Session Brief

The challenge of providing enough good affordable housing is a problem facing all countries today, and particularly cities that are the fastest growing. The problem for policy makers is to know where best to intervene, given competing demands on resources and legislative time. It therefore should help to indulge in dialogues with stakeholders from a range of approaches and their strategies chosen for their similarities to the situations in many developing countries, as well as for the different approaches they have adopted.

However, it should be noted that there are also surprising similarities between the cases themselves. Many strategies such as the proactive role played by local authorities in developing new settlements, the use of cooperatives in management, and the mix and balance of tenures and housing types emerge time and again and provide a great number of lessons to be learned for the Indian context.

Speakers