Respected Sir/Madam,

Springer plans to publish an edited volume titled “Accessible Housing for South Asia”. Although focusing Housing Issues in South Asia we would like to enlarge the committed contributions from South Asia to authors from other parts of the world, mobilizing their responsibility in the global problem of accessible housing .We strongly believe that your contribution shall significantly enrich the proposed book as well as guide future research, policy and practice in this field.

Relevance of the Edited Volume

This book highlights the major issues related to Urban Housing in South Asia looking at: a) demands and needs in space and time; b) financial capabilities, housing design and implementation; and c) socio economic and environmental impacts of housing. For various case studies the book analysis the process of delivering of houses, the issues related to access to employment, markets and services, the cumulative effects on gentrification, exclusion and spatial justice; the long term outcomes concerning economic, social and environmental sustainability of the urban tissue.

Housing is a basic human need, which many argue, is one of the most important inputs to improve livelihoods. Today, particularly in developing nations, housing is one of the most dynamic infrastructures, attributed mainly to rapid urbanization driven by large scale rural to urban migration. The scale varies but the pervasive presence of inadequate and congested housing, slums and houseless population in urban centres all across the world, bears testimony to the fact that adequate housing is still a distant dream for millions of people. UN-Habitat estimates that as of 2015, “330 million households are financially stretched by housing costs; this number could grow to 440 million by 2025.” The number would be higher if ‘houseless people’ living on the street would be added to this category. The ‘lion’s share’ of absolute housing shortage is in developing nations, mainly in South Asian and African countries.  In India alone, 12 million houses are lying vacant across urban India in 2015 as against the official housing shortage of 18 million houses in urban areas. The housing challenge has received UN recognition through its mention in both Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to, by 2030, “ensure access for all for adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums”. Notwithstanding the varied policy and program response from governments in different countries and endeavours by international agencies, achievements are limited with little or no evidence of large-scale positive impact on the urban housing sector, especially for the working class and the low-income groups.  Adequate housing being a cornerstone for social equity and environmental sustainability, its failure is a threat to sustainable urbanization, and a complex challenge. Addressing housing need requires legislative, financial and technical support and involves multiple stakeholders, noting that the task of housing for all does not only entail the additional households created due to in-migration in urban places but also involves rehabilitation of Internally displaced persons and replenishment of housing stock lost to frequently recurrent natural disasters like flood, cyclones and earthquake.

Submission Guideline

• A suitable and brief title not exceeding 15 words in font size 14 should be given.
• Author/authors affiliation is mandatory with their designation, institute, postal address, mobile number and email ID.
• Abstracts should be written within 300 words along with 4 to 5 keywords.
• Submission of manuscript must be in MS-Word format with all four sides 1-inch margin. Manuscript should be typed in Times New Roman with a 12 size and keep line spacing at 1.15.
• Manuscript should contain the statement of problem, objective, research methodology and findings of the work.
• Citations and reference should comply with APA style of referencing. Give example for book and journal.
• Length of the manuscript should not exceed 4000-6000 words.

Submission of abstract/full manuscript must be sent to Prof. Tomaz Ponce Dentinho

• through email attachment (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Time Line of Publication

Outreach

The target reader includes academicians (University and College teachers and researchers) and organisations like RSAI (Regional Science Association, International) and RSAi (Regional Science Association, India) and other Regional Science Communities in Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Students of Geography, Economics, Regional Science and Spatial Planning (at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels) shall also benefit from having a concise volume on research, policy and practice on accessible housing in South Asia.

Yours faithfully,

The Editors: Kanika Basu, Amitabh Kundu, Habibullah Magsi, Sumana Bandyopadhyay and Tomaz Dentinho