Working in the hustle and bustle of a metropolis like Mumbai is a unique experience, which brings with itself an opportunity to witness the peaks and falls of this rapidly urbanising world. As I travel every day to office, on my way is arguably the most expensive residence in the world today. Home to the richest man in India, it reportedly grossed an astonishing INR 70 Lakhs (approx. USD 156,000) in electricity bills for the first month after occupation. And on the same street, not very far away are homeless people who spend their nights on the road or in the parks. Nearly half of the population in Mumbai lives precariously in the numerous slums that dot the urban landscape, sans basic habitation needs of water, power or sanitation. India is at the crossroads of two distinct civilisations; both are real and compete with each other to gain the world’s attention.
The Government of India has put the figure for the housing shortage in urban India at a staggering 26.53 million units in the Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007-2012. Recognising the need to increase home ownership and reduce slum creation, the government has initiated a vision – “Housing for All”. Several low cost mass housing schemes have been undertaken, one of them being RAY – Rajiv Awas Yojana (Rajiv Housing Scheme), meant for urban areas. RAY provides financial assistance for the construction of houses for people below the poverty line in urban India. The unit cost under Indira Awas Yojana, which is the flagship rural housing scheme, is INR 45,000 (approximately USD 1,000) per unit. That’s the price of a flight ticket from Mumbai to New York, a Digital SLR Camera or one laptop. Equate that with a house providing a livable space of 250 sq ft for a family. Is this possible?
It will require an innovation breakthrough in existing construction technology. The process of disruptive innovation encompasses the development of a product that disrupts the existing market, in ways that neither the consumers nor producers expect. Propounded by Clayton Christensen, the theory has found numerous examples in present day India, from the cheapest commercial car in the world (Tata Nano at USD 3,000) to mobile phones that provide battery backup of 30 days (Micromax). A radical techno-financial revolution employing large economies of scale can enable affordable housing solutions for numerous urban cities of the developing world.
The ‘1K House’ project is an innovative and visionary project underway at Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Centre for Real Estate, where students are attempting to design a low-cost affordable house for people worldwide who face extreme poverty. With a target to limit construction costs to the USD 1,000 mark, its relevance for urban housing projects in India is remarkable. The team has already achieved USD 1,800 in China and USD 2,000 in the Philippines in terms of construction costs of housing prototypes. Lowering the bar even further is another challenge from Harvard Business School (HBS). Initiated as an idea by Prof Vijay Govindarajan from HBS, a competition to design a USD 300 House has been sponsored by Ingersoll Rand. He has propounded several novel themes to enable this – from reverse innovation and micro-grids to collaborative consumption.
I believe that several solutions will emerge and the one that will succeed will entail an altruistic blend of people, planet and profits.
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
– John Lennon in his single ‘Imagine’, 1971.
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