Housing Freedom, Amartya Sen and Urban Development Policies - Squatter Settlement Upgrading in...

Housing Freedom, Amartya Sen and Urban

Development Policies – Squatter Settlement

Upgrading in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

ALEXANDRE APSAN FREDIANI

Oxford Brookes University

Department of Planning

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of Oxford

Brookes University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

June 2007

ii

Abstract

The World Bank has redirected its conceptualization of poverty based on incomedeprivation to one based on Amartya Sen’s concept of ‘development as freedom’. Asyet, evidence is inconclusive on the impact of Sen’s thinking, in practice, on theWorld Bank’s urban programmes. Academics elaborating and applying Sen’s conceptof freedom have proposed the Capability Approach which aims at moving away fromthe income-led approach to development, by focusing on capabilities as instrumentsand outcome of the development process. In this context, this thesis contributes to thecurrent discourse by examining the application of Sen’s view of ‘development asfreedom’ to the context of urban development.

The concept of Housing Freedom is proposed as a framework to explore squatterupgrading interventions in terms of their ability to realize and expand capabilities. Thethesis provides an evaluation of the impact of Sen’s Capability Approach usingresearch on a classic World Bank squatter upgrading project in Novos Alagados inSalvador, Brazil. A comparison is made with a community led upgrading initiativealso in Salvador, in the neighbourhood of Calabar. This comparative evaluationunfolds key practical and theoretical issues about the conceptualisation and alleviationof poverty using Sen’s thinking. The exploration of both squatter interventionsthrough the Housing Freedom framework contributes to the clarification of therelationship between housing and poverty.

This thesis argues that the World Bank urban policies are contradictory andinconsistent. Although reframing its conceptualisation of poverty to one based onmultiple aspects of deprivation, this thesis shows that the World Bank’s housingpolicies are still focused on the enablement of markets. Ironically, the comparisonbetween the squatter upgrading interventions in Novos Alagados and Calabar, revealsthat the community led initiative has been a more effective executor of marketenablement strategies than the World Bank funded project.

This thesis argues that Sen’s thinking could be proposed as an alternative toneoliberalism only by embracing collective and structural aspects of freedom. Themethodological contribution of this thesis is to show that the framework of HousingFreedom applied through participatory methods, provides a valid context-related andmultidimensional approach to the evaluation of squatter settlements.

The thesis indicates, nonetheless, that the Capability Approach provides acomprehensive framework that safeguards the radical roots of participatory methods.Finally, the thesis recognises that the application of Sen’s concepts positivelycontributes to contemporary discourses of development, particularly in relation to theRights-based Approach, Livelihoods Approach and Social Exclusion analysis.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all of the residents of Novos Alagados, Calabar and Mata Escura

who kindly participated in this research. Without their friendliness, trust and openness,

I would not have been able to carry out this work. I would especially like to thank Del,

Seu Luis and Edna from Novos Alagados. From Calabar, thanks to Dona Lindalva

and Gaiamon. The input of the youth group of ACOPAMEC from Mata Escurta was

fundamental to this research. But I could not had done anything without the guidance

of Nilza and Vera, who were the first to show me around Novos Alagados and

Calabar, and who introduced me with a lot of affection and trust to residents.

I would like to express my gratitude to FURS (Foundation to Urban and Regional

Studies), for the financial support provided in the second and third year of this

research. Also I would like to thank FURS for the travel support grant provided to go

to the International Congress of Sociology, in Durban. In addition to financial support,

this provided me with confidence to carry out the research.

I would like to thank Professor Roger Zetter for firstly generously trusting his

intuition about me and taking me on as a PhD candidate. His supervision has been

supporting, encouraging, constructively critical and inspiring. I would also like to

acknowledge Dr Rod Burgess, for his feedback on the thesis and the informal chats

that energised me to complete this work.

During the four years of doing this PhD, I got involved in many activities that were

essential to the development of this work. Members and coordinators of the Human

Development and Capabilities Association (HDCA) have always been supportive and

have reassured me of the added value of the thesis. Thanks to Sabina Alkire, John

Hammock, Mario Biggeri and Enrica Chiappero. Thanks to the Architecture

Department of the Universidade Federal da Bahia, who allowed me to attend seminars

and join the workshop about Mata Escura. Such activities were very influential to

clarify some conceptual issues and my personal underlying motivations to undertake

this research. Thanks to Paola Berenstain Jacques. I would like to acknowledge

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UNIFACS, for also allowing me attend seminars and getting involved with field trips.

From there, thanks Alcides, Edu and Professor Pedro de Almeida Vasconcelos.

Oxford Brookes University also contributed in a variety of ways to this research.

Including funds to attend conferences and workshops, the opportunity to get involved

in teaching while doing the PhD. I would like to thank the staff, for always being

friendly and supportive, especially those at the Computer Services and the

Department of Planning office. Thanks to my colleagues who have always been

encouraging and sharing. Thanks to Camillo, Nando, Laura, Daniel and Andy! A

special thanks to my office mate Hsueh-Liang, who taught me that even the hardest

challenges can be overcome. Finally Alma, thanks for the discussions, for being a

friend, for reading the entire thesis, correcting my English and giving crucial

insightful comments on its contents.

I would like to thank Nara and Lucas who contributed to the elaboration of the focus

group activity implemented in this research. Nara has been at the centre of the

elaboration of the card game, helping to conceptualise and drawing the cards. Her

motivation and interest contributed to the conceptual but also personal dimension of

this investigation of squatter settlements. Thanks also to Lucas, my youngest brother,

who also helped out by colouring and drawing cards. Valeu!

Also thanks to all my friends, who were listening guiding me through the personal

developments that took place during these last four years. Thanks comunidade do apê

for their incontestable love. Thanks Volleyball friends from Wild Cats who embraced

me like a family. Thanks Sasha and Ju, for sharing with me the Anglo-Brazilian way

of life. Thanks flatmates from 24 Essex Street, their support was crucial at the last

stage of the PhD. Especially, thanks Benoit and Virgina, for always being there for me.

Finally, thanks for the support of all my family. They always endorsed my choices,

allowing me to construct my own paths. Thanks Gino, my father, for his love, close

and faraway. Thanks Ivan, my oldest brother, for being proud. Michael, thanks for

changing the course of my life, and always bringing depth into thoughts. Finally,

thanks Rita, my mother, for everything a son could wish from a mother.

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Contents

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………..ii

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………...iii

Contents……………………………………………………………………………….v

List of Figures………………………………………………………………………..xii

List of Boxes…………………………………………………………………………xii

List of Tables………………………………………………………………………..xiii

List of Pictures………………………………………………………………………xiii

Acronyms……………………………………………………………………………xiv

Chapter 1: Redressing urban poverty – Urbanization, Poverty, Housing and The

World Bank

1.1 Introduction and Objectives……………………………………………..1

1.2 Organisation of the Thesis……………………………………………... .4

1.3 Urbanization, Housing and Poverty……………………………………..7

1.3.1 An historical Approach………………………………………...7

1.3.2 Urbanization, Poverty and Housing: Alternative Perceptions.. 12

1.4 The World Bank and Urban Development……………………………...17

1.4.1 Learning by Doing or Continuity……………………………..18

1.4.2 The World Bank and Amartya Sen…………………………...23

1.4.3 Old Wine in a New Bottle ?......................................................24

1.4.4 The Functions of Squatter Upgrading………………………...28

1.4.5 Role of the World Bank: Diffusing or Enabling?..................... 33

1.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………. 35

Chapter 2: Amartya Sen, the Capability Approach and Housing Freedom

2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..37

2.2 Amartya Sen, the Capability Approach and the Human Development

Paradigm……………………………………………………………….. 37

2.2.1 The Capability Approach: an Evaluative Framework……... 38

2.2.2 The Capability Approach as a Development Paradigm…….46

2.3 Sen’s Freedom Framework in the Context of Housing………………... 52

vi

2.3.1 Housing: from a Means to an End…………………………… 52

2.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 56

Chapter 3: Shedding Light on Discourses - The Capability Approach and

Approaches to Development

3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..58

3.2 Rights-Based Approach………………………………………………... 59

3.2.1 An Outline of the Rights-Based Approach…………………... 59

3.2.2 Sen and RBA………………………………………………… 63

3.2.3 The Critique of RBA and Sen………………………………...65

3.3 The Livelihoods Approach…………………………………………….. 67

3.3.1 Basic Concepts of the Livelihoods Approach……………….. 68

3.3.2 Livelihoods and Freedom……………………………………. 70

3.4 Social Exclusion Analyses……………………………………………...71

3.4.1 Definitions and Perceptions………………………………….. 71

3.4.2 Basic Concepts of the Social Exclusion Analyses……………72

3.4.3 The Limitations of Social Exclusion Analyses……………….74

3.4.4 Links Between the Social Exclusion and Capability

Approach……………………………………………………...75

3.5 The Brazilian Urban Development Literature and the Capability

Approach………………………………………………………………..76

3.5.1 Defining Squatter Settlements: Challenging Dogmas and

Myths………………………………………………………… 77

3.5.2 Researching Squatter Settlements: Urban Development, Social

Segregation and Spatial Fragmentation……………………… 79

3.5.3 Brazilian Urban Development Literature and Sen’s Writings..87

3.6 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 88

3.61 The Similarities between Approaches………………………... 88

3.6.2 Contribution of the Capability Approach……………………. 90

3.6.3 Contribution to the Capability Approach……………………..91

3.6.4 Limitations and Challenges to be answered by Field Work…. 91

3.6.5 Concluding Remarks………………………………………….92

vii

Chapter 4: Methodology - An Evaluation Using the Capability Approach and

Participatory Methods

4.1 Introducing the methodology…………………………………………...94

4.2 Evaluating through the Capability Approach and Participatory

Methods………………………………………………………………... 95

4.2.1 The Philosophical Approach of the Research………………...96

4.2.2 Introduction to Participatory Methods………………………..99

4.2.3 Participatory Methods and the Capability Approach:

Similarities…………………………………………………… 100


Complementarities…………………………………………… 101

4.2.5 Participatory Methods and Capability Approach: Limitations. 103

4.3 Research Design………………………………………………………...105

4.3.1 Background Information……………………………………...106

4.3.2 Immersion……………………………………………………. 106

4.3.3 Identifying Housing Functionings…………………………… 107

4.3.4 Adapting participatory Techniques to capture Capabilities…..111

4.3.5 Tackling Validity of Research Methods……………………... 113

4.4 Implementation………………………………………………………… 115

4.4.1 Reflexivity…………………………………………………….116

4.4.2 The Challenges………………………………………………..117

4.4.3 Coping with Challenges………………………………………119

4.5 Analysis………………………………………………………………... 120

4.5.1 Description……………………………………………………121

4.5.2 Classification………………………………………………….122

4.5.3 Making Connections…………………………………………. 123

4.5.4 Producing an Account………………………………………...124

4.6 Conclusion and Limitations……………………………………………. 125

Chapter 5: Introducing Case Studies – Housing the Poor in the Context of Brazil

and Salvador da Bahia

5.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..127

5.2 Brazilian Housing Policies: 1940s – 2000……………………………...128

5.2.1 The Populist Era: 1940-1960………………………………… 129

viii

5.2.2 National Housing Policies: 1960-1985………………………. 129

5.2.3 Market Enablement and Decentralization: 1986-2000………. 131

5.3 Squatter Settlements and Housing Solutions in Salvador da Bahia…….133

5.3.1 1940-49: The first Occupations……………………………… 133

5.3.2 1950-1968: Response in the Form of Eviction………………. 134

5.3.3 1969-1979: The Consolidation of Squatter Settlements……... 135

5.3.4 1980-1989: Commodification of Urban Land……………….. 136

5.3.5 1990s onwards: The Return of Housing Interventions………. 137

5.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 139

Chapter 6: The World Bank Funded Squatter Upgrading Programme in Novos

Alagados

6.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..141

6.2 History of the Settlement and Snapshot of locality……………………. 143

6.2.1 The Origins of the Stilts 1946 – 1977………………………...144

6.2.2 Novos Alagados Consolidation - From Stilts to Houses…….. 144

6.2.3 Novos Alagados Prior to Intervention………………………. 148

6.3 The Squatter Upgrading Intervention………………………………….. 153

6.3.1 Previous Attempts to Eradicate Stilt-houses………………….153

6.3.2 The New Intervention - The Project…………………………. 154

6.3.3 Scaling-up, From Project to Programme…………………….. 155

6.3.4 Nova Primavera: The Second Stage of a Programme………...157

6.4 Preliminary analysis of Nova Primavera………………………………. 161

6.4.1 Housing and Infrastructure…………………………………... 162

6.4.2 Social Programmes…………………………………………... 166

6.4.3 Institutional Arrangements: NGO, State Government and

Community…………………………………………………... 168

6.4.4 Sustainability and Long Term Impacts……………………….171

6.4.5 From Emergency to Sustainable Poverty Alleviation………...176

6.4.6 Why an Analytical Study?........................................................ 177

6.5 Presentation of Data and Micro Analysis: Novos Alagados……………178

6.5.1 Freedom to Individualise and Expand……………………….. 180

6.5.2 Freedom to Afford Living Costs…………………………….. 184

6.5.3 Freedom to Live in a Healthy Environment…………………. 187

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6.5.4 Freedom to Maintain Social Networks………………………. 194

6.5.5 Freedom to Participate in Decision Making…………………. 197

6.6 Conclusion: Summary of Micro Findings and Limitations of Analysis.. 200

Chapter 7: A Community-based Squatter Upgrading Initiative in the Squatter

Settlement of Calabar

7.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..204

7.2 The History of Settlement and a Snapshot of Locality…………………206

7.2.1 Calabar until the End of the 1950s – the Struggle for

Freedoms……………………………………………………..206

7.2.2 From the 1960s – The Beginning of the Struggle for Security of

Tenure……………………………………………………….. 207

7.2.3 Consolidation of Settlement: Calabar a Place of Poverty and

Segregation………………………………………………….. 209


7.3.1 The Community Struggle and the First Interventions……….. 214

7.3.2 The Occupation of Pinga and the 1990s Interventions………. 218

7.4 Initial Analysis of Integrated Project of Calabar………………………. 223

7.4.1 Environmental Impacts………………………………………. 224

7.4.2 The Engagement of the Community-based Organization…… 225

7.4.3 The Role of the Fundação José Silveira………………………227

7.4.4 The Gaps……………………………………………………... 228

7.5 Presentation of Data and Micro Analysis: Calabar……………………..228


7.5.2 Freedom to Afford Living Costs……………………………...233





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Chapter 8: Macro Analysis - Unfolding Contradictions, Assessing Approaches

and Developing Concepts

8.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..253

8.2 Objective 1: To explore Sen’s approach and develop it in the urban

development context…………………………………………………… 254

8.2.1 Capability Approach and Human Development……………...254

8.2.2 Capability Approach and Urban Development……………….256

8.2.3 Capability Approach and Neoliberalism…………………….. 259

8.3 Objective 2: To elaborate on the concept of ‘housing freedom’ and

evaluate the use of participatory methods in this application of the

Capability Approach…………………………………………………... 266

8.3.1 Housing Freedom as a Conceptual Framework………………266

8.3.2 Housing Freedom and Participatory Methods……………….. 269

8.3.3 Housing Freedom and Discourses on Development………….273

8.4 Objective 3: To assess to what extent Sen’s focus on freedom has affected

the World Bank’s urban practices……………………………………...276

8.4.1 The Five Functions of Squatter Upgrading………………….. 277

8.4.2 Contradictions and Inconsistencies…………………………...281

8.4.3 Limitations and the Seeds of Change…………………………285

8.5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 286

Chapter 9: Conclusion – Housing and Poverty, Limitations, and Areas for

Further Research

9.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..288

9.2 World Bank: Perpetuating Market Enablement………………………...290

9.2.1 Mechanisms of Perpetuation………………………………….290

9.2.2 Limitations of Analysis……………………………………….292

9.2.3 Areas for Further Research…………………………………... 293

9.3 Housing Freedom: An Alternative?......................................................... 294

9.3.1 The Contributions of the Framework…………………………294

9.3.2 Limitations…………………………………………………… 297


9.4 Concluding thoughts…………………………………………………… 299

xi

Appendices

Appendix 1: Table of Analysis of Semi-structured Interviews - Novos Alagados…300

Appendix 2: Table of Analysis of Focus Group Activities - Novos Alagados……...303

Appendix 3: Table of Analysis of Semi-structured Interviews – Calabar.................306

Appendix 4: Table of Analysis of Focus Group Activities – Calabar……………...309

Appendix 5: Pictures of Focus Group Cards………………………………………..312

Appendix 6: Focus Group Informant Sheet………………………………………...319

Appendix 7: Semi-structured Informant Sheet……………………………………...322

Bibliography……………………………………………………………...………...325

xii

List of Figures

Figure 1.1: Objectives and Motivation of Thesis………………………………….. ..4

Figure 2.1: Capability Approach in the Context of Housing………………………..55

Figure 4.1: The Two Levels of Analysis…………………………………………... .94

Figure 4.2: Process of Analysis……………………………………………………. 121

Figure 5.1: The Case Studies – Novos Alagados and Calabar…………………….. 127

Figure 6.1: Stages of Consolidation of the Stilts…………………………………... 146

Figure 6.2: Conflict due to Typology of Two Flats Blocks………………………...195

Figure 7.1 Settlements in Calabar 1965…………………………………………….208



Figure 7.4: Calabar - Selected Areas from GIS Programme………………………. 211

Figure 7.5: Jardim Apipema – Selected Area from GIS Programme……………… 212

Figure 7.6: Income Levels of the Population of Calabar and Jardim

Apipema (2006)……………………………………………………….. 213

Figure 7.7: Levels of Formal Education of the Population of Calabar and

Jardim Apipema (2006)………………………………………………... 213

Figure 8.1: The Separation of the Mixed uses of Space…………………………… 263

List of Boxes

Box 1.1 The Pessimistic Predictions for Developing Countries Cities……………. …9

Box 3.3 Brazilian Legal Innovations…………………………………………………85

Box 4.1: Focus Group Activity – Card Game………………………………………113

Box 6.1: Comments about the Lack of Legal Permit for Expansion……………….183

Box 6.2: Comments about Income Conditions……………………………………..187

Box 6.3: Comments about the Non-participatory Process of Policy Design……….198

Box 7.1: Comments about the Lack of Safety in Calabar…………………………. 240

Box 7.2: Comments about Impacts of Participatory Process……………………… 248

xiii

List of Tables

Table 1.1: Development Strategies: Poverty and Housing Solutions………………18

Table 1.2: The Components of the Neo-Liberal Agenda…………………………....21

Table 4.1: Summary of Definitions of Housing Functionings……………………...111

Table 5.1: Squatter Settlements in Salvador da Bahia, 1946 – 1989……………….137

Table 7.1: Evaluation of environmental conditions of Calabar……………………. 224

Table 8.1: Aspects of Housing Freedom……………………………………………268

List of Pictures

Picture 6.1: The Area targeted by Ribeira Azul Programme……………………….141

Picture 6.2: Cabrito Cove After Intervention and Nova Primavera Housing Estate. 142

Picture 6.3: Novos Alagados 1984………………………………………………….147

Picture 6.4: Novos Alagados 1996………………………………………………….148

Picture 6.5: Novos Alagados – a Place of Poverty, Risk and Insecurity…………. 150

Picture 6.6: Two Storey Flats – Inability of Expansion for the top Household.....…182

Picture 6.7: Shop in-front of a House……………………………………………. 186

Picture 6.8: Sharing Walls…………………………………………………………. 188

Picture 6.9: Walls not Plastered, and Water Tank Inside the House………………. 190

Picture 6.10: Area where Health Clinic was Supposed to be Built………………... 191

Picture 6.11: Houses with Fences………………………………………………….. 193

Picture 6.12: Houses with Fences………………………………………………….. 193

Picture 7.1: Calabar, Pinga and the Surrounding Neighbourhoods………………... 205

Picture 7.2: Spatial inequality – Jardim Apipema and Calabar……………………. 210

Picture 7.3: Calabar and Pinga…………………………………………………….. 218

Picture 7.4: Vila Eliana de Azevedo, Pinga………………………………………...221

Picture 7.5: Houses Adequate for Expansion……………………………………… 231

Picture 7.6: Street in Pinga………………………………………………………… 237

Picture 7.7: Maintaining Mix-use of Private and Public Spaces…………………... 243

Picture 7.8: Maintaining Mix-use of Private and Public Spaces…………………... 243

Picture 7.9: Meeting of Neighbourhood Association, 2006……………………….. 245

xiv

Acronyms

ACOPAMEC Association of the Parish Communitiesof Mata Escura and Calabetão

Associação das ComunidadesParoquiais de Mata Escura eCalabetão

AMESA Alagados Improvements S.A. Alagados Melhoramentos S.A.

AVSI Voluntary Association for Internationalservice

Associazone Volontari per il ServizionInternazionale

BNH Brazilian National Housing Bank Banco Nacional de Habitação

CBO Community Based Organisation

CDS City Development Strategy

CONDER Urban Development Company of thestate of Bahia

Companhia do DesenvolvimentoUrbano do Estado da Bahia

DFID Department for InternationalDevelopment

FJS Foundation Fundação José Silveira

GDP Gross Domestic Product

IBGE Brazilian Institute of Geography andStatistics

Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia eEstatistica

JUC United Youth of Calabar Jovens Unidos do Calabar

LA Livelihoods Approach

MDF Movement in Defence of Squatterinhabitants

Movimento em Defesa dos Favelados

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

PATS Technical and Social AssistanceProject

Projeto de Assistencia Tecnica e Social

PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal

PROFILURB Sites and Services FinancingProgramme

Programa de Financiamento de LotesUrbanizados

PROMORAR Shanty Replacement Programme Programa de Erradicação de Sub-habitação

RBA Rights-Based Approach

SBRC Beneficent and recreational society ofCalabar

Sociedade Beneficente Recreativo doCalabar

UN-Habitat United Nations Human SettlementsProgramme

UNDP United Nations DevelopmentProgramme

ZEIS Special Zone of Social Interes Zonas Especiais de Interesse Social

Contents

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………..ii

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………...iii

Contents……………………………………………………………………………….v

List of Figures………………………………………………………………………..xii

List of Boxes…………………………………………………………………………xii

List of Tables………………………………………………………………………..xiii

List of Pictures………………………………………………………………………xiii

Acronyms……………………………………………………………………………xiv


World Bank

1.1 Introduction and Objectives……………………………………………..1

1.2 Organisation of the Thesis……………………………………………... .4

1.3 Urbanization, Housing and Poverty……………………………………..7

1.3.1 An historical Approach………………………………………...7

1.3.2 Urbanization, Poverty and Housing: Alternative Perceptions.. 12

1.4 The World Bank and Urban Development……………………………...17

1.4.1 Learning by Doing or Continuity……………………………..18

1.4.2 The World Bank and Amartya Sen…………………………...23

1.4.3 Old Wine in a New Bottle ?......................................................24

1.4.4 The Functions of Squatter Upgrading………………………...28

1.4.5 Role of the World Bank: Diffusing or Enabling?..................... 33

1.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………. 35

Chapter 2: Amartya Sen, the Capability Approach and Housing Freedom

2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..37

2.2 Amartya Sen, the Capability Approach and the Human Development

Paradigm……………………………………………………………….. 37

2.2.1 The Capability Approach: an Evaluative Framework……... 38

2.2.2 The Capability Approach as a Development Paradigm…….46

2.3 Sen’s Freedom Framework in the Context of Housing………………... 52

2.3.1 Housing: from a Means to an End…………………………… 52

2.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 56

Chapter 3: Shedding Light on Discourses - The Capability Approach and

Approaches to Development

3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..58

3.2 Rights-Based Approach………………………………………………... 59

3.2.1 An Outline of the Rights-Based Approach…………………... 59

3.2.2 Sen and RBA………………………………………………… 63

3.2.3 The Critique of RBA and Sen………………………………...65

3.3 The Livelihoods Approach…………………………………………….. 67

3.3.1 Basic Concepts of the Livelihoods Approach……………….. 68

3.3.2 Livelihoods and Freedom……………………………………. 70

3.4 Social Exclusion Analyses……………………………………………...71

3.4.1 Definitions and Perceptions………………………………….. 71

3.4.2 Basic Concepts of the Social Exclusion Analyses……………72

3.4.3 The Limitations of Social Exclusion Analyses……………….74

3.4.4 Links Between the Social Exclusion and Capability

Approach……………………………………………………...75


Approach………………………………………………………………..76

3.5.1 Defining Squatter Settlements: Challenging Dogmas and

Myths………………………………………………………… 77

3.5.2 Researching Squatter Settlements: Urban Development, Social

Segregation and Spatial Fragmentation……………………… 79

3.5.3 Brazilian Urban Development Literature and Sen’s Writings..87

3.6 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 88

3.61 The Similarities between Approaches………………………... 88

3.6.2 Contribution of the Capability Approach……………………. 90

3.6.3 Contribution to the Capability Approach……………………..91

3.6.4 Limitations and Challenges to be answered by Field Work…. 91

3.6.5 Concluding Remarks………………………………………….92

Chapter 4: Methodology - An Evaluation Using the Capability Approach and

Participatory Methods

4.1 Introducing the methodology…………………………………………...94


Methods………………………………………………………………... 95

4.2.1 The Philosophical Approach of the Research………………...96

4.2.2 Introduction to Participatory Methods………………………..99


Similarities…………………………………………………… 100


Complementarities…………………………………………… 101

4.2.5 Participatory Methods and Capability Approach: Limitations. 103

4.3 Research Design………………………………………………………...105

4.3.1 Background Information……………………………………...106

4.3.2 Immersion……………………………………………………. 106

4.3.3 Identifying Housing Functionings…………………………… 107

4.3.4 Adapting participatory Techniques to capture Capabilities…..111

4.3.5 Tackling Validity of Research Methods……………………... 113

4.4 Implementation………………………………………………………… 115

4.4.1 Reflexivity…………………………………………………….116

4.4.2 The Challenges………………………………………………..117

4.4.3 Coping with Challenges………………………………………119

4.5 Analysis………………………………………………………………... 120

4.5.1 Description……………………………………………………121

4.5.2 Classification………………………………………………….122

4.5.3 Making Connections…………………………………………. 123

4.5.4 Producing an Account………………………………………...124

4.6 Conclusion and Limitations……………………………………………. 125

Chapter 5: Introducing Case Studies – Housing the Poor in the Context of Brazil

and Salvador da Bahia

5.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..127

5.2 Brazilian Housing Policies: 1940s – 2000……………………………...128

5.2.1 The Populist Era: 1940-1960………………………………… 129

5.2.2 National Housing Policies: 1960-1985………………………. 129

5.2.3 Market Enablement and Decentralization: 1986-2000………. 131

5.3 Squatter Settlements and Housing Solutions in Salvador da Bahia…….133

5.3.1 1940-49: The first Occupations……………………………… 133

5.3.2 1950-1968: Response in the Form of Eviction………………. 134

5.3.3 1969-1979: The Consolidation of Squatter Settlements……... 135

5.3.4 1980-1989: Commodification of Urban Land……………….. 136

5.3.5 1990s onwards: The Return of Housing Interventions………. 137

5.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 139

Chapter 6: The World Bank Funded Squatter Upgrading Programme in Novos

Alagados

6.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..141

6.2 History of the Settlement and Snapshot of locality……………………. 143

6.2.1 The Origins of the Stilts 1946 – 1977………………………...144

6.2.2 Novos Alagados Consolidation - From Stilts to Houses…….. 144

6.2.3 Novos Alagados Prior to Intervention………………………. 148


6.3.1 Previous Attempts to Eradicate Stilt-houses………………….153

6.3.2 The New Intervention - The Project…………………………. 154

6.3.3 Scaling-up, From Project to Programme…………………….. 155

6.3.4 Nova Primavera: The Second Stage of a Programme………...157

6.4 Preliminary analysis of Nova Primavera………………………………. 161

6.4.1 Housing and Infrastructure…………………………………... 162

6.4.2 Social Programmes…………………………………………... 166

6.4.3 Institutional Arrangements: NGO, State Government and

Community…………………………………………………... 168

6.4.4 Sustainability and Long Term Impacts……………………….171

6.4.5 From Emergency to Sustainable Poverty Alleviation………...176

6.4.6 Why an Analytical Study?........................................................ 177

6.5 Presentation of Data and Micro Analysis: Novos Alagados……………178


6.5.2 Freedom to Afford Living Costs…………………………….. 184





Chapter 7: A Community-based Squatter Upgrading Initiative in the Squatter

Settlement of Calabar

7.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..204

7.2 The History of Settlement and a Snapshot of Locality…………………206

7.2.1 Calabar until the End of the 1950s – the Struggle for

Freedoms……………………………………………………..206

7.2.2 From the 1960s – The Beginning of the Struggle for Security of

Tenure……………………………………………………….. 207

7.2.3 Consolidation of Settlement: Calabar a Place of Poverty and

Segregation………………………………………………….. 209


7.3.1 The Community Struggle and the First Interventions……….. 214

7.3.2 The Occupation of Pinga and the 1990s Interventions………. 218

7.4 Initial Analysis of Integrated Project of Calabar………………………. 223

7.4.1 Environmental Impacts………………………………………. 224

7.4.2 The Engagement of the Community-based Organization…… 225

7.4.3 The Role of the Fundação José Silveira………………………227

7.4.4 The Gaps……………………………………………………... 228

7.5 Presentation of Data and Micro Analysis: Calabar……………………..228


7.5.2 Freedom to Afford Living Costs……………………………...233





Chapter 8: Macro Analysis - Unfolding Contradictions, Assessing Approaches

and Developing Concepts

8.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..253

8.2 Objective 1: To explore Sen’s approach and develop it in the urban

development context…………………………………………………… 254

8.2.1 Capability Approach and Human Development……………...254

8.2.2 Capability Approach and Urban Development……………….256

8.2.3 Capability Approach and Neoliberalism…………………….. 259

8.3 Objective 2: To elaborate on the concept of ‘housing freedom’ and

evaluate the use of participatory methods in this application of the

Capability Approach…………………………………………………... 266

8.3.1 Housing Freedom as a Conceptual Framework………………266

8.3.2 Housing Freedom and Participatory Methods……………….. 269

8.3.3 Housing Freedom and Discourses on Development………….273

8.4 Objective 3: To assess to what extent Sen’s focus on freedom has affected

the World Bank’s urban practices……………………………………...276

8.4.1 The Five Functions of Squatter Upgrading………………….. 277

8.4.2 Contradictions and Inconsistencies…………………………...281

8.4.3 Limitations and the Seeds of Change…………………………285

8.5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... 286

Chapter 9: Conclusion – Housing and Poverty, Limitations, and Areas for

Further Research

9.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..288

9.2 World Bank: Perpetuating Market Enablement………………………...290

9.2.1 Mechanisms of Perpetuation………………………………….290

9.2.2 Limitations of Analysis……………………………………….292


9.3 Housing Freedom: An Alternative?......................................................... 294

9.3.1 The Contributions of the Framework…………………………294

9.3.2 Limitations…………………………………………………… 297


9.4 Concluding thoughts…………………………………………………… 299

1

Chapter 1: Redressing urban poverty – Urbanization,

Poverty, Housing and The World Bank

1.1 Introduction and Objectives

The practice and thinking of development has become increasingly complex and

diverse. Donor countries have committed to considerably increase overseas

development assistance in the coming years. International humanitarian and

development agencies are multiplying and growing stronger. Their projects involve

partnership with multiple actors, including the private sector, local and national

governments, community based organizations and local non-governmental

organizations. Theorists and academics have been proposing different discourses and

approaches to development with the objective to maximize ‘good-practice’, by

addressing poverty responsively in the short and long term.

