NPTEL

NPTEL ONLINE CERTIFICATION COURSE

Housing Policy &Planning

Lec-02
Housing Classification

Dr.Uttam K.Roy
Department of Architecture and Planning
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Hello, welcome to the Lecture2 of the course housing policy and planning in the lecture1 we
have discussed the basic terminologies and the definition the need of the people and its illusion
with housing now in this lecture basically will discuss the housing classifications. Why we need
to know the classification because ultimately we are going to develop policies and learn how to
plan for various cities in the housing areas, therefore it is very, very important to know the
various typology of the houses and the difference between the typologies so that whenever we
make the policy and the planning we can do that accordingly.

So this classification is done based on various parameters. As we discussed in the Lecture1 that
housing can be seen from the various perspective like multiple unit like the community building
like the economic group like the basic surfaces like the physical element like the individuality,
similarly the housing can be classified from various perspective such as it can be classified
based on the land ownership.
(Refer Slide Time: 01:43)

Secondly it can be classified based on like structural quality it can also be classified based on the
economic group. Then the land tenure or it can be also classified based on the built quality and
finally we also classify it based on the origin or supply source. Now let us take one by one how
we classify it like not all the houses are owned by every people so based on the land ownership
there are basically 2 different types of house we have one is like group housing where basically
the people owned the house unit or the apartment but they do not own the land and the
infrastructure it is owned by the community or the residence association and also there are
plotted housing where the plot or the land and the building both are owned by the house owner
so difference between group housing.

And plotted housing is the land and the common infrastructure is owned by the community but
in plotted housing people also owned the land. When we differentiate the based on the structural
quality there can be 3 different type of house conditions one is which is we call it as pucca
houses basically pucca houses are foundation walls and the roof both are made up permanent
material those are called pucca houses then there are semi pucca houses or kutcha houses. So a
kutcha house is that the wall and the roof both are made out temporary material.
And it is sometimes vulnerable to the disasters and the urban disk. On the other hand semi pucca
materials semi pucca houses are those where only one member may be the wall or the roof are
made of temporary material so these from based on the structural quality sometimes houses are
classified.

Next we come to the economic group based on the various different types of economic group
there are housing classifications based on their criteria or affordability limit like for example
there are economic group calls called higher income group in short it is called HIG similarly it
can be middle income group in short it is MIG and lower income group in short it is LIG and
also the people who are living below the lower income group who does not have the minimum
affordability.

To afford a house they are called economically weaker section in short it is EWS so these are
the broad four categories or classification based on the economic groups sometimes this
economic groups are further sub divided into like higher HIG or different categories of HIG
sometimes it is categorize at MIG1 or MIG2 based on various context and various situation like
India is a very huge country various states are there various geographical variation are there so
people they sometimes subdivide the broad classification into various sub category LIG 1 LIG2
based on their subdivision.

Now next category or next approach to classify the house is the quality of the land ownership or
the tenureship and basically this is a approach how we see a ownership from a tenure point of
view.
(Refer Slide Time: 06:51)

So it is they are may be kind of a freehold property leasehold or it can be rental. In the freehold
case the property is owned by the people for the whole life period and it can be inherited by their
next generation. On the other hand leasehold properties are the building or the house these are
owned or enjoyed by the people for the certain time limit. For example, may be 20 years 30 years
40 years sometimes 99 years rental is even it is basically primarily it.

The concept of the lease but it is given only for the very limited period of time may be 1 month
to 12 months and it is renewable but apart from the freehold leasehold or rental houses there are
people or there are house where people do not bother about the land tenure and they just occupy
and they encourage on the urban land and live there so that is it separate case will discuss
separately so this is the classification based on the land tenure and based of the built quality or
the built environment.

There can be different type of development like high rise predominately low rise apartments are
low rise developments are those which can be seen in the most of the Indian cities in the outskirts
of these above area. Basically one or two storied plotted houses and that occupies major large
chunk of the area those are called low rise. On the other hand mid rise is G+4 which is basically
work up apartment to the up to roughly 10 to 12 storied building and high rise is even go beyond
that and now a days in the cities.

