The Human Settlements Conditions of the World's Urban Poor Table of Contents Preface
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Page 1 The Human Settlements Conditions of the World's Urban Poor Table of Contents Preface Executive summary I. Introduction II. The concept and scale of urban poverty III. The urban economy IV. Trends in the human settlements conditions of the urban poor V. Reaching the urban poor VI. Reducing the human settlements problem of the urban poor VII. Agenda for future work VIII. Conclusions and recommendations I. Introduction A. The growth of human settlements B. The urbanization of poverty C. The challenge of the human settlements conditions of the world s urban poor II. The concept and scale of urban poverty A. Income and housing poverty B. The scale and characterization of urban poverty in developing countries C. Regional experiences of urban poverty o 1. Asia o 2. Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean D. Concluding perspective III. The urban economy Page 2 A. The economic role of cities B. Urban bias and post-1980 changes C. New directions in urban economic development and policy frameworks D. The productivity of housing E. Conclusions IV. Recent trends in the human settlements conditions of the world s urban poor A. Latin America and the Caribbean o 1. Urbanization and the growth of human settlements o 2. The nature and extent of urban poverty o 3. Housing and environmental conditions o 4. Other infrastructural provision o 5. Land availability o 6. Summary B. Sub-Saharan Africa o 1. Urbanization and the growth of human settlements o 2. The nature and extent of urban poverty o 3. Housing and environmental conditions o 4. Other infrastructural provision o 5. Land availability o 6. Summary C. North Africa and the Middle East o 1. Urbanization and the growth of human settlements o 2. The nature and extent of urban poverty o 3. Housing and environmental conditions o 4. Land availability Page 3 o 5. Summary D. South Asia o 1. Urbanization and the growth of human settlements o 2. The nature and extent of urban poverty o 3. Housing and environmental conditions o 4. Other infrastructural provision o 5. Land availability o 6. Summary E. India o 1. Urbanization and the growth of human settlements o 2. The nature and extent of urban poverty o 3. Housing and environmental conditions o 4. Other infrastructural provision o 5. Land availability o 6. Summary F. East Asia and the Pacific o 1. Urbanization and the growth of human settlements o 2. The nature and extent of urban poverty o 3. Housing and environmental conditions o 4. Other infrastructural provision o 5. Land availability o 6. Summary G. China o 1. Urbanization and the growth of human settlements o 2. The nature and extent of urban poverty o 3. Housing and environmental conditions Page 4 o 4. Other infrastructural provision o 5. Land availability o 6. Summary V. Reaching the urban poor A. The changing international policy context for urban development and shelter B. The sites-and-services programme in Zimbabwe o 1. The mobilization of financial resources and the question of affordability o 2. The social impact of the programme o 3. Conclusions C. Brazil: the FUNACOM programme in Sao Paulo o 1. The mobilization and allocation of resources o 2. The organizational arrangements and the process of self-management o 3. The impact of the FUNACOM programme o 4. Conclusions D. An evaluation of the Employees Housing Programme (EHP) in the Republic of Korea o 1. The resource base for the EHP o 2. The social impact of the EHP o 3. Conclusions E. India: An evaluation of a series of Slum Improvement Programmes o 1. The scope of the Slum Improvement Projects (SIPs) o 2. The social impact of the SIP projects o 3. Conclusions F. Conclusions: Assessing the experience of projects/programmes aimed at improving the human settlements conditions of the world s Page 5 urban poor VI. Reducing the human settlements problem of the urban poor A. The scope for public/private partnerships B. The potential for employment generation in human settlements development through construction activity C. The potential for employment generation from HBEs D. Public participation and capacity-building E. Increasing the access to residential land F. Improving access to housing finance G. Improving access to appropriate building materials H. Improving infrastructure and sanitation I. The effect of building and planning codes and regulations on the human settlements conditions of the urban poor J. Renting as opposed to ownership: Options for the urban poor VII. Agenda for future work A. Countering urban poverty B. Shelter, good governance and the enabling role C. Specific policy areas in need of development o 1. Improving the effectiveness of the land market o 2. Encouraging the development of institutional housing finance for the urban poor o 3. The enhancement of local materials production D. Strengthening shelter strategies for the poorest groups E. Harnessing the benefits of research F. The future role of local authorities G. The role of CBOs and NGOs H. The role of the private commercial sector Page 6 VIII. Conclusions and recommendations A. The incidence of urban poverty B. The human settlements conditions of the world s urban poor C. The shortcomings of past policies and initiatives for improving the conditions of the urban poor D. The key principles of the GSS and the new agenda for development E. Summary of recommendations o 1. The supply of residential land o 2. Sources of institutional housing finance o 3. Improving access to, and affordability of, building materials for the urban poor o 4. The opportunities for employment generation o 5. Encouraging the availability of accommodation for rent o 6. Acknowledgement of the role of shelter also as a workplace o 7. Encouraging partnerships between governments, local authorities and communities Bibliography Page 7 The Human Settlements Conditions of the World's Urban Poor List of boxes Box 1. Housing careers among the poor Box 2. Living conditions of the urban poor Box 3. Troops tread gently as takeover of Rio shanty towns gains pace Box 4. SAPs and housing investment in Uganda Box 5. The slum environment in Bangladesh Page 8 Box 1. Housing careers among the poor Preamble The visual imagery of housing poverty in urban areas in developing countries is clear and well known. Fetid slums are widespread in the form of overcrowded tenements and ramshackle buildings erected by the poor on patches of invaded land. Living conditions are frequently unhealthy and households compete and struggle for work, for meagre incomes, for basic food, and for access to shelter and inadequate urban services. This visual imagery expresses part of the reality, and it is so plain and obvious that neither the relationship between poverty and housing nor the way that housing careers are pursued is adequately documented. Although the literature on housing in developing countries has numerous examples of sociological surveys of slums, of upgraded slums with improved urban services, and of sites-and-services projects, few authors go beyond the factual reporting of statistical categories which shed some light on generalized living conditions. Consequently the housing literature has insufficient analysis of the causal connections between housing poverty and income, and it lacks a perspective on changing housing careers among the poor. By the late 1980s it was becoming increasingly obvious to international aid donors, to policy-makers, and to housing observers that, notwithstanding extensive efforts to improve the living conditions of the poor, the level of effective achievement in relation to need and expectations was disappointing. In their review of low-income settlements, Hardoy and Satterthwaite (1989) reported the realities on such issues as low-income access to housing policy performance, the health-housing relationship, squatting, eviction, social segregation, and pollution. They found large gaps between what actually happened in these matters and what policy-makers said should happen. The legal and institutional structure of government and its housing agencies were not coping; local government was deficient in resources and responsibilities; and in some instances the authorities bulldozed squatter settlements and repressed the poor. Amidst living conditions where crowding, disrepair and insanitary environments prevailed, land rights were, nevertheless, traded in active commercial markets, even though many settlements had their legitimacy in question among the urban governing authorities. It is in the context of the foregoing that the housing careers of the poor have been experienced in the 1950 to 1995 period. Below follows some examples of housing careers and life experiences in developing countries. Monica Cheboi was born in 1968 in the rural area of the Rift Valley in Western Kenya. As a child she lived in a rural self-help house without piped water, windows and an adequate roof. She married young and had a son in 1986. When her husband deserted the family Monica relocated to Mombasa on the Kenyan coast, leaving her son in the care of her parents in the Rift Valley. She had a job in the Kenyan telecommunications industry, but was retrenched under structural adjustment policies in the early 1990s. Alone, Monica Cheboi first rented a room in a crowded courtyard house in Mombasa, later moving to a three-roomed rented house in a forest clearing some 15 km from Mombasa. Her work was trading in second-hand clothing in the city markets, but her job in the Kenyan telecommunication sector was later reinstated. Housing is important in Monica's life, and she has been willing to make sacrifices on other things in order to have private and individualized accommodation, absorbing over 30 per cent of her income. Carmen Gomez was born in 1950 in San Miguel Allende, some 80 miles north-west of Mexico City.