The urban poor of the third world cities living in slums and squatter settlements often have to support themselves or augment their meagre and uncertain incomes with small-scale business enterprises. This deceptively marginal sector of the urban economy in reality plays a vital role as a major percentage of the urban population are poor. These enterprises are, more often than not, home-based due to their lack of resources. The squalid and congested living conditions in these settlements are thus further compromised by setting up these commercial endeavour, but it is essential for their livelihood as employment opportunities occupy a primary position in their list of priorities. / This thesis studies the phenomenon of people in low-income housing settlements using their own homes for income generating activities and the compromise between the various uses of the same space. A field study was undertaken in a typical bustee in Calcutta, India to help illustrate this phenomenon. Sample surveys of a number of households where small-scale economic activity takes place were taken and studied in detail. How the integration of such activities in their daily living environment shapes, changes and influences their living patterns forms the main focus of the study.

The international campaign for housing rights focuses on the process of legislative change. Critics of the legislative change approach argue that this process is elitist insofar as such campaigns are fought on behalf of those people denied the right to housing by academics, lawyers and international non-governmental agencies, instead of in conjunction with the people. This approach, it is argued, excludes the people themselves from defining what housing rights mean to them, their culture and their community standards, placing such decisions in courts of law and legislatures. It is the position of this study that a more effective approach in the struggle for housing rights is one that recognizes that the problems of the poor and disenfranchized are not just their lack of rights per se, but also their lack of power to demand the legislative recognition and enforcement of those rights. This study explores a more inclusive approach to the housing rights struggle wherein the achievement of legislative rights represents only one peg in a more holistic strategy for change. This approach is represented by the theory and practice of Community Development — a process which empowers people to work collectively for change. Community Development provides the tools for people to understand, define and demand their rights, thus providing a bottom up and sustainable strategy in the struggle for housing rights. Community Development does not reject the role of legislative change, nor the responsibility of the state to recognize and enforce housing rights among its citizenry, but enhances the process to include all dimensions of the the housing struggle, most notably the community based sector which is currently excluded from the legislative change approach. The viability of a Community Development approach is built upon the premise that rights are norms or standards determined by the shared values of society and influenced by the dominant ideology. If people can articulate their values as well as organize to demand from the state the recognition and enforcement of their values, then they can work for change and begin to shape their housing rights. An indigenous non-governmental organisation using the methods of Community Development in the struggle for housing rights is the Society for the Promotion of Area Resources (SPARC). The work of SPARC focuses on a group of women pavement dwellers in Bombay India. In SPARC'S analysis, it is women who bear the brunt of poverty, yet are vested with virtually no powers of decision-making within (or outside) the family. SPARC uses the methods of Community Development to empower these women to demand the recognition and enforcement of their housing rights. Their work has resulted in such manifest outcomes as: challenging the Bombay Municipal Council in a court of law, building prototype houses, establishing a credit co-operative, undertaking a people's census and the creation of Mahila Milan — a community based organisation run entirely by the women themselves. Other latent, less measurable outcomes have also resulted from their work such as confidence building and solidarity among the women. SPARC'S use of Community Development methods on the streets of Bombay has important lessons for the international struggle for housing rights. Incorporating the community based sector in the struggle ensures that the process of defining and demanding housing rights remains democratic, culturally sensitive and sustainable. Community Development can be effectively facilitated by an indigenous non-governmental organisation which can gain the trust of the community and understand local customs, cultures, language and history. Essentially the debate over the right to housing comes down to a set of ethical questions, the answers to which form the philosophical and moral framework for the policy decisions that face a society. A Community Development approach ensures that all people have a voice in answering these questions and influencing the decisions that affect their lives, their housing and indeed their rights. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

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Thesis. 1976. M.ArchAS--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Rotch. / Bibliography: p. 84. / by Ravindra Kamat. / M.ArchAS

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This thesis examines why people build the way they do, questioning and negotiating values highly esteemed by architects, engineers and authorities. It is a study of the formal-informal method of building employed by individuals living in the city of Gangtok, India. Obliged to conform to formal rules and regulations that do not always serve their best interests, these people have found novel ways to manipulate the system and create a built environment that suits their needs and wants. They build informally within a formal structure prescribed by institutions such as building authorities, banks and municipalities. The thesis focuses on understanding the process of building from the people’s viewpoint, trying to comprehend the social and cultural factors that direct their building culture. It recognizes the efforts they make in creating a meaningful life for themselves, Bibliography Sweata Pradhan reasoning that within the given resources, constraints and challenges, environments built by people are the most viable. Research methodology included a review of literature available on Building Culture and Built Environments, a study of the built environment of Gangtok through books, periodicals, photographs and observation, interviews in Gangtok with four individuals involved in building as owners, and with employees at the local housing authority office. The four case studies of building owners/builders form the backbone of this thesis. The views, perceptions and building processes of these individuals is an insight into the everyday building practice that ultimately shapes the built environment. / Department of Architecture

