Kerala, as the cliché goes is ‘God's own country'. Unique in many ways from the rest of the country of India, Kerala has always had some of the best indicators in many developmental aspects be it health and life expectancy, the infant mortality rate, the literacy rate, social justice and the women situation, caste discrimination, and religious violence.
There is a great political awareness among the common people and even the children, thanks to the unique political situation that exists in Kerala. Kerala is the first place in the world to have a democratically elected Communist Party in 1957, with the highest voter turnout in India. Political history in Kerala shows a trend of an alternating elected right and left government, which results in an increase in public welfare activities, much to the benefit of the common man. Through decades of organized struggle and people's participation, the Kerala model has developed as an example of local democracy, which can bring about large scale, self-sustaining changes at the grassroots levels.

Currently there are 14 administrative districts in Kerala. It has a population of thirty two million with a literacy rate nearing a 100%. It is a land of industrious people with a cosmopolitan outlook. They are mainly occupied in cultivation and fishing and industries related to them. Though industrially backward, Kerala is one of the most progressive states in terms of social welfare and physical quality of life.

Geographically, Kerala is the smallest state in India, which is literally sandwiched between the Western Ghats on the East and the Arabian Sea on the West, which explains the insular nature of Kerala. Endowed with an intricate network of waterways formed by the backwaters, the rivers and canals, it is only natural for the lifestyle of the people to be based around water.

Climatically Kerala has an all year round equable climate with a good amount of sunshine and rainfall twice a year. The architecture of Kerala has evolved as a direct response to the climatic conditions of Kerala. Made entirely of locally available materials such as mud, laterite, bamboo, coconut wood and palm thatch, the houses with their majestic, sweeping, sloping roofs are planned to allow maximum ventilation and cut out glare form the over cast skies. Lack of social disparity is clearly evident even in the architecture of Kerala, with the King's Palaces being planned along the same principles and using the same materials as the common man's house, differing only in scale. The average quality of the built habitat in Kerala is very rich, with even the common man usually staying in his own plot with an elaborately sprawling house and a front and backyard which is used to support his occupation. However, the increasing population and the increasing urbanization have led to a growing housing shortage which is rapidly escalating. Ingress of modern construction materials and technologies is ruining the natural resources of the land besides creating a situation of social disparity, with the poor people wanting to abandon their traditional abodes for modern energy intensive cement and steel structures.
Habitat Technology Group areas of operation Costford areas of operation Habitat Technology Group areas of operation Costford areas of operation