Author
Sameep Padora

Editors
Maitri Dore, Mythili Shetty

Photographer
Kunal Bhatia

Publisher
Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI), India

Publication Date
2017

About the book
This book attempts to sieve through the fabric of Mumbai, excavating historical and current models of affordable housing sutured deep within the city. It compares 11 housing projects in Mumbai through metrics of open space, social space, circulation space, built areas and densities, using drawings, sketches and models to highlight and illustrate their projective capacities. Its focus is to document the potential of existing and emergent architectural types native to our context, as a means to inform new or hybrid models for the design of affordable housing.

This research argues that once ascertained, it is critical for architectural proclivity to inform regulatory mechanisms, which in turn should then feed into policy frameworks, in addition to considerations of tenure, occupancy and equitable allocation. As a result, the desired built and spatial form influences the framing of housing policy from the bottom up, rather than the other way round.