A House of Dreams: Dipikaben’s Tryst with Climate-Resilient Housing

This case study describes the construction of a climate-resilient home for Dipika ben Malik, a seamstress living in the Bhagwatinagar slum of Ahmedabad, India. Through a partnership between the Mahila Housing Trust (MHT) and the Selco Foundation, her previous housing—which suffered from extreme heat and flooding—was replaced with a structure featuring PUF panel roofing, a raised plinth, and solarized appliances to protect her livelihood and reduce costs.

• Ahmedabad is highly susceptible to climate variability, having been ranked as the second most climate vulnerable city in a 2021 study by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. The city experienced a heatwave in 2010 that resulted in 1,344 deaths, and future projections indicate maximum temperatures will rise by 1.2 °C to 2.4 °C, while seasonal rainfalls may increase by 8 to 17 percent.
• For home-based workers like Dipika ben Malik in the Bhagwatinagar slum, non-resilient housing directly impairs income and increases expenses. Asbestos roofing trapped heat during summers, reducing her sewing productivity from three blouses a day to a maximum of two and doubling her monthly electricity bill from 1,000 to 2,000 rupees. During monsoons, a low plinth and leaking walls led to flooding that destroyed food and customer clothes, causing a single-day loss of nearly 6,000 rupees.
• The Mahila Housing Trust (MHT) and Selco Foundation implemented several climate-resilient modifications to Dipika ben's home, completed by 9 March 2023. These included replacing asbestos with PUF (polyurethane) panel roofing to insulate against heat and prevent leaks, raising the plinth level to stop flooding, solarizing all appliances to lower electricity costs, and expanding the structure to a 'G+1' (ground floor plus one) design.

APA

Global Resilience Partnership (2023). A House of Dreams: Dipikaben’s Tryst with Climate-Resilient Housing. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/a-house-of-dreams-dipikabens-tryst-with-climate-resilient-housing/

Chicago

Global Resilience Partnership. A House of Dreams: Dipikaben’s Tryst with Climate-Resilient Housing. 2023. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/a-house-of-dreams-dipikabens-tryst-with-climate-resilient-housing/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Resilience Partnership |title=A House of Dreams: Dipikaben’s Tryst with Climate-Resilient Housing |date=6 June 2023 |url=https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/a-house-of-dreams-dipikabens-tryst-with-climate-resilient-housing/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalresiliencepartnership2023house, author = {{Global Resilience Partnership}}, title = {{A House of Dreams: Dipikaben’s Tryst with Climate-Resilient Housing}}, institution = {Global Resilience Partnership}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/a-house-of-dreams-dipikabens-tryst-with-climate-resilient-housing/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }