An approach to improved housing delivery in large cities of less developed countries

The world population is increasing very rapidly, overwhelming all efforts to provide adequate housing. The urban population is growing at a much faster rate than the population as a whole, with most of the increase expected to occur in the developing countries. This poses a huge challenge to those responsible for the provision of housing and basic services. The aim of this paper is to suggest an approach to improve housing delivery systems for large cities in developing countries, to help to meet this challenge. A variety of cities from both developed and developing countries were examined to generate alternatives for the various stages of the housing delivery system. These alternatives were then tested for the city of Delhi, India, through interviews with the different actors in the housing delivery system. This produced suggestions for each of the stages of the housing delivery system for Delhi. Examination of the alternatives showed that for the most part they would be applicable to other cities of less developed countries. However, for some of the stages the political, social or cultural situation in particular cities requires individual selection from the possible alternatives. In such cases, the method developed can be applied to make an appropriate selection.