Meanwhile, in the field, poverty and inequalities are perpetuating realities in

developing countries. Fifty years after the first initiatives of development cooperation,

much of the population in low and middle income nations are still living in vulnerable

environments, coping with hunger and insecurity, and dying of preventable diseases

(Hasan et al., 2005). Recently, poverty is being perceived mostly as an urban

phenomenon. Shortages of housing and increasing expansion of informal settlements

are some of the many challenges facing cities in the developing world. According to

the United Nations, the world slum population of one billion squatter dwellers will

double in the next three decades (UN-Habitat, 2003).

In 2000, 186 countries and development agencies decided to take a stand and put

forward a global comprehensive commitment to address poverty in developing

countries. Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and eighteen targets,

mostly for 2015, were agreed. Target eleven sets up a global commitment to “achieve

significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020” (UN,

2006: http://www.un.org...). A variety of discourses and approaches have been put

forward to best implement and monitor projects tackling these global commitments.

2

However, the relationship between the emerging discourses and praxis of

development is ambiguous and, at times, contradictory. Approaches are elaborated out

of a dialogue between praxis and thinking about development. Then they are

appropriated by agencies which aim at applying them to improve the efficiency and

effectiveness of the funds provided. The ambitions are to assist the achievement of the

MDGs, to ensure sustainable poverty reduction and to increase the legitimacy and

ability of the international development agencies to attract further funds. In this

scenario, it becomes essential to examine the use and application of discourses.

However it is necessary to differentiate between the rhetoric of development

discourses from real changes in the formulation and implementation of programmes.

This thesis engages in an investigation of one of the emerging approaches to

development: the Capability Approach, which is based on the writings of the

economist and Nobel Prize Winner Amartya Sen.

Recently one of the world’s most influential development agencies, the World Bank,

has reformulated its concept of poverty, to one based on Amartya Sen’s understanding

of ‘Development as Freedom’ (Wolfensohn and Sen, 1999). Its annual reports and

publications emphasize that the World Bank moved away from an income-led

perception of poverty, to one that includes multiple dimensions of deprivation. The

new discourse incorporates the concepts of vulnerability, voicelessness,

powerlessness, inequalities, rights and capabilities. The urban problem in the

developing world is one of the main challenges targeted by the World Bank’s current

policies. The re-orientation in the conceptualization of poverty is also a feature of the

World Bank’s perspective on urban development. However, the World Bank has not

specified how Sen’s concepts would shape policies to address urban poverty.

Therefore, the first objective of this thesis is to explore Sen’s approach and apply

it in the urban development context.

Thus, as well as the World Bank urban policies, the literature applying Sen’s concept

is analysed. Academics elaborating Sen’s thinking have proposed the Capability

Approach which aims at moving away from the utilitarian and income-led approach to

development (Alkire, 2003; Clark, 2002; Chiappero Martinetti, 2000; Nussbaum,

1988). It has been claimed as a comprehensive interdisciplinary framework that sheds

lights on many aspects of the thinking and practice of development. It offers the

3

opportunity to rescue concepts such as participation and empowerment from their

instrumental usage. Finally, Human Development, a paradigm based on Sen’s

writings, has been proposed as an alternative to neoliberalism which would move the

focus of development away from maximization of GDP, to the enhancement of

people’s freedom to achieve the things they value.

In order to assess the usefulness of the Capability Approach, the thesis will evaluate a

widely praised squatter upgrading project funded by the World Bank in Salvador da

Bahia, Brazil. The project, initiated at the beginning of the 1990s, aimed to improve

the lives of the residents living over the water and on stilts in the area of Novos

Alagados. Indeed Brazil has long been a major borrower of the World Bank, which

has influenced in a variety of ways the country’s housing strategies. Nevertheless the

squatter population in Brazil has not stopped increasing, with more than 2 million

households in registered squatter settlements by 2001 (IBGE, 2006:

http://www.ibge.gov...). The evolution of housing policies since the 1940s has

reflected changes in the concepts of the relation between physical improvement and

quality of life. Policies have moved away from the eradication of squatter settlements

and displacement towards the legalization of tenure and upgrading. The current

literature does not clarify how the concept of poverty as ‘deprivation of capabilities’

changes the policies towards squatter settlements.

While the studies on capabilities have focused on the assessment of well-being, the

thesis applies the same framework to explore one aspect of people’s lives: housing.

The thesis uses the Capability Approach to evaluate the impacts of the intervention in

Novos Alagados on the residents’ freedom to be housed. A comparison with a

community-led squatter upgrading initiative also in Salvador, in the neighbourhood of

Calabar, unfolds key practical and theoretical issues in the conceptualization and

alleviation of poverty. Using a comparative approach, the expansion of ‘housing

freedoms’ are examined through these two different strategies. Rather than

developing dualistic interpretations of interventions based on the contrasts between

top-down and bottom-up strategies, this thesis aims to examine the application of the

housing freedom framework (see section 8.2 and 8.3), while also unfolding

underlying links, similarities, differences and contradictions generated by these

upgrading approaches (see section 8.4).

4

Participatory research methods are employed to operationalize the Capability

Approach, revealing and assessing local dimensions that constitute adequate housing

in terms of freedoms. The second objective of the thesis is to develop the concept

of ‘housing freedoms’ and to evaluate the use of participatory methods in the

application of the Capability Approach. Similarities, differences and

complementarities between the Capability Approach and participatory methods are

analysed on a conceptual level. Meanwhile, through the use of focus groups and semi-

structured interviews, the practical challenges of identifying and evaluating housing

freedoms through participatory methods are examined (see figure 1.1).

Finally, by the application of the capability approach into the urban development

context and the assessment of the impacts of the World Bank funded squatter

upgrading project, this thesis also examines the relation between the language of the

World Bank’s urban policies and its content. Therefore, the third objective of this

thesis is to assess to what extent Sen’s focus on freedom has affected the World

Bank’s urban policies and practices.

Figure 1.1: Objectives and Motivation of Thesis

1.2 Organisation of the Thesis

This thesis is divided into three parts: the literature review and methodology are

explored in the first part of the thesis. In the first chapter contemporary approaches for

redressing urban poverty are outlined. The aim of this chapter is to analyse the current

Ob 3Ob 2Ob 1

ParticipatoryMethods andthe CapabilityApproach

Amartya Senanddevelopmentas freedom

The WorldBank and theredress ofurban poverty

Conceptual links

Practical challenges Connections with otherapproaches and analysis

The discourse Policies

Praxis

Motivation: Contributing to the clarification of the relation between theorizing and tacklingpoverty in the urban development context.

5

approach of the World Bank to urban poverty alleviation and assess differences in this

approach from the previous market enablement strategy. Instead of starting from the

clarification of Sen’s concepts, this thesis begins by examining the practice of

squatter settlement upgrading policies to identify the possibility of applying the

capability approach in the urban development context. Thus, the development of the

different perceptions of the relationship between urbanization, housing and poverty

alleviation is explained historically. In the second part of the first chapter, the market

enablement approach to squatter upgrading is reviewed and compared to

contemporary urban policies of the World Bank. Chapter One finishes by reviewing

the different perceptions of the role of the World Bank in the development

mainstream, as a diffuser and enabler of urban development strategies.

While the initial chapter begins this examination of squatter settlement upgrading

through the analysis of practices, Chapter Two expands on the theories underpinning

this research by examining Amartya Sen’s writings and the Capability Approach. The

analysis explores the uses of Sen’s ideas as an evaluative framework and as a

development paradigm. The critiques and limitations of the approach are outlined. In

the second part of the chapter the framework of the Capability Approach is applied to

the housing context. The concept of ‘Housing Freedoms’ is elaborated. Thus the

purpose of the chapter is to explore the challenges of the application of the concept of

‘development as freedom’ in the urban development context.

Chapter Three is the second part of the exploration of Sen’s writings, and focuses on

their relation to other development approaches. The objective is to situate the

Capability Approach in the current field of development thinking and practice. Here,

the thesis explores the similarities, differences and complementarities between Sen’s

writings and the rights-based approach, livelihoods analysis, and the social exclusion

discourse. Chapter Three also examines Brazilian urban development literature on the

challenges of addressing Brazilian squatter settlements. The final part of the chapter

identifies ways in which this evaluation can be assisted by the Brazilian literature, and

how the Capability Approach can contribute to that discourse. The third, fourth and

fifth chapters directly address objective two of the thesis.

6

The methodology underpinning the research is described in Chapter Four, which

elaborates the links between participatory methods and the Capability Approach. The

design, implementation and the analytical tools applied in the research are reviewed.

The focus of the chapter is to assess how the two main methods of research employed

(focus groups and semi-structured interviews) address the goals of the methodology

and the objectives of the thesis.

The second part of the thesis presents the data gathered in the field work, and analyses

the impacts of the squatter upgrading projects. Chapter Five is an introduction to the

theme of squatter interventions in Brazil and especially Salvador da Bahia. It first

outlines Brazilian housing policies. It then focuses on Salvador da Bahia, analysing

the local processes of squatter upgrading formation and expansion. The chapter

concludes by reviewing strategies that have been employed to address squatter

settlements in Salvador da Bahia.

Chapters Six and Seven present data collected and provide initial analysis of the

squatter interventions in Novos Alagados (Chapter 6) and Calabar (Chapter 7). Each

of the chapters is divided into four sections. The first sections describe the formation

of the neighbourhoods, their profile, and the squatter upgrading projects analysed in

the research. The second sections review an initial analysis of these interventions,

based on existing literature and interviews with stakeholders. In these sections the

existing evaluations are outlined to identify the need for a new examination of such

squatter settlement upgrading projects. The data collected by the focus groups and

interviews are presented in the third and fourth sections. The fifth sections are

analytical chapters evaluating the squatter upgrading projects and their impacts on

residents’ housing freedoms.

The third and final part of the thesis elaborates the findings of the research and the

contributions to the development literature. Chapter Eight reveals the macro findings

that emerged out of the comparison made between the impact of both squatter

upgrading programmes. The contemporary development practice is analysed in order

to shed light on the assessment of current paradigms.

7

The concepts of enablement and neoliberalism are explored. The comparison between

the bottom-up and the World Bank-funded interventions reveals the ambiguities and

contradictions of practices of development. Meanwhile the application of Sen’s

writings is elaborated and evaluated. The differences between the conceptualization of

development as freedom and its application are examined. The limitations of the

research are also described in Chapter Eight. The final and concluding chapter

addresses the initial motivation of the research, by elaborating on how the findings of

the thesis clarify the relation between housing and poverty.

1.3 Urbanization, Housing and Poverty

The relationship between urbanization, housing and poverty alleviation is both

complex and contradictory. The different definitions of the concepts of poverty and

urban processes have influenced the changes in the strategies for tackling the housing

problem in developing countries. Most of the current literature on the urbanization of

developing countries presents a pessimistic prospect: while identifying cities as the

engines of economic growth, it also claims that cities in developing countries are

becoming the centres of poverty. As a consequence, slums proliferate and living

standards worsen. Aid aims at upgrading squatter settlements by improving

environmental quality while also including the marginalized into the formal city and

market. This section aims to place these perceptions in context by first analysing

previous concepts of the relation between urbanisation, housing and poverty

alleviation. Secondly it reviews the literature that has questioned the dominant

approach, thus perceiving urban interventions in an alternative manner.

1.3.1 An historical Approach

Processes of urbanization differ from country to country in the developing world.

Each city has developed in accordance to its particular cultural, political and

economic dynamics. However they have been under similar forces of influence from

international agencies, global politics and the market. The change in development

paradigms and the concept of poverty have impacted on urbanization processes and

influenced strategies to cope with the housing shortage. Since the Second World War

8

the period of housing intervention in the developing world can be divided intp four

stages which effected different development strategies: Modernization (1945-1973);

Basic Needs (1974-1984); Neo-Liberal (1985-1999) and the Emerging Paradigm

(from 2000).

a) Modernization Period (1945-1973)

By the end of the Second World War, the industrialization of many developing

countries started to take place. Increased migration to urban centres and poverty was

understood as a process that had happened in the developed countries, and the means

to overcome it was through the modernization of the developing countries economic,

political and cultural spheres. Oscar Lewis’ (1966) dualistic conceptualization of

poverty helped to apply the modernization theory to the housing sector. Lewis

believed that the poor had a ‘culture of poverty’ and the only way to overcome it

would be to carry out housing improvements mirrored on western standards. During

this first phase, most of the loans for housing were provided by the USAID.

Interventions were based on eradication of slums and reallocation of the poor in social

houses built on the periphery of the main cities of the ‘Third World’. The World Bank

only initiated urban and housing loans in the 1970s. Until then, the priorities were the

development of electric power, national transport, and other elements of national

overhead capital (Pugh, 2001).

b) Basic needs period (1974-1984)

The 1973 oil crisis and the rise of dependency theory critiques led to the redirection of

development strategies towards a more distributive approach. The Basic Needs period

was marked by the rise of Marginality Theory (Germani, 1972; Vekemans, 1969),

which perceived poverty to be the result of the lack of participation in the physical,

economic, cultural and social life in the city. Academics called for an approach that

understood ‘third world’ urbanization not as a mirror of developed countries, but as a

phenomenon with different dynamics and processes (Santos, 1979). Marginality could

be overcome by understanding such dynamics and interacting with it through good

planning, social welfare legislation and policies that encouraged popular participation.

In the housing sector, instead of eradication and displacement, the new policies were

based on Turner’s (1969, 1976) concept of poverty which argued that the poor were

able to get out of poverty as long as there were favourable conditions to do so. Site

9

and services and slum upgrading were officially endorsed in the Habitat I Vancouver

Declaration (1976). Soon, these policies became the World Bank’s and United

Nations preferred mechanisms to tackle urban poverty (Pugh, 2001).

c) Neo liberal period (1985-1999)

With the failures of the distributive policies, the increasing urban population and the

financial crisis faced by most developing countries in the early 80s, the development

paradigm shifted to a disbelief in state welfare and to increased trust on non-

governmental initiatives. This was the period of the rise of market enablement

ideology. Projections were made that showed a fatalistic scenario of rapid population

growth, increasing densification, multiplication of squatter settlements and the

persistence and expansion of urban poverty (See Box 1.1, p. 9). Through this

perspective, the result was ungovernable developing cities, where states were unable

to maintain the welfare approach. Therefore, instead of local governments solving

such an impossible task by themselves, the objective became to attract foreign

investments and activate internal markets. Since the 1984 Mexican crisis, the concept

of poverty widely held by international donors was based on De Soto’s (1989)

perception that poverty was a result of the failure to employ market rules effectively.

Housing began to be considered as a market sector with a significant effect and

dependence on the macro economy. Loans attached structural adjustment

conditionalities to encourage governments to work more efficiently by enabling

markets to compete with minimum state intervention. Recommendations from

international development agencies advocated the integration of cities into the global

market and squatter settlements into the formal city (Castells, 1983).

Box 1.1 The Pessimistic Predictions for Developing Countries Cities

In 2000, world population reached 6.1 billion, and is growing at an annual rate of 1.2per cent, or 77 million people per year. However the percentage of the world’spopulation in developing countries is increasing. In 1950, 68% of the world’spopulation was in developing countries, while by 2030 this percentage is expected torise to 85% (UN-Habitat, 2006).

Meanwhile the figures also show that there is an explosive population move towardscities. While in 1975 the urban population share was just over one-third, by the year2000 nearly one-half (47%) of the world population already lived in urban areas (UN-Habitat, 2003). The additional urban world population expected between 2000 and2015 will be of 970 million, while the additional population in rural areas it will only

10

be 130 million. Between 2000 and 2030, 95% of the world’s population growth willtake place in developing countries’ urban areas. By 2030, 3.9 billion people will beliving in urban areas in less developed countries, while the urban population ofdeveloped countries will be 1 billion people. Therefore “the challenge of coping withmassive urbanisation will thus be greatest for the countries least able to meet it”(DFID, 2001:8).With the increase of population growth, predictions expect rapid increase of slums indeveloping countries’ cities and the deterioration of living conditions. “Every day,170,000 people move to cities, and they require about 30,000 new housing units perday. In short, we will find ourselves facing alarming growth of slums and deterioratedneighbourhoods” (Girard, 2003:4). The number of slum dwellers could double within25 years to more than 2 billion people, almost one in four of the world’s projectedpopulation. According to the World Bank, by 2025 two-thirds of the poor in LatinAmerica, Europe and Central Asia, will live in urban areas, and almost half the poorin Africa and Asia will reside in cities or towns (World Bank, 2000b).

“What scares many governments, planners and policy makers is the very realprospect that the majority of cities in developing countries will become sprawlingslums, with people living without piped water or sanitation, with poor standards ofhousing, and health and nutrition problems on a par with anything found in the mostpoverty-stricken rural areas today” (The Guardian Weekly, September 17-23 2004: p.18).

Thus since the 1980s there has been a growing agreement among international

agencies that causes of poverty have been the exclusion from the global markets and

the policies implemented due to structural adjustment programmes (see Table 1.2,

p.20). Castells (1993) speaks of the emergence of a ‘fourth world’ consisting of

“marginalized economies in the retarded rural areas of three continents and in the

sprawling shantytowns of African, Asian, and Latin American cities” (1993:37).

Squatter inhabitants were considered “economically irrelevant, and at worst, a drain

on the economy” (Friedmann, 1995:40).

d) Emerging Paradigm (2000)

By the end of the 1990s, international development agencies began to review their

understanding of poverty and acknowledged that its current urban development

projects and policies were not having a significant impact on the alleviation of

poverty. A series of UN conferences and summits set the new priorities of

development based on poverty alleviation, good governance and sustainability

principles. Another feature of the new paradigm was the emergence and strengthening

of the human rights discourse (Jenkins et al, 2007). Approaches to development

became increasingly to cite the writings of Amartya Sen (1992; 1999) to define

11

poverty as “…deprivation of basic capabilities rather than merely as lowness of

incomes…” (Sen, 1999: 87).

The implications of the new development agenda to housing policies was elaborated

in the 1996 Conference on Human Settlements, also known as Habitat II. Two key

documents came out of the conference (the Istanbul Declaration on Human

Settlements and the Habitat Agenda) which set out a global agreement on the need to

meet human needs while protecting environmental assets. The documents

acknowledge that the neo-liberal and “business-oriented” approach to cities was not

adequate for the assurance of sustainable development. Cities were perceived as

“engines of growth” but also as “engines of social change”. Emphasis is placed on the

role of partnerships between the public and the private sector, NGOs and community-

based organizations on the funding and implementation of urban projects. Finally

human rights, such as the right to adequate housing, are included in the process of

sustainable development of human settlements (Girard et al., 2003).

However the new approach to urban development has had a limited impact on the

redressing of urban poverty. The documents produced at Habitat II failed to set up a

framework that would ensure the sustainable development of cities and the eradication

of poverty (Satterthwaite, 1997; and Cohen, 1996). The negative impacts of

globalization are outlined, but it is also recognised as an important agent of change.

Therefore, Castells’ vision of further inclusion is not superseded. Squatter upgrading

programmes aim on one hand to tackle squatter inhabitants’ short term needs by

improving the environmental conditions of these degraded areas, and on the other

hand answer their long term demands by including the marginalized into the city

through physical and social improvements (Cities Alliance, 2003). Such an approach

leaves the political and economic processes causing housing shortage and poverty

untouched (Jenkins et al, 2007).

The Habitat Agenda also perpetuates some underlying perceptions of the relation

between urbanization, poverty and housing. The proposition by most international

agencies still emphasises more integration to markets and opportunities to expand the

abilities of squatter inhabitants to emerge from poverty. Policies aim at including the

excluded, expanding the access of the marginalized to services. By formalizing the

12

informal, policies seek to integrate squatter inhabitants in the city. This perception of

the city leads to the misunderstanding of the poor as being uniform and ‘resourceless’,

while viewing informality as always unjust. Squatter upgrading policies based on this

perception, and which aim at market enablement, have the potential to perpetuate

social, political and economic injustices, and to impose an ideology of private

property while also expanding the burdens on the urban poor. The mechanism by

which these processes take place will be further assessed in the sections that follow.

In this context, Jenkins et al. (2007) argue that the contemporary discourse of

development agencies have led to “impasses and fragmentation in development

discourse” (Jenkins et al., 2007: 56). Policies are elaborated based on best-practices

and “ignores a realpolitik where individuals, institutions and governments tend to act

for their own perceived benefit first…” (Jenkins et al., 2007: 184).

…the reality is that power relations, whether at a local or global

level, will tend to reproduce themselves to their own benefit, albeit

being prepared, in the name of ‘good governance’ to discuss and

even adopt the rhetoric of a global ‘public good’. (Jenkins et al.

2007: 184).

Meanwhile alternative literature argues that it is not a lack of market enablement that

has generated poverty, but actually the expansion of it which inevitably causes

inequality and injustices. In the next section this alternative perception of the relation

between urbanization, poverty and housing will be reviewed to assess how the

freedom discourse can contribute to the existing urban literature.

1.3.2 Urbanization, Poverty and Housing: Alternative Perceptions

Before assessing what the freedom discourse has to add to the concepts of

urbanization, poverty and housing it is necessary to assess the literature that has

offered a different approach to the perception of urban processes. Firstly there has

been historically alternative development theories that emphasizes the contradictions

and inconsistencies with the mainstream discourses outlined in the previous section.

Secondly some of the predictions of uncontrolled urban growth have been criticized

13

as overestimated by Satterthwaite (2002). Thirdly, Mitlin (2001) and Pant (2001)

contest the perception of the poor as homogenous as there are multidimensional forms

of poverty. Sandercock (1998) and Jacques (2001) call for an approach that can

incorporate the concept of multiplicity and break from the Enlightenment’s positivist

epistemology. Finally according to Carney et al (1999) and Moser (1998), inclusive

urban intervention should seek to understand and support local urban dynamics.

a) Alternative Development Theories

The main alternative theories to development have been elaborated by the neo-

Marxist tradition that expanded on the dependency theory of the 1970s. According to

Hettne (1995), two prominent ones are the new international political economy theory

(Hoogvelt, 2001) and the world system theory (Wallestein, 1974). They emphasize

the role of interdependency as countries are all under different political, social and

economic processes of dependency. The new international political economy theory

stresses the role of structures, agency and power relations (Hoogvelt, 2001). Applied

in the urban development context, such analysis would permit addressing impasses of

fragmentation of discourses reflected in the shelter sector (Jenkins et al., 2007).

Meanwhile the world system theory focuses on the relation between core and

periphery structures and the process of capital accumulation driving development

(Wallestein, 1974; and Frank and Gills, 1993). This perspective generates analyse of

cities as parts of a world city system, thus linking global to local processes (Smith and

Timberlake, 1995). Thus, writers developing the notion of world system and cities

unfold the various ways in which the cities are impacted by and reinforce global

capitalist processes, perpetuating relations of subordination and inequalities (i.e.

Sassen, 1991).

Another influential set of critiques of the dilemmas of development has been the post-

development theory which argues that the concept of development should be

altogether rejected (Sachs, 1992). Development is perceived to be the means to

Westernisation, homogenisation and maintenance of unequal power relations.

According to Sachs (1992) “it is not the failure of development which has to be

feared, but its success” (1992:3). Escobar (1992) applies the post-development

discourse in the context of planning by supporting the empowerment of grass-root

14

organizations and arguing that planning practices have been the mechanisms to

reproduce the western ideal of development. Thus Nederveen Pieterse (2000) argues

that “there is an anti-authoritarian sensibility running through post development, an

aversion to control and perhaps an anarchist streak” (2000:182). However Nederveen

Pieterse (2000) also argues that this laissez-faire character of post-development

resonates with conservative and neo-liberal ideals so criticised by Escobar (1992) and

Sachs (1992).

b) Contesting Pessimistic Predictions

While the theories of development have been contested, authors have also challenged

the perception of ‘urban parasitism’ which views cities as places where poverty is

accumulating and multiplying. There is an existing urban development literature that

perceives cities as places where citizens are finding ways to claim their rights. Thus,

the future of cities in the developing world is not portrayed in such a fatalistic manner.

Satterthwaite (2002) argues that there are ten and a half myths that may distort urban

policies. The main assumption questioned is that urban growth in Africa, Asia and

Latin America is explosive, unprecedented or out of control. Predictions made for the

largest cities to the year 2000 were overestimated. The world’s urban population in

2000 had 270 million people fewer than had been predicted twenty years previously.

Recently there has been inward and also outwards flows of migration in the main

developing countries’ cities. In Africa, many cities in nations with civil conflict had

their population boosted by immigrants fleeing civil strife. However, once conflicts

have ended, there has been a significant out-migration from those host cities. Another

assumption questioned by Satterthwaite (2002) is that urban poverty grows because

poor rural migrants congregate in cities and live in squatter settlements. As shown in

recent studies (Gordilho, 2000; Carvalho, 2002) squatter inhabitants normally migrate

from other parts of the same city, normally moving because of forced eviction or the

rise in land prices. Therefore the urban poor are not the excluded or passive agents of

urban development, but rather the ones who “have been responsible for building most

new homes and neighbourhoods in most cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America over

the few decades” (Satterthwaite, 2002: 7).

15

c) Contesting Perceptions of the Poor as Homogenous

The existing literature recognises the diversity in the background of squatter

inhabitants and identifies the varied needs of the urban poor. The persistent use by

international agencies of the 1 dollar per day poverty line fails to accept that different

households need different amounts of income to achieve their basic level of well-

being (Boltvinik, 1994). Meanwhile it also fails to accept the multidimensional forms

of poverty. For Mitlin (2001) “urban poverty is increasingly differentiated along

gender, age, locational and occupational characteristics, and poverty itself can take

various forms, including income or food poverty, housing poverty and inadequacy of

access to basic urban services” (2000:511). Pant (2001) also calls for an approach that

can recognise the different dimensions of poverty. Pant shows in his study on Nepal

that “the household poor in one dimension of deprivation is not necessarily poor in

other dimensions, and only a few households in the sample suffer from multiple

deprivations” (2001:28). Furthermore Pant identified that household income was not

distributed equally within different members of the household. Therefore poverty is

perceived as a multidimensional phenomenon, experienced in a multiplicity of ways,

differing between and within households. Thus Mitlin (2001) argues that policies need

to be inclusive and diverse to relate both “to the multiple needs of the urban poor and

the heterogeneity of groups within the urban poor” (2001:521).

d) Contesting the Enlightenment Epistemology

Multiplicity is then a concept incorporated not only in the definition of poverty, but

also when analysing urban processes. Sandercock (1998) proposes an epistemology of

multiplicity for planning practice based on multiple ways of knowing, including local

‘experiental’ and intuitive knowledge. This approach criticizes the Enlightenment

positivist concept of cities that develops dualistic interpretations of urban processes

(such as formal and informal; inclusion and exclusion). Rather Sandercock proposes a

perception of cities based on freedoms, interaction, movement, multiplicity and

diversity. Thus Sandercock’s approach 1) attacks the concepts of technical rationality,

objective knowledge, critical distance 2) criticizes notions of progress and

enlightenment; 3) embraces multiple discourses and rejects totalizing ones; and 4)

proposes “a shift from linear time and physically inert space to new ways of

conceiving of space and time, dialectically, socially, and historically” (Sandercock,

1998:29).

16

The Enlightenment positivist epistemology is also criticized by Jacques (2001), who

concentrates on multiplicity while putting forward the concept of space-movement.

Jacques puts forward an understanding of cities that is based on Deleuze and

Guattarri’s (1980) concept of rhizome. For her, urban spaces are in movement, in

continuous transformation. The process would be taking place not only on the

physical space, but also on the experience of passing through it. Through a public

deliberation process, the existing movements, or social arrangements, can be accepted

and interventions could focus on the expansion of those existing flows, instead of

creating new social dynamics and unfamiliar spaces. Therefore there is a space in

urban development discourse for an approach that can conceive urban interventions as

expansion of the dynamics of multiplicity and movement.

e) Acceptance of Local Dynamics

Instead of perceiving squatter inhabitants as excluded from developing countries’

cities, there is a literature that puts forward the notion that they are an integral part of

cities (Carney et al, 1999; Moser, 1998; Mitlin, 2001; Carvalho, 2002). As squatter

settlements are perceived as parts of cities, the challenge of poverty alleviation

policies is to reveal the diverse local economic, political and social dynamics and then

to intervene in congruence with those dynamics with the aim to expanding squatter

inhabitants’ ability to overcome poverty. The acceptance of local dynamics is also a

principle underpinning Sen’s (1999) concept of development as freedom. Carney et al

(1999) argue that “sustainable poverty elimination will be achieved only if external

support focuses on what matters to people, understands the difference between groups

of people and works with them in a way that is congruent with their current livelihood

strategies, social environment and ability to adapt” (Carney et al, 1999: 8). Carvalho

(2002) argues that “instead of being considered a problem, informal settlement is the

solution found by dwellers because of the human need to inhabit” (2002: 45). Thus

Moser (1998) calls for an approach that can “strengthen people’s own inventive

solutions, rather than substitute for, block or undermine them” (1998:1). Nevertheless

Mitlin (2001) still acknowledges that “few cities seek to support and develop the

informal sector or to recognise that it is an integral part of their economy” (2001:511).

Finally, Pradilla (1976) concludes: “It is a curious theory of knowledge that leads the

social scientist to exclude from society those who are the fundamental basis of its

existence as a society” (1976: 100).

17

This first part of the literature review illustrates the development of the dominant

concept of urbanization, poverty and housing and then demonstrates that it is not the

only alternative. There is an increasing amount of literature that criticizes the neo-

liberal approach of perceiving the urban poor as homogenous, excluded and

resourceless. Sen’s writings are part of this literature that aims at tackling the diverse

and multiple aspects of poverty identified in this section (see Chapter 2). Meanwhile

different approaches to development have also taken on board the need for urban

interventions to address squatter inhabitants’ multiple needs, multiple ways of

interacting with space and multiple strategies to emerge from poverty (Rights-based

approach, Livelihoods approach, and Social Exclusion discourses). Chapter Three

assesses these approaches and explores the similarities and complementarities with

Sen’s writings. The next section focuses on the World Bank’s approach to urban

development. The objective is to examine the perception of the World Bank of the

relationship between urbanization, housing and poverty.

