The report describes potential applications of geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial analysis by HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research for understanding housing needs, addressing broader issues of urban poverty and community development, and improving access to information and services by the many users of HUD's data. It offers a vision of HUD as an important player in providing urban data to federal initiatives towards a spatial data infrastructure for the nation.
A world more urban... The world is undergoing massive urbanization, and is projected to increase from three to over four billion city dwellers, mostly in the developing world, within 15 years. This historic shift is producing dramatic effects on human well-being and the environment. ...but less poor Unplanned shanty-towns without basic services are not an inevitable consequence of urbanization and slums are not explained by poverty alone. Urban misery also stems from misguided policies, inappropriate legal frameworks, dysfunctional markets, poor governance, and not least, lack of political will. Urbanization and economic development go hand-in-hand and the productivity of the urban economy can and should benefit everyone. Living conditions for the urban poor can be dramatically improved with proper solutions, backed by decisive, concerted action. More Urban - Less Poor brings order to the complex and important field of urban development in developing and transitional countries. Written in an accessible style, the book examines how cities grow, their economic development, urban poverty, housing and environmental problems. It also examines how to face these challenges through governance and management of urban growth, the finance and delivery of services, and finding a role for development cooperation. This is essential reading for development professionals, researchers, students and others working on any facet of urban development and management in our rapidly urbanizing world. Published with SIDA
Advocates of growth management and smart growth often propose policies that raise housing prices, thereby making housing less affordable to many households trying to buy or rent homes. Such policies include urban growth boundaries, zoning restrictions on multi-family housing, utility district lines, building permit caps, and even construction moratoria. Does this mean there is an inherent conflict between growth management and smart growth on the one hand, and creating more affordable housing on the other? Or can growth management and smart growth promote policies that help increase the supply of affordable housing? These issues are critical to the future of affordable housing because so many local communities are adopting various forms of growth management or smart growth in response to growth-related problems. Those problems include rising traffic congestion, the absorption of open space by new subdivisions, and higher taxes to pay for new infrastructures. This book explores the relationship between growth management and smart growth and affordable housing in depth. It draws from material presented at a symposium on these subjects held at the Brookings Institution in May 2003, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Association of Realtors, and the Fannie Mae Foundation. Contributors seek to inform the debate and provide some useful answers to help the nation accommodate the curtailment of growth in urban and suburban domains while still ensuring a supply of affordable housing. Contributors include Karen Destorel Brown (Brookings), Robert Burchell, (Rutgers University), Daniel Carlson (University of Washington), David L. Crawford (Econsult Corporation), Anthony Downs (Brookings), Ingrid Gould Ellen (New York University), William Fischel (Dartmouth College), George C. Galster (Wayne State University), Jill Khadduri (Abt Associates), Gerrit J. Knaap (University of Maryland), Robert Lang (Virginia Polytechnic
This book is a comprehensive treatment of the twin processes of planning and development and is the only book to bring the two fields together in a single text.
Exploring how urban professionals plan, manage and govern cities in emerging economies, this insightful book studies the actions and instruments they employ. It highlights how the paradigms of interventions and approaches to urban management are shifting, indicating that urban governance is becoming increasingly important in dealing with wicked issues, like climate change and social and economic inequalities in cities.
In Europe, urban area development has witnessed an increased role and influence of the private sector, and is no longer dominated by the public sector. This book discusses the changes and describes different approaches for governance, design and feasibility. The shift to a global economy and new relations between public and private has brought the need for a more integral approach of current practices. The book is written for students and practitioners who want to familiarize themselves with the current practice of urban area development. It draws on many years of research and experience from the Real Estate and Housing Department of the Technical University of Delft, and from well-known practitioners in the field, all consolidated and re-written in this book.
Housing is crucial to the quality of life and wellbeing for individuals and familes, but the availability of adequate or affordable housing also plays a vital role in community economic development. Rural areas face a substantial disadvantage compared to urban areas in regard to housing, and this book explores these issues. Rural Housing and Economic Development includes chapters from nationally known experts from throughout the U.S. to provide insight to help understand and address the difficult housing concerns within rural areas. The chapters cover a variety of issues including housing for rural minorities, the extent of and problems associated with mobile home dwelling, the extent to which affordable rental housing is available in rural areas, the rapidly growing elderly population, and the housing consequences of rapid population and economic growth associated with energy development. The authors not only describe various housing problems, but also suggest policy approaches to more effectively address them. This book will be a vital resource to policy makers at the local, state or national level as they grapple with difficult rural housing problems. Researchers and professionals dealing with housing issues will also benefit from the insights of these experts while the book will also be appropriate for upper level undergraduates or graduate students in courses on housing or economic development.
Over the past few decades, the developing world has seen unprecendented urban growth and urban areas have had to deal with a number of complex problems as a result. While population growth is one of the factors contributing to the deprivation and decay characteristic of most urban areas in the developing world, there are other factors. Apart from demographic and economic factors, the political organization factor of centralization has concentrated decision-making and with it resources in the urban areas, leading to further rural-urban migration. Another factor is one of colonialism. The transfer of foreign social structures and technology, while offering alternatives, has dislocated and significantly altered indigenous patterns of development in the developing world. This book examines a region where this last factor is a major significance; Zambia's copperbelt. Here, the concentration of towns which were developed very rapidly in the 1930s made Zambia one of the most highly urbanized Sub-Saharan countries. By focusing on copperbelt towns, the book provides a critical analysis of the development of urban policy in Zambia. Aspects of conflict and cooperation between different interest groups and - where relevant - their economic relationships are explored and a structural conflict model of urban management is proposed. The book concludes that, with proper management, existing and emerging sectional interests in urban areas can help provide conditions which foster the formulation of equitable urban policy. Although focused on Zambia, the proposed structural conflict approach has potential for wider application.
