Wanjira Mathai shares her top recommendations in observance of 2020 World Habitat Day
Today October 5th 2020, we celebrate World Habitat Day under the theme: Housing For All — A Better Urban Future. We asked Wanjira Mathai to share with us her top reports and articles on the challenges of adequate housing and our collective responsibility in shaping urban spaces that are safe, secure and available to all.
Wanjira is a Kenyan activist and environmentalist who currently serves as Vice President and Regional Director for Africa at the World Resources Institute -a global research non-profit organization. WRI’s activities are focused on seven areas: food, forests, water, energy, cities, climate and ocean. In 2018, Mathai was selected as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans by New African Magazine, as well as the Top Influential African Women by the African Leadership University.
Her recommendations are shared below. Explore and be inspired!
Confronting the Urban Housing Crisis in the Global South: Adequate, Secure, and Affordable Housing.
By Robin King, Mariana Orloff, Terra Virsilas and Tejas Pande (2017)
This paper defines three key challenges to providing adequate, secure, and affordable housing in the global South: the growth of informal or substandard settlements, the overemphasis on home ownership, and inappropriate policies or laws that push the poor out of the city. The paper proposes three scalable approaches to addressing these challenges: adopting in situ participatory upgrading of informal settlements, promoting rental housing, and converting underutilized urban land to affordable housing.
Upward and Outward Growth: Managing Urban Expansion for More Equitable Cities in the Global South
By Anjali Mahendra and Karen C. Seto (2019)
Unmanaged urban expansion increases the costs of service provision, deepens spatial inequities, and imposes heavy economic and environmental burdens. This paper highlights three key equity challenges linked to rapid outward expansion in cities of the global South: distorted land markets, deficient services in growing areas, and disjointed informal expansion. We highlight three strategies to address these challenges: prioritize spatial equity over land speculation through regulations and incentives, incrementally increase the supply of serviced land with partnerships to finance core services, and integrate existing informal settlements while creating affordable density.
From Mobility to Access for All: Expanding Urban Transportation Choices in the Global South.
By Christo Venter, Anjali Mahendra and Dario Hidalgo (2019)
This paper argues that more-accessible cities stand the best chance of solving the problems of deteriorating environmental quality and economic competitiveness that result from growing traffic congestion and urban sprawl. We highlight three priorities to address these challenges: rethinking the role of streets and who they serve, shifting from individual transport modes towards an integrated network of multimodal user-oriented services, and tempering the demand for private vehicle use. Capable governance and leadership, along with durable funding models for transportation, can help enable these priority actions.
Surabaya: The Legacy of Participatory Upgrading of Informal Settlements
By Ashok Das and Robin King (2019)
Surabaya’s Kampung Improvement Program (KIP) innovated and sustained in situ upgrading policies in poor, traditional urban neighborhoods called kampung. KIP became a model for in situ slum upgrading efforts both nationwide and internationally. These community-managed efforts brought basic infrastructure and services to the kampung and provided affordable housing and livelihood opportunities for the poor. KIP and later settlement upgrading programs were made possible by Surabaya’s pro-poor leadership, which supported the long-term pursuit of urban upgrading; the city government’s support for and collaboration with local universities; and the fact that successful participatory upgrading earned citizens’ trust.
For quick reads, check out these blog posts
Transit Oriented Development in practice.
A powerful example of impact on the ground in the area of Housing by our Brazil Cities team – and a story of how interventions in one city led to an approach that was scaled up and adopted as part of a Brazilian national law that set the standards for better quality social housing.
Three Challenges to Safe and Affordable Urban Housing
The blog raises three critical challenges: (i) importance of core services in informal settlements and slums, (ii) need to support housing rental markets, and (iii) making better use of underutilized land in city centers.
Can Housing Be Affordable Without Being Efficient?
The blog highlights the importance of giving due attention to building efficiency in affordable housing projects, both location efficiency and on-site energy and water efficiency. The key message: over their lifetimes, efficient homes are more affordable, healthier and provide better opportunities for residents than conventional buildings.
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