Housing for the Urban Poor

Background

In Asia, rapid economic growth resulted in growing numbers of evictions of urban poor from their neighbourhoods and in their relocation to peripheral areas, far from centres of employment and where they cannot benefit from new economic opportunities. The evictions only declined with the Asian financial crisis that led to the collapse of the real estate sector. With the resumption of economic growth, local governments need the policy instruments to protect the housing rights of the urban poor and to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of slum dwellers by 2015, as stated in the Millennium Declaration.

Over the past 20 years, non-conventional approaches to urban low-income housing have developed across the Asian region and in other parts of the world. They have proven to be effective means to improve the lives of the existing and future urban poor where they were applied. Examples from Asia include land sharing, community infrastructure construction, incremental infrastructure development and community mortgages. Such approaches need to be reviewed to determine their potential for replication and up-scaling in cities where economic expansion and trade and investment liberalization are increasing the competition for urban space. There is a need to learn from each other and establish a dialogue between partners. Information and communication technology (ICT) is an efficient tool for networking and knowledge management. It can create virtual communities of stakeholders and experts on the Internet. This can provide opportunities for identifying, analysing and documenting good and innovative practices, exchanging ideas and experiences, discussing the conditions required for its application, and reviewing any problems encountered.

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Centre for Education in the Built Environment (University of Wales, Cardiff) and the Urban Management Centre (Asian Institute of Technology) have been collaborating to develop the Virtual Policy Studio (VPS), an Internet-based environment for collaborative training and learning, which has already been tested in other substantive areas with good results. The proposed project will use this previous VPS experience to provide an on-line resource facility that offers capacity building and knowledge management in the area of housing the poor in globalizing urban economies.

For its implementation, the project will work with two existing regional networks (CityNet and LOGOTRI), established by ESCAP in 1987 and 1999 respectively. CityNet is the Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements; LOGOTRI is the Regional Network of Local Government Training and Research Institutes.

The implementation of the project will result in:

• Establishment of an on-line regional resource facility on urban low-income housing;
• Increased capacity of local government research and training institutes in participating countries to undertake on-line distance learning training on urban low-income housing;
• Successful adaptation and replication of good and innovative practices in urban low-income housing through pilot projects in 3 towns or cities.

Target groups:

Local government officials, community-based and civil society organizations, including local government training and research institutes.

Links to related documents:

Project Summary, Housing the Urban Poor