Research on ‘landlordism’ and in situ slum redevelopment

I led a study on landlordism as a concept, and how low-income households produce their house incrementally, and enter the renting business. The methodology adopted consisted of qualitative interviews and detailed documentation of the development of the housing unit over long recall periods.

I am also leading a study on the premise of state-supported private real-estate sector participation in the policy approach known as in situ redevelopment of slums. I identified constraints on such profit-oriented partnership models, including aspects of demand for such developments, site-level planning restrictions, and real-estate market constraints in large and small towns of India.

• Currently writing a set of academic papers based on the two research projects
• Developed the research into teaching cases
• Presented the findings on slum redevelopment in IIHS’s annual practice conference Urban Policy Dialogues

On ‘landlordism’, we were able to hypothesize a theoretical framework, building on existing state of scholarly work in land rent theory. On slum redevelopment, we were able to posit an empirical understanding of rent gap theory.

Both research projects are expected to lead to policy suggestions for rental housing and slum development in India.