Housing India

In this unique book on housing in India, 11 leading scholars come together to offer a critical appraisal of current housing policies and programmes in India. Contributions contextualise and conceptualise the Indian housing paradigm with an integrated perspective, covering diverse regions and themes related to housing, such as:

• Financial constraints to adequate housing in India
• Policy implementation dynamics of national housing programmes in India, using evidence from Madhya Pradesh
• Indigenous urbanism and mass housing programmes in Aizawl, Mizoram
• Studies of the peripheralisation of low income housing in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and Chennai, Tamil Nadu

The chapters in the book show how each theme affects the other, and suggest policy directions on the basis of past successes and failures. They seek new vocabularies to describe the processes of housing over 1.3 billion Indians―particularly capturing urban formations in the small and big cities of India, where housing plays the most dominant role. The book offers varied perspectives representing diverse regions and themes, together presenting a microcosm of housing problems and solutions in India.

Housing India will be a key resource for researchers and practitioners of housing and social policy, urban sociology, built environment, urban planning, public policy, development studies and economics. It will also appeal to housing professionals aiming to obtain qualifications and wanting a broad understanding of the housing provision in India. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Housing Policy.

Urmi Sengupta is a Reader in the School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast.

Annapurna Shaw is Former Professor in the Public Policy and Management Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.

Debolina Kundu is Professor at National Institute of Urban Affairs. She is the Country Lead for the UK Research and Innovation supported project ‘Sustainable, Healthy, Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods’.