Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Institute of Asian and African Studies

Gastvortrag

Alan Mabin
Emeritus Professor, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

What prospects for affordable housing in twenty first century cities?

In the world’s poorest as well as richest cities, affordable and decent housing poses a growing challenge, and in some cases a potential crisis.

As income distributions have widened, city populations have grown especially in the poorest but also in wealthier places, overcrowding has returned to dimensions associated with much earlier times, and new approaches to housing supply have developed. What are the prospects for affordable housing in twenty-first century cities?

Examples of public, private and other forms of housing supply in several cities will be reviewed in the presentation. In particular cases from Brasil, France, Tanzania and South Africa will be examined – particularly from the city regions of São Paulo, Paris, Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg. Difficulties of investment, pace of building, adaptation and access will be discerned.

Affordable housing requires maintenance and renewal. Neglect of these vital issues has led to immense problems in public housing projects and other schemes over the past generation. Such matters require close attention. In the present climate of migration, popular disenchantment with political elites and economic difficulties can new ways of thinking about these long-term housing questions be found?

The presentation will conclude with some tentative ideas for discussion and some notes of optimism from experiences in cities on different continents. Will the people or the professionals offer new ways of thinking and practicing outside the box?

Die Veranstaltung findet in englischer Sprache statt. Es ist keine vorherige Anmeldung nötig!