In 1986 the World Bank prepared a
strategy for low-income housing in developing countries.
This work grew out of the Bank's efforts to support the
urban poor through an extensive housing assistance program
that was launched by Bank President McNamara's speech
on urban poverty. By that time, the Bank had provided more
than $4 billion of such assistance, and had undertaken an
extensive research effort to design support for that

What factors influence community
participation in the delivery of urban services? In
particular, does security of tenure enhance the probability
of participation as it provides individuals with incentives
to act collectively in pursuit of a common objective? And
are collective efforts less likely to succeed when there is
a high degree of heterogeneity in culture or endowments
among community members? The authors use household level

Informal settlements are an integral
part of the urban landscape in developing countries. These
settlements are widely distributed within cities, including
central business centers and peripheral areas with
environment hazards. In most cases, residents of these
settlements do not have access to basic public services and
amenities. In this paper, the authors examine the impact of
interventions, such as upgrading basic services and

Two of the great stylized predictions of
development theory, and two of the great expectations of
policy makers as indicators of progress in development, are
inexorable urbanization and inexorable formalization.
Urbanization is indeed happening, beyond the "tipping
point" where half the world's population is now
urban. However, formalization has slowed down significantly
in the past quarter century. Indeed, informality has been

This book rental housing lessons from
international experience and policies for emerging market
is an effort to bring rental housing to the forefront of the
housing agenda of countries around the world and to provide
general guidance for policy makers whose actions can have an
effect on where and how people live. It warns of the
challenges they face and provides guidelines on how to
develop or redevelop a sound rental sector. it can enable

The report is organized into three
chapters: chapter two looks at the pace and patterns of
India's urbanization, providing a 100-year perspective
on demographic shifts and a 20-year perspective on the
spatial distribution of jobs across India's portfolio
of settlements. The review is based on a careful, spatially
detailed analysis of data from economic and demographic
censuses, annual surveys of industry, national sample

For many years, Rio de Janeiro has held
the dubious distinction of being one of the world s most
beautiful cities, and at the same time, one of the most
dangerous. This report is the story of Rio s attempt to
break with history and establish a new kind of state
presence in its favelas. This report documents how life in
the favelas is changing as a result of the Police
Pacification Unit (UPP) pacification effort, as seen through

Afghanistan is one of the poorest and
longest suffering countries among members of the World Bank,
and has been ravaged by chronic conflict and political
instability. Afghanistan's infrastructure has been
destroyed or degraded; its human resource base severely
depleted; and its social capital eroded. Despite existing
public administration structures, the majority of state
institutions are only beginning to function effectively, and

Land policy, administration and
management are areas of strong client demand for technical
advice and operational support. This review sought to help
the Bank better position itself to present coherent advice
on policy, institutional arrangements and practice. The
potential implications are a lowering of reputational risk
to the Bank; greater efficiency in the process including
joint data gathering; and building of greater momentum and

The purpose of this study was to augment
the Bank's research on land markets and investigate key
land market issues in four case study cities in South and
East Asia. From the study results, the consultants have
attempted to determine whether or not certain policy
instruments can be adopted in the respective cities and in
other regions of the world. Ultimately the study, in tracing
the role of various land development policies in these

The objective of conducting this case
study on Mozambique is to uncover the pattern of municipal
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) impact that
may exist in other low-capacity countries with analogous
political economy structures in relation to leveraging ICT
in public sectors. The study concludes by suggesting
measures to link the continent's ICT boom in
citizen-based mobile telephony and internet usage with the

Housing development has direct and
indirect impacts on the environment. Through its design,
construction, and operation, housing represents a
significant point of direct consumption of natural
materials, water, and energy. Therefore, greenhouse gas
emissions embodied in housing can be very significant.
Moreover, in Brazil, civil construction is responsible for
the largest percentage of solid waste volume generated in