! ! ! ! Incremental Inclusion Negotiating the Right to the City for the Rural-Urban Migrant
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Frank E. Reitsma
fereitsma@me.com +31(0)651276557
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working abstract may 2014
abstract
Affordable housing proves a pressing issue within the context of rapid urban growth in the developing world. In search of solutions a renewed interest in incremental housing strategies can be recognised, revisiting the ideas of self help as addressed by Turner and Abrams. Evaluation of these strategies however poses questions on the realisation of their acclaimed potential. This thesis critically explores the qualities of incremental housing strategies, attempting to deduce certain strategic design guidelines for dealing with informality as a consequence of rapid urban growth. In doing so specific attention is placed on a rationale behind rural-urban migration as a driving force of urban growth. In a literature review the theoretical and historical background of incremental housing are elaborated. In a typological overview distinctly different strategies are specified, analysing through exemplary case studies the qualities of the different typologies. Against a second theoretical framework the rationale behind rural-urban migration is investigated. Touching upon the concept of the ‘arrival city’ as discussed by Dough Saunders and Henri Lefebvre’s ‘right to the city’. In bringing together these theories a case is made for incremental housing strategies to be designed with critical attention to facilitate opportunities for income generation; arguing that people come to cities not for housing, but for jobs as to find inclusion in urban systems. The thesis advances the idea that incremental housing strategies as a solution for affordable housing in the setting of rural-urban migration in developing countries, facilitate better the requirements of the migrant when opportunities for income generation, as a catalyst for growth and social mobility, are regarded as an integral element in the design of the public and collective spaces within the strategy and throughout its growth and change over time.
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keywords: rural-urban migration, informality, strategic design guidelines, the right to the city, self help, incremental housing strategies, social mobility