Diana Mitlin
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 457331 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Diana Mitlin |
| NOMBRES | Diana |
| APELLIDO | Mitlin |
| FIRMA | MITLIN D |
| AFILIACIONES | Center for Global Development |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8811-6440 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 71 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 557 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 69 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 2 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1992 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 11 |
A dynamic analysis of tenure status in Africa’s urban housing markets
There is a widespread narrative on the global housing crisis. To contribute to our collective understanding, this paper analyses housing outcomes in four urban centres in Ghana and Tanzania. We consider how outcomes change across five age cohorts differentiated by gender. We show that a very high percentage of older individuals achieve ownership, and many younger individuals are tenants. We also show that a small group remain dependent on others …
A comparative analysis of the cost of alternative approaches to addressing housing need in Namibia
Despite considerable housing deficits, particularly in Africa, and the prioritization of housing agendas by many governments, there is relatively little research on the most cost-effective approaches to use. This paper provides a comparative analysis of four programmes addressing the housing needs of the residents of one Namibian town. The analysis informs our understanding of the most cost-effective and affordable ways to reach the town’s low-in…
The contribution of urban reform coalitions to inclusive and equitable cities
Covid-19 vaccine rollout
While the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on the health of low-income urban communities in the global South has not been insignificant, the results of state responses carried out without full consideration of poverty consequences have been very serious. Vaccination, which supports both health and economic recovery, is one way people can reduce the risk of further exclusion. This field note, drawing on surveys from informal settlements in Harare, Kampa…
Global development and urban studies
Recent calls to shift from an “international” to a “global” development paradigm have sought to challenge global North–South binaries. This has provoked lively debate, with criticisms focusing on two issues: the empirical question of North–South convergence since 1990, and the political-theoretical basis of the proposed paradigm. In response, this paper draws on innovations in postcolonial and comparative urban studies to propose three “tactics” …
The contribution of reform coalitions to inclusion and equity
Coalitional politics is being used by multiple urban social movements – and agencies that support their work – to address the scale and nature of disadvantage in towns and cities of the Global South. To advance our understanding about how coalitions might form and function effectively, this paper introduces and analyses four diverse exemplars that illustrate the approaches used. We find that coalitions have the potential to improve the relational…
Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout
The Covid-19 pandemic’s health impacts on low-income urban communities have not been insignificant, but the results of state responses and shutdowns implemented without adequate consideration of poverty consequences have been very serious. In this context, vaccination is one way – among many and varied actions needed – in which people can reduce risk of further exclusion. This article summarises early findings from a study focusing on the experie…
Understanding the politics of shelter in three African cities; the contribution of political settlements
This article analyses the politics of shelter provision in three African cities, focusing on the needs of, and provision for, the low- and middle-income residents. The significance of housing to citizen well-being means that governments influence multiple facets of land and shelter, affecting the shelter options realizable for urban residents. The framework of political settlements is increasingly used to understand national political outcomes. I…
Water access in global South cities
The article analyzes water access in cities in the global South. We examine two challenges to water access from the perspective of households: intermittent services and affordability. The article analyzes primary and secondary data from 15 cities and one corresponding informal or low-income settlement in each city in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. In 12 out of 15 cities analyzed, households connected to the municipal piped sys…
Informality as Experimentation
This paper considers the modalities by which utilities in four sub-Saharan African cities have extended water services into low-income settlements and examines their consequences for household access to water. We argue that water utilities and other public agencies supplying water are experimenting, drawing on the approaches of informal suppliers, to find ways to extend their coverage into low-income and/or informal neighbourhoods despite their l…
Urban Informality as a Site of Critical Analysis
