DISSERTATION ON

AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Dissertation submitted to the Department of Architecture, ITMSATP, Lucknow in
partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE
BY
MOHD. ZEESHAN SIDDIQUI
B.ARCH 4TH YEAR
1567281010
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF AR. R.K. KHANNA and AR. ANSHIKA SINGH

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, ITMSATP, LUCKNOW

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

ITM SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND TOWN PLANNING,

BAKSHI KA TALAB, SITAPUR ROAD, LUCKNOW

 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

CERTIFICATE
It is certified that the work contained in this B.Arch dissertation entitled

“AFFORDABLE HOUSING”

, by “MOHD ZEESHAN SIDDIQUI ”, for the award of BACHELOR OF

ARCHITECTURE from APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, has been
carried out under my supervision at

ITM School of Architecture & Town Planning, N.H.-24, BakshiKaTalab,

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and that this work has not been submitted
elsewhere for a degree.

(Signature )

Ar. R.K. Khanna / Guide

(Signature )

Ar. Anshika Singh / Guide

Date:

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Department Of Architecture
ITM SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & TOWN PLANNING, N.H.-24, BAKSHI KA
TALAB, LUCKNOW, UTTAR PRADESH

I hereby recommend that the project under my supervision by

MOHD ZEESHAN SIDDIQUI entitled “THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING” be accepted in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Architecture.

Ar. VIKRAM SINGH Ar. SUNIL KUMAR SRIVASTAVA

(HEAD OF DEPARTMENT) (DIRECTOR)

Ar. RAJESH KHANNA Ar. ANSHIKA SINGH

(CO-ORDINATOR) (GUIDE)

(GUIDE)

(EXTERNAL EXAMINER) (EXTERNAL EXAMINER)

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Throughout the journey I stepped into a series of people who flash in my memory
without whose support and good will this journey wouldn’t have been easy and
free flowing…

The first and foremost gratitude towards almighty GOD for

his blessings. Who bestowed upon me the courage , patience and strength to
embark this work and carried it to its completion.

It is a good fortune and a matter of pride and privilege for

me to have the esteemed supervision of Ar. R.K. Khanna and Ar. Anshika Singh as
my guides, who has inculcated in me the interest and inspiration to undertake
the dissertation of ”THE AFFORDABLE HOUSEING.”

I would like to thank ………………….

I would also like to thank Ar. Vikram Singh (Head of Department) and Ar. Shalini
Diwaker (Asst. prof.) for their encouragement, worthwhile suggestions and
constructive criticism throughout project work.

Immence gratitude to Chandni Singh (Junior Colleague) for valuable help and
worthy suggessions wherever and whenever required. Special thanks to Sneha,
Prankur, Ayushi, Sonali, Prateek, Shritik.

- MOHD ZEESHAN SIDDIQUI

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CONTENTS :

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 4

PART- 1 6

1. Limitations
2. Defination
3. Housing scenario, reasons and need for affordable housing.
4. Affordable housing as prerequisite
5. Aims and objectives

PART – 2 18

1. Land use and physical planning for housing

a. Regulation acts
b. Building bye-laws
c. Residential densities
2. Development and adoption of affordable housing technologies
3. Low cost infrastructural services
4. Case studies

i. Belapur low cost housing, Navi Mumbai.

ii. CIDCO low cost housing, Navi Mumbai.
5. Conclusion 41
6. Reference 43

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING

PART -1

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

LIMITATIONS :

1. This dissertion is India centric.

2. Only metropolitan cities with densities more than 25000/ sq km are taken
into consideration, mainly the city of Mumbai.
3. Only conventional materials, with technology to bring the construction cost
down are considered.
4. Clustered housing not single units.
5. This is meant only for Lower Income Group (LIG).

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DEFINATION
AFFORDABLE HOUSING :
“Affordable housing refers to housing units that are affordable by that section
of society whose income is below the median household income.”

In other words we can say

“Affordable housing is housing beemed affordable to those with amedian

household income as rated by a country, state, region, or muncipality by
recognised Housing Affordability Index.”

A common measure of community-wide affordability is the number of homes

that are household with acertain percentage of median income can afford. For
the determination of affordable housing, a housing- to-income-ratio tool is
commonly used. Based upon this, an accepted guideline for determing
affordability in USA is 30 % of household’s gross income. Canada switched to a 25
% rule from 20 % rule in the 1950’s. in 1980’s this was replaced by 30 % rule. In
India various state and local authoroties use different criteria as per the socio-
economic and other factors of that region. But generally it is 40 % rule in India.
Mumbai Metro Politant Region Development Authority (MMRBA) considers
affordable housing if one has to spend maximum 25 % on it.

