Urban Housing Manual – Out Soon!

GPA is pleased to announce the publication in early September 2004 of ‘The Urban Housing Manual: Making regulatory guidelines work for the poor’. The manual and its accompanying CD-Rom provides professionals, communities and administrators with the means to review the extent to which existing planning regulations, standards and administrative procedures represent a constraint on access by the urban poor to new legal shelter or the upgrading of informal settlements in developing countries.

The manual has been produced in conjunction with ITDG (the Intermediate Technology Development Group). It is written in a clear style without recourse to technical jargon but covers a wide range of issues relating to housing and urban development. It is being launched at the World Urban Forum to be held in Barcelona in September 2004 and will also be available from the publishers Earthscan, and through on-line retailers or bookshops.

The Manual is the main output of two complementary research projects carried out by GPA and ITDG and teams of local researchers in eight countries. It comes with a CD-Rom containing background information on methods and case studies, together with a video.

The projects were funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) though the views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID.

The Urban Housing manual brings together the various aspects that affect the problems faced by poor communities in acquiring land and housing. If governments, NGOs and academia accept the realities, principles and suggestions put together in the manual housing for the poor will no longer be a distant dream.

Arif Hasan, founding member, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights 

The work by Payne and Majale is an excellent and long-overdue help for one of the most important issues faced by poor people in developing countries – that is, how to deal with and take control of the basic rules affecting the way they live. It provides a “how to” for community groups to think about and get control over the complex set of regulations which govern so many of the aspects of living. Used with commitment it can change lives. I highly recommend it and am sure it will become an important first step in this area of great need.

Robert Buckley, Housing Advisor, The World Bank 

A timely and pragmatic guide for cities working with the urban poor to upgrade existing settlements and, by actively planning for the city’s future, preventing the growth of the next generation of slums.

William Cobbett, Senior Urban Upgrading Advisor, Cities Alliance 

For further information on GPA’s ‘Regulatory Guidelines for Affordable Shelter Project’ which contributed research to the manual, click here.

Announcing the book launch at the World Urban Forum in Barcelona.

The book will be launched at 6.15pm on Wednesday 15 September at the UK reception in the AC Barcelona Hotel next to the conference forum. 

**Free copies of the manual and CD-Rom will be available at the launch** 

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