Bengaluru project tries out 'cool' idea for poor urban houses

Beat the heat

Wood wool panels attached to the roof in a house in the settlement. Credit: Special Arrangement

Climate-proofing homes of the poor, as an idea, has been largely limited to cursory notes on urban planning documents.

An experimental project in an informal housing settlement in Jyothipura, in Bengaluru, is making a start by exploring heat mitigation solutions in cramped, poorly ventilated homes.

Five months after cooling solutions were installed in 10 houses in the settlement, initial results have indicated a mild reduction in the temperatures.

The project coordinators shared that they would monitor the effectiveness of these solutions over a year, across seasons. The project is being implemented, simultaneously, in an informal settlement in Shinde Vasti, Pune.

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Water-filled PET bottles, alufoil, ecoboard and wood wool panels were used in static and dynamic installations on roofs of the homes of waste workers. Data is being collected through sensors installed in the houses with and without the solutions, and outside of the houses, to compare the interior and exterior temperatures.

Sustainability solutions company cBalance launched the pilot in April this year under its Informal Housing Thermal Comfort Project, in association with Hasiru Dala, the social impact organisation which works with the city's waste workers.

"We engaged with the residents through listening workshops where we heard about their heat-related concerns. Through a participatory design workshop, we explained the different designs we have developed with the help of working models and the residents were encouraged to give their feedback which was also incorporated into the design," Anusha Mohan, project manager, cBalance, told DH.

Tracking the heat

While residents of eight of the 10 houses continue to use the solutions, the installations were removed from the other two, following requests from the residents.

"This, still, is a learning process. The sensors are installed every three months, for a period of 15 days, to track the temperatures. The first, such tracking showed a reduction between 1 and 4 degrees," Akbar Allabakash, project manager, Hasiru Dala, said.

Dynamic, chain sprocket mechanisms made with thin aluminium sheets were used as one of the solutions. The installations – closed during the day – are opened at night, to release the heat.

"This is an experiment designed for solutions that could also bring about policy change (in addressing issues in informal settlements)," Akbar said.

Anusha said after the workshops, a structural audit of the houses was conducted in which parameters including strength, materials used, leakages, and ventilation were studied before the solutions were finalised.

"At a later stage, women from within the community could be identified and trained to form small enterprises for marketing these solutions. The larger vision includes integration of workable solutions into schemes like PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana) and ideation with bodies like the slum development boards, to ensure that the authorities are more mindful in planning for such settlements," she said.