More than price and availability, income is the primary factor in affordable
housing. Understanding affordable housing challenges requires understanding
trends and disparities in income and wealth. Hosing is often a singlr biggest
expenditure of low and middle income families. For low and middle income
families, their hopuse is also a greatest source of wealth.

The most common approach to measure the affordability of houses has been
to consider the percentage of income that a household spends on housing
expenditures.

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Thus affordability is a relative term linked to one’s income, expenditure,

savings, liabilities and commitments, and primarily disposable income.

Source: internet

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Source: internet

CURRENT HOUSING SCENARIO :

Housing is one of the basic human needs along with food, clothing and education.
Notwithstanding with the rapid stride in the field of building technology,
providing shelter to the teaming millions at affordable cost remain a distant
dream in developing countries across the globe. India, too, is presently passing
through a phase of acute housing storage. As per 2011 census, the country had a
population of 1,210.98 million, out of which, 377.10 million (31.16 %) live in urban
areas. During 2001-2011, the urban population of India grew at a CAGR of 2.8 %,
resulting in the increase in the level of urbanisation from 27.81 % to 31.16 %.

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Source: internet

This presents a very complicated picture of urban India. Most of the large town
and cities in India are characterised by the large scale migration of poverty sticken
people from villages and smaller towns, overcrowding encroachment of available
open space by quarter resulting in environmental degradation. With rapid
urbanisation and population, the number of slums and shady towns has been
proliferating in the major Indian cities at an alarming rate. Most of these people
can not hope to afford the cheapest house available in urban market. The
spiraling costs of land and building material have further aggravated the problem
of housing by widening the gulf between the demand and availability of housing
at affordable costs. The nimber of metropolitant cities with population of more
than 40 lakhs has gone up from 4 in 2001 to 8 in 2011. Recent decades have seen
the fastest rate of urban growth in mordern times. Also, these cities have the
largest chunk of total urban population of the country.

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The percentage of household living in one-room dwelling units in 1991 was

77 % in Mumbai , 57 % in New Delhi, 67.6 % in Kolkata, 65 % in Pune, 59.6 % in
Ahmedabad and 53.6 % in Chennai.

As per 2011 census, the country had a population of 1,210.98 million, out
of which, 377.10 million (31.46 %) lived in urban areas. During 2001-2011, the
urban population of india grew at a CAGR of 2.8 % resulting in the increase level
of urbanisation from 28.81 % to 31.16 %. This growing concentration of people in
urban areas has led to problem of land storage, hosing shortfall and congested
transid and has also severely stressed the existing basic amenities such as water,
pwer and open spaces of the towns and cities.

According to the estimates of the Technical Group constitute by the

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHPA), the urban housing
storage of the country ata the end of the 10th five-year plan was estimated to be
24.71 million for 66.30 million households. The group further estimated that 88 %
of this storage pertains to houses for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and
another percent for Lower Income Group (LIG) for Middle- and High-Income
Groups (MIG and HIG), the estimated storage is only 0.04 million.

Source: internet

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Source: internet

NEED FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING :

Housing affordability is more than just a personal troubled experience by
individual households who can not easily find a place to live. Lack of affordable
housing is considered by many to have nagative effects on a communities overall
help.

Lack of affordable housing is making low-cost labour scarcer and is leading

to increase in demand on transportation system since worker travell longer
distance between their job and residents.

In large metropolitant areas where hosing prices are high lack of affordable
housing places local firms at a competitive disadvantage. Workers have to face
poor housing choices if prices rise to non affordable levels. Variations in
affordibility of housing between areas created labour market impediment.

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Source: internet

The current defination of luxury in our country is very difficult from what
was percieved a few decades ago. It is actually a reverse scenario nowadays .
several items that were considered luxurious posesses like the cell phones,
computers etc are now easily available, whereas the basic amenities of survivals
such as housing, clean water and air, have now become difficult to attain.

The economic condition of the country also largely depends upon the living
standards of the people inhabiting it. No true development can be achieved by
fulfilling these basic requirements.

