ENGAGING COMMUNITY IN SLUM REDEVELOPMENT IN RAIPUR AND GANGTOK, INDIA

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and land scarcity has made ‘housing-poverty’ the prime concern for India.  Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), a central government Housing scheme for urban poor, envisages inclusive practices in slum-housing development. It mandates community-participation, addressing housing poverty by fostering a bottom-up planning process. RAY builds on past experiences of schemes like Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) and Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) with innovative community engagement.

The case study discusses the preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs) for slum-upgrading in Raipur and Gangtok. It highlights the process, outcomes, personal observations and learning of the authors during their interactions with the community while facilitating community involvement in final decision-making for preparation of RAY-DPRs, meandering through its limitations. It shows how community-engagement can produce rational solutions and legitimate designs that reflect peoples’ aspirations. Generating trust in the community and ensuring sustainability of participation is crucial. It can be learned from the authors’ experiences that community involvement is a long-term investment and cannot be limited to a short time-frame.