Self‐Help Housing

Bibliographic Data

ID23656708
AuthorsPeter M Ward (0000-0002-8867-176X)
Year2019
Pages1-6
Publication date2019-04-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueThe Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/9781118568446.eurs0281
OpenAlexW2938261110
ISBN9781118568446
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited18

While self‐help housing is most frequently analyzed in developing countries, this entry describes how it is also widespread in Europe, Canada, and the USA, where, historically, vernacular self‐building was commonplace in rural villages and among frontier homesteaders. In urban areas, too, notable self‐help housing experiences are a feature throughout the twentieth century, while today self‐building and self‐management of dwelling development and expansion continue to be a primary method of housing production in low income peri‐urban neighborhoods in Texas and Southern states. In addition, self‐help improvements and DIY (do‐it‐yourself) are an important element in home improvement and housing refurbishment among middle income populations in contemporary Europe and the USA. Widely analyzed in developing countries, self‐help became a significant driver of low income housing development in informal settlements as an outcome of rapid urbanization in the second half of the twentieth century and the inability of the public and private sectors to meet housing demand. From the late 1970s, public policies became largely supportive of self‐help, installing basic infrastructure in previously unserviced communities and providing households with legal title to their homes.

Affordable housing · Business · Economic growth · Economics · Element (criminal law) · Frontier · Geography · Human settlement · Political science · Public housing · Self-help · Urbanization · Finance · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Urban Planning and Governance

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