Across the Global South, the realities of urban informality are changing, with implications for how we understand this phenomenon across economic, spatial, and political domains. Recent accounts have attempted to recognise the diversity of informality across contexts and dimensions, as well as its everyday lived realities. Reviewing key debates in the sector, and drawing upon the new empirical studies in the papers presented here, we argue for a …
Building Resilience to Climate Change in Informal Settlements
Knowledge Matters
Covid-19
As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases nears 27 million, there is a rush to answer (what next) and a rush to act (to solve the immediate problems of COVID-19). This paper discusses, with a specific focus on urban areas in the global South, what is missing to date from this response. That includes an identification of things that there are too much of, things that are not being done at all, and things that are unbalanced. There has been an enor…
Local response in health emergencies
This paper highlights the major challenges and considerations for addressing COVID-19 in informal settlements. It discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local protective action. There is heightened concern about informal urban settlements because of the combination of population density and inadequate access to water and sanitation, which makes standard advice about social distancing and washing hands implausible. There …
Covid-19 and the case for global development
National urban policy making and its potential for sustainable urbanism
Beyond contention
This paper explores the strategies of social movement organizations working in towns and cities of the global South to secure justice for their members and address poverty and inequality. The paper argues that there has been a false distinction between alternative strategies of resistance. Drawing on research in Kenya and South Africa, I argue that, rather than seeing strategies of contention, collaboration and subversion as separate approaches, …
What the experiences of South Africa’s mass housing programme teach us about the contribution of civil society to policy and programme reform
Experiences of apartheid in South Africa have resulted in the association of shelter with citizenship, adding significance to the concept of “home”. This paper reviews experiences with grassroots efforts to make the government’s housing policy and programme more effective in addressing the needs of the urban poor. The experiences offer lessons relevant within and beyond South Africa. First, collaboration between state and civil society has been p…
Learning from Sustained Success
Past research by one of the authors of this paper has identified four key institutional challenges that community-driven initiatives to improve sanitation in deprived urban settlements face: the collective action challenge of improving community sanitation; the coproduction challenge of working with formal service providers to dispose of the sanitary waste safely; the affordability challenge of reconciling the affordable with what is acceptable t…
Will urban sanitation “leave no one behind”
Is it possible to reach low-income urban dwellers with good-quality sanitation
Sharing reflections on inclusive sanitation
This paper draws on sanitation innovations in Blantyre (Malawi), Chinhoyi (Zimbabwe), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Kitwe (Zambia) driven by slum (1) /shack dweller federations to consider what an inclusive approach to sanitation would involve. This includes what is possible for low-income households when there is little or no external support, no piped water supply and no city sewers to connect to. The paper discusses low-income households’ choic…
Challenges for Community‐based Adaptation
This paper considers community‐based adaptation (CBA) to climate change and its relationship to the theory and practice of participatory development. It is argued that CBA needs to recognise the considered experience of participatory development to date, particularly in relation to local involvement in project planning and implementation, as well as acknowledging the specific challenges raised by climate change. Without attention to risks and unc…
A class act
Grassroots organizations that have sought to scale up improvements to their urban neighbourhoods through engaging the state have found themselves drawn into relationships with professionals. The potentially negative consequences of such engagements have long been recognized. This paper explores the nature of relations between professionals and organizations of the urban poor, identifying and discussing associated relational tensions. It considers…
With and beyond the state — co-production as a route to political influence, power and transformation for grassroots organizations
This paper reviews the use of co-production — with state and citizens working together — as a grassroots strategy to secure political influence and access resources and services. To date, the literature on social movements has concentrated on more explicitly political strategies used by such movements to contest for power and influence. Co-production, when considered, is viewed as a strategy used by citizens and the state to extend access to basi…
Reclaiming Development? NGOs and the Challenge of Alternatives
Local response in health emergencies
This paper highlights the major challenges and considerations for addressing COVID-19 in informal settlements. It discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local protective action. There is heightened concern about informal urban settlements because of the combination of population density and inadequate access to water and sanitation, which makes standard advice about social distancing and washing hands implausible. There …