We have 30 storied 40 storied residential building houses building so each type of typologies
high rise mid rise and low rise they make different type of built quality built and parameter in
city and the image formed out of that becomes a predominant image of the city so that is another
typology or the classification we do. Finally we will see housing classification based on their
origin or the supply. Now from this perspective there are 3 broad category.

(Refer Slide Time: 10:01)

The first is organic house second is formal and third is informal. Now we take one by one. Now
organic houses are those which are basically developed through the years organically without
any planned intervention by the government basically it is developed by the owner’s interest they
develop their own houses in the cities or in the village to the first category of the organic house
will be the kind of a core city house.

We will find in the many older cities like say walled cities sometimes in the walled cities that can
be also called as so those are basically very old settlement which emerge from the in section of
the city and which is located in the city core area sometimes it is surrounded by a fort or walled
and it is called as a walled cities. So that is the first category of the organically developed houses.
Second is there are houses which carries the local culture and architectural style. Especially we
will find in India based on various states various geographical variations there are numerous
number of houses which carry the local flavor, local culture local, and style local, art forms those
are seen in the traditional house.

I will show all the pictures of all types of houses for your better understanding. But before that
let us list all the type of houses. Third category what we see after the traditional houses is that
there are houses other than the core city and traditional houses which is build by the people
basically in the outs cuts or in the suburb area basically plotted house but private plotted house.
So these are the where typically the options which we have in the organic category the core
house the core city house the traditional houses and privately built plotted house.

Next we come to the formal houses the first category will be the again the private plotted house
but the difference between this privately plotted house and this is basically done in a planned
way in a formal way in a planned manner where the plot is given by the government allow in the
basic infrastructure. The difference between this private plotted house and this private plotted
house is that this private plotted house come organically only with the house sometimes.

They lack of the basic infrastructure but in this case this is since this is the formal supply of the
house by the government this house is come with a proper land plot and the basic infrastructure
and people come and make their houses. Second is private developer houses I think you know
that the private developer they can develop large housing complexes in a plot the plot they can
purchase from the government or they can purchase from the people and they can develop this.
This is another formal house done by the private developer then there are public or government
developed houses other than plotted house likes a group housing.

Basically group housing all the state government authorities’ likes a housing board and the
housing develop and authorities all the town and country planning develop and authorities and
also means for corporation they do they sometimes provide these kinds of houses apart from this
there are houses developed by Joint Venture Company. Joint venture companies are basically
public and private so here the land is given by the public and the buildings is developed building
and infrastructures developed by the private developer and also we have in this case there is no
developer in the picture only the likeminded people they make a cooperative they get the land
from the public agency or the government and they construct.

Their own house that is called cooperative housing later on will come to details for all type of
housing but now we are just listing. So cooperative housing and also we have employees
housing. Employees housing basically the large organization it may be government it may be
private sometimes they construct many houses for their own staff that is called employees
housing was sometimes it is called as institutional housing. So these are all options which are
termed as the formal housing comes from the private or the public developer.

Now we come to the informal category. In informal category basically in this category formal
and also organic category they have the land right the land is land right and they come through
formal transactions and it is registered in the government department. So it has formal
transaction formal change over formal ownership for us in the cities we find that there are
various numbers of settlement are the houses which are informal sometimes unauthorized illegal
which are there in the occupied land such as the slums or squatters or pavement dwellers.

The slums are called sometimes as bestie sometimes as Chawls sometimes a chughee choppery
sometimes fugie colonies. Squatters are those settlements which come and encourage in the
public lands especially in the very risk prone areas like say along the railway lines along the
cannels along the very risk prone areas. And pavement developers are those who are basically
mobile who had the nomadic life that stays in the pavement or a common areas like’s bus
terminals station and all those areas.

