Practice Projects

To help achieve Tamil Nadu’s Sanitation Mission (Muzhu Sugadhara Tamizhagam), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is supporting the GoTN by setting up a Technical Support Unit (TSU) within the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Department. The Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP)—a consortium of organisations led by IIHS—aims at effecting improvements along the entire urban sanitation value chain in the State of Tamil Nadu, and demonstrating innovations in two model urban locations. To know more, please visit tnussp.co.in

The Uttar Pradesh Health Systems Strengthening Project (UPHSSP), under the Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare, Government of Uttar Pradesh has recently commissioned the IIHS Design Lab for the design and development of multipronged strategies for the revamping the Out-patient and Emergency Departments (OPD & ED) in 10 District Hospitals across Uttar Pradesh.

IIHS is supporting Arghyam as the Knowledge Management Centre and Programme Support Unit. It provides support to the programme framework and strategy, manages calls and evaluates proposals, reviews progress and provides capacity support to partner organisations. It also anchors the process of distilling findings and disseminating these to the larger audience of policymakers and practitioners.

IIHS in collaboration with Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) conducted a two-day training workshop on ‘Urban Planning’ for organisations working on housing issues.

Following the establishment of the SDGs in 2015, the SDG Academy was set up by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) with an objective to support the adoption of these goals. They engaged Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), with their internal capabilities on content development leveraging on the existing global networks, and media production, to develop a MOOC on Sustainable Cities in the context of the SDGs.

Arghyam provided a support-grant to the Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE, New Delhi) to provide technical assistance support to the implementation of various slum development projects in Tajganj area of Agra, focusing on the water and sanitation aspects of the projects. Arghyam commissioned a mid-term assessment of the project to IIHS. Field visits and meetings with CURE team, government officers and residents were carried out a) to take stock of the social and technical activities on ground; b) to understand the project better in terms of its potential and implementation challenges

IIHS assisted the Karnataka Housing Board (a Govt. of Karnataka undertaking) in the updation and reformulation of the state’s affordable housing policy.

The IIHS Housing team assisted the Karnataka Slum Development Board (a Govt. of Karnataka undertaking) in developing a series of slum development models that included upgrading, redevelopment and options for potential relocation of vulnerable settlements

The IIHS Design Lab developed design and services infrastructure guidelines for primary healthcare infrastructure in 2015-16 for Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka through the Karnataka Health Systems Development and Reform Project (KHSDRP)

Tamil Nadu Institute of Urban Studies (TNIUS) approached the IIHS Design Lab in September 2016 to help them develop a ten-year master plan for their 3.8-acre campus in Coimbatore and other proposed regional centres.

As part of the Campaign for a Stand-alone Goal for Sustainable Cities interdisciplinary teams from 5 cities came together to test the UN indicators for Goal 11 on Sustainable Cities for their respective case sites. The findings were presented in a conference in Gothenburg with partners from the Campaign for an Urban Sustainable Development Goal in early June 2014. The work also aimed at feeding into the Habitat III preparatory process of developing the New Urban Agenda for the summit in Quito, 2016

The project also sought to organise women into CBOs, to ensure maintenance of the sanitation interventions. IIHS was MHT’s research partner in developing a research framework to test the effectiveness, sustainability, and scalability of proposed interventions. IIHS also worked on an Urban Sanitation Policy Brief for the state of Bihar.

As part of this partnership, IIHS produced a series of working papers, policy briefs, digital interviews, and a range of teaching-learning material that are all directed towards addressing various kinds of urbanisation challenges being faced by Indian cities. Each of the knowledge outputs is targeted at national, state and city policymakers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, civil society leaders, communities and local stakeholders

IIHS, supported by UNESCO worked towards formulating a methodology for conducting Heritage Impact Assessments for Indian cities. Primary fieldwork for the project was conducted on two heritage sites in Jaipur, Jantar Mantar and the old market area, using the ‘Direct & Indirect Impact’ method under a macroeconomic approach.

