Learning from informal markets: innovative approaches to land and housing provision
Berner, Erhard
Berner, Erhard
Citations
Altmetric:
Titre
Publication date
2001-05-01
Document type
Journal article
Pages
16
Author(s)
Advisors
Editor(s)
Other Contributors
Affiliation
ePub Date
Submitted date
Subject
Local subject classification
MeSH
Country
Collections
Description
Substandard and insecure housing conditions are recognised as a crucial aspect of urban poverty. In most large cities in the developing world, the formal market serves only a minority of the population. It is estimated that between 30 and 70 per cent live in 'irregular' settlements, and that up to 85 per cent of the new housing stock is produced in an extra-legal manner, with severe social and environmental consequences. John Turner's groundbreaking work and the first Habitat conference in 1976 marked a paradigm shift towards an enabling and participatory approach to housing provision. However, little progress has been made in translating the new paradigm into practical and sustainable policies. Relocation schemes, social housing, slum upgrading, and sites and services are beset by two related problems: first, they are far too small scale to serve the growing demand and, second, products are far too expensive to be affordable for low-income groups. The paper states that the informal sector's strategy of incremental development and improvement of housing and infrastructure can be incorporated into public policies, and introduces cases from the Philippines and Pakistan as best practices in this direction.<p>This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis.</p>
Language
English
Other Titles
Abstract
Citation
Journal
Development in Practice
Journal Theme
Development and Cities
Volume
11
Issue
2 & 3
Research Unit
Table of contents
Series
ISSN
0961-4524
EISSN
1364-9213