Build as you earn and learn: informal urbanism and incremental housing financing in Kumasi,Ghana

The continuous evolution, proliferation and resilience of informal housing in cities of developing countries defy all attempts by their formal planning processes to marginalise and relegate them to the periphery. In most instances, their rapid and uncontrolled growth has overwhelmed city planning authorities. More importantly, strategies for financing these informal housing units present complex networks of sources not clearly discussed in the housing literature. Using two informal communities—Ayigya-Zongo and Dakodwom—in Kumasi, Ghana, this paper explores the nature and characteristics of these non-conventional housing financing strategies. The study reveals an evolving and enduring non-conventional informal housing financing system effective for providing convenient and affordable housing for the urban poor; but this system is continuously sidelined by the conventional urban planning and housing financing systems. We argue against these attitudes of formal institutions towards these non-conventional housing financing strategies, and submit that these strategies are the gradual, incremental, and collective responses of residents in informal communities to a hostile formal urban planning and housing environment. Hence the dynamics of these non-conventional housing financing schemes point to a complex and fluid network of informal housing financial sources and structures, which are co-evolving with the processes of informal urbanisation and social learning among residents in informal settlements.     

A Review of “The Urban Wisdom of Jane Jacobs”

A large proportion of the urban population in developing countries lives in informal settlements due largely to rapid population growth and widespread poverty. Traditional regulatory measures—price control, minimum physical standards, eradication of squatter settlements, and urban growth control have failed to improve the housing conditions among the poor. More recently, international donor agencies have encouraged new policies based on affordability for consumers, and many developing countries are shifting their priorities to upgrading existing informal settlements and to sites and services projects for low-income settlements. Both traditional and recent government policies are guided by three key norms—unique occupancy, minimum physical standards, and one-step regularization—which are not in line with the individuals' behavior in the housing market. Therefore, governments and donor agencies need to critically examine the impacts of these norms and to consider alternative strategies such as multiple occupancy, adaptable shared housing, and multistep housing development.     

Alternative strategies for urban redevelopment: A case study in a squatter housing neighborhood of Ankara

Since the 1980s, the redevelopment of squatter housing settlements has been a primary policy focus of the local and central authorities in Turkey. Their strategies have adopted two different models: one approach was not effective at generating redevelopment activity and produced low quality living environments, and the other approach resulted in dislocation and gentrification. The literature stresses three issues. First, redevelopment sites are areas where market forces failed; thus, they are perceived as high risk, low-demand, and low-return investments with high transaction costs. Second, institutions that lower transaction costs boost market forces and increase economic performance in property development. Third, local authorities remain active in urban redevelopment; despite having no direct tools for local economic development, they do have tools for urban development. This study reformulates the basic transaction cost thesis and hypothesizes that local authorities can boost urban redevelopment by making changes to institutions or ‘the rules of the game’ by increasing information flow, positive externalities and perceived returns and by decreasing transaction costs, negative externalities and risks, all of which motivate land owners and house-builders. To test this hypothesis, I have conducted household surveys and semi-structured interviews with house-builders in a squatter housing neighborhood undergoing a gradual transformation. The goal of this study was to search for the impacts of the local authority’s strategies on homeowner inertia, private sector disinvestment and the implications of urban redevelopment. My findings revealed that the local authorities can produce desirable results for less attractive neighborhoods with the help of marketing, institutional strategies and effective land use planning without leading to dislocation and gentrification. Overall, this study suggests that ‘institutional’ strategies are crucial for urban policies and future urban redevelopment activities.     

Housing Reform and its Impacts on the Urban Poor in China

Housing provision in Chinese cities has experienced many changes since 1979 when the country embarked on major economic reform. During the late 1980s and the 1990s many publicly owned houses were sold to their existing tenants or other public sector employees. Large numbers of new houses were built by commercial property developers for the emerging urban housing market. As a result, new patterns of residents have emerged. Housing areas of different standards for different social groups became a dominant feature of large Chinese cities at the end of the 1990s. Will the urban poor benefit from these changes and what is their housing situation like under the reformed system? This paper addresses these questions by examining the nature of the emerging urban poor and their accessibility to housing. It involves an assessment of the implications of recent housing reform policies for the disadvantaged groups. The paper identifies two major groups of urban poor in Chinese cities: the poor among the official urban residents and the poor rural to urban migrants. It concludes that while housing problems of the official urban poor have been recognised, there is no formal policy in relation to housing provision for the unofficial poor.     