IIHS helped the BDA in preparation of the RfP and procurement guidelines for the Master Plan. IHS also helped BDA in setting up an in-house GIS cell and building capacity of the in-house staff in handling GIS.

Energy innovation for low-cost housing in India and South Africa.This collaborative project between IIHS, UCT and Cambridge explores how low-income communities, private energy entrepreneurs, and government at various scales, work in contestation and collaboration to devise and deliver affordable domestic energy that meets the long-term needs and aspirations of low-income households in two rapidly urbanising cities, Bengaluru (India) and Cape Town (South Africa).

The City Wide Inclusive Sanitation Project at Trichy (CWIS) supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is guided by the Trichy City Corporation, and delivered by a consortium of partners led by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS).

While the project aims to improve overall sanitation outcomes in Trichy across the full cycle of sanitation, it also focuses on improvement of service delivery to the poor. The project attempts to mainstream sanitation into existing initiatives of central, state and corporation to showcase innovations and systematically document and share learnings, particularly with a view to enable replication. Areas of intervention under this project include strengthening of systems, protocols and processes, delivery mechanism and capacity building. The programme builds partnerships with other government agencies for linking of government schemes to sanitation workers and availing the facilities of health awareness camps. To know more, please visit tnussp.co.in

The project focuses on research, training and capacity building on issues regarding land administration via a new IIHS Centre for Land Governance. It supports curriculum building through integration of land governance into key teaching programmes at IIHS.

The scope of the project includes carrying out an assessment of the state including the status of computerisation of registration process, system of property records in apartments (including the role of cooperative housing societies), and the modernisation initiatives around the process of survey and city surveys.

The concept note attempts a diagnostic framework to assess the land administration system, identify gaps, recommendation and action plan to be undertaken to improve ‘Ease of Registering Property’ in Delhi.

Following the establishment of the SDGs in 2015, the SDG Academy was set up by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) with an objective to support the adoption of these goals.They engaged with Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) on content development thereby leveraging on the existing global networks, and media production to develop a MOOC on Sustainable Cities in the context of the SDGs.

As part of the Campaign for a Stand-alone Goal for Sustainable Cities, interdisciplinary teams from 5 cities came together to test the UN indicators for Goal 11 on Sustainable Cities for their respective case sites. The findings were presented at a conference in Gothenburg with partners from the Campaign for an Urban Sustainable Development Goal in early June 2014. The work also aimed at feeding into the Habitat III preparatory process of developing the New Urban Agenda for the summit in Quito, 2016.

The project examined land records modernisation efforts in five Indian states of Karnataka, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat. It involved a background study of the legal-institutional terrain as well as an analysis of the effectiveness of current and on-going land record reform programmes and e-governance initiatives, their linkages to planning and the technologies in use.

As part of this partnership, IIHS produced a series of working papers, policy briefs, digital interviews, and a range of teaching-learning material that are all directed towards addressing various kinds of urbanisation challenges being faced by Indian cities. Each of the knowledge outputs is targeted at national, state and city policymakers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, civil society leaders, communities and local stakeholders

The project focuses on research, training and capacity building on issues around land administration via a new IIHS Centre for Land Governance. It supports curriculum building through integration of land governance into key teaching programmes at IIHS.

The scope of the project includes carrying out an assessment of the state including the status of computerisation of registration process, system of property records in apartments (including the role of cooperative housing societies), and the modernisation initiatives around the process of survey and city surveys.

The concept note attempts a diagnostic framework to assess the land administration system, identify gaps, recommendation and action plan to be undertaken to improve ‘Ease of Registering Property’ in Delhi.

Following the establishment of the SDGs in 2015, the SDG Academy was set up by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) with an objective to support the adoption of these goals. They engaged Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), with their internal capabilities on content development leveraging on the existing global networks, and media production, to develop a MOOC on Sustainable Cities in the context of the SDGs

As part of the Campaign for a Stand-alone Goal for Sustainable Cities interdisciplinary teams from 5 cities came together to test the UN indicators for Goal 11 on Sustainable Cities for their respective case sites. The findings were presented in a conference in Gothenburg with partners from the Campaign for an Urban Sustainable Development Goal in early June 2014. The work also aimed at feeding into the Habitat III preparatory process of developing the New Urban Agenda for the summit in Quito, 2016

The project examined land records modernisation efforts in five Indian states of Karnataka, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat. It involved a background study of the legal-institutional terrain as well as an analysis of the effectiveness of current and on-going land record reform programmes and e-governance initiatives, their linkages to planning and the technologies in use.

In a project undertaken for the World Bank Group and the Government of Odisha, the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) was given the task to use spatial and non-spatial data from public and government sources to develop a framework to identify retrospective, present and future locations of high-intensity economic agglomerations within the state of Odisha.

IIHS assisted the Sivaramakrishnan Committee which was appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, to identify and flesh out the key strategic economic, social and infrastructure development concerns relevant to the selection of the new capital(s) for the newly formed state of Andhra Pradesh.

As part of this partnership, IIHS produced a series of working papers, policy briefs, digital interviews, and a range of teaching-learning material that are all directed towards addressing various kinds of urbanisation challenges being faced by Indian cities. Each of the knowledge outputs is targeted at national, state and city policymakers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, civil society leaders, communities and local stakeholders

IIHS provided inputs on India’s creative economy as well as its potential role in achieving inclusive growth and development for the 2013 Special Edition of the Creative Economy Report on Widening Local Development Pathways. The report was jointly authored by UNESCO and UNDP, and aimed to identify new development pathways that encourage creativity

To help achieve Tamil Nadu’s Sanitation Mission (Muzhu Sugadhara Tamizhagam), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is supporting the GoTN by setting up a Technical Support Unit (TSU) within the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) Department. The Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP)—a consortium of organisations led by IIHS—aims at effecting improvements along the entire urban sanitation value chain in the State of Tamil Nadu, and demonstrating innovations in two model urban locations. To know more, please visit tnussp.co.in

This initiative is part of Ministry of Home Affairs (GOI) and UNDP project on ‘Enhancing Community Resilience to Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation’ launched in 2013 with a focus on mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) in 10 states. IIHS is entrusted to support UNDP to conduct resilience baseline studies in six locations: Cuttack, Navi Mumbai, Shillong, Shimla, Vishakapatnam and Vijayawada.

IIHS is supporting Arghyam as the Knowledge Management Centre and Programme Support Unit. It provides support to the programme framework and strategy, manages calls and evaluates proposals, reviews progress and provides capacity support to partner organisations. It also anchors the process of distilling findings and disseminating these to the larger audience of policymakers and practitioners.

This work, carried out in partnership with The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU) at UCL, the Latin American Social Science Faculty (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), and Makerere University examines the various social and economic implications of climate-risk related resettlement and relocation policies in cities across three continents.

IISc, IIHS, UCL-IRDR and LSE came together to analyse tsunami risk to the Indian west coast in order to improve the scientific basis for planning

This research focused on the past experiences of the city concerning humanitarian relief, primarily received from the central and state governments, and the utilisation of that for long-term development projects. The risks were assessed in the multi-hazard context of the city, along with the on-going impacts of urbanisation on the environmental and climatic context of the region.

Following the establishment of the SDGs in 2015, the SDG Academy was set up by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) with an objective to support the adoption of these goals. They engaged with Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) on content development thereby leveraging on the existing global networks, and media production to develop a MOOC on Sustainable Cities in the context of the SDGs.

Arghyam provided a support-grant to the Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE, New Delhi) to provide technical assistance support to the implementation of various slum development projects in Tajganj area of Agra, focusing on the water and sanitation aspects of the projects. Arghyam commissioned a mid-term assessment of the project to IIHS. Field visits and meetings with CURE team, government officers and residents were carried out a) to take stock of the social and technical activities on ground; b) to understand the project better in terms of its potential and implementation challenges

IIHS assisted the Karnataka Housing Board (a Govt. of Karnataka undertaking) in the updation and reformulation of the state’s affordable housing policy.