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Source: internet

It has been observed that people staying in slum dwelling in anmetropolitant

cities belong not just to the economically weaker sections of the society but also
from the Lower Income Groups

Almost all the houses in slums in large cities are in bad and poor conditions. These
houses are adequately ventilated. The designs are such to afford bare shelter
leading to acute congestion. Private toilets do not exists in the majority of these
slums and even common toilets and available only in a few numbers. People
defecating in the open is, besides being an environment nuisance, creates great
discomfort for the women of the locality. These houses do not have individual
water supply.

A number of studies have shown the unhygenic slum environment make

slum dwellers more suspectible to diseases like respiratory disease, malaria

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fewer, tuberculosis etc. therefore, proper housing facilities that are affordable to
this section of society are need of the hour.

REASONS BEHIND CURRENT CRISES :

There are certain factors behind the poor housing scenario in the metropolitant
regions of the country. Some major factors that led to the present housing
scenario are as under :

1. Wrong implementation of the policies framed by the government.

2. Lack of political and legislative will to reform the housing sector.
3. Building bye-laws have too many loop holes and are too easy to
manipulate.
4. In adequate land use planning, leading to disproportionate settlements in
metropolitant cities. This is the most important factor that has led to the
current infrastructural crises in the metropolitant cities in the country.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING AS A PRE REQUISITE OF DEVELOPMENT:

Mountains of research over the last several decades show that how we get
around and how much physical activities we get are closely linked with the built
environment of the neighbourhoods where we live. This means that the health,
economic, and environmental benefits associated with active travel and transid
are placed-based and that affordable housing in walkable, location efficient places
needs to be thought of as a critical components of planners’s efforts to provide
safe, healthy, and equitable transportation system.

Affordable housing is also helpful in bringing the downtrodden into the

organised sector and mainstream. This will help in proving the economic
conditions of the urban poor and improve their living standards.

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AIMS and OBJECTIVES :

Following are some of the desired outcomes that we aim to achieve :

1. To provide proper accomodation to urban LIG at affordable rates.

2. Maintain socio-cultural environment of the society and find ways to
eliminate the class divide that arises due to bad planning.
3. To keep the maintaintainance costs of the housing units to the minimum.
The housing should be affordable not just by construction but also by its
functioning.
4. To cater the housing stories of large metropolitant agglomerations.
5. Reduce the congestions in the metropolitant areas.

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THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING

PART- 2

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

LAND-USE AND PHYSICAL PLANNING FOR HOUSING :

Land is one of the most important prerequisites for planning. No housing is

conceivable without land. In several developing countries, including India, there
has been increasing pressure on the urban land over the past few decades. Large
influx of the rural population has migrated to the urban regions and this
urbanisation has enoromously increased the pressure on the demand for housing
in these cities. There is also huge increase in the density of population in these
cities.

Supply of servicable land at affordable prices is critical input for housing

activity. This, along with the other economic factors, has led to unwarranted
icrease in land price and housing cost. The exclusion of the majority of the poor
from the formal market, and their inability to build or require legal shelter has led
to the proliferation of settlements and unauthorised colonies.

Planning of urban land :in year 1894, the central land equisition act was
introduced by british government. The main purpose of this act was to house the
military and civilians settlements by adjoining the few urban settlements and to
estabilish new towns. This act, however, envisaged mainly private side
development, while public development was restricted to the provision of
infrastructure of social amenities.

This led to the inadequacy of serviced land in most of the large cities,
leaving large chunk of wakened land along with high density areas leading to the
growth of unhygenicchawls in and around industrial and commercial areas.

In 1958, the town and country planning organisation (TCPO) envisaged a

scheme of land use classification to achieve the standadrdisation I the usage of
terms and categories. In conducted land use pattern of various cities and town
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and plans were prepared on the basis of population projection. But not many of
the plans could become fully operational due to inadequacy in the organizational
and legislative support.

With a view to augmenting avaibility of land and development purposes,

the government of India enforced ULCRA, which was basically aimed at
preventing concentration of urban land in a few hands, with a view to bringing
about an equitable distribution of land in favour of the urban poor. Under the act,
the owner had to surrender in excess of 500sq m to the government at pre –
determined dates and the same land was to be used for housing the poor. But the
motive behind the act failed miserably. Thiusand of hectares of the surplus land
that the government proposed to acquire under the act was caught in the never-
ending loop of court litigations.

