Re-examining the informal housing problem in Delhi: A wicked problem perspective

Abstract

The problem of housing shortage and subsequent growth of informal housing has continued to adversely affect Indian cities, especially since independence. In Delhi, despite numerous attempts guided by a plethora of diverse approaches via several agencies, the problem has continued to worsen. Over seventy years each approach tried to define the problem differently but the prescribed solutions either failed to resolve it or initiated a cascading wave of new problems. In this study, using Delhi as a case study we revisit the past experiences of problem-solving from a ‘wicked problem paradigm’. Then adopting an evidence-based approach, we demonstrate that it indeed has inherent traits of ‘wickedness’ and ‘super-wickedness’ which explains such elusiveness and intractability. Such findings inform us to approach problems of informal housing with a new conceptual framework – not only for Delhi but for most of the post-colonial cities of the Global South grappling with similar embedded wickedness.