The IIHS Housing team assisted the Karnataka Slum Development Board (a Govt. of Karnataka undertaking) in developing a series of slum development models that included upgrading, redevelopment and options for potential relocation of vulnerable settlements.

The Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is a biennial global assessment of disaster risk reduction and comprehensive review and analysis of the natural hazards that are affecting humanity globally. IIHS serves on the Advisory Board for the GAR and has been providing strategic advisory for its framing since 2009, through to the last Global Assessment Report GAR15.

As part of the Campaign for a Stand-alone Goal for Sustainable Cities, interdisciplinary teams from 5 cities came together to test the UN indicators for Goal 11 on Sustainable Cities for their respective case sites. The findings were presented at a conference in Gothenburg with partners from the Campaign for an Urban Sustainable Development Goal in early June 2014. The work also aimed at feeding into the Habitat III preparatory process of developing the New Urban Agenda for the summit in Quito, 2016.

A team from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements visited the damaged locations to document the debris and assess the situation for insights into the options for Nepal to learn from this experience and rebuild a resilient future. The team visited the accessible areas of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Bhumlutar in Kavre district.

The project also sought to organise women into CBOs, to ensure maintenance of the sanitation interventions. IIHS was MHT’s research partner in developing a research framework to test the effectiveness, sustainability, and scalability of proposed interventions. IIHS also worked on an Urban Sanitation Policy Brief for the state of Bihar.

As part of this partnership, IIHS produced a series of working papers, policy briefs, digital interviews, and a range of teaching-learning material that are all directed towards addressing various kinds of urbanisation challenges being faced by Indian cities. Each of the knowledge outputs is targeted at national, state and city policymakers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, civil society leaders, communities and local stakeholders

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (India) and IIHS came together to develop a framework to define resilience with a particular focus on human development, bringing together poverty and vulnerability reduction, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation. IIHS produced a working paper which provided a foundation for teaching a series of UNDP-IIHS short courses that seek to align the three thematic areas of climate adaptation, DRR, and poverty and vulnerability reduction through an integrative framework

IIHS leads one of the largest Climate adaptation research programme in South-Asia: the 5-year (2014-2018) Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) research programme is part of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) international climate adaptation research programme (funded by IDRC and DfID). IIHS leads the South Asia research group, comprising the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)

IIHS has helped design UNDP’s Urban Poverty Strategy for India over 2013-2017. IIHS, in consultation with multiple stakeholders from the government, public sector, private sector, communities as well as other potential donors, helped build an operationalisable partnership strategies for UNDP, also identifying sectors and geographies to prioritise over the course of 4 years. The final output was in the form of a strategy report which was presented at a workshop.

Recovery with Dignity is a two-year-long research project, jointly implemented by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bengaluru and the University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich, United Kingdom. Funded by the British Academy, the project aims to understand experiences of recovery in post-disaster situations across three states in India – Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, and examine how recovery processes and actors represent vulnerable populations.

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This initiative is part of Ministry of Home Affairs (GOI) and UNDP project on ‘Enhancing Community Resilience to Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation’ launched in 2013 with a focus on mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) in 10 states. IIHS is entrusted to support UNDP to conduct resilience baseline studies in six locations: Cuttack, Navi Mumbai, Shillong, Shimla, Vishakapatnam and Vijayawada.

CapaCITIES is an initiative that brings together the best Swiss and Indian scientific and implementation experience to turn a critical gap in Indian urban capacity to address climate mitigation and adaptation challenges into a development opportunity. In this context, the study being conducted at IIHS focuses on “what drives in- and out-migration in the medium-sized cities in India, how is it experienced by migrants, viewed and constructed within policy, and the strategies that could help reconcile the climate resilience agenda with migration dynamics in cities.”

