THIS STUDY IS based on research carried out in four illegal settlements on the periphery of Mexico City and focuses on the relationship between living conditions and health status in poor communities, in which housing has a primary role. It is divided into 19 chapters organized within six sub-sections. The foreword provides the conceptual basis of the work and explains the methodology and the levels of determinant affecting the housing–health relationship. The first section concerns illegal urbanization with regard to access to land and self-help housing. Chapter 1 gives a theoretical interpretation of popular urbanization, criticizing the theory of marginality and discussing the informal sector, illegal settlement and poverty. Chapter 2 examines popular urbanization in Mexico City, including the different methods of land seizure and forms of self-help housing. Chapter 3 examines the land and housing situation of the four settlements studied.

The second section considers public programmes and policies, analyzing the relationship between proposals and realities in relation to housing and health problems in illegal settlements. Chapter 4 examines the scope of social policy and the recent evolution of social spending. Chapter 5 examines land and housing policies and their application to the four case studies, focusing on the regulation of land tenure and its effects on housing quality and public housing programmes. Chapter 6 concerns the water and drainage situation and policies in Mexico City and their application to the four settlements, whilst Chapter 7 describes food policies, including the reform of food subsidies in the 1980s. Chapter 8 examines recent reforms in the public health system and social security, and the impact of these on the four case studies.

The third section looks at family, work and social participation, which have a major influence on living conditions in this type of settlement, and gives an insight into the dynamics of popular settlements. Chapters 9 to 11 examine the demographic characteristics and domestic units in the four settlements, their employment and income characteristics, and the types of social organization and characteristics of popular participation. The fourth section focuses on poverty, integrating some of the variables covered in previous chapters. Chapter 12 gives a critical view of the conceptual and methodological aspects of the measurement of poverty and their application to housing and health studies. Chapter 13 investigates the scale and characteristics of poverty in the four settlements in relation to social strata and the Metropolitan Zone of Mexico City as a whole, and Chapter 14 gives a sociodemographic profile of the poor.

The fifth section concentrates on health, the environment and living conditions, including the health status of the communities studied. Chapter 15 discusses the methodology for the study of morbidity and notes the complex relationship between health and environment. Chapter 16 examines the health status of residents of the four settlements, giving morbidity profiles disaggregated by age group, and offers a comparative analysis of the relevant factors, relating the incidence of disease to the lack of basic needs. Chapter 17 considers the effects of atmospheric pollutants in relation to the incidence of respiratory disease in the four settlements and Chapter 18 focuses on women's health in illegal settlements, including issues of reproduction, fertility, abortion and contraception.

The sixth and final section focuses on the vision of women from these settlements with regard to the aspects presented in previous chapters, through their fundamental role in the formation of homes and in the health of their families, by analyzing their life histories and experiences. The book ends with a synthesis and final conclusions regarding illegal urbanization, social policies, poverty and health in Mexico City.