Source: internet

The failure of these plans was attributed to the way they were implemented as
well as the loop poles in the bye-laws. In the absence of clear-cut policy on land
use,values of land have been skyrocketing in large cities. Due to this, the land

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prices in urban areas have been increased steadily but in different rates in
different urban centres has also in different localities within the same city.

The concern with land prices mainly stems from its impact on residential
property prices specially its impact on the lower income group. This has been
obsrved that in metropolitant cities, the number of people who can not afford
one-room pucca house increases with increase in land prices. Since the main
reason behind the congestion in cities is the inadequate land use, the land prices
can be kept in check by increasing the supply of developed land amongst the
people of different income groups. Therefore, while developmeb=nt of affordable
housing colonies ; a combination of various income groups is beneficial.

BUILDING BYE-LAWS :
Buiding bye-laws are intented to regulate the orderly growth of towns and cities,
and tonsure safe and sound building construction. As a rule, any housing plan
should conform to the building bye-laws of the area.

In certain cases, building bye-laws do not cater to increasing needs of the

community. For vast peripheral rural areas around metropolitant cities, there has
been no proper town planning legislation oe bye-laws to govern the planning and
construction activities. This has resulted in simultaneous growth of regulated and
haphazard construction activities in most of the large cities. In course of time
these peripheral construction get accommodated in urban agglomeration. Such
construction pose the problem of maintenance and provision of environmental
facilities.

The building bye-laws framed by the municipal authourities and other civic
authorities, which are in charge of their implementations, are by and large
outmoded resulting in uneconomical use of land and constructions.

As per Indian standardscode for low cost housing in metropolitan urban areas,
some of the major building bye-laws are as under:

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1. Minimum frontage of the plot shall be 3.6 metres in width.

2. Density norms :
a. Plotted developments – 65-120 plots per hectare.
b. Mixed development – 125-150 dwelling units per hectare.
3. Height of the building shall not exceed 15 metres.
4. No need to provide lifts.
5. Lower income grup housing shall be preferably ground plus one floor.
6. Min. height of habitable rooms shall be 2.6 metres.

RESIDENTIAL DENSITIES :
The following densities are generally considered as optimum :

✓ Single storeyhouse : 50-65 houses per gross hectare.

✓ Two storeyedhouse :50-65 houses per gross hectare.
✓ Three storeyedhouses : 50-65 houses per gross hectare.
✓ Four storeyedhouses : 50-65 houses per gross hectare.
✓ Five storeyedhouses : 5-65 houses per gross hectare.

If the above densities are adhered to and lay outs are prepared by qualified
town- planning agencies, it may be feasible to ensure adequate open
spaces, wide roads, parks and other sites for communal facilities consistent
with land use economy.

To conclude, in adequate ability of land and its high prices due to a variety
of legal and administrative constrains is leaving vast numbers of households
with no alternative but to legal settlements on poorly-serviced land, or
over-crowding in poorly-serviced dilapidated structures. Moreover, the
risng values of land under pressure of urbanisation and population growth
make it difficult for the public authorities to acquire land for social housing
programmes.

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DEVELOPMENT AND ADOPTATION OF LOW-COST

HOUSING TECHNOLOGIES :
For ensuring speed and economy in construction, one of the practical
solution to the problem of meeting houses requirements of masses in the
present context will be to go in for adoption for appropriate low-cost
construction technique involving adoption of partial prefabrication
employing the use of prefabricated building components of such size and
weight which could be fabricated at the construction site or in industrial
production units ; economic walling systems etc.

There is a vast scope of reducing the housing cost by the use of various
materials and new techniques. But it is a very vast subject in itself
altogether. In this dissertation, we will be discussing only the conventional
materials used in the industry nowadays, along with the techniques applied
on them to reduce the overall costs.

MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY :

1. PREFABRICATED BUILDING SYSTEMS :Prefabrication is the practice
of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other
manufacturing site and transporting complete assemblies or sub-
assemblies to construction site. The term is used to distinguish this
process from the more conventional construction practice of
transporting the basic materials to the construction site where all
assembly is carried out.

In prefabricated construction, as the components are ready made, self

supporting, shuttering and scaffolding is eliminated with a saving in
shuttering costs.

APPLICATIONS :

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IN-WALLS : In the construction of walls, rammed earth, normal bricks,

soil cement blocks, small, medium room size pannelsetc of different size
are used. However, bricks continue to be the backbone of the building
industry.

