| Author | Dasgupta, Indira |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. HS-91-06 |
| Subject(s) | Squatters--India--Delhi
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the award of the Degree of Master of Science, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. HS-91-06 |
| Abstract | Both the government and the urban poor living in various
substandard areas are in search of ways and means to better the
living conditions in the dwelling environments of the urban
poor . Strategies are based on resources within their control.
The government aspires to order the city structures through a
process of resource control, viz . land, finance, materials,
know-how (technology, information). The settlements are thus
categorised in terms of land conditions and the individual
projects are decided on the basis of the costs required for
improvement.
The squatter is a unique decision-maker who makes his
decision through trade-offs at the household level . The
resources in their control are those of household income,
motivation, satisfaction, innovativeness, adaptability.
The present study applied an innovative participatory
method, known as the "tradeoff game" to determine the needs of
the people in a squatter settlement located in Delhi. The game
required that the participants assign values according to
strength of their perceived need in a constrained-choice
situation, giving up something to gain something else. The
priorities of the people within a settlement were found to be
heterogeneous as has been noted even in earlier research
'' .. within a particular city the low-income population does not
form a homogeneous group, but has a wide variety of housing
needs and priorities ... " (Hardoy and Satterwaite, 1986 cit Yap,1989:27)
The aspirations and actions that they make are on
decisions made on the basis of categorisation but rather on the
basis of integration of all the influencing factors. Thus it is
realised that any scheme that the government proposes to
address at the settlement level will not be comprehensive . It
is imperative, therefore to understand the needs and
aspirations of the people to develop an effective human
settlements planning mechanism.
We observed that the participatory method applied was
effective and useful as that generated sufficient quantitative
and qualitative data for basic needs and simultaneously
eliciting people's participation in decision-making. We also
conclude that city planning needs to be integrated and
alternatives have to be opened even at the settlement level
that would involve (though massive by itself) an agenda for
action and a mobilization of all the latent non-economic
resources of participation including social awareness,
organizational knowhow, innovativeness commitment and popular
knowledge. |
| Year | 1991 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. HS-91-06 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Human Settlement (HS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Sheng, Yap Kioe |
| Examination Committee(s) | Amin, A.T.M. Nurul ;Robinson, Ira. M.
|
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Government of Norway; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1991 |