Housing Africa's urban poor P. Amis and P. Lloyd Manchester University Press, 1990, 305 pp
| Published date | 02 November 2006 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230140407 |
| Author | Geoffrey Payne |
| Date | 02 November 2006 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 14,408414 (1994)
Book
Reviews
HOUSING AFRICA’S URBAN POOR
P.
Amis and
P.
Lloyd
Manchester University Press, 1990, 305 pp.
HOUSING POLICY
IN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Edited by
G.
Schidlo
Routledge, New York, 1990, 178 pp.
HOUSING AND URBANISATION: A STUDY
OF
INDIA
C.
Pugh
Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1990, 315 pp.
THIRD WORLD HOUSING IN SOCIAL AND SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT: The Case
of Jakarta
L.
Marcussen
Avebury, Aldershot, UK, 1990,205 pp.
HOUSING POLICIES IN THE SOCIALIST THIRD WORLD
Edited by
K.
Mathey
Profil Verlag, Munich, 1990,332 pp.
Books on housing in developing countries have appeared thick and fast during the last few
decades,
so
it is increasingly difficult to identify a new aspect to the subject. Some writers
or publishers seek to overcome this by implying a more universal focus for their books than
the material in fact justifies, whilst others seek to appeal to more specialised sections of the
market. Among the five books under review are examples of both approaches.
Three of the books focus on specific locations, Amis and Lloyd assessing housing issues,
policies and projects in urban Africa, Pugh examining housing and urbanisation in India
and Marcussen reporting on his research on housing and spatial development in Jakarta.
The difference is that whereas the first book is exclusively about Africa, and mainly Anglophone
countries, the last two books present the location as a sub-title,
so
that it is the subject
matter to which they seek to draw attention. Marcussen goes
so
far in this direction that
he even omits any reference on the book cover to the Jakarta focus. This is almost taking
the publisher’s understandable concern to maximise potential readers (or rather buyers) to
the level of misrepresentation and could therefore prove counter-productive.
Of the other titles reviewed, Mathey has exposed a rich vein of original material on housing
in socialist countries within the Third World, a subject not adequately covered in a single
work despite the level
of
interest it has generated over the years. The last book reviewed
is,
in
intention, the most ambitious. Schidlo has edited a slim volume
of
172 pages on housing
policy
in
developing countries, claiming that it is the focus on policy which marks the book
out from others in the field.
General Themes
What do these books tell
us
about the concerns of their authors and editors? First, it is
clear that even left wing academics have finally lost their innocence after fondly believing
that the evils of bad housing can be laid at the door of capitalism. Secondly, whilst international
agencies, and particularly the World Bank, continue to come in for their fair share of criticism,
it
is recognized that they have made an enormous contribution in influencing governments
away from subsidised mass housing towards more economically viable, though arguably
socially insensitive, approaches. Thirdly, there is a recognition that housing conditions can
0
1994 by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
To continue reading
Request your trial