IN FLOOR AND ROOF : Structural floors/ roofs accounts for sustaintial

costs of a building in normal situation. Some of the fabricated roofing /
flooring components found suitable in ,any low costs hosing projects are
: Precast RC planks, 2. Prefabricated brick panels, 3. Pre cast RB Curved
panels, 4. Precast concrete panels, 5. Precast hollow slabs 61 panel
roofing .

Advantages of prefabricated buildings are as follows :

1. In conventional methods, shuttering gets damaged due to its repitative use

because of frequent cutting, laidingetc on the other hand , the mold for the
pre cast components can be used for large number of repetitions thereby
reducing the cost of the mould per unit.
2. In prefabricated housing system, time is saved by theuse of pre casted
elements which are casted off-site during the course of foundations being
laid. The finishes and services can be done below the slab
immediately.While in the conventional in-situ RCC slabs, due to props and
shuttering, the work can not be done till they are below. Thus, saving of
time attributes to saving of money .

3. In precast construction, similar types of components are produced repeatedly,

resulting in increased productivity and economy in cost too.

4. Work at site is reduced in this type of construction, thereby increasing the

quality of construction.

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Source: internet

Source: internet

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

2. Monolithic Concrete Construction System Using Plastic-

Aluminium Formwork
➢ In this system, in place of traditional RCC framed construction of coloumns
and beams ; all walls, floors, slabs, coloumns, beams, stairs, together with
door and window openings are cast-in-place monolithically using
appropriate grade of concrete in one operation. The specially custom
design modular formwork made up of Aluminium/Plastic/Aluminium-Plastic
Composite is easy to handle with minimum labour and without use of any
equipment. Being modullar formwork system, it facilitates in rapid
constructions of multiple mass unit scale.
➢ Thickness of the wall is generally 100 mm with the centrally placed
reinforcement . Therefore, adequate cover is likely to be maintained, as a
result high durability is achieved .
➢ All electric and plumbing fixtures, lines have to be pre-planned and placed
appropriately before pouring concrete in RC walls & slabs. Post
construction alternation is not desirable.

3. Glass Fibre Reinforced Gypsum(GFRG) Panel Building System

Glass Fibre Reinforced System(GFRG) Panel also known as Rapidwall is made up of
calcined gypsum plaster, reinforced with glass fibre. The panel was originally
developed by GFRG Building System Australia and used since 1990 in Australia for
mass scale building construction. In recent times these panels are being produced
in India and the technology being used in India.

GFRG panels may generally be used in following ways ;

i) As load Bearing Walling – With cavities filled with reinforced concrete is

suitable for multi-storeyed housing. In single or two
storeyedconstruction, the cavities can remain unfilled or suitably filled
with non-structural core filling such as insulation, sand, quarry dust,
polyurethane or light weight concrete.

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 AFFORDABLE HOUSING

ii) As partition walls in multi storeyed frame buildings. Panels can also be
filled suitably. Such walls can also be used as cladding for industrial
buildings or sprt facilities etc.
iii) As compound walls/security walls.
iv) As horizontal floor slabs/roof slabs with reinforced concrete
microbeams and screed(T-beam action). This system can also be used in
This system can also be used in inclined configuration such as staircase
waist slab and pitched roofing.

4. Factory Made Fast Track Modular Building System :

Factory Made Fast Track Building System comprises of prefabricated steel
structure with different walling components. About 70 percent of the work is
done in the factory Inmimnimal usage of concrete, which enables system to
dilever the building within a few days of work at site. The steel moduled are pre-
fitted with flooring, ceiling tiles electrical and plumbing fittings. The assembled
steel modules are transported to the site for installation which is done using
crane and other required machineries. Once all the components are assembled
and erected at site, factory made 3-D Expanded Polystrene (EPS) wall panels are
fixed and concreting is done from both sides.

5. Soil cement block technology :

This method of construction of walls is by soil cements blocks in place of burnt
bricks masonry. It is an energy efficient method of construction where soil mixed
with 5% and above cement and pressed in hand operated machine and cured well
then used in the masonry. The overall economy that could be achieved with the
soil cement.

