AMAN GHANGHASH

GCAD/16/203
8 AUGUST 2020

Sanitation facilities for urban poor:

A case study on urban slums of Delhi

 ‘We must create cities where the poor are not dehumanised’

-Charles Correa

Chapter 1- Synopsis

1.1 Introduction & Background:

“More Indians have mobile phones than toilets”

The unprecedented growth of urban slums and with very little structured urban planning and
limited infrastructural facilities, the amount of individuals living without access to basic water
and sanitation services is increasing tragically in India. Urban sanitation in India faces several
challenges which that the urban poor suffer disproportionately from the dearth of adequate
sanitation. On average, 60 million people in urban areas lack access to basic sanitation
arrangements, and over two-thirds of waste material is released untreated into the environment,
polluting land and water bodies.

Unfortunately in India, a growing slum population and lack of adequate sanitation forces over
fifty million men, women and children to defecate in the open each day, with very little or no
attention in most cities to the unendurable loss of lives and public health impact of open
defecation and unsafe disposal of excrement.

According to government statistics, urban poverty in India is more than 25 percent and around
eighty-one million people live in urban areas having their financial gain below the poverty line.
it's it is that by 2030, urbanization in India can reach fifty percent. The increasing urban poverty
has exhibit challenges for housing, water, sanitation, health, education, Social Security, and
sustenance, especially moving vulnerable groups. 54 percent of urban slums don't have toilets;
public facilities are unusable due to an absence of maintenance. Accessibility of safe sanitation
will be a major challenge for the urban poor.
Therefore there is a strong case to be made for improving toilet access among the urban poor,
particularly for the people living in urban slums, with that ensuring individual household toilets,
is a key factor in reducing the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery,
and hepatitis

1.2 Significance/Need of the topic:

Toilet use is crucial to unlock social and economic progress in India, and to save the lives of
thousands of children. When it comes to basic sanitation facilities, the weaker section of the
society, which is the urban poor, living in the metropolitan cities are heavily disregarded. This
ignorance by the government has led to a major problem, leaving behind millions of people
living in urban slums with no access to toilet.

Thus there is a research gap for issues regarding urban sanitation, especially among the poorer,
slum dwelling households

1.3 Central Claim:

A coherent understanding of the dynamics, ergonomics, and all the behavioral issues is important
prior to design a public toilet and by rethinking a complex web of factors reasonable solutions
can be generated in improving the toilet access among the urban poor.

1.4 1Aim:

To investigate and redefine solutions leading to the access to public toilet among the urban poor

1.4 2 Objectives:

 Extracting data about behavior of people living in urban slums on toilet construction and
utilization
 Collecting data and reviewing studies conducted on improving toilet access among urban
poor
 Identifying various techniques and possibilities for a sustainable design of public toilet
 To identify various groups of people using public toilet

1.5 Research Questions:

1. Do women and men behave differently with regard to toilet-use and consistency?
2. What are the pathways to the decision to use or not use a toilet for men and women?
3. Why the word “Public Toilet” promotes “stink” and is tabooed?
 4. Why public toilets are poorly maintained?
5. Where does the potential of transformation lie?
6. Importance and impact of aesthetics on people who are dependent on public toilets?
7. How can we improve the situation?

1.6 1 Scope of the research:

There is a huge scope and potential to rethink sanitation and hygiene facilities for urban poor of
Delhi.

1.6 2 Limitations

The study on the public toilets for urban poor will be limited to analyzing and rethinking the
problems related to the issue in Delhi region. No design for public toilet will be proposed.

Since the research is web based, the data culled from the internet about urban slums of Delhi
may be specific to the region and its geographic, socio-economic and cultural conditions.
However, the method could be applied anywhere.

1.7 Methodology

 Background study of the topic

 Forming aim and objectives
 Defining scope and limitations of the research
 Identifying problems related to the research
 Need to carry Research forward
 Identifying research outcomes
 Carrying secondary research
 Case studies and data collection
 Review
 Conclusion