Double Standards, Single Purpose: Making Housing Standards Relevant to People's Needs

European standards for housing and infrastructure are inappropriate and unaffordable for the majority of the urban poor in developing countries. But what is the alternative? This was the issue addressed by an international research project within ITDG's Shelter Program, of which this book is the major output. Since the majority of urban residents in developing countries currently live in unplanned and illegal settlements, there is obviously a need for a new paradigm, abandoning the colonial inheritance and using a much more flexible approach. Standards need to be revised continuously to accommodate changes in circumstances and technology developments.

The best source of inspiration for these changes is what is happening on the ground in low-income settlements. A greater participation by the poor in regulating the quality of their built environment, using methods such as community action planning, is clearly required. Regulation is not superfluous, because it does provide the poor with the security needed to build a livelihood, and it guarantees a minimum of health and safety to the community as a whole. But it should not become an insurmountable threshold; simplicity and flexibility are key factors in making legal housing more accessible to the poor.

That current housing standards in most developing countries are inappropriate to the needs of the poor is well documented. International as well as national housing policies and strategies, including the Habitat Agenda, increasingly argue for their revision. However, there is little accessible information on how this can be done successfully and what various projects and countries have learned from doing so. This book aims to fill that gap.