Planning and affordable housing in Australia,New Zealand and England: common culture; different mechanisms

This paper compares approaches to planning and delivery of affordable housing across England, Australia and New Zealand. While all three nations began with a common starting point—early British town planning legislation—underlying differences in urban regulation, property rights and housing provision soon emerged. However, signs of convergence have lately re-appeared, as all three countries have responded to affordable housing shortages by exploring new strategies to boost supply through the planning system. In the tradition of comparative housing research, this paper examines these strategies in the context of each country’s particular historical, socio-cultural, governance and urban planning frameworks. Our analysis shows how differences in planning systems and approaches to housing assistance can delimit opportunities to secure new affordable homes, particularly in the context of increasing land values. Effective delivery of affordable housing through the planning system depends on consistent and enforceable policy articulation, government commitment, a mature affordable housing sector, and particular market conditions.     

新加坡提高保障性住房项目可持续性的策略及其启示

近年来,我国各地大规模建设保障性住房,在缓解城镇中低收入群体住房困难、拉动内需等方面做出积极贡献的同时,面临着许多可持续性堪忧的困境。作为土地资源匮乏、人口密度极高的城市国家,新加坡通过富有特色的保障性住房制度,成为世界上解决住房问题最成功的国家之一。系统总结新加坡在提高保障性住房项目社会可持续性、经济可持续性和生态可持续方面的策略,根据我国保障性住房项目现状,针对性地提出对我国的启示。     

A critical analysis of research of a mass-housing programme

ABSTRACT

A recent expansion of mass-housing programmes has occurred in emerging economies. The analysis of research on programmes raises questions about what type of research is produced and what its impact is on housing. The Brazilian ‘My House, My Life’ (Minha Casa, Minha Vida – MCMV) programme demonstrates that more of the same type of housing is produced and that the focus of most research repeats the same mistakes. Three million homes have been built and the research community has examined the programme’s social, economic and environmental impacts. A total of 2477 scientific studies on MCMV are analyzed. Few studies were found to assess living conditions from a user perspective at the residential unit scale. Although improvements have occurred on some social issues, the siting of housing on the urban periphery is problematic for urban mobility, social segregation and aesthetic monotony. Also, the design model does not respond to the diverse needs of inhabitants. Opportunities are identified for actions and essential missing research on mass housing. Retrofit strategies are urgent and social cost studies should induce change to the design model. Evidence-based research is needed to support policies and design processes for affordable and quality housing solutions that value users, their needs and aspirations.     

Do Strict Land Use Regulations Make Metropolitan Areas More Segregated by Income?

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Income segregation has risen in each of the last four decades in U.S. metropolitan areas, which can have lifelong impacts on the health, economic productivity, and behaviors of residents. Although it is widely assumed that local land use regulations—such as minimum lot sizes and growth controls—exclude low-income households from wealthier neighborhoods, the empirical research is surprisingly limited. We examine the relationship between land use regulation and segregation by income using new measures for the 95 biggest cities in the United States. We find that density restrictions are associated with the segregation of the wealthy and middle income, but not the poor. We also find that more local pressure to regulate land use is linked to higher rates of income segregation, but that more state control is connected to lower-income segregation.

Takeaway for practice: Density restrictions do drive urban income segregation of the rich, not the poor, but should be addressed because rich enclaves create significant metropolitan problems. Planners at the local level need assistance from regional and state efforts to ameliorate income segregation. Inclusionary housing requirements have a greater potential to reduce income segregation than bringing higher-income households into lower-income parts of the city. Finally, comprehensive and consistent data on the impacts of local land use regulations should be collected to inform future research and planning practice.     

