Geoff’s Book Launch Record: ‘Somewhere to Live: Rising to the global urban land and housing challenge’
‘Somewhere to Live: Rising to the global urban land and housing challenge’ was launched on 30th May 2022 at an event kindly hosted by the Development Planning Unit, University College London, organised by Professor Colin Marx and Alexander MacFarlane. The sound recording can be accessed by clicking here and for the video record please click here.
‘Somewhere to Live: Rising to the global urban land and housing challenge’
Why is it that despite decades of economic growth, it is becoming harder to find somewhere to live that is decent and affordable? ‘Somewhere to Live: Rising to the global urban land and housing challenge’ explains the causes of the problem – and what needs to be done to resolve it. It is written in a style accessible to a non-technical reader, but also provides a wealth of evidence to meet the needs of a professional and academic reader. While based on five decades of international experience in all regions of the world, it looks forward to how land and housing can be managed in a more socially and environmentally sustainable manner.
You can order your copy from: https://practicalactionpublishing.com/book/2601/somewhere-to-live
The Living City: Towards a Sustainable Future
Routledge 1990 (The second edition, 2019)
Routledge publishers have republished The Living City: Towards a Sustainable City in 2019. The book includes chapters by John F C Turner, Carole Rakodi, Herbert Giradet and Arif Hasan amongst many others. It is also available in digital format from Routledge.
GLOBAL LAND TOOL NETWORK – UN-Habitat
A new publication, co-written by Julian Quan and Geoff Payne, was launched on 06 May at the Commission on Sustainable Development in New York. ‘Secure Land Rights for All’ addresses land tenure issues and policy options in both rural and urban areas. The publication is intended to assist policy makers to understand and apply practical options for making land rights more secure in ways which also improve land policies as a basis for sustainable development.
‘The Urban Housing Manual: Making Regulatory Frameworks Work for the Poor’, (Geoffrey Payne and Michael Majale) Earthscan, 2002
Every day millions of people around the world spend their hard-earned income improving houses they do not officially own or legally occupy. The vast majority are poor householders in urban areas of the South, where, in some cities, more than half the population lives in various types of unauthorized housing. As land in urban areas becomes more expensive and globalization accelerates the commercialization of urban land markets, people are forced to occupy unused government land, or purchase agricultural land and build a house without permission ? activities that urban authorities are often seeking to prevent.
This handbook tackles the issue of regulatory frameworks for urban upgrading and new housing development, and how they impact on access to adequate, affordable shelter and other key livelihood assets, in particular for the urban poor. The book illustrates two methods for reviewing regulatory frameworks and provides guiding principles for effecting change, informed by action research.This practice-oriented manual, which includes a free CD-ROM of case studies, research methods and other reference material, is essential for achieving the Millennium Development Goal 7, Target 11 of significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.
Land, Rights & Innovation,
(Editor) Intermediate Technology Publications London, 2002
Every day millions of people around the world spend their hard-earned income improving houses they do not officially own or legally occupy. The vast majority are poor householders in urban areas of the South, where, in some cities, more than half the population lives in various types of unauthorized housing. As land in urban areas becomes more expensive and globalization accelerates the commercialization of urban land markets, people are forced to occupy unused government land, or purchase agricultural land and build a house without permission ? activities that urban authorities are often seeking to prevent.
Land, Rights and Innovation examines the complex issues surrounding land tenure, and the challenges they present for urban planners in the South and in the transition economies of Eastern Europe. Based on extensive research, the book brings together a diverse range of examples from 17 countries where the authorities have evolved practical, innovative approaches to providing tenure for the urban poor. These widen the choices available for residents, encourage local investment to reduce poverty and facilitate the development of more equitable and efficient urban land markets.
The inclusion of a chapter examining the legal issues of security of tenure, as well as an introduction and a conclusion summarizing the way forward, makes this book of value to all those responsible for formulating and implementing urban land tenure policies in the rapidly changing and expanding cities in the South and transition economies.
URBAN PROJECTS MANUAL: A GUIDE TO PREPARING UPGRADING AND NEW DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS ACCESSIBLE TO LOW INCOME GROUPS, (SECOND EDITION), (JOINT EDITOR) LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS 1983. BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE HOMELESS. SECOND EDITİON 2000.
The manual closely follows the technical process employed in carrying out the project and concentrates on the approach rather than particular solutions. This allows it to be used in many situations. It is made available online with kind permission of the copyright holders, Crown Copyright, under an Open Licence Agreement for public sector information. Geoff, Forbes, other contributors and David Allen, the director of the projects in Ismailia, Egypt, on which the Manual is based, hope you find it helpful.
Making Common Ground: Public/private partnerships in land for housing
(Editor) Intermediate Technology Publications (for DFID) London, 1999
This book provides a comprehensive review of experience in designing and implementing a wide range of partnerships for the efficient and equitable use of urban land.
Using examples from countries throughout the world and at all levels of economic development, the author looks at the achievements and limitations of formal partnerships. Evidence is presented to show that a range of informal partnerships, or relationships, has evolved, especially in developing countries. These are shown to have made a far greater impact on urban land development and to have been of greater benefit to lower income groups. The book therefore adopts a broad and inclusive definition of partnerships and shows that they exist within a continuum of public/private relationships.
All examples are assessed according to four criteria, the extent to which partnerships have:
1.) Increased the supply of urban land
2.) Improved the efficiency of urban land markets
3.) Improved access for low-income groups
4.) Provided the basis for a more productive relationship between public and private sectors
Recommendations are given for improving and expanding the contribution of partnerships according to varied local conditions. This book will be essential reading for urban and town planners, academics and their students.
