Dignifying margins: a case for affordable housing at Bhalswa, Delhi

Abstract

The thesis ponders on the question of dignifying the margins through the case of Bhalswa, a town in the North of Delhi suffering the plight of a waste landfill. In realizing solutions for the place, the thesis picks up the idea of affordable housing through a live project for the rehabilitation of surrounding informal settlements. Questioning practices of density and generalization in the released tender, the brief is evolved through a grounded liveability study carried out at Bhalswa. To further an understanding of housing as it’s been carried out in the state, several models to housing are studied and interpreted. Raising the questions of liveability in said housing models, studied literature is ultimately synthesised towards a design approach. Pondering on the ideas of a soft city, housing is interpreted as an urban insert with focus on the creation of ecosystems.