Covid-19 and the case for global development
Beyond contention
This paper explores the strategies of social movement organizations working in towns and cities of the global South to secure justice for their members and address poverty and inequality. The paper argues that there has been a false distinction between alternative strategies of resistance. Drawing on research in Kenya and South Africa, I argue that, rather than seeing strategies of contention, collaboration and subversion as separate approaches, …
Learning from Sustained Success
Past research by one of the authors of this paper has identified four key institutional challenges that community-driven initiatives to improve sanitation in deprived urban settlements face: the collective action challenge of improving community sanitation; the coproduction challenge of working with formal service providers to dispose of the sanitary waste safely; the affordability challenge of reconciling the affordable with what is acceptable t…
Sustainable Development
TEST 02 - Elsevier's Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Search and access research from the science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities fields
Is it possible to reach low-income urban dwellers with good-quality sanitation
Urban poverty reduction
This paper describes the Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA) programme that was initiated by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) in 2009. ACCA seeks to catalyze and support community initiatives, citywide upgrading and partnerships between community organizations and local governments. By January 2012, it had helped fund initiatives in 708 settlements in 153 cities in 19 different Asian nations. In each city, small grants suppor…
Reshaping Local Democracy
Water access in global South cities
The article analyzes water access in cities in the global South. We examine two challenges to water access from the perspective of households: intermittent services and affordability. The article analyzes primary and secondary data from 15 cities and one corresponding informal or low-income settlement in each city in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. In 12 out of 15 cities analyzed, households connected to the municipal piped sys…
Developing urban waste management in Brazil with waste picker organizations
In Brazil’s large cities, more than half a million people survive by collecting and selling solid waste. Most face very poor working conditions and have very low incomes as the intermediaries to whom they sell pay low prices. Their activities are even considered illegal in some nations. But the waste pickers save city governments money, contribute to cleaner cities and reduce the volume of waste that has to be dumped (by up to 20 per cent). After…
Participatory approaches in urban areas
The paper examines current experiences with the use of participatory methodologies in low-income urban communities. It outlines the nature and development of participatory approaches and describes experiences, prospects and problems related to their use in an urban context. Three case examples from the UK, Sri Lanka, and India and South Africa demonstrate how innovative approaches are being used by different agencies to strengthen and support the…
Covid-19
As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases nears 27 million, there is a rush to answer (what next) and a rush to act (to solve the immediate problems of COVID-19). This paper discusses, with a specific focus on urban areas in the global South, what is missing to date from this response. That includes an identification of things that there are too much of, things that are not being done at all, and things that are unbalanced. There has been an enor…
What the experiences of South Africa’s mass housing programme teach us about the contribution of civil society to policy and programme reform
Experiences of apartheid in South Africa have resulted in the association of shelter with citizenship, adding significance to the concept of “home”. This paper reviews experiences with grassroots efforts to make the government’s housing policy and programme more effective in addressing the needs of the urban poor. The experiences offer lessons relevant within and beyond South Africa. First, collaboration between state and civil society has been p…
Saving, Spending, and Future-Making
Money is a distributed technology for the government of futures. Using ethnographically informed accounts of social practices around saving and collective remittances in poor countries this paper examines how the malleability of money enables it to have the potential for formalisation which allows it to be brought into formal relations of future-making and foreclosure, at the same time as its potential for investments and reallocation enables it …
Addressing urban poverty through strengthening assets
Reducing urban poverty; some lessons from experience
Many donor agencies are recognizing the need to address the growing levels of urban poverty in Africa, Latin America and much of Asia. Many also acknowledge that they had under-estimated the scale of urban poverty. As they develop or expand programmes on poverty reduction in urban areas, there are many remarkable initiatives on whose experience they can draw. This paper reflects on the lessons from seven of these: three from Asia, three from Lati…
