Building Sustainable Urban Settlements: Approaches and Case Studies in the Developing World

THIS BOOK IS part of the Urban Management Series, and focuses on the impacts of demographic and economic changes in developing countries. The book critically explores the issues and problems around sustainability and the building of urban settlements, and calls for new approaches in planning and management. The editors show ways of protecting natural environments and producing good living environments at the same time, by stressing the need for “well-designed administrative systems and appropriate planning tools”. It is emphasized that these technical tools can only be successful with political, social and cultural support.

The book comprises comparative research and a series of case studies of countries and individual settlements in the developing world, which are organized under three themes, in three different parts. Part I explores the issues around urban environmental management, employment and housing, with case studies from Pakistan, Shanghai and Thailand, and focuses on policies and procedures in relation to major land and building uses and their implications for the environment. Part II is concerned with political and institutional mechanisms to achieve sustainable urban development in economic, social and environmental terms. The arguments brought forward by the authors are illustrated with case studies from Colombia, Southern Africa, Brazil, Central America and Saudi Arabia. Both Parts I and II deal with policies, legislation and management systems at national or city level, with some concentrating only on a certain area of the city. Chapters 8 and 9 in Part II concentrate on the sustainability of local development processes that depend on CBO and NGO involvement, while the last chapter in Part II, still concerned with social sustainability, explores the extent to which the living environment reflects cultural values and social organization, pointing out the problems that emerge when that is not the case. Part III looks at sustainable urban development processes with an emphasis on change: change in the urban environment, change in policy and practice, and change in working relationships. The authors identify core issues and suggest innovative approaches to responding to different forms of change, illustrating their arguments with case study examples. The book concludes with a presentation of common themes and findings valuable for sustainability, and identifies further questions and issues that the book did not engage in.