Articles by Maartje van Eerd

Maartje van Eerd is Head of Academic Staff, Senior Specialist in Housing and Social Development, and Assistant Professor at Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Erasmus University, Rotterdam. She is a Human Geographer by profession with extensive experience as a researcher, trainer, and advisor on housing and social development issues. Her main research interest and expertise is in housing rights, displacement and resettlement, livelihoods, and gender.

Across Indian cities, resettlement policies have often failed to provide long-term solutions for displaced communities, leaving them with insecure tenure, inadequate infrastructure, and limited growth opportunities. These challenges become even more apparent in resettlement schemes such as Chennai's Perumbakkam, where displaced communities were relocated into government-built apartments nearly 30 kilometres away. Antony, one of the first allottees of a plot in Chennai's Ambedkar Nagar, compares plots and apartments. He explains that having land allows gradual construction and improvements. "This is best. Here, with land, we can construct over time. There (in Perumbakkam), they cannot. There, even if they have money,…

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