Knowledge Matters
Global development and urban studies
Recent calls to shift from an “international” to a “global” development paradigm have sought to challenge global North–South binaries. This has provoked lively debate, with criticisms focusing on two issues: the empirical question of North–South convergence since 1990, and the political-theoretical basis of the proposed paradigm. In response, this paper draws on innovations in postcolonial and comparative urban studies to propose three “tactics” …
Sharing reflections on inclusive sanitation
This paper draws on sanitation innovations in Blantyre (Malawi), Chinhoyi (Zimbabwe), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Kitwe (Zambia) driven by slum (1) /shack dweller federations to consider what an inclusive approach to sanitation would involve. This includes what is possible for low-income households when there is little or no external support, no piped water supply and no city sewers to connect to. The paper discusses low-income households’ choic…
Integrated Approaches to Address the Social Determinants of Health for Reducing Health Inequity
The social and physical environments have long since been recognized as important determinants of health. People in urban settings are exposed to a variety of health hazards that are interconnected with their health effects. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have underlined the multidimensional nature of poverty and the connections between health and social conditions and present an opportunity to move beyond narrow sectoral interventions a…
Strategies for grassroots control of international aid
Official aid agencies and development banks are not set up to work with poor groups or to be directly accountable to them, even if their work is legitimized on the basis of these groups' needs. The bureaucracy of such agencies works primarily with and through national governments and is generally unable to catalyze or support the local social processes needed to make external finance effective in addressing many aspects of poverty. This paper des…
Civil society and urban poverty - examining complexity
CIVIL SOCIETY IS increasingly recognized as being critical to the successful realization of development. Grassroots organizations are regarded as a new panacea for people-centred, pro-poor development. But should this be the case? Low-income communities are subject to division due to unequal access to power, prestige, income and capital. Do such organizations really support their poorest members to increase and achieve development options? How do…
Will urban sanitation “leave no one behind”
Sustainable Development
TEST 02 - Elsevier's Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Search and access research from the science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities fields
The search for sustainable funding systems for community initiatives
The search for sustainable funding systems for community initiatives reports on the discussions and conclusions of a workshop on loan finance for community level initiatives in land acquisition, housing construction or improvement and infrastructure and service provision. The paper also discusses the most appropriate terms and conditions for loan finance and the broader financial and institutional issues involved in its provision; and how NGOs' w…
Funding community level initiatives
TEST 02 - Elsevier's Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. Search and access research from the science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities fields
Environmental Problems in Third World Cities
Participatory approaches in urban areas
The paper examines current experiences with the use of participatory methodologies in low-income urban communities. It outlines the nature and development of participatory approaches and describes experiences, prospects and problems related to their use in an urban context. Three case examples from the UK, Sri Lanka, and India and South Africa demonstrate how innovative approaches are being used by different agencies to strengthen and support the…
Participatory approaches in urban areas
The paper examines current experiences with the use of participatory methodologies in low-income urban communities. It outlines the nature and development of participatory approaches and describes experiences, prospects and problems related to their use in an urban context. Three case examples from the UK, Sri Lanka, and India and South Africa demonstrate how innovative approaches are being used by different agencies to strengthen and support the…
Rapid urban environment assessment
City inequality
Tenants
IN VIRTUALLY ALLcities in the South, a significant proportion of low-income individuals or households rent their accommodation. In many cities, especially those of Africa and Asia, more than half the population are tenants and this proportion may be even higher for low-income groups. This issue of Environment and Urbanization includes papers on the programmes and strategies of NGOs and governments working with low-income tenants
The Environment for Children
Reducing urban poverty; some lessons from experience
Many donor agencies are recognizing the need to address the growing levels of urban poverty in Africa, Latin America and much of Asia. Many also acknowledge that they had under-estimated the scale of urban poverty. As they develop or expand programmes on poverty reduction in urban areas, there are many remarkable initiatives on whose experience they can draw. This paper reflects on the lessons from seven of these: three from Asia, three from Lati…