Apart from slums squatters and pavement developers there are unauthorized construction also so
in unauthorized constructions sometimes we see that may be the people have the land right they
own the land but they go beyond these approved or the approved FARR approved ability of the
plot. For example may be they are allowed for FAR OF 21 but they are going beyond that and
they are achieving FAR2 or 3 so basically those are unauthorized constructions it is found in
almost all the cities.

Therefore the slums squatter’s pavement developers and unauthorized construction these are
basically informal houses the difference between the informal house and formal houses are the
formal houses are built on a formal land which is owned by the people or the community or the
individual people. Informal cases except the unauthorized construction these are built on the end
cores land or the public land and another difference is formal houses comes through a formal
process sometimes through the registration in the government department.

Registration in the private department now and the difference between organic and informal is
the organic settlements organic houses are basically not informal this is formal but they grow
over the time slowly unlike the formal thing. Formal houses is given is provided one times two
times three times as a whole as a mass housing but organic housing they grow over the time of
100 years 50 years spontaneously but the formal house it is given by the government or the
private developer at 1 go so that is the difference now will try to see the ..

Now based on the economic group like HIG, MIG or LIG, the formal houses which we basically
provide on behalf of the government, basically it caters all the group whereas the informal
houses, Informer houses caters basically LIG and EWS, where as in the organic houses they
cater mostly all groups the formal houses cater all groups except EWS, because the formal house
EWS cannot afford formal house.

Now if we take the other classification of the housing condition like say freehold, leasehold or
the rental house will see that this houses the organic houses can be mostly are freehold where as
formal house there are more cases of lease condition or rental houses at their or it can be freehold
Houser. Whereas the informer houses those does not bother about the latitude in it is mostly
built on a illegal land or illegal construction.

And you can also abduct organic house and formal house and informal house both expect or both
require different type of intervention. So if you want to put the intervention so these basically
exist. These are existing settlements or house and these are new houses which are provided by
the government or the private agencies and this also existing Samson quarter mostly it takes 1/3
of the city population. Now so since these two are mostly existing or ongoing process basically
what we need, we need to regularize or control, but the formal house we need to provide that is
supply so supply is the main keyword words.

Here on the other hand for the informer house here also we need to control regularize and also
provide sometimes. So how to make this kind of house in formal house and we being need to the
formal mechanism that is the challenge in the housing policy and planning. So have not said that
now will see some of the pictures as example how it look like and how it how to differentiate
different kinds of house. So will see the core city of walled house or in the walled cities area
traditional houses private plotted house.

In the formal category private plotted house private developer house public government
development house, joint venture cooperative employees and in the informal house now let us
see the examples of all those categories or the classes of the house. This we have discussed early
so based on the land ownership so this is a typical example of a plotted house with basically a
single person in most of the cases owns the land and building both. In this case the owner is
owned the land building both and only the common facilities like.

The communities centre or those entire thing or owned by the community, were as in group
housing you can see a typical group housing picture here only the apartments.
(Refer Slide Time: 24:33)

The floor areas that is owned by the people or the individual owner, where as all the land and
the infrastructure landscaping in a common facility everything is owned by the even the common
space inside the building in the leafy lobby, staircase lobby these are all owned by the
community as a whole. Now based on the origin we discussed all the types of houses this is one
of the picture of the old core city.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:01)

Housing taken from one of the India’s oldest city Jodhpur. So you can see this kind of typical is
seen in the old city or the core city house.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:10)

Another option which I did not tell the all another option which is not especially seen in the core
urban areas, but when a city goes beyond the city limit and the villages like this comes with in
this city limit and it is surrounded by the city it becomes a urban area. Though it was initially
was a village or the rural area but finally it becomes a urban area.

