Hemalata C. Dandekar

Shelter and Development

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:50:55 PST

The importance of a house in enabling individuals and families to attain physical shelter from inclement weather, provide security, a ‘grounded’ attachment to place, and enhance the quality of life of residents is an idea that has universal acceptance. Particularly since the Second World War, it has become an integral part of the popular imagination. The almost iconic status of what a house represents to upwardly mobile, nuclear, families is reflected in the great expansion of industries involved in real estate and housing development. This expansion includes the production for, and growth of, a formalized building and construction industry, and the production of domestic appliances and tools that are deemed essential for attaining a ‘modern’ ‘ideal’ domestic life. The theme popularized by the housing industry, of the virtue of the nuclear ‘modern’ family and the good life enabled to it by appropriately designed and furnished housing and appliances, has been enormously compelling. The meaning of house in the creation of ‘home’ in the post-industrial era has been universally marketed to those able to climb onto the development ladder. These have largely been families who were a part of the growing ‘middle class’ in the industrialized world and more recently in the developing world too.

Graphic Communications

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:51:59 PDT

Images of Women in a Maharashtrian Village: A Photo Essay

Hemalata Dandekar — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:51:56 PDT

Bringing the Real World to the Classroom

Hemalata Dandekar et al. — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:51:53 PDT

In Ann Arbor, both sides benefit from a long-term collaboration between a professor and a practitioner.

Role of Industries in Rural Development

Hemalata Dandekar et al. — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 10:27:55 PST

Modernization of Agriculture and the Monetization of a Village Economy in Deccan Maharashtra India

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:10:58 PST

The focus of everyday life in Sugao revolves around farming. Village activity changes with the agricultural season and farm tasks are the rotating pivot around which village society is organized. The agricultural cycle has traditionally been geared, in the Sugao farmer's mind, to the moon and the astrological sign (of which there are twenty-seven in the Hindu calendar) in dominance at the time. In practice, cultivation tasks have become associated with phases of the Hindu lunar calendar which give the farmer guidance when to do what in his fields.

This paper describes some of the changes that have occurred in agricultural production in Sugao since 1942. The intent is to illustrate, with this case study of a village microcosm, some of the forces that have been set in motion by a combination of development strategies introduced during the post-Independence decades of development planning in India. Some of these have had as a goal the fostering of urban, industrial development, others of improving the health and education of people, still others, and most importantly for Sugao, of subsidizing and modernizing agriculture and inducing a shift to more cash-crop production. These strategies have had obvious and subtle effects on the Sugao economy and affected segments of the Sugao society in different ways.

This paper documents, quantitatively as well as qualitatively, some of the changes that have occurred in the practice of agriculture in Sugao and their impacts on village peoples' work and the village economy. The paper concludes with some conjectures about the future of development in villages like Sugao if this observed direction of change is maintained.

The Changing Farmscape: A Case Study of German Farmers in Southeast Michigan

Hemalata C. Dandekar et al. — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:10:56 PST

Educating First and Third World Development Planners: The Role of Qualitative Evaluations

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:10:55 PST

Rural Planning: General

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:10:53 PST

Hosting an International Conference on Women and Shelter: Pedagogic and Logistical Insights

Hemalata C. Dandekar et al. — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:55:23 PST

The experience of hosting an international conference at the University of Michigan on the topic of shelter, women, and development provided the authors of this paper with two kinds of insights. First, there was useful substantive information which broadened our delineation of the subject area addressed. Second, we developed a heightened awareness of university and institutional administration and the logistical issues that must be attended to if faculty/student initiatives are to succeed. This paper extracts some elements of this experience in the areas of substantive inquiry, logistical arrangements, and implications for pedagogy, which may be useful to other academics considering similar activities. In this paper we favor the process issues involved in designing the intellectual content of the conference and its output, believing them to be applicable to other initiatives which seek to weave together pedagogy, research, and action, depending on the culture and the mandate of the host institution.

The Impact Of Bombay's Textile Industry On Work Of Women From Sugao Village

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:55:22 PST

Some Uses and Potentials of Qualitative Methods in Planning

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:55:21 PST

Planners use methods borrowed from many disciplines. These are usually modified and adapted to meet planner's needs to acquire and sift through many diverse information sources helpful in dealing with complex problems. The quantitative methods which planners use are well known, well established in practice, and acknowledged by most as tools of the planners' trade. In contrast to this, most planners also use qualitative methods but these are rarely explicitly acknowledged. In this paper some of the qualitative methods used in planning are identified and categorized into three groups according to the special contribution that they make to the practice of planning. A few of these methods are elaborated to highlight their unique potential to address particular aspects of planning problems. Given this potential, the current debate about how best to teach quantitative methods in schools of planning should be expanded to include discussion of the teaching of qualitative methods.

Review Essay: Planned One-Company Towns and Unplanned Allegiances

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:55:19 PST

Michigan Peninsula

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:55:18 PST

Integrating Communication Skills and Planning Techniques

Hemalata C. Dandekar et al. — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:55:17 PST

Practitioners have long stressed the need to teach professional commumcations skills to planning students. This paper describes ten years of experience in teaching a course in which communications skills and techniques of gathering and analyzing information are taught concurrently while investigating a problem of importance in the community. The course involves an ongoing collaboration, a "marriage of convenience," between an academic and a planner, casting city/county planning staff as clients for students This has proven useful for pedagogy and has had some positive impact on the community.

Indian Women's Development: Four Lenses

Hemalata Dandekar — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:55:16 PST

Preserving the Midwestern Barn

Hemalata C. Dandekar et al. — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:45:46 PDT

Housing Needs in New Suburbs of Indian Metropolii: Case Study of Kothrud, Pune

Hemalata C. Dandekar et al. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:46:16 PST

This article, a survey of three localities in a rapidly expanding suburb of Pune, differentiated classwise, illustrates the segmented utilisation of livelihood opportunities, services and facilities by the residents of the region. More importantly, the article attributes the suburb's robust growth to its timeliness in meeting the emerging housing needs of the upwardly mobile middle class living in the heart of the Pune city and also suggests, that its relatively low infrastructural cost may be an incentive attracting the retired members of middle class households of Mumbai.

Gobar Gas Plants: How Appropriate Are They?

Hemalata C. Dandekar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:46:16 PST

The technology of producing methane gas from cow-dung and other wastes and using it as fuel for various, purposes has received considerable attention in India during the last decade. In the light of the growing energy shortage that the country faces gobar gas is being cited as having great potential for answering the energy needs of rural areas. In this climate it is relevant to explore the desirability of gobar gas technology from the village perspective since, after all, it is the farmer in' the countryside who, ultimately decides whether or not to invest in a gobar gas plant.

This paper, based on the responses of residents of a village in Satara district called 'Sugao', attempts some general statements regarding the constraints on the adoption of gobar gas technology in rural areas. Its findings are that social, spatial, cultural and attitudinal criteria are as important as technical ones in the assimilation (or rejection) of new technology

The Silo: A Century of Experimentation on the Michigan Farm

Hemalata C. Dandekar et al. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:46:15 PST