Sustainable housing and the urban poor

Sustainable Urban Housing in China

As China is becoming more urbanized, about 3.5 million units of housing are built every year. It is very important to develop sustainable urban housing in China. A team of researchers and developers from the USA and China have worked together to develop several housing projects in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. These designs are neither “hi-tech” solutions nor “super-advanced” technologies. I...

The World Bank Urban Policies, From Housing Sector to ‘Sustainable Cities’ – The Urban Poor of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

The World Bank has recently redirected its urban policies, moving from a focus raising productivity of the housing sector, to one that encourages ‘sustainable cities’. The expansion of the urban agenda hopes to improve urban governance while also building human capital through poverty alleviation programmes such as squatter upgrading. By promoting the discourse of ‘sustainable city’, the World ...

Housing the Urban Poor in Nigeria through Community Participation Using Lessons from Nairobi Kenya

Migration of people to urban areas from the rural areas usually comes with its challenges interms of infrastructural requirement and housing to cater for growing population. One of the challenge for the urbandwellers in Nigeria is that of adequate housing. The inability of the government to meet this demand has seen thepeople concerned seeking alternative solutions to housing need. The resultin...

Housing Nigerian Urban Poor through Self-build Housing Concept Using Compressed Stabilized Laterite Bricks

Self-build housing methods have been widely used in traditional western Nigeria in housing development. Recently however, there has been a shift to other westernize concepts of housing development which are observed to be more capital intensive than the traditional methods. While these westernized concepts are beneficial to the few high income earners, the urban poor who are in the majority are...

Housing policy and sustainable urban development: Evaluating the use of local housing strategies in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria