Student Number : 0111065D - PhD thesis - School of Architecture and Planning - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / This thesis deals with self-help housing networks in Nairobi, Kenya and Johannesburg, South Africa. It starts by discussing some of the current manifestations and challenges of self-help housing in the two contexts. It locates these against neo-liberal development paradigms in Kenya and South Africa. It reviews some of the main theories and concepts that have been applied to understand self-help housing, arguing that there are many issues that these lenses fail to explain. Amongst these are the relationships amongst actors and the ways resources are exchanged in self-help housing. The thesis discusses some of the key resources used for self-help housing in Nairobi and Johannesburg, namely: land, finance, labour, materials and technology, and infrastructure and services. It develops a case for network analysis of these resources and actors in self-help housing. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to analysis of self-help housing networks in Nairobi and Johannesburg, based on empirical data. The three categories of networks analysed are: individual-based ego-centric networks; group-based networks of collective action; and content-of-ties-based networks of exchange. The study compares self-help housing networks in Nairobi and Johannesburg. On one hand, lack of the state intervention in Kenya has resulted in self-help housing in Nairobi being accessed almost exclusively through networks. On the other hand, state intervention in South Africa has resulted in weakening of ties within local groups and domination of state/market hierarchies in access to various self-help housing resources in Johannesburg. The major conclusion from this study is that, in both cities, networks remain a viable third way of provision of housing, in addition to (not instead of) housing production through state/market hierarchies and decentralised models. Networks tend to overcome lack of inclusion dominant in state/market hierarchies and lack of capacity, endemic in decentralised models. In terms of analysis, the study shows that network theories are relevant to understanding the operations of actors and access to resources in low-income housing, complementing sector-based understanding, which remains dominant in analysis of low-income housing today.

ABSTRACT Low income housing delivery still remains a challenge in Botswana. The government initiated various programmes to address this problem and the Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) is one of those programmes. This is an exclusive programme limited only to a prescribed low income group. While SHHA has proved to offer opportunities in sustainable low income housing delivery (due to the complimentary roles played by government and beneficiaries), housing problems still persist especially for the low income households. This, to a certain extent, is due to shortcomings within the programme. Any recommendations to address those shortcomings will enable government to achieve its objectives in low income housing delivery.

Thesis. 1978. M.Arch.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.Arch.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 263-268). Also available via the Internet.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / The concept of self-help in a site and services project is based on the assumption that given the security of land tenureship_, an owner-builder can manage the whole process of house implementation. Generally, in any sponsored site and services project this assumption is supported by "aid" ; that is, the sponsor provides some financial and/or technical assistance. while this "aid" is minimum, often provided in the form of infrastructure, serviced plots, and some cash for purchasing building materials, it is assumed that such "aid" would assist the owner-builder in implementing the dwelling on the serviced plot. It is also assumed that the planning and construction of the dwelling would be carried out throughout the dweller's own decision-making and self-help efforts. In theory, the concept is valid. It is also adopted in most of the site and services projects in East Africa. Self-help is assumed to contribute towards economic savings, mobilization of human resources, increase in community spirit and group participation and to achieve a host of other benefits. This study looks at one such site and services project in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Through several in-depth case histories of carefully selected allottee families from the Dandora Community Development Project, a site and services project in Nairobi, the thesis shows the actual form(s) and practice of self-help. Several allottees were interviewed to understand further the real nature of self-help. That is, who did what, when, how and at what cost. Other inquiry was on the background and characteristics of the allottees' families, their approach to house planning and construction, characteristics and economics of construction, self - help practice amongst different: groups of allottees', cost and benefits of self-help and some impact of the rules of the Dandora Community Development Department (DCDD) in house implementation. The study presents several case histories of immigrant families in the process of urbanization in Nairobi. The cases trace the path of these low-income families from squatter settlements to the site and services project, emphasizing the element of self-help underlying the process of settlement. The actual role of an owner-builder is different from some of the assumptions held on self-help housing. The hard line of economic cost and benefits, as perceived in theory, does not necessarily hold true and neither do other assumptions on self - help applications in the site and services project. Chapters 1 and 2 present some background to the study, the research method employed and some of the theoretical constructs underlying the concept of self-help. In Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 findings of the field research are presented. Specifically, different forms of self-help, their characteristics, practice, costs and benefits, and some illustrations as observed in the site and services project are presented. All the material covered under these Chapters is an outcome of the author's intensive field research on the allottees of the Dandora Community Development Project, from later 1978 to mid 1979. In· Chapter 8 the uses, costs, and benefits of the dwellings completed by means of the various self-help forms are further articulated. In the final Chapter the findings on actual self-help practices are compared with the held on self-help. This analysis is followed by major conclusions drawn from the study. / by Praful Naran Soni. / M.Arch.