A sustainable? urban planning for the poorest

Abstract

One of the building sector's challenge, if they are worried about environment and sustainability, is an overwhelming housing deficit and new urban growth in the least developed countries. Urban plannig must pre-date, must be able to anticipate, even spontaneous construction. Which instruments can be put into practice to avoid and control the urban squatting, dealing with the poorest population's housing demands and reality, favoring the development of human sustainable settlements? Urban planning, since the 60's, implemented some concrete instruments to control the creation of urban informal settlements, but none of the scale and characteristics of the Guided Occupancy Programme, successfully implemented by the city of Trujillo, Peru, for over a decade. This programme constitutes an exemplary approach to the problem. While not necessarily constituting an universal solution, it might be viewed as a viable and reproducible alternative in situations of widespread poverty as a sustainable urban planning for the poorest.