This work, carried out in partnership with The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU) at UCL, the Latin American Social Science Faculty (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), and Makerere University examines the various social and economic implications of climate-risk related resettlement and relocation policies in cities across three continents

IISc, IIHS, UCL-IRDR and LSE came together to analyse tsunami risk to the Indian west coast in order to improve the scientific basis for planning

This research focused on the past experiences of the city concerning humanitarian relief, primarily that received from the central and state governments, and the utilisation of that for long-term development projects. The risks were assessed in the multi-hazard context of the city, along with the on-going impacts of urbanisation on the environmental and climatic context of the region.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group (WBG) has commissioned the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) in 2017 to conduct a policy analysis to develop potential policy bundles that could encourage sustainable housing at scale

Following the establishment of the SDGs in 2015, the SDG Academy was set up by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) with an objective to support the adoption of these goals. They engaged Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), with their internal capabilities on content development leveraging on the existing global networks, and media production, to develop a MOOC on Sustainable Cities in the context of the SDGs

The Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is a biennial global assessment of disaster risk reduction and comprehensive review and analysis of the natural hazards that are affecting humanity globally. IIHS serves on the Advisory Board for the GAR and has been providing strategic advisory for its framing since 2009, through to the last Global Assessment Report GAR15.

This collaborative project led by IIHS, with Atkins UK and University College London (UCL), aims to help stakeholders respond to potential climate hazards, enable the transition to a low carbon economy while reducing poverty and catalysing economic development.

As part of the Campaign for a Stand-alone Goal for Sustainable Cities interdisciplinary teams from 5 cities came together to test the UN indicators for Goal 11 on Sustainable Cities for their respective case sites. The findings were presented in a conference in Gothenburg with partners from the Campaign for an Urban Sustainable Development Goal in early June 2014. The work also aimed at feeding into the Habitat III preparatory process of developing the New Urban Agenda for the summit in Quito, 2016

A team from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements visited the damaged locations to document the debris and assess the situation for insights into the options for Nepal to learn from this experience and rebuild a resilient future. The team visited the accessible areas of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Bhumlutar in Kavre district.

As part of this partnership, IIHS produced a series of working papers, policy briefs, digital interviews, and a range of teaching-learning material that are all directed towards addressing various kinds of urbanisation challenges being faced by Indian cities. Each of the knowledge outputs is targeted at national, state and city policymakers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, civil society leaders, communities and local stakeholders

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (India) and IIHS came together to develop a framework to define resilience with a particular focus on human development, bringing together poverty and vulnerability reduction, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation. IIHS produced a working paper which provided a foundation for teaching a series of UNDP-IIHS short courses that seek to align the three thematic areas of climate adaptation, DRR, and poverty and vulnerability reduction through an integrative framework

IIHS leads one of the largest Climate adaptation research programme in South-Asia: the 5-year (2014-2018) Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) research programme is part of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) international climate adaptation research programme (funded by IDRC and DfID). IIHS leads the South Asia research group, comprising the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)

The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Keystone Foundation, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have partnered to prepare an urban Greenprint for Coimbatore city. This planning study aims to identify possible interventions that would contribute to the conservation and restoration of natural infrastructure of Coimbatore.

Energy innovation for low-cost housing in India and South Africa.This collaborative project between IIHS, UCT and Cambridge explores how low-income communities, private energy entrepreneurs, and government at various scales, work in contestation and collaboration to devise and deliver affordable domestic energy that meets the long-term needs and aspirations of low-income households in two rapidly urbanising cities, Bengaluru (India) and Cape Town (South Africa).

IIHS supported the development of an Urban Sustainable Development Goal (Goal 11) as input into the SDSN Thematic Group on Sustainable Cities, and hosted a Thematic Group meeting at the Bengaluru City Campus in 2014.

IIHS has helped design UNDP’s Urban Poverty Strategy for India over 2013-2017. IIHS, in consultation with multiple stakeholders from the government, public sector, private sector, communities as well as other potential donors, helped build an operationalisable partnership strategies for UNDP, also identifying sectors and geographies to prioritise over the course of 4 years. The final output was in the form of a strategy report which was presented in a workshop