Young People,Homeownership and Future Welfare

Homeownership has become a ‘normalised’ tenure of choice in many advanced economies, with housing playing a pivotal role in shifts from collective to asset-based welfare. Young people are, however, increasingly being excluded from accessing the housing ladder. Many are remaining in the parental home for longer, and even when ready to ‘fly the nest’ face significant challenges in accessing mortgage finance. This under-30 age group has become ‘generation rent’. As this policy review emphasises, this key public-policy issue has created a source of inter-generational conflict between ‘housing poor’ young people and their ‘housing rich’ elders. To fully understand the complexities at play however, this paper argues that we need to look beyond the immediate housing-market issues and consider how housing policy interacts with broader social, economic and demographic shifts, and how it is intimately connected to debates about welfare. This is illustrated with reference to the UK, although these debates have international resonance.     

Urban environmental problems and planning strategies in Tropical Africa: The example of Nigeria

Although various social and economic problems associated with urban development in Tropical Africa have received considerable attention by social scientists, less attention has been paid to the physical problems. The paper outlines the relationship between urban environmental problems in Tropical Africa and the processes of urban development in the region. The paper shows that the urban environmental problems of Tropical Africa are mainly associated with the process of uncontrolled urban settlement, the poverty of a large proportion of urban dwellers and the discriminatory housing policy of many countries in the region.With specific reference to Nigeria, the paper characterizes the urban environmental problems of Tropical Africa. These include poor housing quality, bad layout of streets, poor drainage, lack of facilities for solid waste disposal and water pollution. Finally, the paper suggests some strategies for ameliorating the urban environmental problems in Nigeria.     

Auckland: Rescaled governance and post-suburban politics

The nature and politics of urban development in Auckland have undergone rapid transformation following amalgamation of eight separate authorities in 2010. Institutions governing metropolitan planning and infrastructure provision were rescaled to form the Auckland ‘Super City’ Council in 2010, with an ambitious vision to become the world's most liveable city and ongoing political contestation between the local and central government. Amalgamation of Auckland's governance was conceived and imposed by the central government as part of a broader economic strategy for “competitive cities”. However, Auckland Council's first strategic plan adopted a contrasting agenda, centred around the goal of “liveability”. Auckland's recent developments illustrate the challenges of a distinctly post-suburban polity. The majority of employment is located in suburban areas and the city has variegated and overlapping patterns in spatial form generated through inconsistent infrastructure interventions across local and national authorities. Conflicting urban policy agenda at national and local scales shows a tension between the pursuit of economic development and provision for collective needs. The politics of post-suburban development create specific challenges for Auckland's governance. Liveability and economic competitiveness are treated as complementary terms in political rhetoric, however trade-offs emerge at a smaller spatial scales. Public concern over housing affordability and risks to the financial stability of New Zealand's economy have led to central government intervention and renegotiation of authority between different tiers of government for land use and infrastructure provision. Auckland's position as New Zealand's largest city and economic centre frequently blurs the distinction between issues of local and national significance. Auckland's governance challenges are not unique, however the current tensions are exacerbated by its dominance in a small and geographically-isolated nation.     

Housing and Urban Poverty: A Consideration of the Criteria of Affordability,Diversity and Inclusion

This paper considers recent experiences in poverty reduction within urban areas. The discussion draws out emerging lessons for the provision of affordable and inclusive housing and neighbourhood development programmes that also address the diverse needs of urban poor communities. In particular, the discussion emphasises the importance of understanding the livelihoods of the poor and the strategies that lie behind these livelihoods if external interventions are to be successful in addressing the needs of low-income urban residents.     

Key Relationships Between Urban Development and Neighborhood Change

Changing neighborhood conditions cannot be understood apart from the overall urban development process. U.S. urban development has been a form of technological progress beneficial to most households, but harmful to those left in concentrated poverty areas, and to many forced to move by neighborhood change. Heavy past in-migration to metropolitan areas was accommodated by a process of households upgrading through movement to “better” neighborhoods—thus causing neighborhood change. Where such in-migration has slowed, upgrading in place may now be socially preferable. Cities faced with net declines in housing demand can accommodate themselves through several different strategies best determined at the local level.     

Fantasies of development and housing provision for all? Revisiting urbanization issues in Swaziland

Conclusion Generally, Swaziland’s stagnant rural economy has contributed to increasing rates of urbanization in Swaziland. In the case of Swaziland, urbanization has been fuelled even more by economic growth, though fluctuating depending on the nature of South Africa’s economic climate. One interpretation of this relationship between rural degradation, growing rural-urban migration and economic development is that for many Swazi people, a life in the city becomes a necessity rather than an option. However, as an indicator of development, housing provision has not met the demands of a growing urban labour force. One of the greatest challenges that the government of Swaziland faces today is therefore to take cognizance of the fact that as long as the rural economy remains unsustainable, the land question remains unresolved, the exodus to the burgeoning center of Manzini and the surrounding areas of the Matsapha industrial site continues, the demand for adequate, affordable housing will continue to rise and the notion of development and housing provision for all will continue to be no more than a fantasy. Already the urgency to establish townships and provide more low-income housing and the need to stimulate the housing industry and provide better services has been acknowledged. A number of studies and recommendations are underway. However as Sihlongonyane (undated paper) aptly remarks, although the housing policy, urban government act, institutions for service provision all together form a broader framework of the national development strategy which aims to correct urban-related problems, as long as development challenges faces Swaziland’s cities remain inextricably linked to (inefficient) traditional central planning systems, the way forward will be difficult to traverse.     

CHALLENGES FOR NONPROFIT HOUSING ORGANIZATIONS CREATED BY THE PRIVATE HOUSING MARKET

ABSTRACT: Community development corporations (CDCs) and other large nonprofit housing organizations are major producers of housing for low‐income households. One of the least recognized and examined set of challenges facing these groups relates to how the workings of the private housing market—both weak and strong market conditions—impact their ability to carry out their mission. After presenting examples of how housing market conditions create challenges for nonprofits, the article explores how organizational strategic planning can help the nonprofit to more explicitly focus on housing market dynamics and plan its activities taking into account these concerns. An analysis of the two major training programs for nonprofit housing organizations that were available during 2007 revealed that out of the 216 different courses offered by NeighborWorks America and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, only 8% appear to relate closely to housing market dynamics and land‐use issues and 3% relate to strategic planning. Initiatives that would assist nonprofits to both recognize the importance of the private housing market and to assist them in developing strategies for confronting market‐based challenges are presented.     

Housing transformation and livelihood outcomes in Accra,Ghana

New trends in urban growth in Accra have put many poor households at a detriment, and there is a growing fragility that threatens the economic and social balance of residence in public estates resulting in many transforming their residence to cope and as a new form of urban resilience. This study examines housing transformation and livelihood outcomes in one of Ghana's largest low cost government estates, constructed in 1975 in Accra. The authors collected field data using questionnaires, interviews, observations and field pictures. The study revealed that housing transformation in public estates are a strategy to address shortfalls' associated with the physical design, structure and construction paucities, especially in living space, lifestyle and size, and for addressing pecuniary and livelihood challenges through home-based enterprises. Household needs and household assets were the significant factors affecting transformations. This study is important for policy making in developing countries because it provides a basis for policy implementation for urban and regional planners. Housing and building policies must be swotted to reflect the effort of local performance in housing supply and livelihoods. Housing design and construction must also be realistic to the current needs, lifestyle and resource availability of low-income households instead of relying on passé colonial regulations which are inappropriate for current living conditions.     

