Sustainable Housing - Policy Perspectives For India.

Abstract

A roof over the head is a structure. The nature, quality and even the presence/absence of such a structure is not merely a structural problem but indeed a complex socio-political problem. Housing in that sense is a true reflection of a society. The social and economic fragments of a society are mirrored in the housing of a society. The 2 major hurdles in housing in India is the affordability of housing and energy efficiency of housing, the two interlinked more than what meets the naked eye. This dissertation is an attempt to set forth a policy framework that can address both the issues which can enable the urban housing to become more energy efficient and affordable. While this dissertation takes to cognizance the segmented nature of housing and advocates a multi-pronged strategy to mitigate the problem, the nuts and bolts of such a strategy is restricted to apartment buildings. The nature of organized real estate in the country also indicated that this shall the low hanging fruit that can initiate the transition into energy efficiency without affecting affordability and usher in the era of Sustainable Housing.