6. Concrete block walling :

In view of high energy consumption by burnt brick it is suggested to use concrete
(block hollow and solid) which consumes about only 1/3 of the energy of the
burnt bricks in its production. Cocrete block masonry saves mortar consumption,
speedy construction of wall resulting in higher output of labour, plastering can be
avoide there by an oveall saving of 10 to 25 % can be achieved.
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Source: internet

LOW COST INFRASTRUCTURAL SERVICES :

These are basic infrastucture services that are cost effective to the human
settlement. The basic needs of human settlements are ample clean air for
breathing, potable water for drinking and efficient system of solid, sullage and
waste disposal for hygienic and sanitary surroundings. Provision of infrastructural
services catering to above basic needs of human settlements forms an integral
part of any programme related to housing development both in urban an rural
areas.

Over passed few decades many cost-effective technological options have been
evolved in several developing countries in respect of supply of potable water,
provision of sanitary lattrines in homes, drainage of waste water sewage system,
collectin and disposal of garbage and improvement of environment in housing
and human settlements. Breif description of the available cost-effective
technologican which could lead to environmental upgradation in housing and
human settlements is given below:

Low Cost Sanitation:

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The modern technological solutions offerd for improving sanitation and

environment for built-upareas and now settlements in metropolitant cities are
varied in nature and magnitude. Water-worne sewage represents a high level of
user convinience but it is extremely costly and demands large quantities of
trouble-free operation. Sanitation, more than any other infrastructure services,
offers prospects fpr reducing costs through the use of alternatives to conventional
sewage.

Septic tanks despite their high costs are, widely adopted in several areas in
various developing countries and as the use of one single tank to serve many
households has been found to reduce the cost of the service considerably.

• Pour–flush Latrines used by sulabh international is also used in

considerably lower the services costs in affrodable houses.

Source: internet

As a VIP latrines there are occasions when two shallow pits are more appropriate
than a single deep pit. Double pits with pour flush pans and water seals have been
successfully used in India(Roy et al, 1984) and elsewhere.The pit design is the
same as in the double pit VIP latrines but the two toilets are replaced by the

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single water seal pan connected to both pits by pipes. As inspection chamber
containing a Y junction is normally built between the pits and the pans so that the
excerta can be chaneled to either pit.

Before a new latrine is brought into service, the inspection chamber is opened
and one of the pipes leading to the pits is stopped off (a brick stone mound of clay
or block wood is quite satisfactory). The cover is then replaced and sealed to
prevent gases escaping to the atmosphere. The latrine can now be used as the
offset pour-flush toilet except that slightly more water may be required for
flushing to prevent solid blocking the Y junction. Since one of the outlets from the
chamberis blocked, all the contents of the toilet pan are directly into a single pit.
When the first pit is full, usually after a couple of years, the inspection chamber is
opened and the stopper blocking the outlet pipes removed and placed in the
other outlet pipe. The cover is again replaced and sealed. The pan contents now
enter the second pit.

In a further two years the contents of the first pit will have decomposed nearly all
of the pathogenic organisms will have died. The lid of the first pit is taken off and
the contents of the pit removed and disposed off or reused. After replacing and
saeling the lid the first pit can be used again if the stopper in the Y junction is
returned to its original position. In this way the twin pits can be used indefinately,
each pit is turned being used for two years, rested for two years, emptied and
then used again.

The positioning and shape of the pits is determined to a large extent by the space
available. If possible the distance between the pit should be not less than the
depth of a pit. This is to reduce the possibility of liquid from the pit use entering
the pit not in use. If the pits have to be built adjacent to each other, the dividing
line should be non-porous. It can also be extended beyond the side-walls of the
pit, to prevent cross contamination. Alternatively, the pit lining can be
constructed without holes for a distance of 300 mm either side of a dividing walls.

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Source: internet

The double- pit pour flush technology is comparitively costly but once installed, it
lasts a lifetime.

2. SOLAR ENERGY :
The concept of solar panel is gaining popularity in developing countries owing to
their ability of reducing the maintainence of costs of the houses. They are very
cost effective and are also environment friendly as the minimize the usage of
carbon emitting source of energy to a large extent. In countries like india where
solar exposure is abundant in most regions all throughout the year, the solar
energy panels are nothing less of a boon to the urban poor.

CASE STUDIES :
In my dissertation I have attempted to find solutions to the housing problems
through case studies of projects carried out successfully by the prominent
architects in the metropolitant cities. In these case studies, emphasis has been
put on the techniques implied to make the housing cost-effective and affordable
to the lower income groups.

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1. BELAPUR INCEMENTAL HOUSING, NAVI-MUMBAI,

MAHARASHTRA

• Designed by: Charles Correa and associates.

