Professional developments
| Published date | 01 April 1989 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230090211 |
| Date | 01 April 1989 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOL.
9,233-235 (1989)
Professional Developments
This section exists to promote an exchange
of
ideas and expertise between readers. Summary
statements of developments in the fields
of
management, research and training are intended
to provide the opportunity for interested readers to follow up by writing to the contact
person for fuller information. Please send your news to Richard Batley, Assistant Editor
(Professional Developments).
In this issue, there are two statements by technically specialist institutions, one concerned
with industrial technology transfer from Europe and the other with research as the basis for
developing new approaches to housing and sanitation.
RESEARCH AT THE INSTITUTE
FOR
HOUSING STUDIES
Research has always been an important part
of
the activities of IHS and it continues
to be
so.
It is important for the following reasons: research supports the educational
programme; research leads to new insights on the problems of low income housing
and settlement development, leading to new directions in policies and projects; and
research is a vehicle for professional as well as institutional collaboration providing
a platform for exchange and discussion.
The expansion
of
our research programme is constrained by limitations in
financial resources. Most
of
the research
so
far carried out has been financed by the
Institute’s own funds. Since the successful completion of the International Year
of
Shelter for the Homeless,
1987,
a notable change in the aid-policy of the
Netherlands Ministry for Development Co-operation has taken place. The door is
open again for small scale Habitat activities. For research, this means that Habitat-
related research projects can
be
financed by the Ministry.
At present three IHS research proposals are being processed by the Ministry and
are awaiting final approval. The first concerns the potential
of
prefabrication for
self-help and mutual aid housing. The project shall document and analyse different
cases of prefabrication methods which have been applied and then bring out
guidelines with the aim
of
making self-help and mutual aid housing projects easier
to implement and more affordable for the occupiers.
The second project is on the provision of evolutionary infrastructure for low
income settlements. It aims to find out how individual families as well as
community groups living in informal settlements manage and organize the
provision
of
infrastructural services over a
longer
period
of
time.
The
research
hopes to conclude with sets
of
guidelines for an evolutionary approach to providing
infrastructure in order to make the service more accessible and more affordable for
the residents.
The third project looks at the operation and management aspects of sanitation
systems in low income shelter areas. Often sanitation systems provided in, for
instance, sites and services projects do not function properly, are badly maintained,
cause pollution after a while and finally break down completely. What are the
reasons for this failure and what can be done to avoid this sort
of
problem, not only
after implementation, but also during the planning and preparation stage of low
income shelter projects?
0271-2075/89/02023343$05
.oO
@
1987
John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
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