This is called urban village. These are the typical pictures of the urban villages look like. Now
you will find in Delhi MCR region or in any major cities and its surrounding area there is many
number of urban village each have a different kind of characteristics and which needs different
policy and program.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:56)

These are typical traditional house. In traditional house you will find typical architectural styles
the art form the construction techniques and the art form. And it varies between the geographical
location and the state to state and the language to language.
(Refer Slide Time: 26:12)

This are the typical private plotted house the plot is owned by people they have made their own
house. There are several other example can be given I had shown only one example so that you
can understand in better way. Now in the formal housing category let’s take this is a formal
houses done by the private developer typical private developer’s house can be seen like this it is
a more compact high storied and so that more people can come there.
(Refer Slide Time: 26:42)

And these are private developer’s house whereas the public developer’s house like say any
develops authority or housing boards or the housing developer and authority like MAHADA.
They construct this type of house and they provides for all categories of people. Now I told
about the joint ventures house basically the joint venture between the government and the private
agency. This is the first joint venture house which we came in the country.
(Refer Slide Time: 27:10)

In West Bengal named Udayan, you can see the land was given by the public agency that is
government. The building and all the infrastructures were developed by the private developer.
That is called joint ventures housing. This is the cooperative housing where it is build by the
people.
(Refer Slide Time: 27:27)

Group of people, like minded people they made have cooperative and made the housing like
this. Typically cooperative housing will look different from the private developers housing in
terms of their treatment, in terms of their are boundary gates and all those things, it will look
personalized treatment, personalized elements you can see in the buildings, design on the scene,
because here the final decision about the building design and the elevation is taken by the owner.
That is a cooperative not by a private developer.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:04)

Now this is the implies house government of India or various state government they do different
kinds of employees house like this for their own employees. So now in the last slot we will see
some of the example of the informal house. These are typical example of the slam from the
Dharavi area in Mumbai.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:21)

You can see this is very huge area surround or the occupied by the slum hutmens. It is very low
height, low rise quarters basically these are house forms which is coming along yellow line or
along the cannels.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:34)

These are comparatively low duration settlement than the slum and these are more vulnerable to
the disaster on the urban disk. These are typical on of rise colonies where the land may be owned
by the people.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:52)

But the construction is illegal or unauthorized. So they need different kind of treatment in the
cities. And these are permanent villas where they basically stay on the road and sometimes they
made very temporary kind of sheds to live they are.
(Refer Slide Time: 29:00)

Basically they survive on the public amenities like the public tap on the public, government,
public toilets. So these we have all discussed. So these are kind of his some of the example of
semi pakka house,
(Refer Slide Time: 29:25)

The wall is pakka and the roof is basically temporary or the clutch material. This is fully
structure where you can see the wall and the roof all are made of temporary structure. You can
see the all types of housing based on the origin.
(Refer Slide Time: 29:45)

Of the supply and sometimes they are seen in the urban city or the rural city or in the compound
both the sittings, it is visible or sometimes it is taken care of by the all categories of income roof
or may be some are like an informal houses. It is mainly caters So this is the whole picture what
we discussed earlier. Apart from this housing classification they are all few special type of
houses which can be classified based on their is special requirement like transit houses which
made after the disaster for period of time or some resettlement cases.
(Refer Slide Time: 30:23)

Extreme whether houses when there is a cyclone, there is a disaster, we take the people from the
spot and we give them house. Old age citizen or seiner citizen housing or working women or
working then home or hostels, service apartment. These are typical special housing cases where
essentially may not be that families lives there, but for duration living with their. We discuss
separately in the impart of our course. So quickly summarize, the housing can be classified
based on several parameters like say the built element, like the land ownership, the quality of the
structure, economic group and the origin.

Based on the origin we broadly categorize in the organic settlement formal and informal
settlement. All the kinds of these classification and this thing their need separate intervention,
separate type of treatments, separate type of policy and planning. That we will discuss one by
one. In the next lecture, we will discuss the housing situation of the India where will have an
overall status description of the all kinds of house how in India, the houses are there, their
quantity, qualitative condition everything. Thank you.

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