Suchergebnisse

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Women's involvement in decision-making in domestic energy remains an under-researched area, especially in the urban context. This research adopts a gendered perspective in exploring slum rehabilitation housing in India. Based on a household survey and a focus group discussion (FGD), women's household and working practices are explored in interview narratives and systems analysis. The findings show that the relocation to slum rehabilitation housing (SRH) has radically changed women's household routines (cooking, comfort, childrearing, working and entertainment practices) and that women are more affected by the relocation than men. Changed practices, poor design of SRH and lack of outdoor space have radically increased electricity use and living costs in all the surveyed households. The economic pressure forces women into lowly paid jobs or informal economy, creating a vicious circle where women's time poverty further reduces their social capital and opportunities for self-development in terms of education or formal employment. A comparison of SRH typologies shows that building design has great influence both on gendered use of space and electricity use, advocating a courtyard typology. Further, interviews with policy-makers reveal a dis-juncture between the occupant realities and the policy objectives. The paper argues that gender equality can and should be influenced through energy and housing policies and offers a conceptual framework for inclusive SRH to address this dis-juncture. ; The material presented in this manuscript is based in part upon work supported by a British Academy Knowledge Frontiers programme (KF1/100033), the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the Government of India (GoI) project titled CoE-FAST (14MHRD005) and IRCC-IIT Bombay Fund (16IRCC561015). The authors acknowledge the support extended by Doctors For You (DFY) – pan India non-profit humanitarian organization for conducting the Focus Group Discussion and personal interviews at the rehabilitation colonies. They are also thankful to Chief Executive Officer – Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and Joint Secretary – Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for their valuable insights in the slum rehabilitation process of Mumbai. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF, MHRD, GoI and/or IRCC-IIT Bombay.

This study explores the effect of slum rehabilitation on appliance ownership and its implications on residential electricity demand. The low-income scenario makes it unique because the entire proposition is based on the importance of non-income drivers of appliance ownership that includes effects of changing the built environment (BE), household practices (HP) and appliances characteristics (AC). This study demonstrates quantitatively that non-income factors around energy practices influence appliance ownership, and therefore electricity consumption. The methodology consists of questionnaire design across the dimension of BE, HP and AC based on social practice theory, surveying of 1224 households and empirical analysis using covariance-based structural equation modelling. Results show that higher appliance ownership in the slum rehabilitation housing is due to change in household practice, built environment and affordability criteria of the appliances. Change in HP shifts necessary activities like cooking, washing and cleaning from outdoor to indoor spaces that positively and significantly influences higher appliance ownership. Poor BE conditions about indoor air quality, thermal comfort and hygiene; and product cost, discounts and ease of use of the appliances also triggers higher appliance ownership. The findings of this study can aid in designing better regulatory and energy efficiency policies for low-income settlements. ; RD is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant no. OPP1144) through the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship. This study is in parts funded by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India (Grant no. 14MHRD005) under the Frontier Areas in Science and Technology grant awarded to RB.

Slum rehabilitation policies in India is observed to have a rebound effect on the occupants, where rehabilitated occupants move back to the horizontal slums. In this study, we investigate the cause behind this rebound phenomenon based on a theory of homeostasis, where the loss of homeostasis refers to occupants' heightened discomfort and distress in their built environment. A novel methodological framework was developed to investigate it based on the principles of participatory backcasting approach and the theory of homeostasis. Thirty households in Mumbai's slum rehabilitation housing were interviewed to determine the social, economic and environmental cause of distress and discomfort. Granular information was obtained by further investigating the factors that influence occupants' attitude, emotions, health, control and habits in their built environment that regulates their holistic comfort and lack of stress. The causal linkages among these factors were established using a qualitative fault tree. Results show two primary cause of distress and discomfort in the study area owing to economic distress and built environment related discomfort. Economic distress was from low-income and high electricity bills due to higher household appliance ownership, and built environment discomfort was due to lack of social spaces and poor design of the slum rehabilitation housing. This study showed that mitigating such non-income drivers of distress and discomfort can prevent rebound phenomenon and improve the sustainability of the slum rehabilitation process. ; RD would like to thank the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the Cambridge Trust for support through the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship 2017-18 (INSS-2017-339) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for support through the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship 2018-21 (OPP1144). RB would like to thank Charles Wallace India Trust for supporting her as a CWIT Fellow- 2018 at CRASSH, University of Cambridge. Part of this study is supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India project 'FAST' (Grant No. 14MHRD005) and IRCC-IIT Bombay Fund (Grant No. 16IRCC561015) and the British Academy Knowledge Frontiers: International Interdisciplinary Research Projects titled 'Gender and household energy: female participation in designing domestic energy in India's slum rehabilitation housing' (Grant No. KF1\100033). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding bodies and supporting organisations.