| Author | Salam, Abdus |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. HS-79-08 |
| Subject(s) | Self-help housing--Bangladesh--Dacca
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | A core house programme, or as it was called, the "nucleus house" scheme with the concept of sites and services was started in the Mohammedpur and
Mirpur housing communities, Dacca during 1959-64. The main objective behind this scheme was primarily to resettle displaced people from among those millions of Muslims who had crossed the new border after the partition of India in August 1947. The general objective of the present study is to investigate the extent of success of these two selected sites and services projects and the possibility of replication of similar projects in urban areas in the future. It is aimed at finding out the participation of the dwellers in improving their houses on a self-help basis.
The methods applied comprised a physical observation survey and an interview survey.
As practically no such improvements in the nucleus housing scheme have been carried out after t he liberation
war of 1971, questionnaires were administered only to units occupied by original allotters.
Categories of houses derived from a physical observation
survey are, nucleus unit, improved structure and new house built in place of the original structure. Self-help improvements of nucleus houses in Mohammedpur and Mirpur
were found to be dependent upon the level of education, occupation and income of the household heads and the availability of financial assistance from government sources. A number of factors favoured a relatively faster development in Mohammedpur than in Mirpur.
The rate of development was spectacularly rapid due to its locational advantages (distance from city center and job opportunities). The improvements t hat took place gradually were mainly done through planning and active participation of the owners themselves. Public assistance with 'the "nucleus house" scheme is probably the best
form of housing for low and middle income people. Contrary to the conventional public housing approach, instead of constructing complete houses,
the government can give assistance to t he people by providing serviced plots and nucleus houses so that the dwellers can improve their houses gradually on a self-help basis. However, as t he costs of building materials have increased six to eight times since 1971, much more than incomes, it is at present not feasible to
plan similar projects for low-income groups in urban areas of Bangladesh unless t he standards were lowered considerably. In fact, it is possible in the present situation to plan this type of scheme in urban areas for lower middle and middle income group only. |
| Year | 1979 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Human Settlement (HS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kammeier, Hans Detlef ;Kaji, Hideki
|
| Examination Committee(s) | Goede, J.H. de
|
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Royal Netherlands Government |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1979 |