Urban Land and Shelter for the Poor

In the Third World, the true city builders are the urban poor: in the large Third World cities more than one million people live in illegally developed settlements, with little or no piped water, sanitation or community services.

The root cause of illegal settlements is an urban land market which, through prices or government decision, does not allocate land to the poor for housing.

Finding alternatives to illegal housing for the poor is one of the major challenges facing governments and international aid agencies. First published by Earthscan for the International Year of Shelter, this book has been revised and updated.

It provides an international survey not only of the problems, but underlying systems of tenure, taxation, planning, zoning and municipal land acquisition.

The author shows how all these activities affect who is housed, where and how.

The provision of safe, legal urban land for the poor to live on is at the heart of the problem facing government and city administrators.

He mantains that housing is the best evidence of whether a city is alive and working.

Patrick McAuslan is editor of "Urban Law and Policy" and has worked in planning in many countries, including Malawi, Tanzania, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and India.