1.4 The World Bank and Urban Development

The fourth section of this chapter examines the World Bank’s approach to housing

and poverty. The World Bank’s evolution of urban policies is reviewed based on the

historical analysis of the relation between urbanization, housing and poverty

undertaken in the previous section of this chapter. This section analyses whether the

different approaches of intervening in squatter settlements have reflected a shift or a

continuity of development strategy within the World Bank. There is some suggestion

that recently the World Bank has moved away from an income-based concept of

poverty to one that incorporates the multiple dimensions of deprivations and that

perceives the squatter inhabitants as agents of change. This move is justified by the

increasing citation of Amartya Sen’s (1999) writings and concepts such as

‘capabilities’ and ‘functionings’ (Sen’s concepts are explained in Chapter 2). In the

second part of this section the inconsistencies within recent World Bank publications

are demonstrated by reviewing the differences between overall development goals and

specific urban policies. The functions of squatter upgrading according to the World

Bank’s publications are assessed. This chapter concludes by explicating the literature

that has explored the role of the World Bank in the international development arena.

18

1.4.1 Learning by Doing or Continuity

After the Bretton Woods Conference, in July 1944, the World Bank began its

operations with its head quarters in Washington, DC. Its main functions were to assist

the economic reconstruction of Europe and Japan and in the “development” of the

“less developed” world (Ayres, 1983). Since then, the World Bank’s approach

towards the urban poor reflected the changes within the development discourse (See

Table 1.1).

Table 1.1: Development Strategies: Poverty and Housing Solutions

Development Strategies Concept of poverty Housing solutionsModernization(1945-1973)1945- End of WWII

Lewis (1966)Culture of poverty

Squatter and SlumEradication and theProvision ofConventional Houses onoutskirts of cities.

Redistribution withGrowth(1973-1984)1973 – Oil crisis

Turner (1972)Help the poor to helpthemselves

Sites and services, Slumand Squatter Upgrading

Neo-liberal(1984-2000)1984- Mexican crisis1989 – WashingtonConsensus

De Soto (1989)Poverty was a result of thefailure to employ themarket effectively.

Upgrading withStructural Adjustment toboost the HousingMarket Sector.

Emerging Paradigm(2000 - ?)

Sen (1999)New dimensions:vulnerability, voicelessnessand powerlessness

Move from HousingSector to CityDevelopment Strategy

Source: Author compiled from various authors

On one hand supporters of the World Bank argue that the development of policies is

based on a ‘learning by doing’ process, where the main objective has been to alleviate

poverty and different approaches have been aimed at doing it in the most effective

way (Cohen, 2001). On the other hand critics highlight that the World Bank has not

changed its objective to modernize international economy and expanded its diffusion

of neo liberal policies into developing countries. It is argued that the changes of

development strategies have reflected an evolution of procedures to reach the

19

unchanged objective of strengthening the international economy (Burgess et al, 1997;

Ayres, 1983; Jones and Ward, 1994; Zetter, 2004).

a) Period I – Modernization (1945-1973)

The various literatures on the World Bank only agreed upon the functions and

objectives of the World Bank’s loans during its first phase of existence. Development

meant economic growth, thus the objective of the World Bank was to expand the

aggregate growth rates of developing countries. During this period there was no focus

on poverty or housing. The priority was the development of electric power, national

transport, and other elements of national overhead capital. Loans for housing were

provided by USAID. Interventions were based on eradication of slums and

reallocation of the poor in social houses built in the periphery of the main cities of the

‘Third World’ (Pugh, 2001).

b) Period II – Redistribution with Growth (1973-1984)

From 1973 the World Bank, under the presidency of McNamara, diversified the

allocation of funds, moving away from exclusive concern with funding basic

economic infrastructure towards projects devoted to the alleviation of poverty in

developing countries (Ayres, 1983). From the early 1970s, according to Cohen

(2001), “the Bank began what became the largest development assistance programme

to address the problem of urban poverty” (2001:39). Site and services and slum

upgrading projects soon became the World Bank’s favoured policies to tackle urban

poverty. Loans for assisted self-help were based on Turner’s (1972) concept of

freedom to build. According to Pugh (2001) the motivation for the shift in policies

was more influenced by the World Bank’s reliance upon loan repayments and the

need to show efficiency and effectiveness, rather than a change in development

paradigm. “The adaptation of Turner’s theory revolved around principles of

affordability, cost recovery, and replicability” (Pugh, 2001:404). Nevertheless, Cohen

(2001) argues that the McNamara presidency marked a real shift on the functions and

objective of World Bank, as from the 1970s onwards the main concern of the World

Bank became the alleviation of poverty.

Ayres (1983), on the other hand, contests the argument that the World Bank’s main

concern is the alleviation of poverty by pointing out that those socioeconomic reforms

20

are seen as essential in the effort to expand growth and modernize the international

economy. Thus the focus on poverty would not be a shift in the objective of the World

Bank, but rather a different approach to acquire the same preconceived aim.

According to Ayres (1983), through the perception of the World Bank “a significant

amelioration of the plight of the Third World’s poor would greatly expand world

markets for the World Bank’s principal shareholders and would expand investment

opportunities for private investors within its principal donor countries” (Ayres, 1983).

c) Period III – Market Enablement (1984-1990s)

However, with the failures of the redistributive policies and the financial crisis faced

by most developing countries in the early 80s, market enablement became the

dominant ideology of the World Bank. From the 1984 Mexican crisis, the concept of

poverty widely held by international donors was based on De Soto’s (1989)

perception that poverty was a result of the failure to employ market rules effectively.

The World Bank’s response was to move from housing projects to programmes based

on the restructuring of urban management (Frediani, 2007a). Housing began to be

considered as a market sector with a significant effect and dependence on the macro-

economy. Slums were considered as a consequence of the inefficiency of the housing

sector and land market. Instead of subsidies and public intervention, what was needed

to tackle housing shortages was the introduction of a neo-liberal agenda (see Table

1.2, p.20). Loans were attached to structural adjustment conditionalities that aimed at

encouraging governments to work more efficiently by enabling markets to develop in

housing and land with minimum state intervention. The ultimate purpose has been to

encourage developing countries to join the global market and to generate income to

repay their international debts (Zetter, 2004).

In the defence of the World Bank’s urban enablement policy, Malpezzi (1994) points

out that over-regulation in many housing markets in developing countries was

impeding market developments and driving up costs. Thus, institutional development

and deregulation was essential to increase formal private market activity and to tackle

housing poverty. Cohen (2001) also argues that the shift from projects to programmes

and urban institutional development was necessary to address the scale of the needs

which accompanied urban growth. Furthermore, Cohen (2001) emphasizes that “the

21

primary rationale for this institutional effort was to create capacity to alleviate

poverty” (2001:51).

Table 1.2: The Components of the Neo-Liberal Agenda

1- Revival of liberalpolitical ideology:Individualism andProperty Rights

Liberalism is a political ideology that has changed overtime, “but that generally emphasizes the benefits of markets,the rule of law, the need for individual human and especiallyproperty rights. In its approach to poverty, it eschews majorredistribution, and emphasizes moral discipline and (again)markets” (Craig and Porter, 2006:11).

2- Roll Back of theState

The state and state involvement in the economy are seen as“inefficient, bureaucratic and an unnecessary drain on publiccoffers” (Simon, 2002: 87).

3- Privatisation ofState Companies

“Because of its role in distorting prices and generallyinterfering with the free operation of the market, the state isseen as part of the problem, not part of the solution; theeconomy has to be restructured to reduce the state’s role andunleash the private sector. This means privatising statefirms and the broader deregulation of trade and investment”(Green, 1996: 109).

4- Attracting FDI andExport-led EconomicModel

[governments should] (a) “pursue macroeconomic stabilityby controlling inflation and reducing fiscal deficits; (b) opentheir economies to the rest of the world through trade andcapital account liberalization; and (c) liberalize domesticproduct and factor markets through privatization andderegulation” (Gore, 2000: 789-790).

Such components were elaborated into an approach by the World Bank and IMFwhich became known as Washington Consensus (Craig and Porter, 2006).

Source: After Tilley (forthcoming 2007)

On the other hand, the neo-liberal housing agenda has been criticised as a continuity

of the World Bank’s primary objective to strengthen the global economy by

expanding growth in the developing countries rather than alleviating poverty. By

linking housing to the wider urban economy to promote economic growth and raise

urban productivity, Ayres (1983) argues that the World Bank has been more

concerned with assuring Wall Street than with meeting the demands of the ‘Third

World’. The underlying motivation of the Bank would be that “a significant

amelioration of the plight of the Third World’s poor would greatly expand world

markets for the Bank’s principal shareholders and would expand investment

22

opportunities for private investors within its principal donor countries” (Ayres, 1983:

244) According to Jones and Ward (1994) ‘buzz’ words of productivity, efficiency

and growth have been added to the standard package aimed at decentralisation and

cost recovery which were central to the World Bank’s urban policy though of the

1970s. “The picture presents a remarkable consistency of Bank policy in terms of the

underlying paradigm which is being promoted” (1994:46).

By the end of the 1980s there was an increasing body of literature criticising structural

adjustment programmes. The 1987 UNICEF report on Adjustment with a Human Face

highlighted the increasing inequality and poverty caused by the structural adjustment

programs (Cornia et al, 1988). Therefore from the early 1990s the World Bank

became concerned with the increasing inequality which had taken place in developing

countries since structural adjustment was introduced. According to Zetter (2004) the

World Bank entered then on the second stage of the market enablement approach,

where compensatory policies, such as squatter settlement upgrading, were supported

to alleviate the negative social costs of adjustment.

d) Period IV - Emerging Paradigm (2000s -?)

As the initial attempts failed to reduce the increase in the incidence of poverty, Pugh

(2004) has argued that by the end of the 1990s the World Bank broke away from the

Washington Consensus themes of the 1980s, and took on a new welfare system,

provided by mixed private and public institutions. The ‘New Directions’ approach

emphasized the need to increase urban productivity, but also to tackle the multiple

dimensions of poverty. Since the end of the 1990s, the World Bank has been

commissioning the preparation of the poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP) of

low-income countries with the objective to “promote broad-based growth and reduce

poverty” (www.imf.org...). According to Pugh (2004), “the intention was to draw

together the economic roles of urban development and the qualities of ‘livable cities’

in terms of poverty reduction, improved environments, and progress in housing and

health” (2004:66). In this ‘new phase’, the writings of Sen (1992, 1999) become

increasingly used and freedom reaches the crux of development discourse.

However, according to Zetter (2004) the recent innovations of the World Bank’s

urban development discourse are just a further expansion of the second stage of

23

market enablement. Also Webber (2004) argues that the new emphasis on poverty

alleviation is not understood as a goal in itself, but as means to advance and sustain

global capitalism. By evaluating the World Bank’s squatter upgrading programme in

Salvador da Bahia, this thesis assesses if the recent changes in the discourse of the

World Bank is tackling the needs of the urban poor or merely representing a

continuation of the motivation to strengthen international capitalism.

1.4.2 The World Bank and Amartya Sen

Since the end of the 1990s the World Bank has increasingly recognized that structural

adjustment programs were not sufficient for improving the quality of life of the poor.

“As a result, a new conceptual shift began to take place in World Bank’s thinking,

increasingly recognizing the need to promote public sector reform hand-in-hand with

policies promoting a more equitable distribution of wealth” (Zanetta, 2001: 527).

In 1996 Amartya Sen was invited to lecture on development as Presidential Fellow of

the World Bank. From then onwards Sen’s language started to be used by the World

Bank’s publications and development became frequently associated with the

‘expansion of freedom’ ideal. The commitment to operationalize this move can be

clearly seen in the article written by the president of the World Bank, Wolfensohn,

and Sen (1999): “For the World Bank, too, development is a process that ends with

freedom from poverty and from other social and economic deprivations”. Furthermore

a ‘friendly’ developmental approach is proposed to enhance people’s freedom to

avoid not only economic but also social deprivations. “These freedoms are both the

primary ends and the principal means of development. They include freedom to

participate in the economy, which implies access to credit, among other facilities;

freedom of political expression and participation; social opportunities, including

entitlement to education and health services; transparency guarantees, involving

freedom to deal with others openly; and protective security, guaranteed by social

safety nets, such as unemployment insurance or famine relief” (Wolfenshon and Sen,

1999, http://web.worldbank.org/...)

The expansion of the dimensions of the conceptualization of development and poverty

was confirmed in the 2000/2001 World Development Report. In this Report the World

24

Bank incorporated in their concept of poverty the views of poor people expressed in

their study Voices of the Poor (1999). The definition of poverty was expanded to

include “powerlessness and voicelessness, and vulnerability and fear” (World Bank,

2000a: 5).

Poverty is much more than income alone. For the poor, the good

life or wellbeing is multidimensional with both material and

psychological dimensions. Wellbeing is peace of mind; it is good

health; it is belonging to a community; it is safety; it is freedom of

choice and action; it is a dependable livelihood and a steady source

of income; it is food (World Bank, 1999:

http://www1.worldbank.org...).

One would think it legitimate to imagine that this more encompassing way of

conceiving poverty would pave the way for a reconfiguration of policies aimed at

alleviating it. However the impact in squatter upgrading policies is still ambiguous. In

the following sections the World Bank urban policies and its concept of squatter

upgrading are reviewed.

1.4.3 Old Wine in a New Bottle ?

The language of policy certainly seems to suggest a reorientation in the Bank’s

approach to the concept of deprivation. But the interesting question is whether there

has been any substantial change in the content of policy. Evidence of a certain

distance between language and content becomes clearer from a study of the Bank’s

‘new’ ‘framework for action’ in the 2000/2001 World Bank Report, which called for

comprehensive and inclusive development, in which the poor would have more

decision-making power, greater security, and greater latitude of opportunity at the

local level (2000a). The Bank argued that the 1990s framework for action was too

limited to encourage development: investing in social services and human capital had

not been enough to secure economic development. The Report calls for focusing on

three areas: promoting opportunity; facilitating empowerment and enhancing security.

The first is concerned with introducing market reforms targeted at poor people.

Empowerment is concerned with enhancing the capacity of poor people to participate

25

in the political process. But it also means “…removing the barriers – political, legal

and social – that work against particular groups and building the assets of poor people

to enable them to engage effectively in markets” (2000a: 39). Finally, security means

reducing the vulnerability of the poor to risks such as ill health, economic shocks, and

natural disasters. By targeting these three areas, the content of policy both preserves

the earlier emphasis on market-orientation and expands the Bank’s sphere of influence

on governance restructuring while scaling down the focus on provision of social

services.

Compatible with the above is the observation that the World Bank’s squatter

upgrading strategies began to focus even more on a city development strategy rather

than just the provision of social services or enhancing productivity of the housing

sector. An Alliance between the World Bank and UN-Habitat was formed in 1999,

with the responsibility for distributing loans, along with appropriate

recommendations, to tackle urban poverty in developing countries. The Alliance’s

2003 annual report called for an attack on urban poverty by focusing on two areas:

city development strategies (CDS) and citywide and nationwide squatter settlement

upgrading. Again, the language of policy is beguiling. In line with the objectives

flagged in the 2000/2001 World Development Report (2000a) the Alliance visualizes

that city and nationwide squatter settlement upgrading must involve dwellers and the

private sector in the decision making process and mobilisation of resources. The

content of policy, however, still retains much of the flavour of an earlier vintage.

Policies of the 1990s - such as urban land reforms, targeted subsidies, expansion of

infrastructure and services, and competitive housing finance - which enable housing

markets to prosper, continue to be encouraged. Additionally, there is a suggestion of

the need for policies to reflect an enhanced focus on participation from all actors in all

spheres of activity. While the poor are called upon to participate in the decision

making process as well as in the mobilisation of resources, the operational aspect of

‘participation’ seems to reside in the recommendation that NGOs and the private

sector should play a stronger role in the delivery of services (Cities Alliance, 2003).

Meanwhile the Alliance envisages CDS as a mechanism to create a shared vision of

the city’s future among all stakeholders. While acknowledging the need for each city

to develop its CDS, the Alliance also identifies clear goals and outcomes such as

26

policy, governance, and institutional reforms for raising the productivity and

competitiveness of cities. By ‘enabling a better business environment’, the CDS hopes

to ‘mobilise additional investments’ to the city. While housing sector policies are now

recommended for all spheres of city governance, the recommendations go far beyond

the housing sector: “Linkages between the city and major national investment

programmes in the port, airport, and the free zone are essential for attracting

investment to expand employment and services as well as for providing quality and

adequate basic services to both citizens and investors” (Cities Alliance, 2003: 11).

The World Bank vision of urban development is further explained in the 2000 World

Bank Urban and Local Government strategy paper (World Bank, 2000b). This paper

also shows how policies have not shifted in direction, but rather applied their market

orientated ideology to new dimensions. Again, the language-content contrast in policy

discourse is interesting. The strategy paper adapts the new dimensions of poverty to

an urban context by arguing that “urban poverty entails a sense of powerlessness, and

an individual and community vulnerability, that undermines human potential and

social capital” (2000b: 3) The strategy dictated by this more expansive understanding

of development is one that will encourage the notion of a sustainable city:

The ultimate aim of this strategy is to promote sustainable cities

and towns that fulfil the promise of development for their

inhabitants— in particular, by improving the lives of the poor and

promoting equity— while contributing to the progress of the

country as a whole. (World Bank, 2000b: 6)

But what does ‘sustainability’ imply? Further on in its policy paper, the Bank clarifies

its vision of sustainable cities. To become sustainable, cities need to be liveable,

competitive, bankable, well governed and managed. Liveability is concerned with

living standards. Squatter settlement upgrading is proposed as the mechanism for

tackling lack of infrastructure as well as powerlessness and vulnerability.

Powerlessness can be tackled by “…addressing constraints to small-scale and

informal sector enterprise…” (2000b: 8). Meanwhile vulnerability is also

conceptualized in economic terms since market-sensitive urban planning methods are

advanced to help cities to cope with multiple crises which could constrain growth.

27

The competitive variable is concerned with the “…basic conditions for urban

productivity, which are also necessary to make cities competitive and entrepreneurial

in the global marketplace” (2000b, p. 9). Improving the governance and management

of cities entails, among other things, fulfilling public responsibilities by enhancing

private sector participation and facilitating public-private partnerships. The concept of

a bankable city relates to the notion of creditworthiness, permitting access to city

loans. “Integrating informal and marginal communities as full urban citizens,

taxpayers, and public service customers is therefore an important goal” (2000b: 11).

The World Bank view on sustainable cities is clearly market-orientated: the new

conceptual dimensions of cities have expanded market ideology into new spheres, and

it is hard to resist the view that market enablement is still the development strategy of

the World Bank. The old-wine-in-a-new-bottle impression gains additional

plausibility from a consideration of the following excerpt from the World Bank’s

strategy paper:

An important part of good urban financial management involves

adopting a commercial approach to many of the service and

administrative functions of cities, while keeping social concerns in

view. A commercial approach is also a prerequisite for involvement

of the private sector or eventual privatization of urban services.

(World Bank, 2000b: 11-12)

The World Bank concentrates its analysis of squatter upgrading policies on the

relationship between improvements and the city’s macro-economic conditions. The

tendency is to blame all failures to raise the productivity of the city on the

government’s inability to make markets prosper. Preferred solutions have become less

specific and more general, with a shift from an earlier project focus to a housing

sector focus, to now a city development strategy. However, little attention is paid to

operational aspects of the squatter upgrading policies, and to how solutions on the

ground, shaped by the shifts in focus, will affect the lives of the squatter dwellers. The

language of World Bank policy is strong on freedom, but there is little engagement

with whether the content of World Bank policy will enhance or constrain the freedom

of squatter inhabitants to emerge from poverty.

28

1.4.4 The Functions of Squatter Upgrading

The World Bank’s contemporary vision of cities described in the previous section is

in accordance with the market enablement goal of turning cities into productive

enterprises, able to compete on the global arena, attracting investments thus tackling

urban poverty by the creation of jobs. According to Castells (2002) the

reconfiguration of cities’ functions are caused by the “emergence of a new society, the

network society, characteristic of the informational Age, as a result of the interaction

between the information-technology revolution, socio-economic restructuring and

cultural social movements” (2002:393). Due to globalization cities cannot live in

isolation and they need to integrate to the global network society. This urban

development approach that aims at integrating the city into the global network society

is also known as strategic planning. Vainer (2005) argues that strategic planning is

based on three concepts of the city: the city as a commodity; city as an enterprise; and

the city as a nationhood.

As part of this reconfiguration of city functions, squatter upgrading policies became

one of the means to integrate the city into the global network. The instrumental roles

of upgrading are clearly acknowledged in The Cities Alliance (1999) action plan for

squatter upgrading:

This upgrading initiative therefore needs to be reinforced with

redoubled efforts by the World Bank and the wider international

community to support the comprehensive urban development agenda

of cities where sustainable success as livable, manageable,

competitive, and bankable cities will depend foremost on their

ability to address the growing numbers and needs of urban poor

(1999: http://www.citiesalliance.org...)

Upgrading through the market enablement agenda hopes to encourage economic

development of the city by five interconnected processes: enhancing competitiveness;

maximizing productivity; enabling actors; alleviating poverty; and integrating the

excluded.

29

a) Upgrading – Enhancing Competitiveness

Squatter upgrading interventions are part of the beautification agenda of cities which

aim at enhancing their global competitiveness. According to Vainer (2005) the

contemporary dominant paradigm perceives the city as a commodity in the sense that

it competes with others in the global market to attract foreign direct investments

through business and multinational corporations. The attractiveness of a city is

increased by enhancing a ‘good business climate’ for investors by minimizing their

costs and maximizing quality. Thus urban policies focus on keeping production costs

low and investing on physical spaces that will facilitate markets to operate (Zetter,

2002). On one hand the global city invests in international airports, efficient

infrastructure networks and business districts, luxury hotels to raise competitiveness,

and on the other hand it invests on the minimization of environmental hazards, such as

squatter settlements. Upgrading is an environmental investment which hopes to

improve quality of urban life with the justification that it is “an essential factor of

attractiveness for investments and for highly skilled labour” (Borja and Castells,

1997:137). Marketing rules become increasingly important, and the image of the city

is prioritized over citizens’ well-being. Poverty becomes an aesthetic problem, and the

solution is the beautification of the city through physical intervention in exposed areas

(Davis, 2006).

b) Upgrading – Maximizing Productivity

According to Vainer (2005), the city, apart from being a commodity, is also perceived

as an ‘enterprise’ looking for the maximization of productivity. Urban governance

reshapes its functions, reducing its role as provider of social services and increasing

its position as a supporter of a ‘good business climate’ (Harvey, 2005). Thus, squatter

upgrading is perceived as a mean to enhance productivity as explained by The Cities

Alliance: “Given the pressures that urbanisation imposes on cities, finding alternatives

to new slum formation and improving the lives of slum dwellers, as called for in the

Millennium Development Goals, are essential goods in themselves and necessary for

raising urban productivity.” (2005: 14)

Squatter upgrading programmes are affected in two ways by this perception of city as

enterprise: Conceptually, improvements are part of spatially targeted policies to

promote entrepreneurship and activate markets in unproductive areas; secondly, social

30

policies are to be implemented by the private sector and non-governmental

organizations, often financed by state subsidies and international loans (Swyngedouw

et al, 2003). Thus squatter settlements are perceived as a governance failure to enable

markets caused by “inflated public sector and the rigidity of the regulatory

instruments of urban administration” (Zetter, 2004:15).

The market enablement approach to city planning moves away from the perception of

city as ‘engine of social change’, to one based on the perception of the city as an

‘engine of economic development’, responding to the needs of its markets and not its

citizens (Girard et al. 2003). As Harvey argues: “In the event of a conflict, neoliberal

states typically favour the integrity of the financial system and the solvency of

financial institutions over the well-being of the population or environmental quality”

(2005: 70-71).

c) Upgrading – Enabling Actors

Enablement is a core concept underlying the motivation of squatter upgrading

programmes by the World Bank. According to The Cities Alliance, by involving the

private sector, NGOs and CBOs, squatter upgrading projects improve the

creditworthiness of cities. The participation of stake holders aims to improve project

design and effectiveness; to enhance the impact and sustainability of projects; while

contributing to “overarching goals such as good governance, democratization, and

poverty reduction” (Imparato and Ruster, 2003:16).

Enablement also means regularization of tenure through the reduction of spatial

planning regulations and the privatization of public goods. The enablement

framework is supported to mobilise capital from capital markets; encourage market-

friendly policy reforms; and to strengthen decentralization to enhance transparency

and accountability. Thus enablement “creates stable revenue streams directly

impacting on a city’s creditworthiness and providing confidence to financial markets”

(Cities Alliance, 2005: 3)

Burgess et al (1997) argue that there are three types of enablement being supported by

international development agencies through urban interventions: market, political and

community enablement. Furthermore, Burgess et al (1997) argue that community

31

participation is being deployed to justify the spatial and political reforms that are

necessary to assure the empowerment of markets. Therefore the consequence of the

enablement framework is the consolidation and expansion of existing unequal power

relations.

d) Upgrading – Alleviating Poverty

Squatter settlements upgrading programmes repeatedly state that their main ambition

is to improve the living conditions of the poor and alleviate poverty (Cities Alliance,

2001, 2002 and 2003). Due to an increase of studies highlighting the negative and

unequal impacts of market enablement, squatter upgrading programmes became a

mean to alleviate the side effects of structural adjustment programmes. Burgess et al

(1997) argue that neo-liberal development practices have accentuated social

disparities between and within cities, by strengthening the tendency towards urban

primacy within developing countries. Barkin (1997) also examines how the race

towards productivity has reproduced the polarization process: “the regions that get left

behind, the areas that are unable to attract international investments and the traditional

productive systems that are unable to become competitive in the global marketplace

will all face the prospect of cumulative decline” (Barkin in Burgess et al, 1997:41).

According to Rakodi (2002) the recent rise of inequality in the world has led to an

increase in flexible short term contracts in developing countries which make jobs and

incomes more precarious. Instead of reformulating conceptions, the market

enablement discourse accepted that for the enterprise city to be competitive, the poor

had to become productive, and targeted welfare was needed to deal with the short

term side effects of market enablement (Borja and Castells, 1997).

e) Upgrading – Integrating the Excluded

There is a natural acceptance in this market enablement approach to squatter

upgrading that the city is a single actor, cohesive under the same objective (Vainer,

2005). Cities are perceived as commodities that compete, as enterprises that produce,

as facilitators that enable, as patients that need pain killers (squatter upgrading

programs). Thus the fifth function of squatter upgrading aims at integrating the

excluded in the unified and cohesive city. Such consensus is generated out of a

conscience of crises and a feeling of patriotism for the city as argued by Vainer (2005)

32

and which can be identified in the following quotation of the former president of the

World Bank Wolfensohn (2006)

Today, thanks in general to a welcome shift in the development

paradigm and in particular to the Cities Without Slums action

plan, there is a new recognition throughout the developing world

that the urban poor have not only rights but, what is more, an

essential part to play in building the city of tomorrow. We must

all join with them if we are to make the city truly undivided

(Wolfensohn, 2006:128).

The proliferation of squatter settlements is a manifestation of the urban crisis,

governance failure, and market malfunctions. Strategic planning calls for a unified

city, where civil society, private sector and government support the same practical and

pragmatic project. Squatter upgrading programmes are not means to change structural

mechanisms, but rather a means to integrate the excluded and marginal into the

singularly conceptualized city through physical and social improvements. Therefore,

addressing the quotation above, instead of “we must all join with them”, others might

say that the dynamics of urban funding reflect that they must all join with us “if we are

to make the city truly undivided”. Vainer (2005) argues that by introducing market

principles in the perception of cities, a consensus emerges of the pragmatic needs of

squatter inhabitants, leading to the ‘depoliticization’ of the housing problem.

Furthermore various authors have argued that regularization of tenure, beautification

of squatter settlements, and introduction of formal and global market mechanisms will

not lead to sustainable and long term improvements in the living conditions of the

poor. Instead it activates market forces that enhance inequalities and result in further

segregation of the poor (Taschner, 1995; Payne, 2002; Davies, 2006).

This section of the literature review shows the many ways in which squatter

upgrading programmes play a role in the neo-liberal agenda. Therefore, the

reconfiguration of city functions has brought squatter upgrading policies back to the

core of international development discourse. Going back to the initial discussion of

this section on the causes of the reconfiguration of city functions, many authors have

33

discussed the role of international agencies in the diffusion of strategic planning.

Fiori (1997) argues that the reconfiguration is not only a result of technological

innovations or the evolution of competitive markets, as argued by Castells (2002). It is

an economic, political and ideological phenomenon, advocated by international

development agencies, particularly the World Bank. In the next section, literature on

the role of the World Bank on the formulation of such an approach will be reviewed.

The objective is to continue to examine the role of squatter upgrading programmes

funded by the World Bank as means to tackle poverty or to strengthen markets.

1.4.5 Role of the World Bank: Diffusing or Enabling?

This section examines the literature that has explored the role of the World Bank in

the formulation of urban local policies in developing countries. Critics of the Bank

emphasises the loss of local sovereignty through the conditionality clauses attached to

poverty alleviation loans that diffuses the Bank’s neo liberal agenda (Burgess, 1992;

Zetter, 2004; Moser, 1997; Osmont, 2001; Weber, 2004). The defenders of the Bank

argue that while governance reforms are necessary to improve the performance of

municipal governments, local sovereignty is protected and expanded as poverty

alleviation policies encourage participation of civic society in policy making and the

delivery of services (Cohen, 2001; Cohen and Leitmann, 1994; Imparato and Ruster,

2003). Therefore the role of the World Bank has been debated between that of a

diffuser of market enablement policies and an enabler for best practices and good

governance.

From the end of the 1980s the word governance appeared on the policy papers of the

World Bank, and soon acquired centre stage of its strategy. The failures of the 1970s

policies to reduce poverty were due to institutional incompetence of governments

from developing countries. Poverty alleviation policies, such as squatter upgrading

programmes, became to be used as an instrument to stimulate governance reform

which could create a good business climate and enhance cities’ productivity (Zetter,

2004). According to Osmont (2001) the increasing politicisation of the Bank

undermines local democracies and diffuses a neo-liberal notion of good governance.

Furthermore the underlying objective of the Bank is argued to be the transformation

of the city into a bankable institution so that more loans can be transferred. Burgess

34

(1982, 1992) also perceives the Bank as a transmitter of global neoliberalism by

reshaping state functions and interfering in the process of allocation of state resources.

Weber (2004) establishes the link between poverty alleviation and the diffusion of a

preconceived ideology:

The construction of ‘poverty reduction’ policies by these

institutions (IMF and World Bank) can then only be understood

as instrumental to the governance of the global political

economy; and instrumental to the re-production of risks

associated with the global capitalism (Weber, 2004: 379).

Thus, as argued by Santos (2000), causes of injustices and inequalities are maintained

and poverty is perpetuated politically:

There is a poverty that is produced politically by global

institutions, such as the World Bank, that finance programmes

focused on the poor, willing to produce an image of interest

towards the deprived, while structurally, it is the grand producer of

poverty. Manifestation of poverty is tackled functionally, while

structurally poverty is created at a global level (2000:73).

Meanwhile Gilbert (2002) argues that “the power of developmental Washington lay in

large part in the receptiveness of its audience” (2002: 306). The Bank influences local

policy making through conditionality, however Gilbert claims that local elites play a

crucial role on housing policy-making. Nevertheless, using Chile as an example, he

demonstrates how Washington’s agenda can be defended by local elites.

However supporters of the World Bank argue that the move towards citywide policy

reform, institutional development and high-priority investments were necessary to

deal with the challenge of urban growth. Cohen and Leitmann (1994) argue that

squatter upgrading programmes needed to be supported by governance reform to

assure that physical improvements can be complemented by raising urban

productivity. Cohen (2001) does not agree that the Bank moved its focus away from

poverty reduction and towards management. “If some staff and some observers

35

understood this work as primarily being about municipal management, they had failed

to understand how policy objectives had remained the same but a new, more

promising set of instruments and approaches had been identified” (Cohen, 2001:51).

Furthermore, rather than a danger to local democracies, supporters of the World Bank

argue that by focusing on participation of civic society in urban projects, the World

Bank aims at making urban interventions more responsive to the needs of the urban

poor and encouraging a more inclusive policy making process. According to Imparato

and Ruster (2003) the World Bank hopes to strengthen local democracies by

supporting the engagement of the civic population, especially disadvantaged people,

to influence resource allocation, formulation and implementation of policies and

programmes. However the World Bank’s participatory strategy has been criticised in

a variety of ways: by taking a consultative form rather than real transference of

decision making power (Rakodi and Lloyd-Jones, 2002); by encouraging co-option

and being socially divisive (Marcuse, 1992); by strengthening traditional

patron/clientage structures and political allegiances (Burgess et al, 1997); by

weakening social movements (Berg-Schlosser and Kersting, 2003); by being

pragmatic, limiting the impact on structural inequalities and causes of poverty

(Burgess, 1982); and finally by being merely operational rather than setting up the

focus of development policies (Osmont, 2001).

1.5 Conclusion

The first chapter of this thesis introduces the major discussions around the

relationship between urbanization, housing and poverty. A conflict is identified

between a dominant approach to urban development that perceives poverty as a

consequence of the lack of integration to markets, and a critical appraisal that

perceives the integration to markets as maintaining and enhancing processes causing

poverty. The chapter also assesses the role of the World Bank in the international

development field. The assessment of the evolution of policies addressing poverty and

housing reveals the inconsistencies in the thinking and practice of development.

Recent pronouncements of the World Bank suggest that the new millennium has

marked a shift in its income-led concept of poverty to one based on Amartya Sen’s

36

concept of the phenomenon in terms of deprivation of freedoms. However, a closer

scrutiny of the Bank’s urban policy orientation suggests that there is some disjuncture

between the language of poverty definitions and the content of housing polices.

The goals of development as set out by Sen are accepted, but also seen as being best

served by policies which continue to place major emphasis on market enablement and

an income-centred approach to development. The World Bank’s five functions of

squatter upgrading programmes (enhancing competitiveness; maximizing

productivity; enabling actors; alleviating poverty; and integrating the excluded) are

justified in order to expand the city’s interaction in the global market according to the

neo-liberal model. An underlying mistaken assumption running through World Bank

policies is the strict association between squatter settlements and poverty.

The evaluation of the squatter upgrading programme financed by the World Bank in

Salvador da Bahia reveals the impact on squatter inhabitants of this ambiguous and

inconsistent approach to poverty and housing. While assessing the effects of the

upgrading project, it is necessary to evaluate the theoretical pillars of the World

Bank’s re-conceptualization of poverty and development. Are ambiguities and

inconsistencies a result of selective application of Sen’s writings; or do they result

from a broad and pragmatic neo-liberal approach to development? Is the problem with

the implementation or in the thinking of development? The next chapter therefore

examines in-depth the content and the critiques of Sen’s concept of development as

freedom.

37


World Bank ..................................................................................................................1

1.1 Introduction and Objectives .......................................................................1

1.2 Organisation of the Thesis...........................................................................4

1.3 Urbanization, Housing and Poverty ...........................................................7

1.3.1 An historical Approach .................................................................................7a) Modernization Period (1945-1973) ...............................................................8b) Basic needs period (1974-1984) ....................................................................8c) Neo liberal period (1985-1999) .....................................................................9d) Emerging Paradigm (2000) .........................................................................10

1.3.2 Urbanization, Poverty and Housing: Alternative Perceptions ....................12a) Alternative Development Theories ..............................................................13b) Contesting Pessimistic Predictions..............................................................14c) Contesting Perceptions of the Poor as Homogenous ...................................15d) Contesting the Enlightenment Epistemology ..............................................15e) Acceptance of Local Dynamics ...................................................................16

1.4 The World Bank and Urban Development..............................................17

1.4.1 Learning by Doing or Continuity................................................................18a) Period I – Modernization (1945-1973) ........................................................19b) Period II – Redistribution with Growth (1973-1984)..................................19c) Period III – Market Enablement (1984-1990s)............................................20d) Period IV - Emerging Paradigm (2000s -?).................................................22

1.4.2 The World Bank and Amartya Sen.............................................................231.4.3 Old Wine in a New Bottle ?........................................................................241.4.4 The Functions of Squatter Upgrading.........................................................28

a) Upgrading – Enhancing Competitiveness....................................................29b) Upgrading – Maximizing Productivity........................................................29c) Upgrading – Enabling Actors ......................................................................30d) Upgrading – Alleviating Poverty.................................................................31e) Upgrading – Integrating the Excluded.........................................................31

1.4.5 Role of the World Bank: Diffusing or Enabling? .......................................331.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................................35

List of Tables, Figures, Boxes and Pictures


World Bank ..................................................................................................................1

Figure 1.1: Objectives and Motivation of Thesis ..................................................4

Box 1.1 The Pessimistic Predictions for Developing Countries Cities ................9

Table 1.1: Development Strategies: Poverty and Housing Solutions ................18

Table 1.2: The Components of the Neo-Liberal Agenda....................................21

37

Chapter 2: Amartya Sen, the Capability Approach and

Housing Freedom

2.1 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the concept of development as freedom and

apply this framework in the context of housing in an evaluation of the squatter

upgrading projects in Salvador da Bahia. In the first section of this chapter Amartya

Sen’s writings and the literature investigating the Capability Approach are reviewed

to explain the approach’s historical roots, basic concepts, usages, and critiques. The

second section of this chapter examines the application of the Capability Approach in

the urban development context, especially in the conceptualization of housing. This

chapter proposes the framework of housing freedom as a mechanism to study low

income housing areas and to evaluate squatter upgrading policies through the concepts

of Amartya Sen. The investigation of the functions of housing is already present in the

writings of King (2003) Barchelard (1964), and Turner (1972). However, this chapter

examines how this application of the Capability Approach is different from other

explorations of the ‘use value’ of housing. Finally this chapter sheds light on the

contributions of Sen’s writings for development thinking and practice.

2.2 Amartya Sen, the Capability Approach and the Human

Development Paradigm.

The Capability Approach has been explored in a variety of ways in the literature. Sen

attributes the origins of the focus of development on freedom to the early motivations

of economics. The literature acknowledges Sen’s attempt to break from utilitarianism

by expanding the informational basis for development, moving from an income-led

definition of development to one based on multiple factors. On one hand academics

who sympathise with Sen’s writings have complemented and developed his approach

by exploring the different issues in the process of achieving and measuring a ‘good

life’. Some authors have gone further by arguing that Sen’s writings have changed

38

development discourse so significantly that a new paradigm has emerged, normally

referred as the Human Development Paradigm. On the other hand, critics of Sen argue

that the Capability Approach is a form of pragmatic neoliberalism, and therefore does

not provide an appropriate alternative to the eradication or measurement of poverty.

While evaluating current development policies through Sen’s perspective, this thesis

both evaluates the appropriateness of the application of Sen’s concepts of the

measurement of development, and at a conceptual level it analyses the usefulness of

Sen’s concepts as a development paradigm. Therefore this section of the thesis deals

with the challenges when operationalizing Sen’s concept to measure development,

while analysing how far this approach diverges from the neoliberal paradigm.

2.2.1 The Capability Approach: an Evaluative Framework

Sen’s ideas have being taken on board by different academics who have developed his

concepts into a framework called the Capability Approach. The aim of these

academics is to develop a broad normative framework for the evaluation of individual

well-being and social arrangements (Alkire, 2002; Chiappero Martinetti, 2000; Clark,

2002; Jasek-Rysdahl, 2001; Naussbaum, 1988; Robeyns, 2003; Sen, 1999). The core

characteristic of the Capability Approach is to move away from income-led evaluation

methods, and to focus on the ability people have to achieve the things they value.

Therefore well-being can be measured by assessing people’s freedom and choices,

rather than their level of income or consumption. According to Clark (2002) the focus

on utility or resources can be misleading, as what is essential to capture is not the

amount of commodities, but what it does for people. By focusing on people’s freedom

Pant (2001) argues that the Capability Approach acknowledges that people differ in

their capacity of conversion of goods into valuable achievements due to personal and

locational factors and social arrangements. Yet such an approach to the analysis of

well-being is not totally innovative, as Sen argues that historically it is part of the

development of economies.

a) Capability: the Historical Roots of the Approach

In a lecture given in China about the historical roots of the Capability Approach, Sen

cited a Chinese poet, Ssu-k’ung T’u: “You join with the old and produce the new” (in

Sen, 2001:190). According to Sen, “the old” who the notion of development as

39

freedom is based on are Aristotle and the classical political economists Adam Smith

and Karl Marx. Meanwhile Sen’s writings also relate to the theory of justice of the

moral philosopher John Rawls.

Sen cites Aristotle as the first writer to investigate the nature of human development

from a broad perspective. The Aristotelian theory analyses the “good of human

beings”, linking to the examination of “the functions of man” and exploring “life in

the sense of activity” (Aristotle, 1980). His concept of “eudaimonia”, according to

Sen, “stands for fulfilment of life in a way that goes beyond the utilitarian

perspective” (Sen, 2005:13). As Aristotle put it: “The life of money-making is one

undertaken under compulsion, and wealth is evidently not the goods we are seeking;

for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else” (Aristotle, 1980: 7).

Adam Smith and Karl Marx have also supported the focus on freedom in the

assessment of economic and social change. Smith ([1759] 1976) was concerned with

crucial human freedoms and also pioneered the concept of relative poverty. By

addressing people’s ability “to appear in public without shame”, Smith acknowledged

the different things people may value apart from income, while also arguing that

people from different culture might need different clothing and resources to achieve

such freedom. Meanwhile Marx ([1846] 1977) refers to freedom by perceiving people

as agents of change, as he emphasized the importance of “replacing the domination of

circumstances and chances over individuals by the domination of individuals over

chance and circumstances” (Marx, [1846] 1977:190).

Furthermore, both classical economists were sceptical about the market economy.

However, according to Sen, “as capitalism led to unprecedented economic growth,

that scepticism was replaced by massive – often unqualified – admiration. The

qualifications that Adam Smith himself had presented, concerning the need to

supplement – and in some cases even restrain – the working of the market economy

were often completely overlooked in the various triumphant phases through which

capitalism progressed” (2001:179). Thus, Sen argues that the Capability Approach

reclaims the motivational heritage of economics (2001).

40

Sen also relates the concept of capabilities to the work of John Rawls on justice, in the

field of modern moral philosophy. While having similar motivations, Sen explains

that they propose a different focus of analysis. Rawls’ theory of justice identifies a list

of “primary goods” which incorporates commodities and other aspects of well-being,

such as “the basic liberties” and “social bases of self-respect”. However, according to

Sen, Rawlsian theory is problematic because it is concerned only with means, and not

ends. For example, being nourished is not part of the list, while having the income to

buy food is. “They [primary goods] deal with things that help to achieve what we

want to achieve, rather than either with achievement as such or even with the freedom

to achieve” (2005:7). Thus an account of a person’s primary goods cannot reflect that

person’s freedom, since different people will have different conversion abilities to

transform primary goods into achievements.

b) Capability: Informational Space for Making Evaluative Judgements

While capturing this aspect of interpersonal variation in needs and values, Sen (1992)

and Alkire and Black (1994) ague that the Capability Approach broadens the

informational space for making value judgements by exploring the multidimensional

shape of human well-being. Thus, according to Shanmugaratnam (2001), well-being

is a reflection of people’s own perception of the multiple aspects of their lives. Other

approaches have been attempting to move away from the income led definition of

poverty, by including people’s perception and accepting the multiple facets of poverty

(see Chapter 3), however Deneulin and Stewart (2002) argue that they miss the

philosophical justification for the objectives they put forward, which Sen has

elaborated at the Capability Approach. At the core of the approach is the concept that

“development is about providing conditions which facilitate people’s ability to lead

flourishing lives” (Deneulin and Stewart, 2002: 62).

c) Capability: Components of the Approach

The concepts of functionings and capabilities are essential components of Sen’s

Capability Approach, as Gasper (2002) identifies. Sen describes the various

components or aspects of how a person lives as functionings. “A functioning is an

achievement of a person: what he or she manages to do or to be, and any such

functioning reflects, as it were, a part of the state of that person” (Sen, 2005:5).

According to Alkire “functionings is an umbrella term for the resources and activities

41

and attitudes people spontaneously recognize to be important – such as poise,

knowledge, a warm friendship, an educated mind, a good job” (2003:5).

Meanwhile capabilities are the freedoms people have to achieve the lifestyle they

have reason to value. Gasper (2002) argues that Sen uses the term ‘capabilities’ with

two connotations: sometimes as options and choices, or functionings that are

attainable by a person; but other times also as capacities or abilities to achieve the

things people value. Gore (1997) notes that while functionings refer to achievements,

capabilities refer to the opportunity set. Furthermore, Sen (1992) argues that

evaluation of well-being should be measured within the space of capabilities and not

functionings, thus evaluation should focus on opportunities and not achievements. Sen

(1992) illustrates the difference by using the example of a person that starves as a

result of fasting, and another who starves due to shortage of food to explain the need

to focus on choice. By focusing on functionings, both persons would be at the same

level of deprivation, therefore the focus on opportunity would portray a more realistic

vision of people’s ability to achieve the things they value. Thus, Sen (1992)

distinguishes between ‘doing x’ and ‘choosing to do x and doing it’.

However such focus on capability has been criticised by sympathisers of the

Capability Approach (Qizilbash, 1996; Gore, 1997; Gasper, 2002; and Fleurbaey,

2002). Gasper (2002) argues that while choosing is central to Sen’s approach, there is

no consideration as to what shapes people’s preferences. For Gasper “a way of life is

more than a set of private choices; and personality and identity have a psychic and

social grounding” (2002: 451). On the same lines Qizilbash (1996) argues that “more

capabilities will not necessarily translate into a better quality of life” (1996:148).

Fleurbaey (2002) goes further by arguing that a theory that focuses merely on access

to functionings “automatically abandons those undeserving poor who fail to seize the

opportunities offered” (2002:74).

d) Capability: Agency Freedom and Well-being

Meanwhile Robeyns (2003) argues that an evaluation of social arrangements based on

Sen’s writings would not only be concerned with choice, but also with the forces that

contribute to convert capabilities into realized functionings. Freedom is understood as

a concept made of well being but also agency components. Well-being freedom is

42

concerned with objectives that one values for his/her well-being. Agency is concerned

with the individual freedom to choose and bring about the things he/she values. To

clarify the difference, Sen (1992) argues that agency includes states of affairs that do

not necessarily contribute to one’s well-being. In this case, the focus of evaluations

should not be on levels of well-being, but on the processes that affect people’s

freedom to realize valued choices. Thus the structural and personal conditions

affecting an individual’s ability to choose need to be taken into consideration in an

evaluation exercise. These structural and personal conditions work as conversion

factors, influencing the way choices can become achievements. Agency freedom is

affected by three conversion factors: Personal characteristics (e.g. metabolism,

physical condition, sex, reading skills, intelligence) social characteristics (e.g. public

policies, social norms, discriminating practices, gender roles, societal hierarchies,

power relations) and environmental characteristics (e.g. climate, infrastructure,

institutions, public goods) (Robeyns, 2003).

By accepting the role of conversion factors affecting the agency component of

freedom, the Capability Approach includes social elements at the evaluative process.

Robeyns (2003) illustrates this element of the Capability Approach by elaborating on

the relation between having a bicycle and the freedom to move about. She argues that

by having a bike, mobility is not necessarily enhanced, as streets might be dangerous

or unpaved, it might not be socially accepted to women to ride bicycles, a disabled

person would also not be able to ride, etc… These constrains are the conversion

factors that incorporate the physical, social and structural elements at the evaluative

process.

Nevertheless many authors have criticized Sen’s writings as being too individualistic.

Sen refuses to accept the role of collective capabilities and, by doing so, researchers

argue that he is excluding group or collective freedoms (Gore, 1997; Carter, 1999;

Evans, 2002; Deneulin and Stewart, 2002). Gore (1997) argues that the Capability

Approach cannot be labelled as excessively individualistic in any simple way. As well

as agency and conversion factors, Sen identifies social functionings (such as ‘taking

part in the life of the community’, ‘communicating’, ‘being well-integrated in

society’, and using Adam Smith’s famous example, ‘appearing in public without

shame’). While being more inclusive in the space of functionings to collective values,

43

Sen is more biased towards individual values in the space of capabilities. Gore (1997)

argues that Sen’s approach is individualistic in the sense that it measures well-being in

terms of an individuals’ ability, not recognising the role of collective resources. Gore

(1997) defends the concept of ‘irreducibly social goods’ that are such goods that are

objects of value which cannot be decomposed into individual occurrences. In other

words, there are capabilities that are properties of societies or groups rather than

individuals.

e) Capability: Openness and Incompleteness

While refusing to accept collective capabilities, Sen (1992, 1993) argues that the

Capability Approach is deliberatively incomplete, as it does not specify a list of

valuable capabilities or functionings. Furthermore, he does not provide any clear

practical guidelines to practitioners or researchers on how to assess or identify

capabilities (Comin, 2001). Sugden (1993) criticizes this incompleteness by arguing

that the broadness, multidimensionality and context-dependent nature of the approach

prevents it from having practical and operational significance. Such criticisms led

authors to propose a list of capabilities with the objective of focusing on

operationalizing the Sen’s writings. Nussbaum (2000) argues that it is necessary to

identify a list of “functional capabilities”. On the other hand, Qizilbash (2002) reacts

to a list compiled by Nussbaum by arguing that it is too complete thus vulnerable to

criticism as being too universal and not taking into account individual and cultural

differences. Meanwhile Finnis (1979) and Griffins (1996) put forward similar

approaches to reach a middle ground between Sen and Nussbaum. They argue for an

irreducible list of elements that would be present at any functioning identified by

individuals with different preferences.

Sen responds to these criticisms by arguing that “an agreement on the usability of the

Capability Approach – an agreement on the nature of the ‘space’ of value-objects –

need not presuppose an agreement on how the valuational exercise may be

completed” (1993: 48). Sen (2005) also refuses to accept a fixed list of capabilities by

arguing:

The problem is not with listing important capabilities, but with

insisting on one pre-determined canonical list of capabilities,

44

chosen by theorists without any general social discussion or public

reasoning. To have such a fixed list, emanating entirely from pure

theory, is to deny the possibility of fruitful public participation on

what should be included and why (2005:158).

f) Capability: Identifying and Assessing Capabilities

This thesis applies Sen’s Capability Approach using participatory research methods

with the aims of identifying and assessing capabilities in the housing context. While

not specifying a process of evaluative exercises, Crocker (2006) and Alkire (2002)

argue that Sen acknowledges participatory approaches as a principal process by which

many evaluative issues may be resolved. As Sen (1999) states:

Political and civil rights, especially those related to the

guaranteeing of open discussion, debate, criticism, and dissent, are

central to the process of generating informed and considered

choices. These processes are crucial to the formation of values and

priorities, and we cannot, in general, take preferences as given

independently of public discussion, that is, irrespective of whether

open interchange and debate are permitted or not (1999: 253 –

Democracy universal value).

Crocker (2006) develops the links between participation and the Capability Approach

by arguing that the theory of deliberative democracy offers “a principled account of

the processes groups employ to decide certain questions and form their values” (2006:

4). Alkire (2002) argues that participatory approaches and Sen’s Capability Approach

have four major issues in common: they aim at obtaining outcomes that people value

while empowering participants; they perceive the issue of ‘who decides’ equally

important to ‘what is decided’; they recognise that the process might not lead to the

best choice, but that discussion is an effective means to separate the ‘better’ from

‘worse’ choices; and reasoned deliberation is supported for consideration of

advantage and interpersonal comparisons. Furthermore Alkire (2002) lists the benefits

of applying the Capability Approach through participatory methods: it lowers

implementation costs; it generates greater technical success due to access to local

information; it supports sustainability as communities continue the improvements

45

after the cessation of external funding; it encourages empowerment and self-

determination as participants set their own objectives; and it is sensitive to local

cultural values because people influence the initiatives in all stages.

g) Capability: Participation and Adaptive Preferences

Alkire (2002) argues that Sen does not directly support participatory methods because

he would have to incorporate a whole literature on the decision making process,

therefore moving away from the economic discipline. Nevertheless Comim and

Teschl (2004) have contributed to Sen’s Capability Approach by exploring the

psychological aspects of the decision making process. As participatory approaches

would involve the use of subjective information, people’s ability to choose could be

compromised by their adverse situations. Sen (1999) has identified such a process as

adaptive preference. This process would be especially relevant when studying

communities with high levels of deprivation.

Sen (2005) mentions a process to overcome adaptive preference based on the writings

of Adam Smith ([1759] 1976) on moral reasoning:

We can never survey our own sentiments and motives, we can

never form any judgement concerning them; unless we remove

ourselves, as it were, from our own natural situation, and

endeavour to view them as at a certain distance from us ([1759]

1976: 110).

However, Sen does not elaborate further on such a process. Meanwhile Comim and

Teschl (2004), when exploring different perspectives on adaptation, identify that in

the subjective well-being literature the process of adaptation is always taking place, as

people are always changing their perception of their well-being. Comim and Teschl

then argue that what constrains people’s ability to evaluate their well-being is not the

process of adaptation, but resignation. Furthermore Comim and Teschl (2004) argue

that the process of resignation takes place when there is a feeling of passivity, which

leads to the sense of ‘putting up with fate’ and acceptance of the given order.

46

Communities that are under high levels of deprivation but maintain individuals

actively involved and engaged in the struggle for better living conditions would not be

going through a process of resignation. In the context of this research, participatory

methods would be justified, as both squatter settlements analysed have a tradition of

active resident involvement in the improvement of the built environment and in

making their voices heard to governments. These issues will be further developed at

the methodology chapter (Chapter 4).

2.2.2 The Capability Approach as a Development Paradigm

By applying Sen’s concepts in an urban development context, the thesis also examines

how far the Capability Approach is compatible or not with the neo-liberal

development paradigm. On one hand supporters of Sen’s writings argue that the focus

on freedom is a break with income-led thinking of development, whilst critics assess

‘development as freedom’ as a continuation of neoliberalism.

a) From Neoliberalism to the Human Development Paradigm

The first attempt to propose an alternative development paradigm to neoliberalism

based on the writings of Sen was carried out by the UNDP, at the beginning of the

1990s in its annual Human Development Report. The series of reports supported

Sen’s Human Development approach which moved the focus of development as

income-generation to that of the expansion of freedoms (Fukuda-Parr, 2005).

Recently academics have discussed the usefulness, limitations and strengths of

applying Sen’s writings as a development paradigm. On one hand Alkire (2003) and

Fukuda-Parr (2005) argue that the Capability Approach can impose itself as an

influential development theory as it differs significantly from the Basic-Needs and the

Neo-liberal paradigm. On the other hand Sanbrook (1999) and Gore (2000) argue that

the ‘development as freedom’ concept is a sound theory that justifies a more

acceptable form of neoliberalism, which they name as ‘pragmatic’ or ‘populist’

neoliberalism. Meanwhile in the middle of those extremes are academics

acknowledging some weaknesses of the Capability Approach and proposing a human

development paradigm that can go beyond individual capabilities while recognising

the role of structural conditions and power relations (Deneulin, 2005; Gasper, 2002).

47

Sen’s writings have since the beginning of the 1990s become increasingly influential

on development thinking in international development agencies, such as UNDP and

the World Bank. By the end of the 1980s international development agencies were

under pressure to propose an alternative to the ‘Washington Consensus’ as structural

adjustment was strongly criticised. The failures of neoliberal policies were highlighted

by UNICEF’s (1987) critique Adjustment with a Human Face. Thus, according to

Fukuda-Parr (2005), in 1990 the UNDP commissioned the Human Development

Report with the ambition to set out a comprehensive approach to development that

shifted the development focus from national income to people-centred policies.

Meanwhile at the World Bank, Sen was invited to give lectures on development as

Presidential Fellow in the fall of 1996. The previous chapter elaborated on the shifts

in World Bank thinking. However, this section now analyses the literature on Sen’s

concepts and their assessment on how far the human development approach proposes

an alternative paradigm to neoliberalism.

Fukuda-Parr (2005) and Alkire (2003) have argued that Sen’s ideas break away from

the utilitarian and income led paradigm by perceiving development as an expansion of

a range of things that a person can be and do. “Seen from this viewpoint, development

is about removing the obstacles to what a person can do in life, obstacles such as

illiteracy, ill health, lack of access to resources, or lack of civil and political

freedoms” (Fukuda-Parr, 2005:305). Fukuda-Parr (2005) also argues that Sen’s

writings differ from the neoliberal paradigm in a variety of ways: firstly well-being

moves away from a concept based on utility-maximization, to one that incorporates

the issues of rights, freedom and human agency. Thus the human development

paradigm shifts the concern of governance from enhancing the efficiency of

institutions to one of tackling social justice, enlarging “the participation, power, and

influence of the people, especially those who are disadvantaged, such as women,

ethnic minorities, and the poor” (2005:310). Thirdly, while neoliberalism is concerned

with economic growth, human development focuses on expanding people’s choices.

Finally people are perceived in the human development approach not as a means to

economic activity, but as ends, beneficiaries and agents of change.

Meanwhile Deneulin (2005) argues that the human development approach is a revival

of the basic needs approach, but complemented by a sound theoretical foundation

48

which is strong enough to replace the utility-based approach to development. While

both approaches put people at the centre of development, the human development

approach defines well-being in terms of capabilities and not access to commodities.

Furthermore the human development approach contrasts with the basic needs

approach by not imposing a certain list of human needs without an explicit

explanation justifying the selection process. According to Alkire (2003) the openness

of Sen’s approach provides a framework for a development approach that is flexible

enough to adapt to the diverse challenges that poor people face while not imposing a

rigid set of policy prescriptions. While Sen never argued himself that his ideas should

become a development paradigm, Alkire (2003) and Fukuda-Parr (2005) argue that

Sen’s writings fundamentally innovate development discourse, becoming a paradigm

by: focusing on human ends; being multidimensional and multidisciplinary;

addressing positively human diversity; explicating the process of value judgements;

and by being centrally concerned with justice.

b) The Critiques: Continuity rather than Change?

The conversion of the Capability Approach into a theory of human development has

been criticised because of its limitation and incompleteness and because of its

similarities to the previous neoliberal paradigm. The limitations identified include:

Sen’s reluctance to engage in a discussion of the challenges of public deliberation and

the role of structural processes (Gasper, 2002; Deneulin and Stewart, 2002); for being

too individualistic and supporting market mechanisms (Patnaik, 1998; Evans 2002).

Meanwhile Sen’s concepts have been criticised as not breaking significantly from the

previous neoliberal paradigm, by perpetuating and expanding two trends existing

within the neo-liberal paradigm: the ahistorical performance assessment, and the

partial globalization of development policy analysis (Gore, 2000). Furthermore Sen’s

concepts are argued to be serving as a conceptual and ethical grounding for the

emergence of ‘pragmatic neoliberalism’ (Sandbrook, 2002).

i) The Challenges of Public Deliberation and Structural Processes

However even sympathisers of Sen’s concepts have criticised the functionality of

converting the Capability Approach into a whole theory of human development.

Gasper (2002) argues that “the Capability-Functionings conceptualization serves well

to critique conventional welfare economics or the focus on GNP, but appears as an

49

insufficient basis for a whole theory of human development” (2002:436). The main

limitation outlined by Gasper (2002) is that the human development paradigm does

not go far enough on one hand to integrate disciplines other than economics and

philosophy, and on the other by perceiving people merely as consumers, investors and

choosers and not incorporating the structural conditions shaping people’s multiple

social roles. Deneulin and Stewart (2002) criticise Sen’s reliance on public

deliberation without any specific guidelines, leaving no answers on how to deal with

the practical challenges of applying democratic processes. Furthermore Sen’s

democratic concept is criticised as being too idealistic, where political power, political

economy, and struggle are absent. According to Evans “what is missing is an analysis

of the extent to which modern market processes might constitute an impediment to the

kind of deliberative preference formation that is essential to the expansion of

capabilities” (2002:58).

ii) Individualism and Support to Market Mechanisms

The lack of attention to the structural conditions influencing well-being and decision-

making processes is argued by Deneulin and Stewart (2002) to be due to Sen’s

individualistic orientation. By focusing on the individual’s choices and by avoiding

addressing social processes, Sen’s approach becomes less controversial, but more

empty in its content (Fleaurbaey, 2002). Evans (2002) argues that by not accepting

collective capabilities, the human development approach is still based on classic

liberal perceptions, and thus does not threaten the ‘elite guardians of tradition’.

Furthermore Patnaik (1998) argues that Sen does not acknowledge the limitations of

market mechanisms as he supports reforms that assure the success of ‘liberalisation’

to tackle poverty and famine:

The problem however is that ‘liberalisation’ is a process, a

particular direction of movement of the economy that is

fundamentally opposed to the direction of the egalitarian reforms

he [Sen] advocates: if the development strategy is to be based on

enticing multinational corporations and domestic capitalists to

undertake larger investment in the domestic economy then this

very choice of direction imposes constraints on the ability of the

50

state to raise resources for undertaking the kinds of expenditures

that Sen advocates (Patnaik, 1998:2859).

iii) Human Development, as Pragmatic Neoliberalism

Sandbrook (2002) and Gore (2000) argue that the human development paradigm does

not represent a break from the previous paradigm due the limitations of Sen’s

individualistic orientation, support for market mechanisms and silence on structural

processes influencing people’s well-being and ability to choose. Furthermore they

argue that Sen’s ideas have been used by international agencies to give a more

acceptable form to neoliberal policies as a response to the critics of the inequalities

caused by the structural adjustment policies. Sandbrook (2002) argues that Sen’s

concepts offer a clear and harmonious route to expand personal freedom by adjusting

individuals to global market competition. Instead of changing the previous paradigm,

Sen’s concepts serve as conceptual and ethical grounding for the emergence of, what

Sandbrook (2002) calls, ‘pragmatic neoliberalism’. This approach urges a more active

state than the old style liberalism, involved at improving the capacity of citizens, firms

and the national economy to compete within an advancing global market economy.

The state assumes the responsibility to provide minimally adequate safety nets for

those individuals who cannot market themselves effectively. Poverty is then overcome

by increasing the poor’s accessibility to resources and opportunities through better

basic education, sanitation and health. Thus, as argued by Patnaik (1998), the human

development approach based on Sen’s writings would not go beyond the immediate

causes of poverty, avoiding issues concerning social processes and redistributive

policies.

iv) Human Development: Ahistorical and partially Globalized.

This pragmatic character of Sen’s writings and of the human development paradigm is

argued by Gore (2000) to represent a continuation of two trends existing in the neo

liberal paradigm: the ahistorical performance assessment; and the partial globalization

of development policy analysis. From the 1950s to the 1970s theorizing on

development strategy was historic, in the sense that social arrangements were

analysed through a historical approach, taking into consideration long-term sequences

of economic and social changes. The neo-liberal period on the other hand marked the

shift of focus from history to ‘performance’. Since the 1980s grand narratives were

51

questioned, and development agencies abandoned their tokens of ‘modernization’ and

emancipation of the people from oppression to embrace the role as monitors of

‘performance’, making local economic and social institutions ‘work’ more efficiently.

According to Gore (2000) such a short term performance-driven paradigm has not

changed but actually been expanded by the human development approach. To be a

more multidimensional approach is to measure and expand performance, thus merely

making the Washington Consensus more humane.

Moreover the project [human development project] of making

economic and social institutions work better through

decentralization and the use of local knowledge, indigenous

management practices and the participation, not of the masses,

but of ‘local people’ and ‘small communities’, can be, and has

easily been, fused into a kind of neoliberal populism (Gore,

2000:796).

Gore (2000) argues that the other characteristic of neoliberalism present in the human

development approach is the partial globalization of development policy analysis,

combining a global understanding of development norms, but methodologically

nationalist in its explanations. Since the propagation of the Washington Consensus in

the 1980s, the understanding of the norms of the development process has moved

from a national frame of reference to a global one. Neoliberalism shifted the focus

from domestic resources that contributed to national development, to integration into

the global economy and trends. Meanwhile, international explanations of

development, such as the dependency theories of the 1970s were replaced by national

explanations that focused on the ability of national markets to flourish. Thus country

performances are attributed largely to domestic policies. As argued also by Patnaik

(1998), Gore (2002) shows that Sen’s writings do not challenge this character of

neoliberalism, by perceiving global trends as detached from local solutions. The

human development approach expands here again this character of neoliberalism, by

accepting the inevitability of the global trends and tackling the domestic policies that

are concerned not only with economic productivity, but also provision of basic social

services.

52

There is a striking similarity between Gore’s perception of the human development

approach and the roles of upgrading in the market enablement approach, described in

the previous section. In an urban development context, Gore would be arguing that

local solutions, such as squatter upgrading, are encouraged with the ambition to

integrate cities in a global network. Such perception is very close to the visions of

Borja and Castells (1997) of urban interventions.

The analysis of the squatter upgrading interventions in Salvador da Bahia through

Sen’s approach assesses how far the Capability Approach differs from the market

enablement approach to upgrading, thus contributing to the existing literature

analysing the differences between the human development and the neoliberal

paradigm. Furthermore, this thesis also assesses how the innovations of the human

development approach, such as broader informational basis, and the focus on social

justice, participation and choice, can generate a paradigm that can go beyond the

pragmatic and superficial understanding of poverty to tackle the root causes of

inequalities.

2.3 Sen’s Freedom Framework in the Context of Housing

This chapter now turns to the application of Sen’s writings in the urban development

context. The Capability Approach is used here to unfold the ‘beings’, ‘doings’ and

‘havings’ that people value related to housing. The thesis applies Sen’s freedom

framework to expand on the housing aspect of well-being. Researchers, such as King

(2003), Barchelard (1964), and Turner (1972) have also explored the functions of

housing. In the following sections comparisons will be made between the approach

taken in this thesis and other similar explorations of housing processes. The concept

of ‘housing freedoms’ is proposed and elaborated as a mechanism of applying the

Capability Approach in the context of this research.

2.3.1 Housing: from a Means to an End

The relationship between housing and freedom is elaborated by researchers exploring

the Capability Approach (Nussbaum, 1999; King, 2003a). Their motivation has been

53

to analyse the role of housing in the fulfilment of the universal and basic functional

capabilities, identified by Nussbaum (1999). These applications perceive housing as a

means to guarantee valued functionings, for example, “bodily health” and “integrity”

(King, 2003a:669). King (2005) expands on the definition of housing, by arguing that

that “it is a facilitating space” (2005:57) and “an elemental right upon which other

basic human functions depend” (2003a:671). Thus, King’s (2003b) main concern is

with the instrumental value of housing which affects human flourishing.

For the evaluation of squatter upgrading projects, the understanding of housing as a

means is not sufficient because it does not elaborate on the meanings, values and

dimensions of housing itself. Therefore it is necessary to consider housing as an end

in itself. Existing literature explore the multiple dimensions of housing from a variety

of approaches, including anthropological (Rapoport, 1969, 1995; Lawrence, 1987),

feminist (Blunt and Dowling, 2006), and architectural (Hamdi, 1995). However, this

research particularly focuses on how urban interventions intervene in the process of

housing that people value, through the improvement of basic services, housing

conditions, or social facilities. The thesis applies the Capability Approach both to the

evaluation of well-being, and to the exploration of a set of ‘housing functionings’.

The motivation of identifying certain functions of housing is also present in

Bachelard’s (1964) and Turner’s (1972) writings. Barchelard (1964) elaborates on the

concept of “functions of inhabiting”. As Finnis (1979) and Griffins (1996) have

argued for a list of irreducible functionings of well-being, Bachelard (1964) discusses

the basic universal functions of housing. “We must go beyond the problems of

description – whether this description be objective or subjective, that is, whether it

give facts or impressions – in order to attain to the primary virtues, those that reveal

an attachment that is native in some way to the primary function of inhabiting”

(1964:4). The thesis is different from Barchelard’s (1964) approach by not analysing

universal values of housing, but the local usages and attached meanings to the process

of being sheltered. In the same way, Sen argues for the openness of the Capability

Approach, this thesis also supports the role of public deliberation in the identification

and evaluation of the functions of housing.

54

Turner (1972) used the phrase Freedom to Build to elaborate his concept of self-help

housing. During the 1970s, Turner’s self-help approach became the dominant housing

strategy of international agencies. Turner also shows dissatisfaction with the

materialist approach, by moving away from a perception of what housing is and

focusing on what it does to people’s lives. Thus, Turner criticizes utilitarianism and

calls for an approach in which housing is analysed in terms of its use value, ‘housing

is perceived as functions of what housing does in the lives of its users – of the roles

which the process plays in their life history – and not in the material qualities’

(Turner, 1972:159). While not developing a framework that contradicted the

utilitarian approach, Turner identifies some ‘functions of housing’, which besides the

quality of shelter also focus on location and alternative forms of tenure, and

emotional, physical and financial security.

The lack of an approach to the identification and analysis of the functions of housing

leads to significant differences between the Turner and Sen on the way freedom is

conceptualized. Turner’s perception of freedom focuses on the negative aspect of

liberty. Turner calls for autonomous systems, free from impediments such as building

regulations and over regulated housing market network systems. Meanwhile Sen has

developed a much more elaborated perception of freedom, which embraces also the

positive aspects, such as choice, power and autonomy. In other words, the application

of Sen’s concepts to the analysis of housing goes further than Turner by not only

focusing on ‘freedom from’, but also acknowledging the need to expand the idea of

‘freedom to’.

In this thesis housing is understood as an on-going activity associated with a certain

set of functions of the house. Such functions, or doings, beings and havings are

perceived as housing functionings. Finally, housing freedoms are the capability

people have to achieve their valued housing functionings. The space of this evaluation

of the squatter upgrading projects is not within housing achievements, but within the

improvements on housing freedoms. Therefore, the thesis investigates the impact of

the squatter upgrading projects on the residents’ capability to achieve their housing

functionings.

55

The house, as shown in the Figure 2.1, is a resource used for the achievement of

certain housing functionings. Other resources might also be relevant, such as schools,

sanitation, communitarian centres, or participatory mechanisms. These resources are

understood as features of housing freedom. Affecting the transformation of features

into achieved housing functionings are conversion factors (Robeyns, 2003). In the

figure they are identified as safety, cultural factors, one’s physical conditions and so

on. Such factors impact on residents’ abilities and opportunities to convert resources

into achievements. Finally the housing functionings in the figure are the doings,

beings, and havings identified in the field work for the purpose of this research (see

Chapter 4 for further details on the approach, including definitions and examination of

the methods used to identify such dimensions). Running through all these processes of

valuation is the residents’ agency, which relates to their ability to choose and to be

free agents. The use of public deliberation to the assessment of housing freedoms rests

on residents’ agency but also aims at expanding it.

Figure 2.1: Capability Approach in the Context of Housing

Source: Elaborated by author

56

2.4 Conclusion

This chapter explains the concept of ‘development as freedom’ and demonstrates that

its contribution to development discourse is uncertain. Supporters of the Capability

Approach argue that it is an alternative to utilitarian discourses and income-led

definitions of poverty, it is people-centred and multidimensional. However there is not

a consensus on the role of the approach. While some use it as an evaluative

framework, the more ambitious support it as a development paradigm. The human

development paradigm is proposed as an alternative to neo-liberalism, shifting the

focus of development from maximization of GDP to human justice through the

expansion of people’s capabilities. However this chapter also reviews the criticisms of

Sen’s Capability Approach, which demonstrated a much less positive impact of Sen’s

writings on development practice. Instead of creating a new path, the broad concept of

‘development of freedom’ would be easily co-opted by the neoliberal discourse,

perpetuating the processes of inequalities and injustices. Thus Sen’s writings would

be used to tackle the manifestations of poverty, leaving the root causes of it

unchallenged.

This chapter proposes the application of the Capability Approach framework to the

assessment of the squatter upgrading programme funded by the World Bank to

contribute to the analysis of Sen’s writings impact on development thinking and

practice. The framework is used to explore ‘housing freedoms’. Due to the nature of

the project evaluated (squatter upgrading programs), housing, instead of well-being

per se, is the main focus of analysis. Housing is understood as an on-going activity

that affects the functions that residents attribute to their houses. Five housing

functionings are identified by the literature and the field work. Through the

exploration of these five functionings of housing, the field work aims to evaluate the

upgrading projects but also plays a role in the on-going debate on the usefulness of the

Capability Approach as an evaluative framework and as a development paradigm.

The objective of this chapter has been to expand on the relations between the concepts

of development, freedom and housing, which are all subjects of controversy. This

thesis aims at addressing these subjects explicitly to contribute to the praxis and

57

thinking of mainstream development. It assesses the participatory exploration of

freedoms and its ability to break from the dualistic implementations of the Capability

Approach, focused on opportunities or achievement; individual or collective

freedoms. This application also evaluates the openness of the Capability Approach,

assessing if it sheds lights on the analysis of squatter upgrading programmes. Finally

it also investigates the usefulness of applying the Capability Approach through

participatory methods in the context of housing.

However the Capability Approach has influenced and is influenced by other

discourses in the development field. After clarifying the concepts of Sen’s writings

and their application in the urban development context, this thesis hopes to establish a

dialogue between the Capability Approach and the other discourses in development

field with the objective of further elaborating on the contribution of the concept of

‘development as freedom’.

58

Chapter 2: Amartya Sen, the Capability Approach and HousingFreedom. ..................................................................................................37

2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................372.2 Amartya Sen, the Capability Approach and the Human DevelopmentParadigm.................................................................................................................37

2.2.1 Capability Approach: an Evaluative Framework.................................38a) Capability: the Historical Roots of the Approach........................................38b) Capability: Informational Space for Making Evaluative Judgements.........40c) Capability: Components of the Approach ...................................................40d) Capability: Agency Freedom and Well-being ............................................41e) Capability: Openness and Incompleteness .................................................43f) Capability: Identifying and Assessing Capabilities .....................................44g) Capability: Participation and Adaptive Preferences ....................................45

2.2.2 The Capability Approach as a Development Paradigm.......................46a) From Neoliberalism to the Human Development Paradigm .......................46b) The Critiques: Continuity rather than Change? ...........................................48

i) The Challenges of Public Deliberation and Structural Processes ............48ii) Individualism and Support to Market Mechanisms ................................49iii) Human Development, as Pragmatic Neoliberalism ...............................50iv) Human Development: Ahistorical and partially Globalized. .................50

2.3 Sen’s Freedom Framework in the Context of Housing ................................522.3.1 Housing: from a Means to an End ..............................................................52

2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................56

List of Figures

Chapter 2: Amartya Sen, the Capability Approach and HousingFreedom. ..................................................................................................37

Figure 2.1: Capability Approach in the Context of Housing .............................55

58

Chapter 3: Shedding Light on Discourses - The

Capability Approach and Approaches to Development

3.1 Introduction

Many discourses co-exist in contemporary development thinking and practice. These

discourses target different areas in the development field, however they also share

common grounds for analysis. Some of these current approaches that relate to Sen’s

thinking are: the Rights-Based Approach; the Livelihoods Approach and Social

Exclusion Analysis. These three approaches are relevant to this investigation of

housing freedom because of their similarities and complementarities with the

Capability Approach.

Also relevant to this research is the Brazilian urban development literature that has

been applying these discourses to explore the different challenges in conceptualizing

and addressing poverty and squatter settlements. In this third chapter of the thesis,

these discourses are reviewed and the links and complementarities with Sen’s thinking

are explored. The underlying assumption of this examination of development

approaches is that there is not competition between them for the optimum strategy to

address poverty. They have different purposes and they explore in different ways the

challenges and limitations of contemporary development thinking and practice.

Meanwhile the Brazilian urban development literature, strongly influenced by the

rights-based and social exclusion discourses, unfolds the local specificities of the

relation between poverty and housing. By reviewing the analyses developed about

Brazilian urban development processes, broad urban development topics are

examined (such as urban segregation, fragmentation and land regularization).

However, at the same time the significance of such concepts to the context of this

research are revealed.

The objective of this chapter is to identify the ways in which this application of the

Capability Approach can contribute to the existing discourses of development praxis

and thinking and assess the innovative aspect of using Sen’s thinking for the

59

evaluation of squatter upgrading programmes. Furthermore, the dialogue between the

Brazilian urban development literature and the Capability Approach elaborates further

on the usages of Sen’s writings in addressing challenges in developing countries’

cities. Finally, such dialogue also identifies whether the capability approach can

address the contradictions of current Brazilian land regularization policies.

3.2 Rights-Based Approach

In recent years, development practice has been increasingly influenced by the human

rights discourse. Poverty has also become conceptualized as the denial of a set of

basic rights. According to the human rights literature, Sen’s writings have played a

major role in the progress of the human rights discourse (Gready and Enson, 2005;

Uvin, 2002). Meanwhile the Human Development literature has argued that the

human rights discourse complements in a variety of ways the application of the

concept of development as freedom (UNDP, 2000).

3.2.1 An Outline of the Rights-Based Approach

There is a diversity of understanding about what constitutes the rights-based approach

(RBA) to development. The perspectives vary from a solely legal approach to

guarantee the protection of individuals and groups through international conventions

and resolutions, to one that is concerned with social, cultural and political struggles

led by autonomous movements. In the latter perspective, the legal aspect is just

another dimension of such a process (IDS, 2003). However, the underlying concept of

the different understandings of the RBA is that people are citizens with rights.

Furthermore these approaches are all concerned with the protection of an agreed set of

norms and values. This outline of the RBA reviews the historical developments of the

approach and explains some of its basic concepts.

a) A Historical Review

The history of the use of the rights discourse by international development agencies is

relatively new. It was only after the Cold War period, in the early 1990s, that aid

agencies started to incorporate the human rights language into their projects and

60

reports (Uvin, 2003; and Cornwall and Nyamu-Musembi, 2004). However, many of

the principles that make up the approach have been developing since the US

Declaration of Independence (1776) and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man

and Citizen (1789). Since then, rights and the drive towards social justice have been at

the heart of major historical conflicts, such as the anti-colonialism and anti-slavery

struggles, women’s emancipation, and the anti-apartheid, landless and peace

movements. Also internationally agreed conventions have been drawn to assure the

universal protection of a set of basic rights, such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of

Human Rights, and the 1966 UN International Convention on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights.

However according to Gready and Ensor (2005) it was only in 1972, in the third

meeting of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), that

rights assumed a central role in the international development discourse. The ambition

of linking human rights and development was to move from the income-led

perception of development and focus on the “realization of the potentialities of the

human person” (Alston, 1981). This goal is similar to the human development

approach reviewed in the previous chapter. As stated by the International Commission

of Jurists in 1978: “development should not be conceived of or understood simply in

terms of economic growth, not as an increase in per capita income, but should

necessarily include those qualitative elements which human rights constitute and

which provide an essential dimension” (MacDermot, 1981:27).

From the 1980s the human rights language became used also by large NGOs and

development agencies. Some of the events that marked this phase of the rise of the

RBA were the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development, the 1993 Vienna

Conference on Human Rights, and the 1995 World Social Development Summit at

Copenhagen. (Cornwall and Nyamu-Musembi, 2004) The result was NGOs such as

ActionAid, Care International and Oxfam moving from a needs-based and service

driven approach, to one that supports local people in the struggle to protect a certain

set of rights. Meanwhile international development agencies such the United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP), Swedish International Development Cooperation

Agency (SIDA), UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the

World Bank also started to approach the issue of rights, rather in different ways and

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depth, but mainly by exploring the relationship between governance and poverty

reduction (IDS, 2003).

b) Basic Concepts

There has been a variety of emphases on the incorporation of rights in development

thinking and practice. However this review of the human rights literature identifies six

common principles and concepts:

i) The Shift from Needs to Rights

It was argued in the literature that while the basic needs approach is about more

resources, infrastructure and services, the RBA focuses on the equitable

distribution of existing resources and expanding peoples’ access to them. It is also

argued that the two approaches have different motivations: needs could be met by

charitable intentions but rights are based on legal obligations. (Cornwall and

Nyamu-Musembi, 2004). By targeting distribution and access to mechanisms to

claim for rights, the RBA would be overcoming one of the major critiques of the

basic needs approach to development assistance: philanthropy, dependency, and

paternalism. (Nyamu-Musembi and Cornwall, 2003)

ii) People as Agents of Change

Thus the second common principle that links most of the applications of the RBA

is the perception of people as partner citizens in the development process. As Slim

(2002) explains: “Rights-talk stops people being perceived as ‘needy’, as

‘victims’, and as ‘beneficiaries’. Instead, it enables these same people to know and

present themselves as rightful and dignified people who can make just demands of

power and spell out the duties of power in terms of moral and political goods”

(2002: 3).

iii) Enhancing Accountability

By specifying an internationally agreed set of values and norms, the RBA is

explicit about its principles thus enhancing citizens’ ability to claim for their rights

and hold states to account for their duties. According to Ferguson (1999) to talk in

terms of rights is in itself a “vehicle for increasing the accountability of

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government organisations to their citizens and consequently increasing the

likelihood that policy measures will be implemented in practice” (1999: 23).

iv) Wresting Participation and Empowerment

One of the central objectives of the RBA is to reclaim participation and

empowerment from the neo-liberal instrumentalist appropriation led by powerful

institutions such as the World Bank. “Participation, for example, is not a needs-

based consultation for specific projects but becomes a more inclusive and

democratic process of popular involvement in decision-making over decisions that

affect people’s lives, based on rights and responsibilities” (Gready and Ensor,

2005: 25).

v) Challenging Power Inequalities

By emphasizing empowerment and participation, some applications of the RBA

aim at challenging existing power relations. Poverty is understood as a

consequence of structural inequalities, exclusion and marginalization. As

explained by Mander (2005), “the first distinct feature of rights-based approaches

lies in the recognition of the structural causes of people’s impoverishment, of the

fact that their condition is the outcome of the active denial of their rights and

entitlements by social, economic and political structures and processes”

(2005:239). Thus development through the protection of rights aims at tackling

the root causes of deprivations, such as powerlessness, vulnerability and unequal

access to opportunities and choice.

vi) Politicization of Aid

Finally, through international legal mechanisms, enhancement of participation,

improving judicial systems, supporting good governance and reflecting on power

inequalities the RBA re-politicizes aid. O’Brian (2005) clarifies this feature of the

RBA, by arguing that aid has always been political. The previous approach that

emphasized the apparent neutrality of aid was partisan and promoted particular

political actors and non-consensual values. Through the RBA, politics assumes a

central stage of development assistance, as aid is guided by higher, consensual or

universal political values.

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3.2.2 Sen and RBA

Sen’s writings and the RBA have similar normative principles of development.

Meanwhile, they are also different in a variety of ways. Sen argues that the Capability

Approach and human rights are connected but they have different purpose and

objectives. The 2000 Human Development Report argues that the human rights

discourse complements the conceptualization of development as freedom. On the

other hand, the rights-based commentators advocate that Sen’s writings have

expanded the rights-based approach and that they have been crucial in applying the

legal framework comprehensively in other spheres of development practice.

a) Normative Similarities and Different Strategies

After outlining the rights and the freedom-based approaches to development, some

similar motivations and concerns are identified. Firstly according to both approaches,

development ought to concentrate on the expansion or protection of a certain set of

agreed norms or values. While one talks about an international set of agreed rights,

and the other focuses on the identification of the things people value doing and being,

it is argued that a list of agreed norms should guide development praxis. Secondly

both approaches aim at overcoming the income-led perception of development by

replacing it with one that engages with a more broad and multidimensional

understanding of poverty and deprivation. Thirdly, participation and public reasoning

is seen not as an instrumental process of enhancing the effectiveness or

responsiveness of projects, but as a right with intrinsic value and a means to combat

power inequalities. Finally, people are perceived as agents of change, with

potentialities and capabilities that can be expanded, through the expansion of

freedoms or/and the protection of a certain set of basic rights.

However the conceptualization of development as freedom and the protection of

rights diverge over the process of achieving common concerns and motivations

(UNDP, 2000). Firstly, as outlined by Sen (2005), the Capability Approach is mostly

concerned with the opportunity aspect of freedom, while human rights are securing

the process of realizing freedoms. Thus the Capability Approach tackles peoples’

choices and abilities, and the human rights discourse aims at protecting the processes

of transforming choices into achievements. There is also a fundamental difference of

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application between the legalistic version of the rights approach and Sen’s Capability

Approach. For the root causes of poverty to be tackled, RBA supports the formulation

of an international set of agreed norms. On the other hand Sen criticises universalities

by refusing to identify an overarching list of basic capabilities (Sen, 1999). Thus the

Capability Approach is an open framework that needs to be contextualized according

to the purpose of study or practice. Then, public reasoning also has a slightly different

purpose in each of the approaches. RBA talks about participation in the process of

contextualizing and protecting rights, and Sen also identifies the need for public

scrutiny in the process of identification of values.

b) The Complementarities between Sen and RBA

According to the 2000 Human Development Report, the human rights discourse

complements Sen’s human development approach in three main ways. Firstly it offers

a clear and legal framework to claim from other people or institutions the access to

some sort of freedoms. The RBA therefore is seen as a mechanism to apply the

expansion of freedoms. Such application emphasizes “the idea that others have duties

to facilitate and enhance human development” (UNDP, 2000:21). Secondly the RBA

is seen as a tool to protect some basic rights in the process of expansion of freedoms.

As argued in the Report: “Individual rights express the limits on the losses that

individuals can permissibly be allowed to bear, even in the promotion of noble social

goals” (UNDP, 2000:22). Thirdly RBA complements the human development

approach by focusing on the scrutiny of the process of expansion of freedoms, by

monitoring the conduct of those involved in the praxis of development. As argued by

Sen (2005), all the three ways in which the RBA complements the Capability

Approach is by its focus on the process aspect of freedom.

Meanwhile the commentators of the RBA locate Sen’s writings within the evolution

of the human rights discourse applied in the development discourse. Gready and

Ensor (2005) place Sen’s writings in the broader historical context as a continuation

of the on-going rights-based discourse: “by situating Sen’s ideas within a continuum

of thought relating to rights and development it is possible to see the eventual

emergence of rights-based approaches as the product of an evolution in thinking

rather than the result of a revolution instigated by the work of one individual”

(2005:19). From this perspective, Sen’s writings are contributing to the RBA by

65

strengthening the theoretical and philosophical foundations of the application of the

human rights discourse in disciplines apart from law and politics, such as economics,

sociology and anthropology. However, Sen (1999) has clearly stated the limitation of

the human rights approach by arguing that “…there is something a little simple-

minded about the entire conceptual structure that underlies the oratory on human

rights” (1999: 227). Therefore, talking about capabilities and functionings would be

broadening the spectrum of the RBA, allowing it to be applied in a variety of contexts

with different purposes.

Furthermore Uvin (2002) argues that Sen has been one of the most influential authors

in the process of straightening the boundaries between rights and development. Sen’s

elaboration on the treatment of freedom as simultaneously instrumental, constitutive

and constructive for development is cited by Uvin (2002) to argue that his works “sets

out the deep and mutually constitutive links that exist between these two concepts and

domains in ways that make their inseparability clear for all” (2002:7). Box 3.1 (p. 67)

shows a practical exploration of the complementarities between RBA and Sen’s

writings, where the UN publication on Housing Rights in Brazil is briefly analysed.

3.2.3 The Critique of RBA and Sen

While praising Sen’s collaboration in linking the concepts of development and rights,

Uvin (2002) also sets out a strong critique of the RBA’s ability to challenge power

relations and overcome structural inequalities. Uvin (2002) identifies three different

levels of application of the RBA in the development discourse. The first type of

integration of the human rights and development merely adapts the language of rights

without changing the practices of development. This is what Uvin (2002) calls “the

old wine in the new bottle”. The same limitation is identified by Sen (2005), who

argued that this same point had been made already by Jeremy Bentham in 1792, when

he stated: “natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights [an

American phrase], rhetorical nonsense, nonsense upon stilts” (Bentham, [1792] 1843:

501). The difficulty of moving beyond rhetoric arises because of the focus on formal

institutions on the process of claiming rights. However the problem of the poor,

marginalized and excluded is the lack of access to formal institutions (Cornwall and

Nyamu-Musembi, 2004). Furthermore, Sen (1999) argues that there are many rights

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that can not be effectively protected through the legal and formal institutions: “The

moral right of a wife to participate fully, as an equal, in serious family decisions – no

matter how chauvinist her husband is – may be acknowledged by many who would

nevertheless not want this requirement to be legalized and enforced by the police”

(1999:229).

The second level of incorporation of the RBA identified by Uvin (2002) focuses on

rights as an added goal of development projects. New programs are made to address

rights without real change of the overall power relations. “This level can also

constitute a form of appropriation, as in the case of good governance which is used to

blame southern governments for their own underdevelopment” (2002:39). Mohan and

Holland (2001) make a similar critique by arguing that the rise of human rights has

become a mechanism to incorporate developing countries in the global economy,

perpetuating the unequal social and economic structures. They state: “we do not

believe that the rights-based development agenda, as currently constructed, will

challenge the structures which create underdevelopment” (2001:195). In the same

lines Rief (2002) argues that the politicization of aid, turned humanitarianism into a

strategy to achieve political ends under a moral banner. Furthermore the protection of

a universal set of human rights can be seen as a mechanism to spread western values

and apply a new form of imperialism (Chandler, 2002).

Finally, Uvin’s (2002) third level of incorporation is the one that has been

strengthened by Sen’s writings and which refines development in terms of human

rights. However Uvin (2002) highlights its limitations by arguing that it does not

clarify obligations nor offer any practical guidelines to tackle power relations. Thus,

adopting Sen’s thinking ‘costs nothing’ for development agencies. Uvin (2002)

concludes: “All of them [rights-based approaches] are to be implemented out there, in

this separate place called the Third World, but do not require any critique of the

global system and our place in it” (2002:9).

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Box 3.1 An Application of the rights based approach in the urban context

The UN publication on Housing Rights in Brazil (Junior and Cardoso, 2004) is anapplication of the RBA into the urban context which can be used to illustrate some ofthe conceptual and practical differences and complementarities between the RBA andthe Sen’s Capability Approach.

The Report adopted a working definition of the right to adequate housing as “the rightof every woman, man, youth and child to gain and sustain a secure home andcommunity in which to live in peace and dignity” (Kothari, 2001: 5). Furthermore thereport identifies seven essential components of the right to adequate housing: judicialtenure security; availability of services and infrastructure; accessible cost of housing;inhabitability; accessibility; location; and cultural adequacy. Meanwhile the Reportalso stresses the attention towards the right to the city and democratic andparticipatory administration.

As argued in this chapter, all these guarantees address the process of housing. Itenhances the advocacy power of residents to claim for adequate housing conditions,by providing an internationally agreed set of housing norms. However it does notaddresses residents’ opportunities and abilities to have adequate housing. Forexample, it mentions the “availability of services and infrastructure” withoutelaborating on people’s freedom to actually be benefited by them.

Meanwhile respect to local strategies of urbanization is perceived as ‘culturaladequacy’, which can generate many stereotyped and romanticised solutions tohousing problems. Instead of expanding a dynamic process of interaction with thebuilt environment, this UN rights-based approach to housing aims at protectingcultural identities. As it emerges, the main difference between the focus on freedomand the focus on rights is that while one concentrates on the expansion ofopportunities and abilities, the other focuses on the protection of a certain agreed setof norms. Nevertheless, in a process of development, both aims are equally important.

3.3 The Livelihoods Approach

Another approach to development that shares similar motivations to Sen’s thinking is

the Livelihood Approach (LA). As with the Capability Approach, the LA emerged in

the late 1980s out of the growing dissatisfaction with the income maximization

approach. Its basic concepts emphasize some familiar features: participation,

multidimensional conceptualization of poverty, and empowerment. Thus, the

theorization and application of the LA have been strongly influenced by Sen’s

writings and the RBA. Nevertheless there are differences between LA and the other

two approaches already reviewed, such as its focus on capital and not capabilities and

its limited challenge to power and broader political structures.

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3.3.1 Basic Concepts of the Livelihoods Approach

As with the previous approaches, Livelihoods Analysis (LA) is also concerned with

people’s potentialities, strengths and how they are converted into positive livelihood

outcomes. This approach aims at addressing issues of vulnerability, risk and

insecurity. The means to combat these hardships are the assets that individuals,

households and communities have. Assets, called ‘capital’ or ‘capabilities’, include

material and social resources. The accumulation of assets is understood to constitute

stocks of capital. These stocks are divided into five categories: physical capital;

financial capital; human capital; social capital; and natural capital (see Box 3.2)

(Moser and Norton, 2001).

Box 3.2 Definition of capital assets

Physical Capital (also known as produced or man-made capital) comprises the stockof plant, equipment, infrastructure and other productive resources owned byindividuals, the business sector or the country itself.

Financial Capital The financial resources available to people (savings, supplies ofcredit).

Human Capital includes investments in education, health, and the nutrition ofindividuals. Labour is a critical asset linked to investments in human capital; healthstatus determines people’s capacity to work, and skill and education determine thereturns from their labour.

Social Capital is defined as the rules, norms, obligations, reciprocity, and trustembedded in social relations, social structures, and society’s institutionalarrangements, which enable its members to achieve their individual and communityobjectives. Social capital is embedded in social institutions at the micro-institutionallevel – communities and households – as well as referring to the rules and regulationsgoverning formalised institutions in the market-place, the political system, and civilsociety.

Natural Capital includes the stocks of environmentally provided assets such as soil,atmosphere, forests, minerals, water and wetlands. In rural communities the criticalproductive asset for the poor is land; in urban areas it is land for shelter.

Sources: Moser and Norton, 2001: 7

According to DFID (1995), the livelihood approach is people-centred, holistic and

dynamic, it builds on strengths, establishes macro and micro-links while focusing on

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long term sustainability. This list of the basic principles of the livelihood approach

shares many common themes and features of the previous two approaches reviewed.

a) People-centred

“The livelihoods approach puts people at the centre of development” (DFID, 1999:5).

Rakodi and Lloyd-Jones (2002) explain, as argued in the previous approaches, that

people have to be seen as active agents in the process of change, and not as ‘passive’

or ‘deprived’. As argued by Carney et al. (1999), LA aims at working with people “in

a way that is congruent with their current livelihoods strategies, social environment

and ability to adapt” (1999:8).

b) Holistic

LA has the ambition to draw a universal approach, which can be applicable in

different contexts. It aims at orchestrating the different actors involved in the different

stages and levels of development policies; and addressing the multiple dimensions of

poverty.

c) Dynamic

The approach also aims at capturing the changing relations between institutions and

livelihoods. The five broad domains of assets hope to capture people’s dynamic and

diverse nature of interacting with their livelihoods.

d) Building on Strengths

As the RBA, LA aims at overcoming the basic needs approach by providing a

conceptualization of development that focuses on distribution and strengthening of

existent potentials.

e) Macro-micro Links

The exploration of other areas apart from households and local contexts is also

encouraged by the LA. The links between the micro and macro-contexts are

developed through the analysis of structures (organisations from government through

to the private sector) and processes (police, laws, rules of the game and incentives)

(Carney, 1998).

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f) Sustainability

Finally this approach considers a core part of its framework the ability a livelihood

has to be socially, politically, environmentally and economically sustainable.

According to Carney (1998) “a livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and

recover from stresses and shocks, maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets,

while not undermining the natural resource base” (1998:5).

3.3.2 Livelihoods and Freedom

The brief outline of the basic concepts of the LA presents a framework that has many

similarities with Sen’s Capability Approach. It is participatory and aims at

strengthening people’s potentialities. Akin to the RBA, it perceives the poor not as

‘needy beneficiaries’, but agents of change. Poverty is conceived as a

multidimensional phenomenon. Finally, the livelihood literature frequently employs

the language of ‘capabilities’ and openly states that it has incorporated some of Sen’s

concepts. However a closer comparison between the two approaches reveals

conceptual and practical differences.

Firstly, the application of Sen’s concepts in the livelihoods approach is

underdeveloped and limited. The word ‘capabilities’ is used interchangeably with

‘assets’ and at other times to ‘capital’. Thus capabilities is related to the capacity to

acquire resources. But the concept of capabilities according to Sen has a broader

definition. It is perceived as a space which incorporates the choice of potential

achievements and which explores the process of using resources.

Therefore the livelihoods approach ends up taking Sen’s concept of capabilities back

to a utilitarian application. The five domains of assets are an expansion of the social

capital theory. They explore the instrumental values of people’s livelihoods in the

enhancement of resources and the generation of capital. Agency is not analysed

directly and the LA does not explore more personal dimensions of well-being, such as

self-realization and freedom to appear in public without shame. Moser and Norton

(2001) reflect on such limitation by arguing that “given the highly contested nature of

the concept of capital (particularly as it relates to social capital), building on Amartya

Sen’s important work in this area, there may be considerable advantages in

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categorising human, social and political capabilities rather than capital” (2001: 19).

They also recognise that “…these issues are highly complex. It is recognised that they

are underdeveloped in the current concept paper, and therefore are critically important

areas for further analytical work” (2001:19). The consequence of such a limitation is

an approach that is very technical and not able to address structural conditions

affecting livelihoods (Moser and Norton, 2001).

On the other hand, exactly for being technical and focusing on five clear domains LA

becomes an easier framework to apply than Sen’s capabilities approach. It is also

easier to link with other approaches such as the rights-based approach. In this way,

LA has a more specific and clear space within the field of development discourses. Its

limitations can be addressed in combination with other approaches, thus becoming a

strong tool for the process of implementing development programmes and

overcoming deprivations.

3.4 Social Exclusion Analyses

Social exclusion analyses occupy another important and significant space in

development discourses. This section firstly examines the different perceptions of the

concept of social exclusion. Then some basic components are outlined. Finally the

complementarities with Sen’s Capability Approach are investigated.

3.4.1 Definitions and Perceptions

The origin of the term Social Exclusion is normally attributed to French social

scientists, from the beginning of the 1970s. Their analysis examined the breakage of

social bonds of the people who were marginalized form formal employment and

welfare benefits. Social exclusion was mainly associated with the idea of citizenship,

exploring the relation between society and the nation-state (Lenoir, 1974). Since then

the concept has evolved in different directions, from different perspectives and in a

variety of contexts. In European documents, social exclusion has been defined “in

relation to the social rights of citizens… to a certain basic standard of living and to

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participation in the major social and occupational opportunities of the society” (Gore,

1995:2).

The different perceptions and applications of the social exclusion discourse can be

placed within a continuum line with two extremes: at one end are the neo liberal

approaches that understand that exclusion takes place because of lack of access to

markets, thus it is more inclusion, mostly in economic terms, that is needed. (Murray,

1990; 1998; Castells 2002). On the other side of the line is a more radical and critical

approach, arguing that more inclusion without tackling the international market-

oriented status quo perpetuates many forms of exclusion (Rodgers, Gore, Figueiredo,

1995; Jackson, 1999; Sen, 2000). In the former approach, social exclusion is an

outcome of poverty and lack of resources. For the latter social exclusion is a process,

led by structural conditions, that causes different types of deprivations.

This section analyses the approaches closer to the critical perspectives, because it is

these that potentially offer a positive analytical shift from neoliberal analysis (Beall,

2002), providing an added value to the Capability Approach. The neoliberal

understanding of social exclusion argues that income poverty causes multiple

deprivations, which are perceived as forms of exclusion. However, once poverty is

conceptualized as a multidimensional phenomenon, the difference between forms of

exclusion (as outcomes) and dimensions of poverty become very blurred. However

once the concept of social exclusion refers to processes which cause different types of

deprivations, it adds a structural and macro analysis to the examination of capabilities

(Sen, 2000).

3.4.2 Basic Concepts of the Social Exclusion Analyses

The concept of Social Exclusion is employed as an explanatory tool to analyse the

processes that cause poverty and inequality (Arthurson and Jacobs, 2003). Saith

(2001) identifies five main features of the social exclusion framework in the literature,

that will be used here for descriptive purpose.

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a) Multidimensionality Aspects

One of the most cited analytical strengths of this approach is its focus on the

multidimensional aspects of deprivations (de Haan, 2001; Gore and Figueiredo,

1997). Like the other approaches described, the aim of the social exclusion framework

is to move away from the income-led perception of poverty. Thus apart from the

monetary dimension, the emphasis is also on the social, political and cultural aspects

of societies. The approaches concerned about exclusion and social integration

question access to social networks, resources, democratic decision-making and

cultural practices (Arthurson and Jacobs, 2003). Authors have also stressed the need

to explore not only the dimensions individually, but also the links between them

(Clert, 1999, Gore and Figueiras, 1997). De Haan (2001) states that the social

exclusion concept’s main advantage is that “…it focuses attention on central aspects

of deprivation: deprivation is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, and deprivation is

part and parcel of social relations” (2001: 22)

b) Relational Aspects

The focus on social exclusion aims at exploring the relationship between individuals

and the community they live in. This is seen as a departure from a strictly

individualistic approach to development, to one that also emphasizes the role of

groups and collectives. Thus Room (1995) argues social bonds, dynamics and

networks also influence the exclusionary processes that lead to deprivation.

c) Relative Aspects

Another aim of the social exclusion framework is to move away from the approach to

development that draws international absolute poverty lines. By unfolding processes

of exclusion of a particular society, the framework incorporates a relative element. As

argued by Saith (2001), social exclusion differentiates from approaches that aim at

fulfilling a certain minimal absolute level (income, needs or capabilities). Even when

analysing international exclusionary mechanisms, the framework is mostly concerned

about how local people or communities are being left out from opportunities or

becoming more vulnerable. As claimed by Gore (1995): “It [social exclusion analysis]

offers a way of defining poverty which is relevant at a global scale given differences

in what is considered essential in different societies” (1995:6).

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d) Dynamic Aspects

This feature of the social exclusion framework suggests that people can move in, out

or remain in poverty because of the short term and long term prospects. Thus time is

taken into consideration in the analysis of poverty, vulnerability and ability to cope

with shocks. Some studies have addressed the cycles and the different levels of

poverty (chronic, transient poverty). The role of time is emphasized in people’s ability

to shift from the different levels of poverty. Policy has been analysed in this approach

according to its short and long term impact on the different levels of poverty. Through

this perspective, processes of exclusion enhance the difficulties of moving away from

poverty, generating in extreme cases poverty traps for individuals, communities or

countries (See publications of Chronic Poverty Research Centre, 2006).

e) Emphasis on Process

Finally, the literature argues that the main contribution of social exclusion analysis is

its focus on the processes that cause different types of deprivations. These processes

are defined as broader social, economic and political structural factors that influence

inequalities. Gore and Figueiredo (1997) explain: “Social exclusion as an attribute of

societies has a more complex and indirect relationship to poverty. In this case the

focus is not on individuals but on the structural properties of societies. These can be

understood as institutions, which in a broad sense denote the formal or informal

‘rules’ or ‘elements of the structural framework’ which constrain and enable social

interaction” (1997: 10-11). Globalization has been a major theme of studies that

explore how global structures are propagating exclusionary processes and enhancing

poverty in developing countries (Beall, 2002).

3.4.3 The Limitations of Social Exclusion Analyses

The literature has questioned the usefulness of the concept of social exclusion, by

arguing that the exploration of social relations influencing peoples’ opportunities in

society is not a recent innovation. For example Adam Smith ([1759] 1976) explored

the affects of the “inability to appear in public without shame” (Sen, 2001). According

to Marsh and Mullins (1998) the vagueness of the term led to different types of

application. Many of these are outcome focused, thus using the term social exclusion

merely as rhetoric and not adding any real value to existing poverty analysis.

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Meanwhile Sen (2001) argues that “the perspective of social exclusion does offer

useful insights for diagnostics and policy” (2001: 47), as long as it addresses the

processes that lead to deprivation and not exclusionary outcomes (2001: 12). Finally

the literature acknowledges that the “concept does not describe a new reality” (de

Haan, 2001:22), but it has its added value as an analytical tool that sheds light on the

structural causes of poverty.

The helpfulness of the social exclusion approach does not lie, I would

argue, in its conceptual newness, but in its practical influence in

forcefully emphasizing – and focusing attention on – the role of

relational features in deprivation (Sen, 2001:8).

The second limitation of the social exclusion analysis is caused by its dualistic model

of interpretation of the causes of poverty and inequality. Instead of exploring the

complex inter-linkages between different features and dynamics of societies, this

approach is a simplistic account of theoretically constructed opposing sides (Blanc

1998). Bowring (2000) argues that the approach highlights a process that takes place

in areas of deprivation, reinforcing the need to insert such places in the mainstream

system. Thus this approach fails to acknowledge the processes of inclusion that cause

deprivation. For that reason Sen (2001) stresses the need to explore not only

exclusionary processes, but also the “unfavourable inclusions”.

3.4.4 Links Between the Social Exclusion and Capability Approach

Much of the literature on social exclusion mentions Sen’s writings to demonstrate the

overlaps between broader definitions of poverty and the notion of social exclusion (de

Haan, 2001; Gore and Figueiredo, 1997; Arthurson and Jacobs, 2003). Some of the

common concerns are the multidimensional, relational and dynamic aspects of

deprivations. Furthermore, Sen’s writings on equality, entitlements and capabilities

are praised as providing a mechanism for exploring the links between individual

agency and the socio-economic structural factors that effect inequality.

Sen (2001) and Gore (1995) have explored the added value of social exclusion

analyses, once poverty is seen as deprivation of capabilities. Gore (1995) argues that

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the Capability Approach is mostly concerned with individual freedoms, thus the

relational concept of the social exclusion framework can contribute to it by addressing

group dynamics and societal power relations. Sen’s response agrees that the analysis

of relational features is one of the strengths of the social exclusion framework, but it

argues that the Capability Approach does not miss these relational connections (Sen,

2001). He draws attention to the fact that the academic literature on capabilities

historically has been sensitive to social causes of individual deprivations. Sen (2001)

suggest that social exclusion, within a capability framework, is useful by providing a

more specialised perspective on relational aspects of deprivation, exploring

exclusionary processes and unfavourable inclusions. However, it has not yet been

elaborated in detail by current literature what social exclusion would mean, if

inclusion is perceived in terms of capabilities.


Approach

The economic, social and political norms shaping and influencing the urban sector in

developing countries are explored in the international literature by a variety of authors

(Burgess et al., 1997; Davis, 2006; Jenkins et al., 2007; Harvey, 2006; Zetter, 2002,

2004). However, this part of the thesis focuses on the literature from Brazil, which has

taken on the international debates and applied them to the Brazilian context. The

Brazilian literature has elaborated on the thinking and practice of squatter intervention

policies since the beginning of the 20th century. Squatter settlements have been

investigated by Brazilian researchers from a variety of disciplines 1 . Urban

development researchers have been attempting to incorporate such studies to develop

a broad analysis of the process of housing with the ambition to shed lights on

conceptual and practical challenges. However the literature has also identified

impasses in defining and intervening in squatter settlements. This section reviews the

current Brazilian urban development literature with the objective of further

1 Hygienists, doctors, engineers, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, economists, socialworkers, social psychologists, theologian, architects, planners, journalists, lawyers, among others, haveaddressed from different perspectives the issue of squatter settlements. In 2004, 385 studies werepublished in Brazil about squatter settlements (Valladares, 2005).

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elaborating on the contribution of the Capability Approach to the thinking and

practice of squatter intervention policies.

3.5.1 Defining Squatter Settlements: Challenging Dogmas and Myths

According to IBGE, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, squatter

settlements are defined as: “agglomerates” of more than fifty houses, of “sub-normal”

standards (due to its building materials), without legal tenure and scarce urban

infrastructure. Through this definition, there were in 2000 nearly 7.2 million people

living in nearly four thousand sub-normal settlements throughout Brazil. The figures

also show that the population of the sub-normal areas is growing faster than the

average rate of growth of the total Brazilian population. While the total number of

households in Brazil increased from 1991 to 2000 at a rate of 3.05% per year,

households in sub-normal areas increased by 4.18% per year (IBGE, 2006).

Researchers have pointed out some limitations of this definition of squatter

settlements. Cardoso (2006) points out that the figures are an underestimate. They do

not take into account the settlements of less than fifty households, which can be of

significant numbers in some regions of Brazil (Cardoso, 2006). Pasternak (2006)

argues that such definitions could have been applicable in the 1950s when they were

drawn up, but today they are ambiguous, because houses in squatter settlements have

different levels of quality and legal status.

Therefore a popular theme in Brazilian literature is to answer the question: what is a

squatter settlement? While not coming to an agreed definition, Pasternak (2006) and

Valladares (2005) have elaborated on the myths and dogmas of the conceptualization

of squatter settlements in Brazil. The first myth is related to the specificity of squatter

settlements. According to Valladares (2005) and Pasternak (2006), studies explain the

particular processes taking place in squatter settlements, which differentiate them

from the rest of the city. The second myth is that squatter settlements are places of

poverty. In other words, they are considered as “the urban territory of the poor, a

spatial translation of social exclusion, equivalent to the ‘abandoned city’ of Marcuse

(1996)” (Pasternak, 2006:203). The final and third myth is the perception of squatter

settlements as unitary and homogenous spaces. “The dominant social representation

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only recognises or treats the squatter settlement as a type in the singular and not in its

diversity” (Valladares, 2005:152). Rarely studies tackle the diversity within and

among such types of settlements.

Pasternak (2006) challenges such myths by explaining that: 1) processes in squatter

settlements are not different, but a sub product and extension of the mechanisms of

the city; 2) their residents are not marginalized, but actually integrated in the urban

life, investing in their houses and buying industrialized goods; 3) finally these places

are far from uniform, there is a variety of legal, social, political and economic

conditions within and among squatter settlements. Valladares (2005) goes further by

arguing that the persistence of the myths is in the interest of policy makers, NGOs and

community-based organizations. Spatial and alternative policies are justified in the

name of the homogeneously “deprived” neighbourhoods. Meanwhile such perception

“leaves hidden the other sectors of the city, of significant numbers, some times more

deprived, with great needs of public investments, such as the irregular plot of land,

poor suburbs, or certain degraded areas within the central areas of the cities”

(Valladares, 2005: 160). Valladares (2005) calls for approaches that undertake

comparisons between poverty that takes place in different spaces of the city; that

comprehensively differentiate between squatter settlements and poverty; and that

distinguish between social problems observed in squatter settlements and caused by

squatter settlements.

The motivation of applying the Capability Approach to evaluate a squatter upgrading

programme is to overcome the myths elaborated above, while also not rejecting the

idea of specificity of processes that take place in these spaces. The exploration of

housing freedoms addresses squatter settlements not as homogenous places. The

approach acknowledges that people have different resources and abilities to transform

assets into valued achievements. Therefore, squatter settlements are recognised as

places of inequalities.

The focus on freedom also aims at breaking the spatial dualism between the included

and the excluded, as it understands that housing freedoms are influenced by various

factors, from within and without the neighbourhood. The latter relates to the city-wide

and structural processes that influence squatter inhabitants’ housing freedom. They

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are mechanisms of inclusion to the city that can be assuring social justice or

perpetuating the unequal access to resources. Meanwhile, squatter settlements’

internal processes and norms shaping residents’ housing freedom are also

acknowledged.

The local dynamics are taken on board by the housing freedom applied in the stage of

identifying resident’s aspirations to the process of housing, and when revealing the

internal norms influencing the transformation of resources into achieved housing

functionings. Thus, freedoms in cities are perceived as interconnected phenomena.

Squatter settlements are a result of structural processes, while they also perpetuate and

create local dynamics. Squatter inhabitants’ freedoms are multiple, shaped by

personal features, local dynamics and various processes of exclusion and inclusion.

Therefore the Capability Approach aims at being an alternative to investigate the

broad factors affecting squatter residents, explicitly addressing the problems and

solutions observed in and caused by squatter settlements.

3.5.2 Researching Squatter Settlements: Urban Development, Social Segregation

and Spatial Fragmentation

The recent development of concepts like social segregation and spatial fragmentation

has brought the issue of social exclusion back to the main focus of discussion of the

Brazilian urban development literature. The works of Milton Santos (1978, 1979)

were one of the most influential in the early development of the concept of social

exclusion. Santos criticised the introduction of solutions mirrored from the first world

by arguing that spaces of poverty in the third world had their own dynamics, codes

and values. In this sense there is a common starting point between Sen and Santos, as

both criticise the imposition of outside values and they write about local

empowerment. However, their ideas developed in different ways. Santos became a

major reference for marginalization theorists, while Sen developed the exploration of

the realm of freedom.

Since Santos, the Brazilian literature on urban development has evolved in many

ways. The concept of social exclusion in cities has been analysed from different

perspectives. Recently the terms social segregation and spatial fragmentation have

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been used frequently to explain the growing physical and social divisions of Brazilian

cities that followed the rapid process of urban growth. While social segregation relates

to the reduced interaction between socially different groups and the stigmatization of

squatter settlements as space of poverty, illegality and violence; spatial fragmentation

explains the process of growing physical boundaries surrounding squatter settlements

and self confined private spaces of the elite, such as shopping centres and gated

communities (Lago, 2002).

This section explores the Brazilian urban development literature on these processes of

social segregation and spatial fragmentation by analysing five themes that have

emerged out of the literature review: environmental differentiation; the legal-political

dimension; violence and criminal organizations; globalization and market enablement;

and inclusive approaches. The review of this literature contributes to this application

of the Capability Approach by shedding light on the structural processes affecting

housing freedoms. Furthermore this section explores the similarities and differences

of perceiving squatter settlements as spaces of exclusion and spaces of deprived

capabilities.

a) Environmental Differentiation

The dualistic perception of the city has explored the environmental differentiation

between the inhabitants of squatter settlements and the rest of the city. Santos (1994)

has conceptually divided Brazilian cities into opaque and luminous spaces. While the

latter are those areas well linked to transport, services and communication, the former

are the squatter settlements where public policies, investments and urban facilities do

not reach. Thus the consequence is a differentiation on the individuals’ or groups’

ability to access and benefit from possibilities offered by the city.

According to Rolnik (2001) Brazilian urban planning and the lack of available

affordable houses for the low income population accentuates the process of

environmental differentiation, pushing the poor towards lands of low market value,

thus generally environmentally risky, dangerous and hard to urbanize (often on steep

slopes, river banks and swamps). Meanwhile given the lack of alternatives, squatter

settlements are getting consolidated and increasing their densities. Houses are always

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being expanded and building structures are rarely stable. Rolnik (2001) describes

squatter inhabitants as those most at risk in the city:

…houses can slide or flood with heavy rains, drainage and sewerage

merge in low lands – life and health are in permanent danger. People

daily lose hours in inefficient transportation systems, and live with the

discomfort of private houses and public spaces and uncertainty about the

future of the neighbourhood (Rolnik, 2001:472).

b) Legal-political Dimension

The “uncertainty about the future of the neighbourhood” has been normally linked to

the legal and political status of the squatter settlement and argued as another

dimension of social exclusion. Fernandes (2005) develops on the links between tenure

security and social exclusion by arguing that “informal settlements and lack of

security of tenure are a result of an exclusionary pattern of development, planning and

urban governance, where land markets, political and judicial systems do not offer

reasonable conditions of access of land and housing to the poor”. Meanwhile Smolka

(2002) presents five reasons beyond insecurity of tenure to explain why informality

accentuates poverty and social segregation: access to work is reduced as employers

hesitate to employ people from squatter settlements; a similar discrimination also

takes place on access to credit, even though the rate of repayment of the poor is not

much different from the richer population; costs of everyday life are higher in the

informal settlements (due to higher costs of construction materials, food is more

expensive, transport is generally worse, unregulated and expensive, rules of informal

rent contracts are more disadvantageous to the tenant than the formal contracts);

informal areas do not receive attention from the state; and inhabitants of irregular

occupations are exploit by landowners and illegal land dealers through for example

high prices and fake documents. “Many pay a lot for what they receive, while a few

receive a lot from the little they supply/deliver” (Smolka, 2002: 212).

While recognising the deprivations caused by informality, both Fernandes (2005) and

Smolka (2002) criticise the regularization policies by arguing that they may have

perverse affects. Smolka (2002) argues that regularization activates land speculation,

encourages economic eviction, reduces the availability of land for the poor and does

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not change the stigmatized perception of irregularity. Ferdandes (2005) argues that the

beneficiaries of these regularization policies are not the poor, but the private groups

linked to the land market thus further expanding the exclusionary processes of social

segregation and urban fragmentation. Meanwhile De Souza (2001) questions the

argument that land regularization leads to higher levels of housing consolidation, by

arguing that “people are willing to invest in their housing conditions almost

irrespectively of their land tenure situation” (2001:483). Furthermore De Souza

(2001) argues that households perceive basic needs for water, electricity, sewerage,

and paved roads as a more effective means to encourage security than tenure security

in the form of legal title.

c) Violence and Criminal Organizations

Many of the efforts of the media and the Brazilian urban development literature have

associated the processes of social segregation and spatial fragmentation with the

emergence of violence and organized crime. According to the literature, Brazilian

cities are marked by a security differentiation, where the elite lives in fear and the

poor are under attack from drug dealers and police officers (Leeds, 2003; Rolnik,

2001; Kovarick, 2005; Souza, 2001). According to Kovarick (2005) the increased

social divide of Brazilian cities is marked by a distinction of rights, where the neglect

of squatter inhabitants’ “right to have rights” have been intensified on one hand by the

increased violence perpetrated by criminals and the police and on the other hand by

the increasing stigmatization of squatter inhabitants as criminals by the media and

society.

Souza (2001) argues that the most impressive aspect of the spatial but also economic

and political fragmentation of Brazilian squatter settlements has been the emergence

of criminal strategies of survival, above all drug trafficking. The increasing

‘territorialisation’ 2 of the squatter settlements by drug gangs has led to the

development of parallel powers. Fragmentation then occurs in two main spheres:

firstly in the political sphere, as those parallel powers become independent political

organizations. Occasionally more trusted by inhabitants than the official police, those

2 Souza (2001) cites Sack (1986) to explain the concept of territorialisation and arguing that it is “theattempt by an individual or group to affect, influence, or control people, phenomena, and relationships,by delimiting and asserting control of a geographical area” (Sack, 1986: 19).

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organizations support the community by financing medicines or by not allowing

ordinary crimes (like robbery or rape) to take place within their territories “for the

sake of their business, as unnecessary violence would lead to social instability as well

as to too much public exposure” (Souza, 2001:441). Secondly fragmentation occurs in

the social sphere as criminal activities and gang rivalry restricts the spatial mobility of

inhabitants between squatter settlements and constrains co-operation between squatter

settlements that are under influence of rival drug trafficking organisations (Souza,

2001).

The reasons for the formation of those parallel powers and increased violence in

Brazilian squatter settlements are argued by Leeds (2003) to be due to the financial

crisis of the 1980s and 1990s and inadequate public policies, on one hand not

investing in public services and on the other implementing repressive measures.

According to Leeds (2003) this process of structural violence based on omission of

services and repression led to the need to organize alternative forms of survival,

assistance and recognition.

Meanwhile Rolnik (2001) contests the conventional assumptions that explain the rise

of violence due to the rise of criminal organizations or poverty, by arguing that they

are all outcomes of the same processes. Rolnik (2001) argues that it is actually

territorial exclusion that is opening ground to violence, conflict and poverty in

Brazilian squatter settlements. Thus the “deprivation in terms of access to a basic

degree of urban life and opportunities” are some of the most powerful causes of social

exclusion by increasing the phenomenon of violence and formation of organized

crime organizations.

d) Globalization and Market Enablement

While environmental differentiation, increased informality and violence has been

analysed as some of the manifestations of social segregation and spatial

fragmentation, globalization has been identified as one of the major factors

intensifying the process of social exclusion. In one of his last works, Santos (2000)

attacks the existing process of globalization by arguing that the roll-back of the state

and the empowerment of global institutions and corporations is generating structural

poverty, exclusion and marginality in Brazilian cities. Meanwhile Vainer (2005) also

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argues that globalization has intensified the process of social exclusion in Brazil by

arguing that the more Brazilian cities think of global competitiveness and try to

imitate the west by introducing structural adjustment policies, the poorer they become.

Maricato (1996, 2002) argues that the process of globalization has been introduced by

decentralization and liberalization policies, which have intensified inequalities,

expanded the “enormous spatial concentration of poverty” and generating an

“explosion of urban violence”. According to Maricato (2002) the intensification of

social exclusion is explained by the introduction of neo-liberal policies and the

consolidation of the power of the private sector. Such policies included the

introduction of flexible labour contracts which weakened labour unions and reduced

wages, and the empowerment of the real estate sector by increasing its influence on

the allocation of public resources. Thus the housing sector becomes highly speculative

and exclusionary (Maricato, 2002).

Lago (2002) also establishes the link between globalization and market enablement,

changes on the type of employment of the poor, and the increasing divide of Brazilian

urban society “between those that have and those that do not have (work, housing,

assistance etc…)” (2002:156). According to Lago (2002) the working conditions of

squatter inhabitants have worsened due to the shift of the source of employment from

the industrial sector to the commercial and service sectors, which are characterized by

informality, insecurity and low wages. Furthermore she concludes it has been the neo-

liberal policies introduced since the 1990s that have activated this process of

worsening working conditions of the poor and the increasing self-segregation of the

elite thus intensifying the process of social exclusion and fragmentation of Brazilian

cities.

e) Inclusive Approaches

The main challenge of the Brazilian urban development literature is to propose an

alternative approach that can overcome the processes of social segregation and spatial

fragmentation while encouraging economic growth and employment. Santos (2000)

acknowledges that this approach is especially challenging due to the schizophrenic

character of the territory and space, “because on one hand they choose the vectors of

globalization, there they [vectors of globalization] establish themselves to impose a

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new order, and on the other hand, in these spaces a counter order is produced, because

there is an accelerated production of poverty, exclusion and marginality” (2000:114).

To overcome this pattern, Santos (2000) calls for another globalization, based on

solidarity rather than competitiveness. Santos’ (2000) argues that the locality is the

place for resistance, and that an alternative paradigm should empower the excluded by

on one hand increasing their participation on decision making processes and on the

other recognizing the endogenous dynamics, abilities and knowledge of communities

(Santos, 1979).

This inclusive approach based on empowerment of localities through political

participation and recognition of endogenous dynamics has been defended by many

authors in the Brazilian urban development literature. Fiori et al (2004) argue that any

squatter upgrading project that has the ambition to overcome the causes of exclusion

needs to tackle the lack of political participation of the squatter inhabitants.

Meanwhile Carvalho (2002) argues that an inclusive approach to urban intervention

needs to accept the local dynamics of urbanization and expand such practices. This

trend has been taken on board by policies, such as the 2001 Federal Law, that propose

legalistic processes of encouraging participation and security of tenure (See Box 3.3).

Box 3.3 Brazilian Legal Innovations

In 2001 the approval of the federal law stating the statute of the city recognised thesocial function of the city and property by providing instruments to municipalities toimplement innovative urban management strategies and policies. The maincomponents of the statute of the city are its instruments for participatory planningstrategies and regularization of tenure.

The law creates mechanisms to implement participatory Master Planning strategies ofcities. Municipalities have to create spaces of participation through audiences,seminars, and public meetings to discuss and identify with social movements,associations and citizens the strategies of the city development. This aspect of the lawis drawn from the instruments created by Porto Alegre’s participatory budget initiative(Rolnik, 2001).

A crucial and controversial aspect of the statute of the city was its land regularizationcomponent. Based on Recife’s experience, the state reinforces the mechanisms forthe creation of special zones of social interest (ZEIS) and Concession of Real Right toUse (CRRU). ZEIS is a zoning scheme that reduces the specific urban regulationsconstraining the legalization of tenure of low income housing areas (Fernandes,2001). Meanwhile CRRU is a legal instrument to provide residents of informal

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settlement the right to use the land occupied, for a certain period of time, whilekeeping the land in the ownership of the state (De Souza, 2004).

The participatory planning and regularization component of the statue of the city have

generated a series of debates in Brazilian society and academic literature. While on

one hand it has been argued that participatory planning created spaces for interaction

and dialogue (Rolnik, 2001; Maricato, 2002), Abers (2000) and Souza (2006) argue

that it led to fragmented planning, perpetuation of market enablement strategies and

reinforced existing power inequalities.

Tenure regularization strategies were also faced with various reactions. Fernandes

(2001) argues that “CRRU can promote more secure tenure for the urban poor, in that

it provides social housing rights, recognises individual security of tenure and helps

promote social and spatial integration in a combined manner” (2001:2). However, De

Souza (2004) criticises this mere legalistic approach to tenure security, by arguing that

“to better target the poor, access to social housing in Brazil should be coupled with

income generation programmes in the social policy agenda, if it is to broaden the

benefits of rights to social housing” (2004:243).

Ribeiro (2005) is also sceptical of legalistic solutions to housing problems by

stressing the difference between the process of inclusion from the process of insertion,

as most of the policies which are justified in the name of inclusion perpetuate

inequalities and exclusion. Such policies normally merely increase the flexibility of

urban laws so that squatter settlements are “precariously inserted in the hegemonic

rationality, which impedes the questioning of such a rationality” (2005:33).

However the most theoretically developed alternative approach to squatter

interventions in the Brazilian literature has been put forward by Jacques (2001), who

builds up a concept of space in movement and unfolds three concepts that explain

some of the dynamics underlining the urbanization process of the Brazilian squatter

settlements: fragment, labyrinth, and rhizome. Furthermore Jacques (2001) argues that

through a public deliberation process, the existent dynamics, movements and social

arrangements, can be accepted and interventions could be focused on the expansion of

these existing flows, instead of creating new social dynamics and unfamiliar spaces

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The ideal of urban inclusion through policies that encourage social integration has

been present in Brazilian literature since the 1970s. For Blank (1980), the marginality

of squatter inhabitants would be overcome by incorporating them in the urban form,

improving housing conditions, connecting them to services and by introducing

alternative infra-structure. Therefore, Cardoso (2006) argues that initially the ideal of

integration was based on physical improvement. However recently, inclusive

approaches address the need to go beyond physical interventions, and tackle also

environmental, economical and social conditions. The impact on policies of these

approaches was the implementation of squatter upgrading programmes, which

focused on residents’ rights, regularisation of tenure, improvement of houses and

infrastructure as well as installing capacity building and vocational courses, micro-

credit, leisure facilities etc…

However such inclusive approaches through integration generate two conceptual

impasses. Firstly how to reconcile two very distinct rights: to remain where one is,

maintaining social networks and proximity to work with the right to have a healthy

environment, with an appropriate density and ventilation capacity. Such conditions

are difficult and costly to encourage with upgrading and punctual intervention in

squatter settlements. The second impasse is that upgrading “creates two levels of

minimum urban regulations, corresponding, therefore, to two levels of basic

citizenship” (Cardoso, 2006:25). Can the state accept an approach to policy making

that assures different standards of basic living conditions?

3.5.3 Brazilian Urban Development Literature and Sen’s Writings

The Brazilian urban development literature has elaborated on processes of exclusion,

such as social segregation and spatial fragmentation. The analyses of environmental

differentiation, legal-political opportunities, violence and criminal organization,

market enablement and globalization shed lights on processes that constrain squatter

inhabitants’ ability to overcome poverty. Therefore this exploration of housing

freedoms is contributed to by the structural conditions that affect the transformation of

resources into achievements.

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Meanwhile Sen’s writings can contribute to the Brazilian urban development

literature by elaborating alternatives to address some of the current impasses in the

thinking and practice of squatter intervention: How to respect local dynamics of

urbanization without reproducing the myths of squatter settlements? How to

acknowledge the processes of exclusion without falling into a dualistic

conceptualization of cities? How to choose which rights to protect? Thus the

Capability Approach can contribute to the development of an inclusive approach that

can provide an answer to the “schizophrenic” character of territory, by challenging the

globalization trends that causes poverty while also empowering localities by

encouraging participation and recognizing endogenous dynamics of urbanization.

3.6 Conclusion

This literature review on approaches to development explains that there is a growing

consensus that market enablement policies are generating inequalities and worsening

the living conditions of the urban poor. However, there is far from consensus on an

alternative urban development discourse that can challenge social segregation and

urban fragmentation by overcoming the multiple dimensions of poverty. In this last

section of the three literature review chapters of the thesis, the dialogue between the

Capability Approach and the other discourses of development (rights based approach,

livelihoods, social exclusion and Brazilian urban development literature) is

summarized to explain the contribution of the Capability Approach and the objectives

of the field work.

3.61 The Similarities between Approaches

Consensus between the five approaches to development reviewed occurs at least at

three levels:

1- Income-driven urban interventions are criticised as they expand

inequalities, perpetuate injustices and do not tackle the causes of poverty.

Livelihoods analyses argue that “it is not their [squatter inhabitants’] low

income that is the primary cause of many of the deprivations that they suffer”

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(Miltin and Satterthwaite 2004:3). The rights based approach aims at

broadening the focus of urban policies, incorporating value-driven policies.

Social exclusion analysis, which are concerned with processes, encourage

policies that can tackle distribution and the multiple needs of the urban poor.

The Brazilian urban development literature elaborates on how the focus on

income can lead to further social segregation and spatial fragmentation.

Meanwhile the criticism of income-led policy making is the motivation and

shared perception of Sen and the researchers engaged with the Capability

Approach.

2- Poverty is understood as a multidimensional phenomenon. The rights

based approach, livelihoods analyses and social exclusion literature have the

common motivation to move away from the income-led definition of poverty

and capture the complex reality of poverty. The Brazilian urban development

literature has not directly questioned the conceptualization of poverty, but it

has been investigating the many different dimensions of deprivations, such as

vulnerability, insecurity, violence and stigmatization. The Capability

Approach, on the other hand, has focused on the development of a framework

that can capture and evaluate the multidimensional aspect of well-being

(Alkire, 2002).

3- The acceptance of local dynamics and participation. The right to participate

is one of the main concerns of the rights-based approaches. The livelihood

analyses stresses the need for urban interventions to understand and support

local urban dynamics while also involving poor people in all stages of a

development project (Carney at al., 1999; and Moser, 1998). The social

exclusion literature does not directly target local dynamics, but it calls for an

increased participation of the poor in social, political and economic aspects of

urban life. Similarly, the Brazilian urban development literature argues “for

another globalization” which can empower local people through increased

participation and acceptance of endogenous dynamics (Santos, 2000;

Carvalho, 2002; Jacques, 2001). Meanwhile the Capability Approach proposes

a framework that emphasises the need for public deliberation while expanding

existing capabilities (Robeyns, 2003). Thus these five types of literature

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perceive the poor as source of information and active agents in the process of

change.

3.6.2 Contribution of the Capability Approach

There are two main contributions of the Capability Approach to the discourses

reviewed and to the elaboration of an alternative approach to urban development

1- Comprehensive framework. The Brazilian urban development literature and

social exclusion discourse identify the need for an alternative approach.

However they do not elaborate on such an approach that can challenge the

processes of exclusion, social segregation and spatial fragmentation. The

livelihood analysis is a framework for development policies and evaluation,

but it is still utilitarian and based on a rigid concept of assets. The rights-based

approaches are based on an internationally agreed set of values, without

exploring processes of identifying valuable dimensions according to the

contexts and purpose of studies. Thus, as argued by Deneulin (2005), the

Capability Approach contributes to the existing literature by providing a sound

and theoretical foundation which would be strong enough to replace the

utility-based approach to development.

2- The intrinsic and instrumental values of dimensions. The Capability

Approach engages in a discussion of the instrumental and intrinsic value of the

dimensions of well-being. In the context of housing, it enriches the urban

development discourse by: recognising that aspects of housing are ends in

themselves; and secondly that these aspects affect each other therefore they

also have instrumental value. The recognition of the intrinsic value of the

dimensions of housing can contribute to the livelihood approach, as its asset

based approach conceives dimensions merely as instrumental to capital

generation. Meanwhile, processes of exclusion, segregation and fragmentation

can be analysed more comprehensively. While intrinsic values are recognised

locally, instrumental analyses recognise the structural conditions and freedoms

from different neighbours and other localities which affect squatter inhabitants

differently, whether positively or negatively.

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3.6.3 Contribution to the Capability Approach

Meanwhile the Capability Approach can also receive contributions from the

development discourses three different ways.

1- Accepting the role of processes and collective dimensions. The main

contribution from the Brazilian urban development literature and the social

exclusion discourse to the Capability Approach is the elaboration of collective

forms of deprivations. By unfolding the ways in which deprivation of groups

compromise their ability to escape poverty, this literature justifies the need to

accept not only individual but also collective values as an end of policies.

Meanwhile the Brazilian urban development literature reveals structural

processes causing housing deprivations which complement the analysis of

people’s ability to expand their housing freedoms.

2- Operationalizing the Capability Approach. The livelihood approach and the

Brazilian urban development literature contribute to the application of Sen’s

ideas in different ways. The latter is essential for this study, as it is unfolding

the dimensions of housing in Brazil, while the former contributes to the use of

the Capability Approach in an urban context, by unfolding the challenges and

mechanisms that impact on squatter inhabitants’ livelihoods.

3.6.4 Limitations and Challenges to be answered by Field Work

Even though conceptually these five bodies of literature seem to complement each

other, this evaluation of the squatter upgrading project funded by the World Bank

through the Capability Approach assesses the following questions:

1- How operational is the Capability Approach? As shown in Chapter 2,

critiques of Sen’s writings argue that the Capability Approach is too

theoretical, broad, and context-dependent which prevent it from having a

practical and operational significance (Sugden, 1993). The next chapter will

elaborate on the methodological challenges of applying the Capability

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Approach for an evaluation purpose while also assessing how participatory

research methods can contribute to overcome such challenges.

2- Can the Capability Approach assess the causes as well as the

manifestation of poverty? The application of the Capability Approach

through participatory methods also aims at assessing if such an evaluative

framework can challenge the neo-liberal tendency of partial globalization

described by Gore (2000) and elaborated also at Chapter 2.

3- Capability Approach: an evaluative framework or development

paradigm? Finally this application of the Capability Approach as an

evaluative framework also assesses its potentiality as a development paradigm,

most specifically unfolding the limitations and potentialities of applying it in

an urban development context.

3.6.5 Concluding Remarks

The literature review of the thesis reviews two main urban development discourses:

one based on the dominant and unarticulated perception of the relation between

housing and poverty. Market enablement is advocated, by the World Bank, as the only

viable strategy to address the uncontrolled growth of the spatial problem of

developing country cities - squatter settlements. Meanwhile the alternative

understanding of urban development has aimed at differentiating the phenomenon of

housing and poverty. Different strategies are proposed to tackle the multiple

deprivations of the urban poor.

The next and last chapter of this first part of the thesis elaborates the methodology of

this research, examining the practical challenges of applying the Capability Approach

through participatory methods. While developing a dualistic interpretation of current

urban development thinking and practice, the assessment of the squatter upgrading

programmes aims to unfold the practical links between both approaches. The

comparison between the ‘bottom-up’ and the World Bank ‘top-down’ funded

interventions explores the ambiguities and contradictions of both conceptualizations

of poverty and housing. The main contention of the analysis of this thesis is to unfold

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how the World Bank is appropriating discourses and practices of the alternative

approach to urban development, while also assessing how the community-based

initiatives might be supporting and implementing enablement policies.

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Chapter 3: Shedding Light on Discourses - The Capability Approach and Approachesto Development ............................................................................................................58

3.1 Introduction........................................................................................................583.2 Rights-Based Approach .....................................................................................59

3.2.1 An Outline of the Rights-Based Approach .................................................59a) A Historical Review.....................................................................................59b) Basic Concepts ............................................................................................61

i) The Shift from Needs to Rights................................................................61ii) People as Agents of Change....................................................................61iii) Enhancing Accountability ......................................................................61iv) Wresting Participation and Empowerment.............................................62v) Challenging Power Inequalities...............................................................62vi) Politicization of Aid ...............................................................................62

3.2.2 Sen and RBA...............................................................................................63a) Normative Similarities and Different Strategies..........................................63b) The Complementarities between Sen and RBA .........................................64

3.2.3 The Critique of RBA and Sen.....................................................................653.3 The Livelihoods Approach ................................................................................67

3.3.1 Basic Concepts of the Livelihoods Approach.............................................68a) People-centred .............................................................................................69b) Holistic.........................................................................................................69c) Dynamic.......................................................................................................69d) Building on Strengths ..................................................................................69e) Macro-micro Links ......................................................................................69f) Sustainability................................................................................................70

3.3.2 Livelihoods and Freedom ...........................................................................703.4 Social Exclusion Analyses .................................................................................71

3.4.1 Definitions and Perceptions ........................................................................713.4.2 Basic Concepts of the Social Exclusion Analyses ......................................72

a) Multidimensionality Aspects .......................................................................73b) Relational Aspects .......................................................................................73c) Relative Aspects ..........................................................................................73d) Dynamic Aspects .........................................................................................74e) Emphasis on Process....................................................................................74

3.4.3 The Limitations of Social Exclusion Analyses ...........................................743.4.4 Links Between the Social Exclusion and Capability Approach .................75

3.5 The Brazilian Urban Development Literature and the Capability Approach ....763.5.1 Defining Squatter Settlements: Challenging Dogmas and Myths ..............773.5.2 Researching Squatter Settlements: Urban Development, Social Segregationand Spatial Fragmentation ...................................................................................79

a) Environmental Differentiation.....................................................................80b) Legal-political Dimension ...........................................................................81c) Violence and Criminal Organizations..........................................................82d) Globalization and Market Enablement ........................................................83e) Inclusive Approaches...................................................................................84

3.5.3 Brazilian Urban Development Literature and Sen’s Writings ....................873.6 Conclusion .........................................................................................................88

3.61 The Similarities between Approaches .........................................................883.6.2 Contribution of the Capability Approach ...................................................903.6.3 Contribution to the Capability Approach....................................................91

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3.6.4 Limitations and Challenges to be answered by Field Work .......................913.6.5 Concluding Remarks...................................................................................92

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Chapter 4: Methodology - An Evaluation Using the

Capability Approach and Participatory Methods

4.1 Introducing the methodology

The methodology developed to evaluate the World Bank’s strategy of upgrading

squatter settlements to alleviate poverty combines the conceptual framework of the

Capability Approach with the practical tools of participatory research methods. This

methodology is theory testing in that it assesses the effectiveness of the squatter

upgrading project set up by the World Bank. It also tests the application of Sen’s

concepts through participatory methods and in an urban context. However, the

evaluation is also building on theories as it aims to generate hypotheses that contribute

to the clarification of the relationship between housing and poverty. Thus, the

methodology of the evaluation has two levels of analysis: it is deductive as it tests the

application and effectiveness of approaches, and it is inductive in that it aims to

formulate hypotheses out of the data collected (See Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1: The Two Levels of Analysis.

Evaluation

Purpose Methodology

1- Assess interventionWB squatter upgradingproject

Assess innovationCapability Approach / Urbancontext/ ParticipatoryMethods

TestingTheory

Deductive level

Comparison

NovosAlagados

Calabar2- Unfold and clarify

dynamics Building onTheories

Inductive Level

In this first section the two levels of evaluation are explicated. Section two starts by

elaborating the philosophical approach underpinning this research and then explores

the strengths and limitations of using participatory methods to apply the Capability

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Approach. The third section of this chapter develops the research design. The

practices of immersion, semi-structured interviews and focus groups are described and

adapted to address housing freedoms. In the third section the validity of the research

methods is assessed. The fourth section analyses the process of implementation of the

research tools. Reflexive practices and strategies to overcome field work challenges

are outlined. The processes of analysis are reviewed in the penultimate section. Then

in the final section the strengths and limitations of the methodology of the research

are assessed.


Methods

In this thesis, evaluation research is understood as a systematic acquisition and

assessment of information to provide constructive analysis about an innovation,

intervention, policy or practice (Scriven 1991). The main purposes of this evaluation

are:

1- To assess:

a. the application of Sen’s concepts through participatory research

methods in an urban context

b. the impacts of different approaches to squatter settlement upgrading

projects, including a World Bank funded project and a community

based initiative.

2- Generate hypotheses that clarify the relation between the different approaches

to squatter settlement interventions and the expansion of squatter inhabitants’

housing freedoms.

To achieve the purposes outlined above, this evaluation uses qualitative data collected

through participatory research methods from two squatter settlements in Salvador da

Bahia, Brazil: Novos Alagados and Calabar. The former was upgraded through a

project funded by the World Bank, and in the latter, settlement improvements were

led by a community based organisation. Due to their similarities and

complementarities participatory approaches have been used as a method to apply

Sen’s concepts of ‘development as freedom’.

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4.2.1 The Philosophical Approach of the Research

The philosophical approach underpinning this application of Sen’s concepts through

participatory methods has a critical social science character in the sense that: it

explores the underlying dynamics that are affecting people’s deprivations; it perceives

participants as holders of knowledge; and it aims at challenging social realities.

However, this research is different from the conventional application of critical social

science, by applying an open and incomplete theoretical framework and aiming at

strengthening potentialities, instead of overcoming a false consciousness.

a) The Critical Social Science Character

Critical social science is known to be practiced by researchers focused on class

analysis, dialectical mechanisms and the structural conditions of societies. The

approach is traced to Marx (1818-1883) and Freud (1856-1939). It is also linked to the

Frankfurt School in Germany of the 1930s and to the development of critical theory.

Critical social science is also understood more broadly as a “critical process of inquiry

that goes beyond surface illusions to uncover the real structures in the material world

in order to help people change conditions and build a better world for themselves”

(Neuman, 2000: 76).

Sen’s writings are not traditionally associated with this stream of science, as his works

bridge mainly the disciplines of philosophy and economics. Nevertheless, this

application of the Capability Approach framework has a sociological character in the

investigation of the concept of housing, as it explores the socially-constructed

functions of houses. Combined with participatory research tools, this research falls

into the broad understanding of critical social science, which aims at unfolding the

underlying dynamics shaping a certain social reality, in this context, housing.

The second character of this research that is also an aspect of critical social science is

the perception of participants as holders of knowledge and agents of change (Freire,

1970; Fay, 1987). According to Fay (1987), “critical social science assumes that

humans are active creatures, that is, creatures who broadly create themselves on the

basis of their own self-interpretations” (1987:47). An active being, is understood by

critical scientists, as an intelligent, creative, reflective and wilful person (Fay, 1987).

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The methodology of this research perceives people as source of information and

analysis. Participatory research methods, explained in the next section, aim at

accessing these perceptions to conceptualize housing and evaluate the squatter

upgrading programmes.

As critical social science, this research aims at empowering participants, challenging

social realities, and contributing to the overcoming of injustices. As explained by

Kincheloe and McLaren (1994):

Critical research can be best understood in the context of the

empowerment of individuals. Inquiry that aspires to the name

critical must be connected to an attempt to confront the injustice of

a particular society or sphere within the society. Research thus

becomes a transformative endeavour unembarrassed by the label

‘political’ and unafraid to consummate a relationship with an

emancipatory consciousness (Kincheloe and McLaren, 1994:140).

The relation between participatory methods and empowerment has been a topic of a

wide debate in the development literature (Rahnema, 1992; and Nelson and Wright

1995). For Chambers (1995) there are three main levels of participation relating to

different notions of empowerment. The first level is associated with practices that use

participation after projects have been drawn up with the objective to use it merely as a

label and not addressing power inequalities. The second level is described as ‘co-

opting practice’, which aims at using local labour to reduce costs. Such an approach

reproduces power imbalances by proposing that local people should participate in the

stake holders’ project. The third level is used to activate an empowerment process,

“which enables local people to do their own analysis, to take command, to gain in

confidence, and to make their own decisions” (Chambers, 1995:30)

The notion of empowerment in this thesis is associated to Chamber’s (1995) third

level of the relation between participation and empowerment. This thesis applies an

analysis to empowerment to describe the process in which dominant social, political,

economic and cultural groups exert power over those who are marginalised

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(Rowlands, 1995). Thus, empowerment “is concerned with the process by which

people become aware of their own interests…” (Rowlands, 1995:102).

The participatory methods of this research aim at addressing empowerment by

encouraging the critical thinking of participants, thus contributing towards collective

mobilization. This approach is closely associated to definitions of empowerment used

in education, which are drawn from Freire’s concept of enhancing a ‘critical

consciousness’. The research also aims to contribute to the empowerment of the

participants of the research by sharing findings in an accessible form and which can

be used to strengthen local organizations’ capacities to claim for housing rights. A

documentary is being produced out of footage filmed in a field trip, post-data

collection and analysis. The film explores the impacts of the squatter upgrading

programme funded by the World Bank. It will be shown at the upgraded squatter

settlement and given to local community based organizations. The approach of the

research and the findings also aims at contributing to low income housing policy-

making and the practice of poverty alleviation programmes.

b) Differences from Conventional Critical Social Science

The openness of Sen’s Capability Approach would be considered as too subjective

and relativist for conventional critical social science approaches (Nussbaum, 1999;

2000). As argued in Chapter 2, Nussbaum (2000) argues that by not specifying a list

of freedoms or developing an operational tool for the Capability Approach, it becomes

amoral and too flexible, satisfying various and contradicting purposes. The openness

of Sen’s framework and this application of the Capability Approach in the housing

context can be associated to Deleuze and Guattarri’s (1994) philosophical definition

of ‘a concept’. According to Deleuze and Guattarri (1994) a concept has a relative and

an absolute component. The absolute component is the framework of analysis, the

theory approaching the topic of analysis. The relative component is the actual problem

it is set up to address and its dimensions of analysis. A concept would have multiple

components, which become finite every time it is applied in a certain context with

particular purposes (Deleruze and Guattarri, 1994). In the case of this research, the

concept of housing is understood along the same lines: absolute in regard to the

approach of conceiving housing within a Capability Approach framework, but relative

insofar as the list of valuable dimensions of housing has to be contextualized.

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Furthermore, this research differs from critical social science by not understanding

social realities, perceived by participants of the research, as self-misunderstandings.

According to Fay (1989), critical social science “demonstrates the ways in which the

self-understandings of a group of people are false (in the sense of failing to account

for the life experiences of the members of the group)” (Fay, 1989:31). However this

research aims at revealing and exploring socially-constructed perceptions and

analysis of housing, instead of enlightening participants with a libratory interpretation

of social reality. This discussion goes back to the issue of adaptive preference

addressed in Chapter 3. In a context of resignation, where participants are in a

situation of passivity and conformity, the critical social science approach of

overcoming a false consciousness would be applicable. However in the context of this

research, participants had been actively and critically involved in the process of

change of their living environment. Therefore, the objective of the researcher is to

bring to light, through the Capability Approach, the perceptions and analysis of the

squatter inhabitants that participated in the research methods.

4.2.2 Introduction to Participatory Methods

Since the 1970s many different participatory approaches to research, policy making

and planning have been put forward. However it has only been since the 1990s that

participatory methods have entered the development mainstream (Brock and McGee,

2002). Participation became a buzzword from studies on poor people’s perspectives

on policy making in development projects. The best known participatory approach in

the current development scene, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), was elaborated

in the late 1980s in India and Kenya. According to Chambers (1997) “PRA is a

growing family of approaches and methods to enable local people to share, enhance

and analyse their knowledge of life and conditions, and to plan, act, monitor and

evaluate” (1997:102). Participatory methods aim at changing the role of the researcher

as an outsider. Instead of being a lecturer who transfers technology, the outsider is

perceived as a facilitator who encourages and enables local people to express their

own reality (Chambers, 1997).

A variety of participatory tools have been developed to teach outsiders how to

facilitate this expression. These include group activities, visual diagrams and

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mapping. Although developed to be used in rural areas, PRA techniques and similar

participatory methods have been applied in many different studies, practices and in a

variety of contexts (Cornwall and Pratt, 2003). Participatory appraisal techniques have

also been increasingly used in urban contexts (Mitlin and Thompson, 1994; Moser

and Mcllwaine, 1999). A Participatory Urban Appraisal has been put forward, based

on the theoretical framework of PRA but with some practical considerations due to

the differences between the rural and urban contexts (Mitlin and Thompson, 1994).

However, according to Cornwall (2000) and Cleaver (2001), some recent applications

of participatory approaches in the development mainstream fall short of their original

intention. Participation is sometimes used merely as a tool for achieving pre-set

objectives and not as a process to empower groups and individuals to take leadership,

envision their futures, and improve their lives (Cooke and Kothari, 2001; Hickey and

Mohan, 2004). In the following sections participatory methods are further explained

by making a comparison with the Capability Approach and assessing its strengths and

limitations.

4.2.3 Participatory Methods and the Capability Approach: Similarities

Both the Capability Approach and participatory methods literature share a common

critique of the utilitarian and income-led perception of poverty. Chambers, a leading

author on participatory research methods, argues that “deprivation as poor people

perceive it has many dimensions, including not only lack of income and wealth, but

also social inferiority, physical weakness, disability and sickness, vulnerability,

physical and social isolation, powerlessness, and humiliation” (Chambers, 1997: 45).

Shaffer (2002) argues that the analysis of poverty through participatory approaches

captures the complexities and underlying dynamics of poverty, while economics is

only able to measure through indicators the manifestations of poverty. Meanwhile

Sen’s (1999) main argument for the expansion of the concept of development has

been to break away from the utilitarian and income-led definition of poverty thus

capturing the complexities and multidimensionality of poverty.

The reflection on the process of the production of knowledge is also presented in both

literatures. The Enlightenment epistemology that defends objectivity and the

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superiority of technocrats is criticised as both literatures relate to Aristotle’s

perception of the poor as active members in the process of change. Freire (1997), a

much quoted author by the Capability Approach academics and the practitioners of

participatory approaches, argues that people who are the focus of research have a

universal right to participate in the production of knowledge. “In this process, people

rupture their existing attitudes of silence, accommodation and passivity, and gain

confidence and abilities to alter unjust conditions and structures. This is an authentic

power for liberation that ultimately destroys a passive awaiting of fate” (Freire, 1997:

xi).

Both types of literature emphasize the need to contextualize the concept of poverty,

thus unfolding the local dynamics embedded in the social reality of each particular

case-study. Sen (1999) argues for the fundamental importance of public debate, public

scrutiny, and deliberate participation in the process of choosing the dimensions of

poverty. Meanwhile Brock (2002) argues that participatory approaches can capture

the “diverse ways of knowing poverty” and “that understanding these better can

contribute to improvements both in content and process of poverty reduction policy”

(2002:2).

4.2.4 Participatory Methods and the Capability Approach: Complementarities

The Capability Approach literature contributes to the application of participatory

methods by providing a comprehensive evaluative framework that aims to overcome

the limited application of participatory methods as mere tools which leave the root

causes of poverty unchallenged (Frediani 2007b). As Cornwall (2000) elaborates:

For some, the proliferation of the language ‘participation’ and

‘empowerment’ within the mainstream is heralded as the realization of

a long-awaited paradigm shift in development thinking. For others,

however, there is less cause for celebration. Their concerns centre on

the use of participation as a legitimating device that draws on the moral

authority of claims to involve the poor to place the pursuit of other

agendas beyond reproach. According to this perspective, much of what

is hailed as ‘participation’ is mere technical fix that leaves inequitable

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global and local relations of power, and with it the root causes of

poverty, unchallenged (Cornwall, 2000:1).

According to Cleaver (2001) participatory methods need to be complemented by a

theory that explores the nature of people’s lives and the relations between the many

dimensions of well-being: “there is a need to conceptualize participatory approaches

more broadly, for more complex analyses of the linkages between intervention,

participation and empowerment” (2001:38). The Capability Approach contributes to

the participatory literature by providing this comprehensive and flexible theory of

wellbeing that can capture the multiple, complex and dynamic aspects of poverty.

Meanwhile participatory methods contribute to the Capability Approach by offering a

variety of tools and techniques systematically developed and researched. According to

Alkire (2002) participatory processes are one of the fundamental approaches for the

selection of the dimensions of well-being and the application of the Capability

Approach. Participatory methods can adapt to different purposes of studies, unfolding

dimensions not only of well-being, but also of housing, education, etc…; they can

capture the dynamic and multiple aspects that influence the transformation of

opportunities into achievements. Finally participatory methods have the potential to

expand capabilities by encouraging public debate and stimulating local-level action.

“In this case, poor people in communities involved in participatory research are

stimulated by the experience, or by what they have learned through it about their own

and other contexts, to undertake advocacy and action to address their needs” (McGee,

2002: 17).

Alkire (2002) elaborates on the comparison between participatory methods and Sen’s

Capability Approach by arguing that they have four major issues in common: they

aim at obtaining outcomes that people value while empowering participants; they

consider the issue of ‘who decides’ as important as ‘what is decided’; they recognise

that the process might not identify a ‘best’ choice, but that discussion is an effective

means of separating the ‘better’ from ‘worse’ choices; and reasoned deliberation is

supported as an explicit and valid method for evaluating and making policy.

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Furthermore Alkire (2002) lists the potential instrumental benefits of applying the

Capability Approach through participatory methods: it can lower implementation

costs; it generates greater technical success due to access to local information; it

supports sustainability as communities continue the improvements after the cessation

of external funding; it encourages empowerment and self-determination as

participants set their own objectives; and it is sensitive to local cultural values because

people influence the initiatives at all stages.

