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"This publication presents a methodology for participative informal settlement upgrading with the support of information technology, the result of research and development activities carried out by UNCHS (Habitat) and a group of partners. Examining a number of experiences in the field, and through direct support to specific tool development activities, Habitat aims to consolidate a wealth of practical and field experiences into a methodological framework. The methodology refers to the project preparation phase, including community involvement protocols, and the information management system related to it. This methodology should be seen as a practical reference framework for programme managers and officials involved in designing and managing settlement upgrading projects and should assist policy makers and external support agencies in policy formulation and resource allocation. It will also provide a technical background to the Global Campaigns for Secure Tenure and for Good Urban Governance that UNCHS (Habitat) is launching in the year 2000"--p. 3.
Age of Concrete is a history of the making of houses and homes in the subúrbios of Maputo (Lourenço Marques), Mozambique, from the late 1940s to the present. Often dismissed as undifferentiated, ahistorical “slums,” these neighborhoods are in fact an open-air archive that reveals some of people’s highest aspirations. At first people built in reeds. Then they built in wood and zinc panels. And finally, even when it was illegal, they risked building in concrete block, making permanent homes in a place where their presence was often excruciatingly precarious. Unlike many histories of the built environment in African cities, Age of Concrete focuses on ordinary homebuilders and dwellers. ...
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This multimedia sourcebook on CD-ROM synthesizes an extensive body of knowledge and experience in managing urban slums accumulated over the last 30 years. The key lessons learned and their implications for future work serve as a useful tool for capacity building and knowledge sharing for policy makers, practitioners, planning institutions, community groups, NGOs, and university students. Approaches to Urban Slums include 14 audiovisual presentations (photographs, illustrations, maps, graphic animations, and aerial imagery, along with voice-over narration) and 18 video interviews.
In the past few years the issue of land invasion and government reposnses to landlessness in the Southern African region has been at the forefront of international attention. By confronting the the questions of exclusion and unlawful occupation this book examines the appropriateness of the informal settlement response in South Africa through a comparison with Brazil. This detailed comparison sets forth the difference in the approaches of both countries, with South Africa employing the individualised, standardised intervention and Brazil a more responsive one.
NOTE: Please note that this book is in not in the English language; it is an Irish-language work only. Dutch-born journalist Alex Hijmans lives in one of Brazil's many poor and dangerous suburbs. As the only white person in this district, populated with the impoverished descendants of Africans who were brought as slaves to Brazil, he ponders the great life secret of these suffering souls: how can they live contented lives in a place devoid of worldly possessions?
More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and a billion of these urban dwellers reside in neighborhoods of entrenched disadvantage—neighborhoods that are characterized as slums. Slums are often seen as a debilitating and even subversive presence within society. In reality, though, it is public policies that are often at fault, not the people who live in these neighborhoods. In this comprehensive global history, Alan Mayne explores the evolution and meaning of the word “slum,” from its origins in London in the early nineteenth century to its use as a slur against the favela communities in the lead-up to the Rio Olympics in 2016. Mayne shows how the word slum h...
'The world has entered the urban millennium. Nearly half the world's people are now city dwellers, and the rapid increase in urban population is expected to continue, mainly in developing countries. This historic transition is being further propelled by the powerful forces of globalization. The central challenge for the international community is clear: to make both urbanization and globalization work for all people, instead of leaving billions behind or on the margins. Cities in a Globalizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements is a comprehensive review of conditions in the world's cities and the prospects for making them better, safer places to live in an age of globalization. I hope...