One of the key elements of Doshi’s design was a hierarchy of open spaces that included small courtyards to be shared by three to four families, larger green spaces for each of the settlement’s six sectors, and a central playing field to serve the entire development. This was an integrated approach for 'a sustainable society' where the mix of different economic levels of society could stay together.Īranya Township was designed as a site and services project spread laid out in six sectors that converge on a central spine i.e., the Central Business District. However, it took too long to construct a complete house and it became expensive for the low income group and also ate up too many resources.Ī rectilinear site of 86 hectares was designed to accommodate over 6500 dwellings, largely for the Weaker Economic Section. Previous efforts by the government to provide low-cost urban housing in India were aimed at supplying ready-built units.

The Indore Development Authority initiated an affordable housing project for 60,000 people that would tackle this issue and at the same time be affordable to the government and urban poor. It had been estimated that approximately 51,000 families were homeless or living in illegal settlements. Indore, India in the early 1980’s was facing a shortage of Housing.