a multiplicity of forms: letters, memos, reports, field notes, checklists, parliamentary bills and legal documents, newspaper clippings and articles, concept notes, press releases, circulars, reading lists, bibliographies and more, offering a close-grained look into the everyday dynamics of grassroots civic action, urban movements, planning and policy initiatives, and developmental activity in Kolkata.
By IHR Team
Read MoreIn keeping with its mandate to improve the quality of life of residents of JJ clusters, DUSIB constructed an Economically Weaker Section (EWS) Housing Society in Baprola Phase 2, approximately 25km from central Delhi. However, in less than five years from completion and relocation of allottees, issues of seepage, cracks in walls, peeling of bricks, overflowing drains have been reported by residents, including to DUSIB. The emergence and wide prevalence of these issues in such a short duration necessitated the need for a comprehensive assessment of the design, construction quality, and grievance redressal mechanism in this context.
By DHRTF Team
Read MoreIn the absence of an enforceable substantive right to housing, communities living in slums and other informal settlements have mobilized over the years, using both courts and political advocacy to try and protect themselves from eviction. This has resulted in a series of judgments, policies, and some legislation, relying on Constitutional provisions and India’s commitments under international law, extending at least some procedural safeguards (and limited substantive rights) to these communities. This brief documents these processes and provisions in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
By Manish
Read MoreLiterature examining Indian housing policy broadly focuses on the shifting role of the state from a provider of housing to a facilitator of housing markets. Using frame analysis method, this article explores the underlying policy frames responsible for this shift and the factors influencing the homeownership bias in Indian housing policy.
By Manav Khaire and Shishir Kumar Jha
Read MoreA conversation between Jhono Bennett, co-founder and co-director of 1to1 - Agency of Engagement, a non-profit that provides a design-based collaboration between grassroots organisations, professionals, academia, and government, and Mukta Naik, a Fellow at CPR, who is an architect and an urban planner. Their conversation explores ideas of design-led practice and learning, practice-oriented design in South Africa, and parallels between the post-colonial contexts of India and South Africa.
By IHR Team
Read MoreIn 2020, a Policy Lab series on “Addressing the Housing Vulnerabilities for Migrants” was organised in partnership with Centre for Policy Research (CPR), Cities Alliance, GIZ India, World Bank, Habitat for Humanity and Human Settlement Management Institute, HUDCO. Keeping the COVID-19 crisis and the mass exodus of informal workers, it discussed the present state of rental housing in India, the potential of the newly launched ARHC scheme, and the framework that would be required to sustain this initiative in the long run.
By IHR Team
Read MoreDrawing on a mixed-method comparative study of experiences of families moving to five peripheral settlements in Ahmedabad, Chennai and Johannesburg, the paper indicates two linked challenges to the social and economic mobility of the peripheralised urban poor: first, their immediate and individual ability to be mobile within the city and second, the longer-term social mobility of their households.
By Glyn Williams, Sarah Charlton, Karen Coelho and Darshini Mahadevia
Read MoreAn initiative to archive past and ongoing evictions in Delhi to question as well as mobilize action for the prevention of further evictions.
By IHR Team
Read MoreThis study aims to document the living conditions of migrant workers, particularly their access to housing and land in Delhi—where they lived—and in their villages as well as the challenges faced by them during the COVID-19 crisis. While the lockdown has been lifted in India, in phases from 1 June 2020, lessons learned from this period can be used to frame land and housing policies and to develop low-cost social housing models, not only for migrant workers, but also for all those living in homelessness and inadequate housing in urban and rural areas.
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