This thesis addresses the issues faced by the urban poor in their efforts to gain housing in
developing countries. It argues that participation in housing is a matter of governance, in
which the Public, Private and Popular sectors interact, and Intermediary Agents (IA) are
necessary to act as catalysts in this interaction.
In Indonesia there are two major problems related to housing the urban poor. The first
problem concerns the quantity of housing. The second problem concerns the quality of
housing, infrastructure and the environment. The government usually addresses these
problems through a project-based, sectoral approach that lacks community engagement and
accountability. Intermediary Agents have assisted many of these housing projects. However,
little research has been undertaken on their role in these housing projects, as well as in the
informal housing process.
This thesis examines the role of IAs in the housing process of four different
communities: one community in a government-sponsored project and three communities in
informal settlements. The findings showed that the IAs, in engaging with the four different
communities, played different roles and have different values.
The involvement of IAs in the housing process elucidates a fundamental issue. On one
hand, the IAs offer a mechanism to assist communities in providing and improving access to
housing, infrastructure and services. However, there are limitations to their role: they have not
the capacity to improve security of land tenure for the residents, which is essential for
sustainable housing development. Where there has been some recognition of residents' rights
to occupy the land, there have been substantial gains in community engagement in investing
and improving their living environment.
The thesis demonstrates the importance of community participation and acknowledges
stakeholder engagement and community empowerment are crucial, roles that are often
dependent on the involvement of IAs. It also extended the research on movement and
development IAs demonstrating that both functions are complementary and important in
housing delivery and that there are five roles that these IAs could play depending on the
housing situation.
The thesis offers new approaches to housing delivery and policy in Indonesia by
involving urban poor communities, as the beneficiaries of housing for the poor programs. The
qualitative method of the research has not been able to provide a generalised conclusion, but
the lessons learned are important not only for providing housing for the urban poor in
Indonesia but also possibly to addressing housing problems in other Asian countries. This
thesis addresses four areas of intervention in transposing skills for a more democratic
approach in housing the poor. Within these areas the research proposes new models of
engagement for relevant stakeholders in public, popular and private sectors involving
Intermediary Agents. These models are underpinned by a set of basic principles to guide IA
engagement. Lastly the thesis proposes three models for IAs involvements in the housing
process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219256 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Lang, Heracles C., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Health, Design & Science |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Heracles C. Lang |
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