Nucleated families leading to unsustainable living, says ECO Survey

Nucleated living and aspirations of people in owning independent homes even as land remains a constraint is leading to unsustainable living, environmental degradation, and climate change, warned the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament today.

The Survey has recommended adopting some of the more sustainable ways practised in the past when houses were built with environmentally friendly materials and were naturally ventilated. It has also suggested incentivising larger households rather than smaller ones to reduce the need to build more homes.

“Given that the demand is only expected to double by 2050 and the sheer complexity involved due to urban areas in size ranging from over 15 million to a few thousand people as well as local vs new settlements, and different housing-building practices, India has a looming housing issue on the horizon,” the Survey said, adding that today’s social fabric was inclined towards a western way of living that favoured smaller, nucleated families.

Compared to a joint family setup with an average of 7 members several years ago , a typical nuclear family in India now had only 3 members. Around half of all households in India are now nuclear compared to 38 per cent in 2008.

Commenting on the demand for urban housing, the Survey said, “Many high income urban nucleated settlements give rise to the tendency of urban sprawl6, which is linked to higher energy consumption, elevated pollution levels, and increased traffic congestion causing significant negative environmental externalities.” It added that correlation between household size and adverse impact on sustainability had been recognised all over the world.

House today mimicked a universalised model of living – dominated by concrete, closed spaces, less ventilation, and a higher need for air conditioning, as opposed to multi-generational family homes in older times, the document said. Traditional Indian living spaces were built far more sustainably with a central courtyard that provided natural ventilation and lighting, using local materials and local labour. “Unfortunately, much of this is not documented as ‘sustainable practice.’

The modern definition of sustainable living through use of solar and wind power, making low energy windows and use of LEDs was a ‘false positive’ as it would require reengineering of entire buildings and construction ecosystem.

The Economic Survey has suggested adopting the Indian sustainable way of living with individual action complementing policy changes.

Among the measures suggested by the document is less use of air conditioners and making use of khus cooling, water coolers and earthen pots and building better ventilated homes.

“With a large population cramped in small places, India cannot afford to go down the individual air-conditioning route, where every small room has an AC and makes the neighbouring air so worse off that they require another, thus setting off a vicious circle,” it said.