ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what is actually meant with housing and sanitation for all, mainly poor urban citizens, except for a minority of the better-off. The use of durable or non-durable materials for walls and roofs matters of course, but seems rather a luxury aspect when compared to congestion and sanitation. Congestion and sanitary problems are often near each other. Some studies focus however in particular on aspects of sanitation such as the quality and quantity of water, and on solid and liquid waste. Even though few Europeans ever ventured into the streets beyond the European neighbourhoods, they certainly noticed the sad state of housing and sanitation. Many available studies indicate that feelings of concern about sanitation and possibly related health problems were very much an affair of the Europeans living in India. The concern for health in addition to the feelings of nuisances about the urban environment cleared the way for forms of sanitation-related improvement activities.
