Inclusive Cities and Access to Land, Housing, and Services in Developing Countries

Paralleling the increasing disparities
in income and wealth worldwide since the 1980s, cities in
developing countries have witnessed the emergence of a
growing divergence of lifestyles, particularly within the
middle classes, reinforced by the widening gap between the
quality of public and private educational and health care
institutions, spatial segregation, gated communities, and
exclusive semiprivate amenities. This erosion of social
cohesion and citizenship in urban society has sharpened the
growing perception and reality of exclusion. This book is
arranged as follows: (i) chapter one discusses on the
growing importance of inclusion in urban areas; (ii) chapter
two describes trends affecting social inclusion in urban
areas; (iii) chapter three focuses on infrastructure and
public services: a powerful tool to promote social
inclusion; (iv) chapter four explains restoring the social
function of public space; (v) chapter five deals with access
to land: a critical factor at the core of inclusion and
exclusion; (vi) chapter six describes the erosion of
inclusive options for affordable housing; (vii) chapter
seven talks about generating revenues to finance urban
improvements: land-based financing; (viii) chapter eight
focuses on the right to the city; (ix) chapter nine
describes Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO) and
Community-Based Organizations (CBO) as strategic partners in
driving the implementation of inclusionary programs; and (x)
chapter ten has concluding remarks.