The Past And Future Of Informal Settlements

"While regulated, structured growth is the coin of the realm in the US and in many metropolitan areas overseas, informal land development - that is, urban neighborhoods built outside of a conventional property ownership and land market system -- is actually the predominant model of urban development and urban growth in cities in the developing world, says Lincoln Institute visiting fellow Claudio Acioly."

"Acioly, an architect and urban planner with the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies-IHS, The Netherlands, has studied the phenomenon of informality or informal settlement in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Central and Eastern Europe."

"In a recent Lincoln House lecture, Acioly showed how informal settlement persists despite housing programs, settlement upgrading and land regularization policies. Informal land development - in the form of illegally and informally developed housing and human settlements - typically accounts to 20 to 70 percent of urban growth in cities in the developing world."

"Informality may soon be knocking on the door of industrialized countries as well," remarks Acioly.