Abstract

This study makes an attempt to assess the socio-economic and cultural factors contributing to the non-preference of bamboo for house construction in three states of India, namely, Kerala, Karnataka and Orissa. Further, the economic feasibility, viability, socio-cultural acceptability and sustainability of bamboo based houses were also analysed in detail. Forests and homesteads are the two important sources of bamboo in the study areas. Although bamboos are available in plenty, the housing sector experiences severe shortage of bamboos for construction as the pulp and paper industries purchase bamboos by offering higher prices. In the study areas, bamboo houses are either thatched with grass or leaves, or tiled using country tiles (clay tiles). As evident from the survey, 95 percent of the dwellers prefer tiled houses to thatched houses because of durability and low maintenance cost of the former. It was further observed that bamboo houses, particularly tiled ones are economically sustainable and viable, as assessed in terms of availability of resources, acceptability, affinity, affordability, adaptability and cost of construction. Two main constraints faced in the promotion of bamboo tiled houses are low income of the people and non-availability of good quality bamboo. Bamboo houses may be improved by providing more amenities and better look for aesthetic satisfaction. The state governments should promote bamboo as a construction material in their housing schemes and a few models could be demonstrated taking into consideration the local conditions and weather factors