Ethnographic study of Habitat in Rural Areas of Pohegaon, Maharastra

A pilot ethnographic research was conducted in some rural pockets of Maharastra (Pohegaon) to understand the dynamics of the human life in rural India. Following images give a glimpse of the life observed:

Figure 1: A house built under Indira Awas Yojana. The central core was built with funds received from the scheme. The house was then expanded sideways and in the front - incremental construction. The incremental construction is made of mud, asbestos and other locally available building materials.

Figure 2: A cluster of four houses built under Indira Awas Yojana  that share the internal walls and the slanting roof. These houses were built for families who did not own land. The panchayat bought land for them and allocated funds. As they share the same roof, it is not possible for anyone to expand vertically. Also sideways expansion is limited in scope. The image shows that the house has encroached into the road to achieve expansion on one side.

Figure 3: Mostly cooking is done in wood stove as it is more economical for them. As a wood stove creates lot of black soot, the kitchen is located outside the house. The houses also had LPG stoves but these are used rarely and only in case of emergency.

           

Figure 4: Every house has a TV

Figure 5: Storage space is saved by mostly hanging items on the wall or ceiling. Photographs of gods and elders and calendars occupy a prominent wall space.

Furniture used is mostly plastic and mild steel and are usually foldable to ensure multiple utility and portability.

Figure 6: Steel storage containers are used to prevent rats from plundering contents.

Figure 7: All houses have a bathing and washing area. This area is mostly located next to the kitchen. The image shows one of the most frugal bathing space. They use open spaces to defecate.

Figure 8: Cattle is an integral part of rural household. People live in close harmony with their animals and their house is incomplete without a house for their cattle. Cattle is also an important source of livelihood for rural BoP.

Figure 9: Use of local materials like plants, agricultural waste, soil, etc. is very popular. These materials are combined with readily available components like concrete poles, mild steel pipes and asbestos sheets. The dimensions of the houses constructed are influenced by the sizes of these materials too. For example, asbestos sheets are available as 4’ X 6’, 4’ X 8’ and 4’ X 10’. Hence house dimensions are in accordance to these numbers.

Key Insights

Needs and requirements of this market are very local in nature

The market is skilled in use of local materials and hence do-it-yourself housing is very popular

Government subsidies and finances are available

The market is extremely cost sensitive

The business model in place in this market is no profit-oriented 

Advent of Tata nano may have a strong impact on the way the industry views this market

Report - Research on Current Affordable & Sustainable Habitat Scenario in India

Executive Summary

India is a nation of 1.21 billion people facing multiple challenges. One of the major challenges is providing every household with affordable homes. According to statistical findings, a household with less than Rs. 7,000 (110€) (in monthly income) cannot afford to build their house and government subsidies and interventions are required. Government of India is currently running many schemes in this domain to help this segment. On the other hand, households with a monthly income of Rs. 7,000 (110€) – Rs. 20,000 (312€) can afford houses at an expense of Rs. 300,000 (4700€)– Rs. 1,000,000 (15,600€). After the economic downturn of 2008, the booming real estate industry of the country shifted their attention to this segment, as it is immune to the market fluctuations in income and is deemed as a growing market.

The first group (<Rs 7,000) mostly form the rural BPL and the metropolitan/ urban BPL living in slums and shanties. The rural market is very big in India as 2/3rd of the population still lives in villages. But the market till date seamed very unattractive to the private sector due to its thin density. Hence in spite of government subsidies, there have hardly been many NGOs and no private players. But the situation seams to change very soon with TATA group announcing its “Nano House” for this market. The group is working on developing a flat pack of components including walls, windows and doors at Rs. 32,000 (500€). The flat pack can be assembled by the house owner. The house can be very well funded through the Indira Awas Yojana funds that are provided by the government to this segment.

The second group (Rs 7,000 – Rs 20,000) mostly resides in the urban sector and the metropolitan slums. There are many private players in this domain including experienced and big names like the Tata and new comers like Value and Budget Housing. To be able to make profit in this market, it is very important to realize that it is a low margin (profit approximately 20%) but a high volume market. Hence optimization and streamlining of supply chain, construction management, time and global sourcing are the strategies that are being used. Some companies like Projectwell are coming up which aim at bringing in affordability through supply chain management and supplying prefab components. The government has also initiated schemes like JNNURM and Rajiv Awas Yojana to build homes for the lower tiers of this group.

There is yet another third category of slum dwellers whose income lies anywhere in both groups. They usually live in metropolitans over encroached public/ private land. This market possesses the unique behavior of being able to maximize the utilization of their available resources. For example, the space that is used for sleeping at night turns into a workshop for a company in the morning and provides the owner with extra income. The inhabitants make very efficient use of their small 3D spaces and every cubic cm is used.

As mentioned all the three scenarios require and present good opportunity for creative and synergic design intervention. Hence the goal of our research project is to identify aspects and factors affecting this domain and thereafter HUMANIZE THE HABITAT THROUGH DESIGN INTERVENTION THAT SYNERGIES:

• Culture specific socioeconomic interactions

• Energy and waste management

• Innovations in construction materials & technology

• Finance

• Construction management

• Management

The rural and the urban sector seam to be the most opportune scenarios than the slums since it is a politically sensitive area. Also inhabitants don’t own land titles in most cases and hence don’t like to spend in building more permanent structures.

Possibilities of mass manufacturing components rather than houses need to be looked on to bring in affordability as the definition of home for an Indian lies in being able to represent personal needs, wants and desires. Hence a prospective direction of work can be identification of components that can be mass manufactured to build homes. Some examples can be locally adapted roofing system, walls, partitions, doors, windows, kitchen, WC, etc.

India being a very large country with huge diversities in climate, needs, wants, traditions and rituals, careful collection, management and dissemination of this information is required for the long-term success of any housing project.

Affordable and ready availability of adequate financing options is very important for success in this domain. Hence a creative design intervention in this domain is stressed.

Technical support, knowledge sharing, Industrial  and prototyping support and financial support from all collaborating partners will bring a break-through housing product range in the market.

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Affordable and Sustainable Habitat - Our System View

Govenrment of India Initiatives

The central government has taken the following initiatives for providing affordable houses to the rural as well as urban BOP.

The houses built under Indira Awas Yojana mandates that pukka houses needs to be built but it does not specify on design. The designs are determined by village panchayats taking into consideration local needs, available construction materials as well as local skills. Hence the houses shown from different parts of the country in the image above have different characters.

TATA nano house

Tata Group recently announced the nano of housing. It proposes to offer a flatpack of dwelling materials including doors and windows for a 20 sq. m. house at Rs. 32,000. Tata is also developing a 30 sq. m. version that will come with options of verandah and solar energy systems. A participatory approach has been followed. The innovation came up from Tata Steel. The pilots are planned to be set up in West Bengal by the end of this year. Plans to make local production process are also underway. We might see the first of these houses coming up within the next 6 - 8 months.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_after-nano-tata-plans-rs32000-house_1566154
             http://www.caradvice.com.au/128924/tata-announces-worlds-cheapest-flatpack-house/

Different perspectives to Affordable Habitat

It is interesting to note how different stakeholders look at affordable habitat. For example, an asset manager defines that an affordable habitat has to be affordable in terms of living cost as well as transit cost to the work place. On the other hand, a builder's point of view is: to make a house affordable, it should be located in the city outskirts. Hence to understand the dynamics of this domain, we studied the analyses of Jones Lang LaSalle India and Lafarge Group.

Jones Lang LaSalle - Indian Real Estate - Charting a Global Course
Jones Lang LaSalle is a professional services firm specializing in real estate. It provides investors, developers, local corporates and multinational companies with a comprehensive range of services including research, analytics, consultancy, transactions, project and development services, integrated facility management, property and asset management, sustainability, warehousing and logistics, capital market, residential, hotels, health care, senior living, education and retail advisory. For further information, please visit www.joneslanglasalle.co.in. They define the Indian Real Estate Ecosystem as shown below:

Source: http://www.joneslanglasalle.co.in/ResearchLevel1/Indian%20Real%20Estate%20-%20Charting%20a%20Global%20Course.pdf

Lafarge Group

The study was conducted by Escale Responsable for Lafarge Group in May 2010. Lafarge is a world leader in building materials. In order to understand the housing needs, aspirations and the market segment at the bottom of the pyramid in India, a study was conducted by interviewing slum dwellers in Kolkata and some organizations working in this sector. The following organizations were interviewed:

This study identified the following aspects as the key to affordable habitat:

Following affordable habitat models in this segment were identified in the study:

Availability of affordable finance also comes up as one of the major influencers.

Source: http://www.escale-responsable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Affordable-housing-in-India_needs-and-emerging-solutions.pdf

Both studies agree on the following aspects:
1. A strong stress on development of effective micro-finance infrastructure and other finance sources
2. Need for new technology and innovation
3. Sustainability
4. Efficient construction management
5. Industrial mass production of houses
6. Availability of cheap land

Indian Urban Growth

As per the 2011 Indian census, the population of India stands at 1.2 billion of which 31.16% live in urban areas. This is up by 3.35% as compared to a decade ago. The decadal urban growth rate of India stands at 31.8% while that for rural India is 12.2%, a decline of around 6%. The rate of urban growth has been caused due to multiple factors like - creation of SEZs, social and economic order, government policies, etc. The housing needs of the country is very deeply affected by these changes. The images below graphically represent the percentage of urban population in different states and the rate of growth in urban population.

                                  

Regional housing needs and market potentials can be identified by an in depth study of the factors that are influencing the Indian urban growth.