A double irony: the originality and influence of John F.C. Turner

Abstract

John F.C. Turner deserves a different reputation than that which he has acquired. Over the post-war period, Turner has been the most influential writer about housing in the developing world. Most writers suppose that in the 1960s, as an advocate of self-help, he changed the way researchers thought about housing, and that in the 1970s his ideas influenced the World Bank to initiate major sites-and-services projects. In fact, Turner was not the first to advocate self-help; his warm reception indicates that his ideas were widely shared, and less revolutionary than many suppose; his most original argument about dwelling control had limited influence. This irony was compounded at the time that the World Bank adopted aided self-help, for Turner was eloquently critical of this form of policy. Turner's contribution was to bring Latin American ideas about squatter settlements to the attention of urban scholars around the world. He added his voice, and the squatter experience, to a growing chorus of western writers who spoke of the rights and capacities of the urban poor. He built on an intellectual and planning tradition, expanding our notion of self-help and systematically exploring its implications.