My research examines the interconnected histories of urbanism and urban development in port cities across South and Southeast Asia. Chapter one examines the effects of the third plague pandemic on the quotidian livelihoods and the built environments of the urban poor across Bombay, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Considering corporeal measures to inspect the bodies and homes of the urban poor and measures to introduce urban ‘improvement’ schemes, this chapter argues that plague sparked a sustained interest in the urban conditions of the poor across British South and Southeast Asia. Chapter two considers the works of the Bombay Improvement Trust, Rangoon Development Trust, and Singapore Improvement Trust through the early decades of the twentieth century and analyses how an imperial urbanism based on a ‘Bombay model’ translated to Singapore and other port cities across the Indian Ocean world. Chapter three considers the consequences of the second wave of ‘indirect’ attacks on urban slums on an evolving imperial urbanism in Bombay, Rangoon, and Singapore. While previous chapters examined the emergence of an imperial urbanism centred on Bombay’s example, chapter four considers the extent to which Bombay remained central to this urbanism during the late 1930s and Second World War. Analysing the divergent consequences of patterns of urban growth in Bombay, Hong Kong, and Singapore throughout the late-1930s, this chapter considers late-colonial efforts to house the urban poor as well as the extent to which the war recast the post-war housing situation. Chapter five contextualises post-war rhetoric of economic and urban development in Hong Kong and Singapore within narratives of pre-war urban ‘improvement’. In connecting pre-war and post-war approaches to accommodating the urban poor, the final chapter considers the reorientation of earlier circulations of knowledge around urban poverty in port cities and its implications for emerging post-colonial regional, national and urban identities.

The purpose of this study was to document seven selected sets of minimum housing design standards in two specific case locations, New Delhi and Madras, in India, and to evaluate criteria used for establishing these standards. A model of selected criteria from the different frameworks was then developed as part of an overall housing strategy. An integrated concept of housing as an environment, need, process and product was used as the basis of this study which was documented through review of literature and field research in India. The minimum standards were broadly classified as minimum space requirements, recommended building materials and general subdivision requirements. variations and ranges across the sets of standards were then tabulated to indicate the multiplicity of recommendati0ns, an initial premise of this study. Implications, based on broad premises, for future strategies in this field were developed. These suggestions were grouped into three clusters, namely, access to shelter by the abjectly poor, access to shelter by the low income groups in general and the restructuring of extant institutional and implementation frameworks. / Master of Science

The central hypothesis of this thesis is that the universal fundamental right to adequate housing must be equally enforced by all states irrespective of its non-entrenchment as a constitutional, legislative and/or policy entitlement. Despite being a minority, poor Canadians still face the same sordid living conditions that the majority are experiencing in South Africa and India. If a developed country such as Canada, despite its available resources and housing policies, and, similar to South Africa and India as third world countries, fails to improve the poor’s standard of living, the right to adequate housing will remain a distant dream for many. Any housing implementation strategy must be able to reduce housing backlogs, eradicate homelessness and slums and in general improve the poor’s standard of living. The thesis considers the diverse implementation strategies of the right to adequate housing as adopted by South Africa, Canada and India and reveals how each country has experienced systemic challenges. Against the background of international and regional human rights obligations, key issues are investigated to determine how to properly implement, enforce and monitor the right, include the role of a constitutionally entrenched right, the adoption of a housing legislative and/or policy measures, the role of the judiciary, (in)action on the part of government and the part played by national human rights commissions. While each of these three countries approaches the issue in their own unique way, and each country makes its own contribution, what is required is a coordinated and multi-faceted housing implementation system. Although the point of departure was to determine what South Africa could learn from Canada and India, the conclusion is that both Canada and India can draw inspiration from South Africa. Nevertheless, the main conclusions are that South Africa must urgently conduct a comprehensive review of its regressive 20 year housing implementation strategy and India’s 61 years five year plans. The Canadian judiciary should be looking at ways to enforce the right within the Canadian Charter as well as its domestic legislation to include ‘social condition’ as a discrimination ground. While both Canada and India must review their housing policies their judiciaries should be evaluating the history of homelessness and the reasonableness of their adopted housing policies. / Private Law / LLD