Low-income shelter in the third world city - Applied Geography: Principles and Practice - page 504

However, as seen in some of the case studies
presented in this chapter, the promotion of self-help
can be seen as a practical and very cheap solution
on the part of governments and international
organisations (see Box 37.2). At the most negative,
this view sees self-help housing as exploiting the
poor yet further, and that this is happening more
and more with the implementation of structural
adjustment programmes and neoliberal policies.
The multifaceted nature of the housing problems
that are faced in most third world cities underlines
the need for, and value of, applied research focusing
on housing and environmental conditions and the
efficacy of housing policies. There remains,
therefore, a pressing continuing need for effective
applied research on the problems and prospects of
low-income housing as an issue that directly affects
the quality of life of countless millions.

Issues relating to housing and environmental
conditions are effectively addressed in:
Main, H. and Williams, S.W. (eds) (1994)
Environment and Housing in Third World Cities.
Chichester:Wiley.
Hardoy, J.E., Mitlin, D. and Satterthwaite, D. (1992)
Environmental Problems in Third World Cities.
London: Earthscan.
A summary of housing conditions, plus chapters
on sustainable urban development, the internal
structure of cities, basic needs provision and
employment and work, can be found in:
Potter, R.B. and Lloyd-Evans, S. (1998) The City
in the Developing World. Harlow: Longman.

REFERENCES

Abrams, C. (1964) Housing in the Modern World. London:
Faber & Faber.
Abu-Lughod, J. (1971) Cairo: 1001 Years of the 'City
Victorious'. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Berghall, P.E. (1995) Habitat II and the Urban Economy.
Helsinki: United Nations University and the World
Institute for Development Economics Research.
Chan, C. (1994) Responses of low-income communities
to environmental challenges in Hong Kong. In H.Main
and S.W.Williams (eds) Environment and Housing in Third
World Cities, Chichester:Wiley, 125-32.
Chant, S. (1996) Gender, Urban Development and Housing.
NewYork: United Nations Development Programme.
Clarke, C.G. (1975) Kingston, Jamaica: Urban Growth and Social
Change 1692-1962. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Conway, D. (1982) Self-help housing, the commodity nature
of housing and amelioration of the housing deficit:
continuing theTurner-Burgess debate. Antipode 14, 40-6.
Conway, D. (1985) Changing perspectives on squatter
settlements, intraurban mobility, and constraints on
housing choice of the Third World urban poor. Urban
Geography 6, 170-92.
Desai, V. (1995) Community Participation and Slum Housing:
A Study of Bombay. New Delhi; Thousand Oaks, Calif.,
London: Sage.
Drakakis-Smith, D. (1982) Urbanisation, Housing and the
Development Process. London: Croom Helm.
Dwyer, D.J. (1975) People and Housing in Third World Cities.
London: Longman.
Eckstein, S. (1990) Urbanisation revisited: inner-city slum
of hope and squatter settlement of despair. World
Development 18, 165-81.

GUIDE TO FURTHER READING

For a recent general introduction to housing the
poor in developing nations, see:
Aldrich, B.C. and Sandhu, R.S. (eds) (1995) Housing
the Urban Poor: Policy and Practice in Developing
Countries. London and New Jersey: Zed Books.
An overview of some of the methodological issues
involved in the analysis of housing is provided by:
Jones, G. and Ward, P.M. (eds) (1994) Methodology for
Land and Housing Market Analysis. London: UCL Press.
If you want to review a selection of different
governments' handling of the interface between
the individual, self-help imperatives and the
responsibilities of the state, set in the context of
the Caribbean, and including socialist Cuba, you
should find the following useful:
Potter, R.B. and Conway, D. (eds) (1997) Self-Help
Housing, the Poor and the State in the Caribbean.
Knoxville: University ofTennessee Press.
Two excellent collections of general readings on
self-help housing are provided by:
Ward, P. (ed.) (1982) Self Help Housing: A Critique.
London: Mansell.
Mathey, K. (1992) (ed) Beyond Self-Help Housing.
London and NewYork: Mansell.