Addressing urban poverty
The paper considers the effectiveness of different strategies used in urban areas by development agencies to reduce poverty, including the relative merits of income generation and housing and neighbourhood improvement. Drawing on the findings of recent case studies, it suggests that the advantages of housing and neighbourhood improvements may have been underestimated, and that too little attention has been given to integrating housing and neighbo…
The urban poor under threat and in struggle
This paper describes the development of savings schemes by urban poor groups in different urban centres in Zimbabwe and their negotiations with local authorities to allow them to develop their own homes and neighbourhoods. It also describes how these savings schemes developed into the Zimbabwean Homeless People’s Federation (now with 20,000 members), and the constant inter-change between different savings schemes as they learnt from each other (a…
Transforming Opportunities
Civil society and urban poverty - examining complexity
CIVIL SOCIETY IS increasingly recognized as being critical to the successful realization of development. Grassroots organizations are regarded as a new panacea for people-centred, pro-poor development. But should this be the case? Low-income communities are subject to division due to unequal access to power, prestige, income and capital. Do such organizations really support their poorest members to increase and achieve development options? How do…
Transforming Opportunities
The urban poor under threat and in struggle
This paper describes the development of savings schemes by urban poor groups in different urban centres in Zimbabwe and their negotiations with local authorities to allow them to develop their own homes and neighbourhoods. It also describes how these savings schemes developed into the Zimbabwean Homeless People’s Federation (now with 20,000 members), and the constant inter-change between different savings schemes as they learnt from each other (a…
Civil society and urban poverty – examining complexity
Housing and Urban Poverty
This paper considers recent experiences in poverty reduction within urban areas. The discussion draws out emerging lessons for the provision of affordable and inclusive housing and neighbourhood development programmes that also address the diverse needs of urban poor communities. In particular, the discussion emphasises the importance of understanding the livelihoods of the poor and the strategies that lie behind these livelihoods if external int…
Sustaining markets or sustaining poverty reduction?
This paper suggests that too much attention may be given to financial sustainability within projects whose objective is to reduce urban poverty. External agencies might usefully recognize the long history and remarkable persistence that charitable giving and state redistributive processes have shown whilst markets sometimes fail. Experience suggests that poverty reduction - higher and more stable incomes, stronger asset bases, secure adequate-qua…
Sustaining markets or sustaining poverty reduction
This paper suggests that too much attention may be given to financial sustainability within projects whose objective is to reduce urban poverty. External agencies might usefully recognize the long history and remarkable persistence that charitable giving and state redistributive processes have shown whilst markets sometimes fail. Experience suggests that poverty reduction - higher and more stable incomes, stronger asset bases, secure adequate-qua…
A fund to secure land for shelter
Obtaining secure land tenure for housing is one of the biggest challenges facing the urban poor and the professionals who seek to address poverty. This paper describes how a UK£ 200,000 fund supported the acquisition of secure land and the construction of housing in 13 different communities (in Cambodia, Colombia, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe), as well as advocacy work to promote access to land in urban areas of Namibia. Over 40,000 people ha…
A fund to secure land for shelter
Obtaining secure land tenure for housing is one of the biggest challenges facing the urban poor and the professionals who seek to address poverty. This paper describes how a UK£ 200,000 fund supported the acquisition of secure land and the construction of housing in 13 different communities (in Cambodia, Colombia, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe), as well as advocacy work to promote access to land in urban areas of Namibia. Over 40,000 people ha…
Addressing urban poverty through strengthening assets
Windhoek, Namibia
Windhoek is the capital city of Namibia with a population of 223,000, 26 per cent of whom are living in informal settlements. Despite this scale of need, experiences in the last decade have demonstrated to the urban poor, city officials and politicians that it is possible to secure improvements. Windhoek's new Policy for Access to Land and Housing is now being promoted by a network of NGOs and grassroots organisations throughout southern Africa. …
Economics (55 obras) · Political science (53 obras) · Economic growth (48 obras) · Geography (42 obras) · Urban and Rural Development Challenges (41 obras) · Sociology (35 obras) · Business (31 obras) · Politics (27 obras) · Environmental planning (23 obras) · Poverty (20 obras)