Urban Land Tenure and Property Rights in Developing Countries: A Review
ODA/Intermediate Technology Publications, London 1997
Urban land markets exert a major impact upon the ability of lower income groups to obtain access to adequate shelter and services. When they do not function well, the poor suffer more than anybody else. Whilst the importance of land issues has been widely recognized for many years, urban land tenure and property rights have not been a subject of significant academic or professional interest until relatively recently. This has made it difficult for governments to formulate and implement appropriate policies. This review surveys the extensive international literature on the subject. It proposes a typology which includes statutory, customary and unauthorized tenure systems, as a basis for assessing existing problems and formulating appropriate policies. It concludes with recommendations for improving tenure security which maximize benefits to the poor and minimize market distortion.
Buy ‘Urban Land Tenure and Property Rights in Developing Countries: A Review’
The Living City: Towards a Sustainable Future
Routledge 1990
The options and probabilities for the future of cities are issues of outstanding contemporary importance, both in the developed and developing worlds. The living city draws together both current main steams ideas on their futures and various alternative views to enliven the debate and put forward an agenda for sustainable urban development, emphasizing ideas that questions the economic imperatives of that development. Certain aspects of city life – the economy of the city, city-countryside relationships, the city as a cultural centre – are selected for study, as the book looks at the historical past and the current experiences to speculate on the likely condition of cities in the future. In addition, the book investigates whether the Third World experience of city life is a separate experience or whether there are lessons to be learnt relating to all cities. The book will appeal to professionals in the surveying, planning and architectural fields, as well as students and academics in Planning, Geography, Economics, Architecture, Developments Studies and Sociology, and anyone interested in current issues concerning the city and the environment.
Informal Housing and Land Subdivisions in Third World Cities: a Review of the Literature
CENDEP, Oxford Polytechnic 1989
Studies of informal sector housing within developing countries commonly embrace a wide variety of settlement processes. The literature abounds with studies of “self-help” housing, case studies of slums and squatter settlements and their locally defined variations. Whether it is termed an informal, popular or private sector activity, it has been widely assumed that these forms of land development and housing provision are based upon social rather than commercial considerations. In this way, the urban poor are seen as able to protect themselves – at least to some extent – from the rigours of regressive market forces or the inefficiencies of state bureaucracy
For many observers, it has come as something of a shock, not to say a disappointment, to find that many informal sector types of housing provision are as widely subject to commercial pressures as other aspects of urban life. As they have grown in scale, so informal housing sub-markets have become more complex, whether this is a progressive or retrogressive tendency is presently the subject of considerable interest and concern among analysts.
This review of the literature attempts to describe and evaluate the literature on informal housing and land subdivisions. Some of the publications referred to are intended for specialist audiences, whilst others are research reports which may be difficult for the practicing professional to obtain or put to use. By bringing together the efforts of many observers, analysts and practitioners into this short study, it is hoped that research achievements to date can provide a sound basis for both future research directions and, eventually, more responsive government policies.
Buy ‘Informal Housing and Land Subdivisions in Third World Cities: a Review of the Literature’
Low Income Housing in the Developing World: The Role of Sites and Services and Settlement Upgrading’
(Editor), John Wiley 1984
Sites and services and settlement Upgrading are two major approaches to the massive need for low-income housing in the developing countries. Students and teachers of development administration, urban studies, and architecture in the Third World and practitioners in housing and architecture with interests in developing countries will find here a comprehensive survey of the experience of these approaches throughout the world. It combines detailed case studies with an examination of specific aspects such as the roles of international agencies, consultants, and users, the impact of land markets, institutional and political factors, and the options for servicing and building shelters in such projects.
Urban Projects Manual
(Joint Editor), Liverpool University Press 1983. British contribution to International Year of Shelter for the Homeless 1987
Attitudes towards low-income housing in the expanding cities of the Third World have been undergoing considerable change in recent years and the positive characteristics of these settlements are gaining increasing recognition. Urban Housing in the Third World asks whether these processes have gone far enough in realizing the urban dimension of housing problems and the existing concepts of housing and planning and the assumptions upon which they are based, and suggests alternatives.
Parts One and Two study the historical, economic and social context of rapid urban growth and housing settlements and discusses the existing inappropriate assumptions which inhibit the evolution of more realistic policies and programmes.
Part Three presents a detailed case study of low-income settlements in Delhi. The findings of this study are drawn on in part Four which discusses alternative approaches to housing and settlement problems.
Urban Housing In The Third World
(Author) Leonard Hill
Attitudes towards low-income housing in the expanding cities of the Third World have been undergoing considerable change in recent years and the positive characteristics of these settlements are gaining increasing recognition. Urban Housing in the Third World asks whether these processes have gone far enough in realizing the urban dimension of housing problems and the issues of resource allocation and accessibility that are involved, examines the existing concepts of housing and planning and the assumptions upon which they are based, and suggests alternatives.
Parts one and Two study the historical, economic and social context of rapid urban growth and housing settlements and discusses the existing theories which are applied, showing how these are often based upon inappropriate assumptions which inhibit the evolution of more realistic policies and programmes.
Part Three presents a detailed case study of low-income settlements in Delhi and the findings of this study are drawn on in Part Four, which discusses alternative approaches to housing and settlement problems.