Geared to producing ideas,with the emphasis on youth: the creation of the Camden borough architect's department under Sydney Cook

The housing projects designed by Camden borough council in London in the period 1965–73 when Sydney Cook was borough architect—which include Fleet Road, Alexandra Road, Highgate New Town, Branch Hill and Maiden Lane—are internationally recognised as being among the most important housing schemes of the past half century, providing a model for low-rise high-density urban housing that is still relevant today. Yet the programme of which these projects were the outcome has received scant attention from historians. This paper, which is the first published output from an ongoing research project, explores the institutional and organisational structures from which these projects emerged. Drawing on archival and other primary sources as well as interviews with many of the principal figures involved, it shows how the new borough, created under the 1963 London Government Act, developed the legacy of its constitutive boroughs—Hampstead, Holborn and St Pancras—and how Camden's exceptional position, in terms of both wealth and location, was used by Sydney Cook to attract leading designers from London's architectural world, including young graduates from the Architectural Association and elsewhere, to undertake a re-think of the design of inner-city housing.     

Assessing economic,social and environmental impacts on housing prices in Hong Kong: a time-series study of 2006, 2011 and 2016

Given Hong Kong’s unique high-density urban environment and limited land resources, more and more general public has been concerned about the living quality. Based on three waves of census data (2006, 2011 and 2016), combined with our spatial–temporal urban environmental database consisting of three local datasets of urban climate and air quality, this paper assesses the impacts of social, economic and environmental factors on the logarithm of housing prices in Hong Kong through linear regression analysis. Specifically, both supply- and demand-side economic factors have significant impacts on housing prices. Demographic factors are not as significant as expected in affecting housing prices. Transportation factors have more significant effects in the short run than in the long run. Environmental factors, including the number of hot night hours, Annual Air Quality Index (AAQI) of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulates with particle sizes less than 10 microns (PM₁₀), significantly affect housing prices over time. The results have important implications: current policy instruments to prevent housing price escalation are focused on increasing property tax or land supply (economic factors), while little attention is paid to social or environmental factors, which are geographically heterogeneous. Our findings suggest that housing provision in the New Territories may be a feasible solution to alleviate the housing crisis as its demographic pattern, transportation connectivity and air quality are significantly different from Hong Kong Island or Kowloon Peninsula. In regard to urban environmental problems brought by the high-density development in Hong Kong despite land-use saving, intensified urban infrastructure and promotion of public transportation, our study contributes to the understanding of its housing price dynamics from a more holistic perspective by comparing the impacts of economic, social and environmental factors.

     

法国的城市政策——社会融合作为解决隔离问题的公共手段？

法国与欧洲其他国家一样,自上个世纪80年代开始实施新的“地区政策”,以减少隔离及其在相关城市区域与贫困人群的整合过程中所产生的“消极”影响。即使2003年推行的城市更新计划在城市与社会行动之间引起一定的割裂,但80年代所确立的三个支柱一地域的、综合的以及参与式的政策却依然适用。作为一种避免“贫困社区”的适当方式,“社会融合”的理念开始越来越多地在不同层面被城市政策所采纳。社会住房问题在城市更新的多样化战略中是一个关键问题,正如《社会团结与城市更新法》所规定的那样,地方政府在社会住房少于20％的情况下应加强社会住房建设。这些社会融合策略的社会影响并不是非常明显,它与迁移进程,地方市场是相关联的,而公共行动对这些因素并没有予以足够重视。     

The housing careers of black middle-class residents in a South African metropolitan area

Under apartheid, black African households could not own land or homes in most major urban centres in South Africa. This limited residential mobility and locked many households into state rental accommodation in townships. Homeownership for all South Africans was restored in the mid-1980 s and the Group Areas Act was repealed in 1991. Democracy opened up economic opportunities previously unavailable to black people. This paper investigates the effect on black middle-class South African households’ residential mobility and housing careers. A retrospective cross-sectional survey of 244 such homeowners in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality determined their last five housing states. Changes in housing state indicated a steady improvement in housing quality, but tenure changes were not necessarily unidirectional—some had reverted to rental. More than 85% of the study participants had used mortgages to finance their housing career. Very few had financed their housing using own savings, an inheritance, or sale of a previous house, and not many had used the government subsidy. We found that housing careers are bridging the historical spatial racial divide in this municipality.