• Situated in Navi-Mumbai, Maharastra.
• Designed for economically weaker sections.
• Use of shared spaces.

Even though this project was designed exclusively for EWS, the incredible
use of shard spaces in this project to cater to the high densities of the
region may provide planning solutions to clustered housing that is
applicable for any income level, including the Lower Income Group (LIG).

It is a model which draws on the immemorial patterns of Indian life

while being related to the structure (physical and economic) of the New
City. Belapur is at the foot of one of the brown valleys, seperated from the
harbour’s blue-green sea by the flat strip on which the grey work places are
growing.

Based on observation of traditional Indian settlements, architect

Correa has suggested that cities should be developed using a spatial
hierarchy which ranges from the private world of the individual dwelling,
through the ‘doorstep’, to the communal court (which traditionally contains
the wealth or common tap), to the greater public space – the maidan- the
public promenade of the community. The gometry of Belapur is a direct
interpretation of this syntax.The basic element is the house. For correa ‘the
territorial privacy of families is of primary importance, and he believes that,
in the Indian climate, ‘open-to-the-sky space’ is essential for family life so
each house has a private yard in which a lavatory block. Lavatories are
paired to reduce service runs and three or four pairs of houses are grouped

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round courts which, in turn, open on the larger public spaces where, given
the boundless energy of Indian enterprenuerialism, shops and other
enterprises will doubtless quickly spring up. Correa’s community and spatial
percepts are linked to socio economic ideals.

Source: internet

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Traditionally, Third World housing has been incremental and the incremental
model is endorsed by Correa because it allows families to build according to their
percieved needs when capital becomes available. Incrementality acts as a spur to
producing housing quickly beacause people who build their own houses are highly
motivated to complete the job. Correa hopes tht his own, strong, architectural
expression will quickly be over laid with the accretions of individualistc additions.
And he believes that, if the project really works, intrinsic Indian decorative
sensibility for ‘low-energy high-visual’ effects will transform its rather iberian first
appearance. In India ‘even the poor people know that with the things like mud,
they can change their lives’.

At Belapur, Correa has been at least partially able to put into practice his notion
of equity plots. He suggests that India’s voilent between rich and poor could be
largely overcome if house plot sizes were rationed to between 50 and 100 sq.
meters. On such sites, the poorest could have a couple of trees, a lean-to and
tethtredgoat., the richest could develop town hoses add sphisticated as those in
London and Udaipur. The Belapur plot sizes are between 45m2 to 75m2 and
family income of the richest are five times those of the poorest- aquite
astonishing ratio when compared to the social/ economic monocultures of
Western housing estates.

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Source: internet

Some of the main objectives achieved by this project are as follows :

• Very high density has been achieved by the use of shared spaces
between the housing units
• Alternate to High-rise building solutions.
• Community living has been encouraged that leads to human
interaction in the society.
• Proper light and ventilation is fascilated, further reducing the
maintainance costs of the housing.
• Inner pedestrian pathways are available for easy commute within
the locality.
• Shared spaces concept is applied which can be highly revelent for
LIG housing as well.

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2. CIDCOW LOW COST HOUSING, NAVI MUMBAI-RAJ REWAL :

• Designed for City And Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) by

architect Raj Rewal.
• Construction completed in 1998 this building project by the City And
Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) by Maharashtra state
represents a complex, specifically Indian problem : creating accomodation
for people on subsistance. Raj Rewal’s practice was commissions to plann
1000 accomodation nits for residents on the edge of a large planning area
in New Mumbai, a new area that was being developed at atime east of
Mumbai old town.

Despite a very low budget it was important not just to provide the
bare essentials in terms of space, but above all developed a home
environment that was a simple but of high quality. The difficult balancing
act between finance and ambience could succeed only if in expensive but
lasting effective building materials were used, and if the planning process
was not too costly and led asimple implementation procedure the river
practice designed the project as a high density structure. On the one hand
it was because the area available was strictly limited, but also in order to
achieve quality for the outdoor space that was effective in urban terms, yet
reminiscent of a naturally dveloped village. These accomodations cells or
“molecules” (Rewal). Now consists of one to three room units 18, 25, 40
and 70m2 large. They have essential sanitary facilities and water tanks on
the roof for a constant water supply, which is still by no means could taken
for granted.

