Sustainable Self-Built Housing: Reinventing Local Material, Techniques and Skills

September 23, 2022

Case studies from Odisha and West Bengal

Rural communities in India primarily use local materials and construction techniques to build their homes. This ensures thermal comfort in high and low temperatures and leads to efficient use of resources, strengthening the local livelihood base and sustaining the local economy. Currently, however, there is no ecosystem that internalizes these practices and contributes to India’s thermally comfortable housing goals.

CSE has identified the gaps in the housing, materials, skilling and livelihood framework through field investigations and a deep dive into the policies in Odisha and West Bengal. This report describes how to build an ecosystem that mainstreams climate-appropriate materials and promotes local economies that support material and skill innovation, with a focus on the self-built housing segment.