J. Bredenoord, P. van Lindert and P. Smets (2014) (eds): Affordable housing in the urban global south—seeking sustainable solutions

Abstract

The scope and intent of this edited book on seeking solutions to questions of affordable housing in the urban global south is admirable. Twenty-six chapters written by academics, practitioners and activists engaged in issues of affordable and sustainable housing collectively present a comprehensive overview of housing issues and practices across the urban global south. The structure of the book combines a thematic and regional approach, with the first seven chapters establishing the themes present in current housing debates, e.g. affordable housing finance, questions of sustainability from an ecological perspective, the role of vibrant land markets, self-build and self-help housing, and community-led development. These chapters establish the macro-issues that are picked up in rich empirical cases from across three regions: six chapters on Asia, six on Latin America and five on Africa. Each country chapter attains a level of depth that really informs the reader of particularities in housing debates, and tangentially raises questions of conceptualisations of ‘housing’ and ‘home’ in ways that challenge the normative value of ‘affordable’ ‘sustainable’ ‘solutions’ in the book’s title. The editors propose the book provides ‘ideas and tools for pro-poor interventions’ (synopsis on cover) in the arena of housing. To this end, the book has three objectives: to contribute to debate on international habitat and housing agenda; from the empirical examples, to identify innovative and sustainable solutions that can be brought to scale; and (most interestingly) to frame the search for sustainable housing solutions ‘under the umbrella of governance’ (p. 2). The book’s greatest potential contribution is to meeting the first two objectives through a real drive to support assisted self-help housing (where the state, private sector and NGOs play enabling roles). This is a potentially sustainable housing solution that has received little attention in policy circles and large-scale housing programmes. Contributors to thematic chapters argue incremental self-help strategies are affordable to poor households who struggle to attain financial products that would enable a