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Source: internet

One important problem had to be solved : what reasonably price and durable
materials which make a lasting effect within a very tight financial framework. The
final choice was a combination of concrete cavity blocks, exposed plaster work,
hand-made terracota tiles and locally available rough granite stone for the base.
This combination can be endured the hard monsoon climate and will develop an
acceptable patina. Electricity was also granted for the entire complex not just in
the dwelling themselves, but in the public footpath connections within the
development. There is axis on all sides from the outside, and it is easy for people
to filter through the building groups with the concept of very dense residential
quarter, Rewalaccomodated the enoromously high level of social interaction in
everyday Indian life. Peple do not just live in their own homes, but are in intensive
contact with neighbours, friends and fellow occupants almost throughout the day
and night.

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Source: internet

Thus opening the homes up to the outdoor space is an important design

consideration. Increased urban density is now not usually born of neccesity, but
an important concept of life in general. When developing urban space the quality
of indoor and outdoor space have to go to hand in hand, as life takes place to a
large extend in the street. So when planning the chain of “molecules”, great
emphasis was laid on the connections implied by the communal used space. In
India a “village” consists of an accumulation of squares, courtyards, loggias,
terraces and balconies where people communicate and make the exchanges that
are so essential for life. Rewal considers these factors on a large scale and builds
these zones into his architecture. He develops a type of building kit system with
cubic basic elements. These admitt a wide range of highly flexible variation as a
design principle and can thus be used almost universally : courtyards turn

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individual blocks into chains modules are set very close together, blocks with
courtyards are grouped as quarters.

Source: internet

The fact that the buildings all have different numbers of storeyes contributes to
this, being staggered from one to four levels and so does the slope on the sites. A
sloping site dinamises and extends the space and physical quality of buildings and
enhances the image of living organisms that seems as how it could be extended at
any time. The totality of the plannng is expressed in homgeneties, emphasizing
the holistic design. There is no attempt to duplicate the individual dwellings
artificialy, no false sense of both which gives the architechtural approach its
complete credibility

Some major characteristics of this project are as under :

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• Roads move to the periphery to provide safe but reasonably priced

footpath.
• Access from all the sides.
• 18, 25, 40, 70 sq. meters dwelling unit size.
• Maximum four levels of height.
• Variations in heights of the buildings breaking the monotony in
design.

Source: internet

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CONCLUSION :
After going through case studies, some major conclusions can be derived for
affordable housing :

1. To deconjest the metropolitant cities, housing colonies for the LIGs need to
be developed in the peripheral regions of the city.
2. Affordable housing is best achieved when done in clusters as against
applications on single dwelling units.
3. The affordable colonies should be well connected with the city centers by
means of various transport to make the workplace easily accessible to the
inhabitants.
4. In the housing colonies, the inner paths can be used as the means of
pathways and pedestrian commute whereas mainroads can be at the outer
path surroundings the colonies. This provides easily accessibility as well as
safety.
5. By the used shared spaces, collaborative housing etc , housing shortage can
be curbed without compromising with the living standards of inhabitants.
6. High density can be achieved by use of shared spaces without suffocating
the inner environment of the housing society.
7. Intermediate inner spaces are of utmost importance and shall be applied in
design to facilitate the proper functioning of the colonies.
8. Proper land use planning of the region should be done and the policies
must be strictly implemented so as to prevent the inadequacy in the
development of land.
9. By application of low cost infrastructure services, housing costs as well as
maintainence cost can be decreased substantially.
10. Mass housing targets can be achieved by replacing the conventional
methods of planning and executing building operation based on special and
individual needs and accepting common denominator based on surveys,
population needs and rational use of materials and resources.

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Adoption of any alternative technology on large scale needs a guaranteed

market to function and this can not be estabilished unless the product is
effective and economical. Partial prefabrication is an approach towards the
above operation under control condition.
The essence lies in the systematic approach in building methodology and
not necessarily particular contructions type or design

The methodology for affordable housing has to be of intermediate types –

less sophisticated involving less capital investment.

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REFERENCES :
1. Hand book on low cost housing by A.K. Lal
2. P.S. Srikanth, blog on CIDCO housing dated june 14, 2015.
3. Mr. Peter Davey, article On Belapur housing dated june 14, 2015.
4. Indian standard code IS 8888-1 (1993) Guide for requirements of low
income housing.
5. Hulchanski-J David 1995, study on income based affordable housing.
6. P.K. Adlakha and H.C. Puri.

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