The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, a central government scheme of subsidies for low-income housing, is singularly unimaginative and poorly thought-through. It is unlikely to deliver worthwhile results. The
Dharavi in Mumbai exemplifies what is most ugly and what is most inspiring about slum life in a city. How should it be redeveloped to remove the ugliness and yet retain its community spirit, enterprise, ambitions and hope?
Urban planning is not an extension of architecture, but requires the co-ordination of a wide variety of skills and inputs. Most importantly, planning is meaningless unless it is firmly linked to implementation. The planner's best course of action is to set the objectives of his plan, and use these to determine policy initiatives.
This paper outlines a research proposal for a series of investigations into aspects of urban housing which it seems important to understand before formulating an enlarged public housing programme. Studies in the areas outlined here are either scanty or non-existent.