4.2.5 Participatory Methods and Capability Approach: Limitations

However while complementing each other in a variety of ways, participatory methods

and the Capability Approach share similar weaknesses and challenges (Frediani,

2006). Both types of literature have not reached a consensus on the targeted

participants of their analysis: are evaluations based on the perspective of individuals,

groups or both? While the Capability Approach literature has been criticised as being

too individualistic (Deneulin, 2005) (see Chapter 2), recent applications of the

participatory methods have also been criticised by focusing on the ‘empowerment’ of

individuals and moving away from its collective traditions. “As ‘empowerment’ has

become a buzzword in development, as essential objective of projects, its

[participatory approach to development] radical, challenging and transformatory edge

has been lost. The concept of action has become individualized, empowerment

depoliticized” (Cleaver, 2001:37).

Another critique made of both approaches is that they propose local solutions to

global problems, thus not tackling structural inequalities. Gore (2000) refers to the

Capability Approach process as the partial globalization of development policy.

Furthermore Sen’s writings have been criticised for focussing mostly on the

immediate causes of poverty and neglecting the underlying social processes (Patanaik,

1998, see Chapter 2).

Meanwhile critiques of participatory methods have argued that their localized and

problem solving application captures merely the manifestation of poverty and

“ignores the structural and material constraints of globalized capitalism” (Mohan,

2001: 156). As Cooke and Kothari (2001) highlight, participatory methods’ “emphasis

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on the micro level of intervention can obscure, and indeed sustain, broader macro

level inequalities and injustices” (2001:14).

Meanwhile both approaches have been criticised as being ahistorical, and not

providing a sufficient analysis of the complexities of power and power relations. The

criticisms of Gore (2000) to the Capability Approach argue that the focus on local

knowledge overshadows a deeper analysis based in the long-term sequences of

economic and social changes (reviewed in Chapter 2). Meanwhile, according to

Mohan (2001), participatory approaches perceive local knowledge to be undermined

by the societal relation of power, which is divided between the holders of power and

the subjects of power, the macro/micro, central/local, powerful/powerless. Mohan

(2001) argues that this dichotomy of participatory approaches limits the understanding

of power as a social and political process, by encouraging a perception based on

materialistic realities. “Thus participatory approaches can unearth who gets what,

when and where, but not necessarily the processes by which this happens or the ways

in which knowledge produced through participatory techniques is a normalized one

that reflects and articulates wider power relations in society” (2001: 141).

The critiques of participatory methods have analysed the many ways that power

relations influence development analysis based on participation. Cooke (2001) uses

social psychology to analyse the subtle ways in which groups make decisions to

demonstrate the less visible ways that participation is used as an instrument of control

and maintenance of status quo through the production of consensus. According to

Mohan (2001), “the danger from a policy point of view is that the actions based on

consensus may in fact further empower the powerful vested interests that manipulated

the research in the first place” (2001: 160). Finally Mosse (2001) also argues that the

main limitation of participatory methods is its potential to be used as a means to

restrict and control the analysis of development policies: “Far from being continually

challenged, prevailing preconceptions are confirmed, options narrowed, information

flows into a project restricted, in a system that is increasingly controllable and closed”

(Mosse, 2001:25).

This application of the Capability Approach through participatory methods aims at

assessing the strengths and weaknesses of this methodology. On one hand these two

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approaches seem to complement each other by combining a theoretical framework

that focuses on the multiple dimensions of poverty, participation and empowerment

with a comprehensive set of operational procedures that aims at unfolding local

dynamics of well-being and poverty. On the other hand the critiques of both

approaches have identified similar weaknesses, such as the lack on consensus on

targeted participants; partial globalization and the ahistorical nature of development

policy analysis; and the lack of analysis on the impacts of power relations on

participatory activities. Thus this thesis aims at answering the following

methodological questions:

1- Does the combination of the Capability Approach with participatory methods

overcome or confirm their limitations outlined above?

2- Does the Capability Approach constrain the use of participatory methods to

problem-solving and at limited field of application? Or does it allow

participatory methods to develop a more critical perspective that challenge

structural rigidities?

4.3 Research Design

The underlying motivation of the design of methods for this thesis has been to answer

the questions outlined above and tackle explicitly the limitations described in the

previous section. Thus the objectives of this methodology are:

1- To generate an approach that can reveal the local dimensions of housing.

2- To capture not only the manifestation of housing deprivations, but also the

underlying dynamics of ‘housing freedoms’.

3- To unfold and assess individual and group capabilities.

4- To perceive the issues identified by the research through a historical

perspective, analysing them within the context of socio-economic and political

changes while revealing the existing power relations in the different levels of

the upgrading project.

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To achieve the overall objectives of the thesis and the particular objectives of the

methodology described above, the design of the research aims at developing an open

and participatory approach that: gathers background information; allows the

researcher to immerse himself in the communities studied; identifies dimensions of

housing freedoms; adapts participatory techniques to evaluate the freedoms associated

with the housing question; while also tackling the issues of validity such as

comparability, reliability, generalization and casual weighting.

4.3.1 Background Information

This first stage of the research aimed at gathering general historical information about

the squatter settlements studied, local studies on the dynamics of self-help housing

and other evaluations of these upgrading projects. The methods used here were mainly

secondary analysis of previous studies, researching archives of local newspapers and

informal interviews with academics of universities in Salvador da Bahia. The

objective of this stage of the research was to generate a simple community profile and

arrive in the squatter settlements with some basic ideas of the issues under research.

4.3.2 Immersion

This first stage of the field work consisted of immersion in the complex realities of the

squatter settlements studied through techniques of participant observation. (Neuman,

2000; and Burns, 2000). According to Burns (2000), “participant observation serves

to elicit from people their definitions of reality and the organising constructs of their

world” (2000: 406). Different researches apply different levels of participation of the

observer (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994). In this research, participant observation meant

having a transparent and accessible contact with the community through guided

transect walks; informal dialogues with squatter inhabitants; acquiring a role in the

community; and joining community activities

This stage of immersion through participant observation aimed at tackling three issues

identified by Smith et al (1997) as essential before beginning praxis.

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a) Knowing-self

Knowing self consists of questioning the researcher’s motivations, inner tensions,

preconceptions and prejudices. The aim was to start to engage into a process of

reflexivity, described as a ‘conscious experiencing of the self as both inquirer and

respondent, as teacher and learner, as the one coming to know the self within the

processes of research itself’ (Lincoln and Guba, 2000:283). The process of self-

awareness took place through out the field-work.

b) Seeking Connections, Building Trust and Solidarity

This stage was concerned with establishing connections between stories and theories.

It also aimed to establish a sense of trust with the community. By giving English

classes in both squatter settlements, the researcher acquired a role in the community

thus generating trust and safer access and mobility in the squatter settlement.

Meanwhile squatter inhabitants became more open and willing to participate in

research activities.

c) Grounding in Context

Through people’s stories and informal conversations this stage aimed at

understanding the underlying dynamics that take place in the community. By

engaging in local activities, talking to groups, and getting to know people’s priorities,

local power relations are unfolded while unveiling local knowledge and “relevant

operation forces” (Smith et al, 1997).

4.3.3 Identifying Housing Functionings

As evaluations based on the Capability Approach explore a certain set of dimensions

of well-being, this research examines a certain set of dimensions of housing. The aim

of elaborating this list is to unfold local relevant motivations, aspects or functions that

people attribute to the process of housing. As explained in Chapter 2, these

dimensions are called ‘housing functionings’ and they are the categories used for the

evaluation of the squatter upgrading projects. These functionings constitute a certain

list of valued freedoms associated with housing. However the evaluation of the

squatter upgrading projects aims at exploring resident’s housing freedom, which is the

ability and opportunity people have to achieve these valued functionings. Thus, the

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identification of local valued housing functionings is perceived in this research as a

prerequisite to the investigation of residents’ housing freedom.

This iterative application of Sen’s framework in the housing context uses participatory

methods to unfold local valued housing functionings in a first stage of data collection.

A workshop with an active squatter inhabitant group aimed to establish a dialogue

between their perceptions on the functions of housing and a list compiled from

literature on urban development. The objective of the activity was to generate a list of

dimensions as well as the aspects that constitute each of these dimensions. The

researcher facilitated discussions using aids such as charts and diagrams to expand on

the components of each dimension identified. Meanwhile discussions also aimed at

finding out how the different dimensions related and overlapped with each other. The

crucial challenge of this stage was to find an active squatter inhabitant group willing

to undertake the activity and that could critically engage in the discussion.

The list of housing functionings was elaborated and explored with the youth group

from the squatter settlement of Mata Escura. This group was identified as appropriate

for this activity because participants have been involved in capacity building courses

led by the community based organization ACOPAMEC and workshops on urban

planning at the Department of Architecture of the Federal University. The group

discussed the set of housing functionings identified in the literature, and most

importantly, elaborated on what it meant to each of them in their context. This aspect

of the methodology was particularly important as it allowed meanings of housing

functionings to be contextualized and formed by the participants of the group. Thus,

the group expanded on various features that shaped each housing dimension. This list

elaborated and expanded does not intend to be universal, nor complete. They are

values attached to housing significantly examined by the literature and this group of

squatter inhabitants from Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.

Five housing functionings were identified: freedom to expand and to individualize;

freedom to afford living costs; freedom to live in a healthy environment; freedom to

participate in decision making; and freedom to maintain social networks. These

housing functionings are also associated with Sen’s (1999) five instrumental freedoms

and Alkire’s (2002) dimensions of human flourishing. Therefore they can be also

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perceived as an adaptation of Sen and Alkire’s typologies with the aim to contribute

to unfolding the instrumental freedoms that shape the ability of the squatter

inhabitants to improve their housing conditions, according to the things they value. A

brief description of the housing functionings based on the discussions of the focus

group and literature follows.

a) Freedom to expand and to individualize

The process of individualization of the structure and design of shelters in the squatter

settlements was identified by the group as part of their cultural identity, which reflects

social, economic and political features of the population in the built environment. The

freedom to individualize and expand has been one of the squatter inhabitants’ assets

which allowed them to improve their quality of life affordably and within the same

environment. This dimension has a direct parallel to Alkire’s dimension of practical

reason and self-integration which “…regards the freedom a group has to exert self

direction: to create and sustain their identity even if it differs from the identity of the

funding agency, for example” (Alkire, 2002: 283). Santana (1994) argues that

dwellers show awareness of the aesthetic condition of their houses by improving them

and adding floors. Often, even before the first floor is completed, a second floor is

already under construction. Severo (1999) explains that this process represents the

aspiration of dwellers to distinguish themselves from other dwellers and improve their

social status.

b) Freedom to afford living Costs

The group argued that for any upgrading programme to be successful, it is necessary

to ensure that squatter inhabitants can afford the living costs of the houses in which

they are relocated. Affordability is related to Sen and Alkire’s economic variables

(economic facilities; work/play respectively). Evaluations of squatter upgrading

programmes have emphasized that often improvements have led to the rising of

expenditure costs of squatter inhabitants due to the connection to services and land

taxes. Meanwhile regularization of tenure would lead to raising the price of the

property. The higher housing costs and land speculation would generate a process of

economic eviction of the poorest (Taschner, 1995; Payne, 2002).

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c) Freedom to live in a healthy Environment

This freedom is a direct parallel to Alkire’s categories of life/health/security and Sen’s

intrinsic freedom of social opportunities which “refer to the arrangements that society

makes for education, health care and so on, which influence the individual’s

substantive freedom to live better” (Sen, 1999: 39). Therefore a healthy environment

was elaborated by the group as comprising infrastructure and services (such as water,

sanitation, waste collection, drainage, electricity, security lighting and public

telephones); vulnerability to environmental hazards; community facilities (such as

nurseries, health posts and community open space); tenure security; access to health

care and education; sustainable maintenance of services strategies; safety; and privacy

(UN-Habitat, 2003).

d) Freedom to participate in the Decision making

The freedom to participate has a parallel with Sen’s political freedom, which “refers

to the opportunities that people have to determine who should govern and on what

principles...” (Sen, 1999:38). Participation is here understood not only as a means to

implement squatter upgrading policies, but also as a goal in itself. Then, it relates to a

“inclusive and democratic processes of popular involvement in decision making over

decisions that affect people’s lives” (Gready and Ensor, 2005:25). The group

emphasized the need to analyse the methods of participation, as well as the physical

and political spaces for empowerment such as community centres and organizations,

and access to mechanisms to claim for citizen rights.

e) Freedom to maintain Social Networks

The group identified strong community bonds as one of the principal strengths of

squatter inhabitants, which help them to expand their houses, distribute resources and

improve living conditions. The freedom to maintain social networks is a direct parallel

to Alkire’s dimension of ‘relationships’, which refers to how people interact in a

community and its impact on friendship, tolerance, security and trust. Carney et al

(1999) argues that sustainable poverty elimination is only achieved by recognising,

protecting and enhancing people’s livelihood strategies. Social networks and

collective bonds have been put forward by the literature as a potentiality of squatter

inhabitants to increase access to resources, enhance tolerance and trust and achieve

their individual and collective objectives (Rakodi and Lloyd-Jones, 2002). As the

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concept of participation, this dimension differs from the social capital analysis by not

only perceiving such networks as instruments for production of capital, but also

recognizing networks’ intrinsic value in the process of housing. However it is also

necessary to differentiate between collective mechanisms that impact positively from

those that impact negatively on the process of housing.

Table 4.1: Summary of Definitions of Housing Functionings

HousingFunctionings

Definition

Expand andIndividualize

Freedom of inhabitants to interact in their physical environment,expanding their houses and changing them as they whish.

Afford livingCosts

Freedom of inhabitants to afford the expenditure costs of thenew house, thus not being forced economically to move tocheaper housing.

Live in a healthyEnvironment

Freedom of inhabitants to live in an environment where they canpursue a healthy live.

Participate inDecision making

Freedom of inhabitants to participate in the process of decisionmaking of projects and claim for their civil rights.

Maintain SocialNetworks

Freedom of inhabitants to maintain the bonding relationshipswhich are valued as positive for their housing process.

Source: Compiled from field work and literature

4.3.4 Adapting participatory Techniques to capture Capabilities

After analysing the information gathered during the first workshop, two research

activities could then be designed: a semi-structured interview framework and focus

group activity. The aim of such tools is to generate data that evaluates the squatter

upgrading projects according to the impacts on housing functionings. Conventional

participatory research tools were adapted to capture capabilities, thus addressing

specific aspects of the impacts of the squatter upgrading projects, as well as broader

perceptions on their freedom to be housed.

a) Semi-structured Interview Framework

The semi-structured interview is a technique to undertake open-ended and in-depth

interviews, but within certain set of guideline and directions addressing the crucial

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issues of the study (Burns, 2000). Five open questions were elaborated to stimulate

the conversation and reveal how upgrading projects have impacted on squatter

inhabitants lives (see Appendix 7 for semi-structured interviews informant sheet).

Answers were recorded according to the dimensions identified in the previous

exercise (see Appendixes 1 and 3 for comments recorded during interviews). The

researcher would stimulate the interviewer to elaborate on each dimension if

necessary. The interviews aimed at generating a personal account of one’s perceptions

of housing and the impacts of the upgrading projects in the different dimensions of the

one’s life. In each case study, 20 semi-structured interviews were carried out.

b) Focus group Activity

Based on other Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) activities and literature (Pretty, et

al. 1995; Chambers, 1997; and Kumar, 2002) the researchers designed a card game.

This process of design was iterative and with three main objectives: to unfold how

squatter inhabitants would wish to upgrade their communities; to capture the

reasoning behind choices made; and to relate choices to dimensions identified in order

to check applicability of the initial findings (see Box 4.1, for procedures of the game).

The motivations for using focus groups were to generate collective choices, to allow

the researcher to witness the process of social interaction and to encourage awareness

of existing power relations (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000).

Visual techniques are frequently used by participatory methods of research to enrich

and encourage discussions and analysis of participants’ realities. According to

Campbell (2002) visualization techniques “are intended to enable local people to

‘conduct their own analysis, and often to plan and take action’ through a shift from

verbally to visually-oriented methods that are not dependent on literacy” (2002:24)

Furthermore Bradley (1995) argue that pictures can facilitate discussions of painful

and complicated themes.

The limitation of using visual techniques as a method of research could relate to the

bias of the researcher towards the drawing of the cards. Indeed drawings were not

objective and value free (see Appendix 5 for cards). However, the objective of the

focus group activity is not merely to measure the choices made by the group during

the game. But, most importantly, the activity aims to investigate the process of

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decision making and the arguments of the participants of the group. Thus, during

activities the facilitator explained that cards were only a means for encouraging

discussions, they could be modified as the group wished or new ones could be

proposed (see Appendixes 2 and 4 for the preferences of groups).

Box 4.1: Focus Group Activity – Card Game

Groups: Female, male, young people and leaders.Participants: between 5 to 8 people.Duration: 1h and 30min.

Materials:1- 81 cards illustrating the different aspects of intervention in a community,

such as typology of houses, labour force involved and different incomegeneration activities (see Appendix 5).

2- An informant sheet where discussions and choices of the groups arerecorded by researcher (see Appendix 6).

Procedures:1- Very brief explanation about the research, objectives and procedures of the

game.2- Cards are given to the group in turns, divided by sections: such as typology;

education and urban equipments.3- To some of these sections, participants are asked to choose the card they

would prefer (such as in typology of houses, 7 options were given), to othersections participants weighted options according to their perceivedimportance (such as education, nursery, primary school, high school,preparatory school to enter university or after school support were weighted)

4- Information was recorded in the survey, together with notes on the reasonsof why choices were made.

5- A budget of 32 units was then given to the group, and behind the cardsprices were attached to their choices. Discussions were encouraged to comeup with a group of cards that would represent their priorities.

6- Again information was recorded on the survey, by painting with green thecards bought by the group. Also notes were taken on the reasons for choices.

7- The cards bought were then divided into two piles: the choices that theupgrading project in their area were addressing, and the priorities that werenot addressed by the project.

8- Finally a list of general dimensions of importance is drawn together based onthe discussions generated by the activity.

4.3.5 Tackling Validity of Research Methods

Participatory research methods need to pay careful attention to the validation of the

information gathered due to their open and localized nature (Campbell, 2002).

According to Shaffer (2002) “the small-scale and local nature of the data generated by

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most such analyses raises immediate questions about its applicability for drawing

policy conclusions over a broader area” (2002:46). The four conditions

(comparability, reliability, generalization and casual weighting) for assessing the

validation of participatory research used by Shaffer (2002) are addressed by this

methodology.

a) Comparability

The difficulty of comparability relies on generating domains of the issue studied that

can be applied in every community studied (Shaffer, 2002). This challenge is

addressed in three ways by the methodology: Firstly both squatter settlements under

study are in the same city, thus dimensions of housing are similarly perceived by their

residents. Secondly the review of local literature on housing unfolded general patterns

that occurred across different squatter settlements. Finally triangulation took place

through the focus group activity when participants were asked to relate the aspects of

upgrading to general dimensions of housing.

b) Reliability

This aspect aims at assuring that the research results are not investigator-specific and

may be replicable if conducted by others in similar circumstances. On one hand

results could have been induced and information filtered as researcher directly

engaged in the development of a real debate and in-depth interviews, thus

compromising the reliability of the research (McGee, 2002). However these issues

were addressed by providing a structure for data collection while maintaining the

flexibility of the methods and not restricting the analysis to preconceived topics. The

focus group activity had an organized structure and a survey was completed to capture

the data unfolded. The framework of the interviews aimed at structuring the recording

of the information of conversations.

c) Generalization

As one of the main objectives of the thesis is to generate hypotheses about the relation

between different approaches of upgrading and expansion of freedoms, this

methodology is required to generalize research results from a limited number of local

studies across a broader spatial area. According to Shaffer (2002) generalization can

take place when there is a clear judgement about the typicality of the case studies and

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population involved. This research has a straightforward guideline for the selection of

the squatter settlements to be compared: one was required to be upgraded by a

programme funded by the World Bank, and another through a community-driven

initiative. And they both needed to have stages of upgrading that could be temporally

and spatially targeted. Meanwhile a purpose sampling technique was applied for the

selection of participants for interviews and focus group. That means that instead of

approaching households randomly, the researcher selects those that show signs of

‘friendship’ (Zetter and de Souza, 2000). Also the population of focus groups were

divided into four categories (youth, female, male and local leaders) to unfold the

peculiarities of groups and improving generalizations.

d) Casual weighting

Assessing the importance of the dimensions and aspects of housing is part of the

evaluation objectives (Shaffer, 2002). The research tools did not aim to weight the

dimensions of housing. Nevertheless, the perceived importance of the aspects of

housing was analysed according to the frequency they were mentioned by

interviewees. According to Shaffer (2002) this method is subject to many criticisms,

but it can provide insights when there are general agreements. Meanwhile the focus

group activity unfolded preferences and importance of aspects of housing by giving

participants an imaginary budget and asking them to buy the cards that they valued

most.

4.4 Implementation

Data was collected using the methods designed in two squatter settlements in

Salvador da Bahia, Brazil: Novos Alagados and Calabar. Novos Alagados was chosen

to be the focus of analyses because of the World Bank funded programme that has

been implemented in the area since 1995. Another reason for the selection of this

settlement was because it is located at the city of origin of the researcher, which

facilitated the process of data collection and analysis. The second squatter settlement

was identified due to the need to develop a comparative framework of analysis. The

requirements were that it had to have been implementing a community-led squatter

upgrading initiative, which would contrast with the World Bank funded upgrading

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project. Interviews and literature (Conceição, 1984; Severo, 1999) revealed that the

neighbourhood association of Calabar has been one of the most important and active

community-based organization in the provision of housing and social facilities in

Salvador.

The research methods were applied equally in both squatter settlements. Four focus

group activities were implemented (youth; females; males; and local leaders). And

twenty semi-structured interviews were carried out in each settlement. As described in

the previous section, sampling was undertaken informally, grouping together people

that showed signs of ‘friendship’.

An essential underlying characteristic of the implementation of these participatory

methods was the process reflection on the role of the researcher. Different authors on

participatory methods have proposed strategies for researchers to become more

critical of his/her role and more aware of his/her own limits (Lincoln and Guba, 2000;

Chambers, 1997). The practical component of the reflection on the role of the

researcher, normally related “as an attitude, a state of mind”, (McGee, 2002:20) is

called reflexivity. This section firstly analyses the purpose of reflexivity in

participatory research methods. Then it outlines some reflections of the researcher

during field work and describes the way in which they were addressed.

4.4.1 Reflexivity

The concept of reflexivity occupies a role of growing importance in the participatory

methods literature. Lincoln and Guba (2000) describe it as “a conscious experiencing

of self as both inquirer and respondent, teacher and learner, as the one coming to

know the self within the processes of research itself” (2000:283).

Reflexivity has two main functions in participatory research: firstly it is used as a

method by researchers to demonstrate to those outside the research context

…their [own] historical and geographical situatedness, their personal

investments in the research, various biases they bring to the work, their

surprises and ‘undoings’ in the process of the research endeavour, the

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ways in which their choices of literary tropes lend rhetorical force to the

research report, and/or the ways in which they have avoided or suppressed

certain points of view (Gergen and Gergen, 2000:1027).

The second purpose of reflexivity is a method used to improve the quality and

trustworthiness of the research by continually analysing the procedures and

application of methods during the field work. Chambers (1997) has called this role of

reflexivity as ‘self-critical epistemological awareness’. According to McGee (2002),

“this seeks to instil in researchers a self-critical monitoring of their application of

methods…” (2002:21). For Chambers (1997) self criticism is essential to participatory

methods because “…when faced with the complexity, diversity and dynamism of

human and local conditions, there is no normal bedrock on which to anchor, and few

fixed points. Rather, we need a repertoire of skills for staying afloat, steering, finding

our way and avoiding shipwreck on a turbulent and transient flux” (1997:32).

Furthermore, reflexivity works as a mechanism to recognize existing gaps between

outsiders and those with whom he/she interacts (McGee, 2002). Instead of trying to

reject the idea of bias and objectivity, the critical reflection on the ethical, personal,

moral and methodological challenges aims to make the existing gaps explicit and to

engage with them to minimize its impact, thus enhancing the trustworthiness of the

research.

4.4.2 The Challenges

The critical reflection of the application of methods during the implementation stage

of the research led to the identification of some challenges that needed to be

addressed. The reflections presented here are compiled from notes taking during the

field work as well as reflections that took place after data collection.

a) The Gap between Researcher and Squatter Inhabitants

While I am from Salvador da Bahia, I had entered a squatter settlement very few

times. I was conscious that the way they perceive me would influence their openness

to talk to me during the interview or participate in the focus group activity. However I

did not know what this perception would be, and what attitudes or characteristics

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would influence this perception. The time spent giving English classes and

establishing relations with squatter inhabitants allowed me to understand their

perception of me before starting to collect data. The first thing that impacted on them

was my physical characteristics: I am white and ginger, very unusual features for a

person from Salvador as most of the population is of ethnically black origin. Thus I

was seen as a high income foreigner. But then I would start talking to squatter

inhabitants and they would realize that I was from Salvador, especially due to my

accent. However, I became aware that also my way of speaking was different. There

was local slang and intonations that differed from the way I speak Portuguese. Once

a person from one of the squatter settlements told me I had a “white middle class way

of speaking”.

b) Suspicion towards Researchers

As I approached community leaders and contacts in the squatter settlements I could

feel by the way they spoke a certain feeling of: “Is this another researcher that uses

us to get his scholarship?” I especially realized this suspicion towards researchers

after taking part in a workshop organized by the local university of architecture on

the squatter settlement of Mata Escura. One resident of Mata Escura sent a letter to

the university saying that he felt like a rat under research by psychology students.

Furthermore, both squatter settlements I am studying have been analysed by

researchers from various disciplines and with various objectives. So there was a

general feeling of “why should I collaborate if I did this other times and nothing

changed?”

c) Interviewees’ Interests

When talking to squatter inhabitants I started to note a certain attitude from them to

try to identify what I would want them to say, so that they could correspond to my

supposed expectations. I believe they did that because they thought I had an

influential role, even as just an academic. Thus, they believed I could get some type of

improvements for them. Many times I was asked if I worked for an NGO, local

government or even the World Bank. As a result many initial conversations were

dominated by general and repetitive complaints.

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4.4.3 Coping with Challenges

The reflection on the challenges presented above led to the examination of the role of

the researcher, which can be depicted as transparent facilitator. The main objective of

the researcher was to encourage trust and reciprocity with participant to then try to

address the difficulties presented in the previous section. Here again the role of

transparent facilitator is elaborated through notes in the field and readings on

implementation of participatory research methods (Chambers, 1997; Hanson and

Hanson, 2001; Smith et al, 1997).

a) From ‘blending’ to Facilitator

My initial experience and reflections on the field led me to believe that blending into

the community and expecting to be seen as one of them would be impossible. So the

objective was to be transparent and acquire a role in the community so that local

people would identify and know who and what I was doing straight away when they

saw me. The ambition was to generate a certain feeling of safety and trust. By giving

English classes in both squatter settlements this objective was quickly achieved. I

entered the community regularly, with a clear purpose and role, that residents soon

got to know: the English teacher. Once I started to identify people in the streets of the

squatter settlements I made sure I saluted or talked to them so that others would

acknowledge that some of their neighbours knew who I was and why I was there.

Soon people started to introduce me to their friends and a certain network became

established. Thus instead of being solely an observer, walking on the corner of the

street and trying not to be visible, the facilitator approach involved being seen, but

with transparency and sincerity; it is about not becoming one of them, but one that

could be trusted and that was helping the community somehow.

b) Engaging and finding Similarities

From my initial conversations, I was aware that people already believed we had very

few things in common and I believed they had a series of preconceived perception of

me. My objective was then to try to show squatter inhabitants that actually we had a

series of similarities. When talking to them I was very sincere and open, I told stories

about my life, worries and preoccupations. I asked their opinions and advice. I also

discussed with them issues of common knowledge, such as soap operas or football. By

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engaging in this manner with the community I was perceived as the trusted outsider

that could connect and understand some of their worries exactly because they could

comprehend my worries.

c) Decentralizing Control

The process of decentralization of control took place on two levels: in the design of

the methods and identification of dimensions of housing; and in the implementation,

during the focus group activities and interviews. The objective was to generate a

method that captured valued dimensions of housing as well as trying to get

participants feeling a certain ownership for the results and design of the activity in

itself. As already mentioned in the section 4.3.3, dimensions of housing were

discussed by a youth group from a squatter settlement in Salvador. Thus when

implementing them I ensured that the participants were aware that they were part of a

wider participatory process and that I had not chosen alone the dimensions and

contents of the cards. The objectives and general goals of the research were made

clear and transparent. I often felt it necessary to clarify that the research was not

funded by the World Bank, state government or NGO. At the implementation level, I

always told participants before beginning to think about the game in itself, so that

they could give me feed back on what worked and what did not work effectively. Thus

my role was, most of all, of a learner.

4.5 Analysis

The analytical process of the data gathered by the semi-structured interviews and

focus groups is divided into four stages: description; classification; making

connections and producing an account (Dey, 1993) (see Figure 4.2). This process of

analysis aims at providing a systematic and dynamic framework that can categorize

data and establish connections between them to test and build theories, as outlined in

the beginning of this chapter (see Figure 4.1). In this research analysis the four stages

were not strictly undertaken in chronological order. Therefore the process of analysis,

which started during data collection, can be better understood as an iterative and

dynamic activity.

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Figure 4.2: Process of Analysis

Source: Compiled from Dey (1993)

4.5.1 Description

A thorough description of the phenomena under study aims at elaborating the context

of the research and processes underlying the object of research. The description

explores the specificities of a certain context, while also identifying macro

mechanisms and dynamics that affect the topic of research (Dey, 1993). In this

research, the context of the data gathered is squatter settlements from Salvador da

Bahia, and processes are dynamics influencing the relationship between housing and

poverty.

Secondary and primary data are employed to compile the descriptive stage of this

analysis. Secondary data includes studies on squatter settlements of Salvador da Bahia

and evaluations of the upgrading projects in Calabar and Novos Alagados. Primary

data comprise of policy documents describing squatter upgrading interventions and

interviews with stake holders which elaborate on their evaluations of the squatter

upgrading projects. This stage of analysis reviews the main themes that have been

explored by the evaluations of the interventions in Calabar and Novos Alagados and

assesses the need for a new evaluation, outlining its potential added value.

Classification

Description

Makingconnections

Producing anAccount

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4.5.2 Classification

The basis of a conceptual framework for analysis is the process of categorisation of

the data gathered. Common themes are identified to desegregate the information and

build a systematic account of what has been recorded and observed (Ezzy, 2002). The

aim of classification, also known as coding, is to develop a conceptual tool “which

apprehends the significance of social action and how actions interrelate” (Dey,

1993:40). Approaches to research have specified different processes of coding. On the

one hand deductive researchers emphasize the need to establish themes of analysis

prior to field work taking place. According to Ezzy (2002), these researchers have

been criticized for manipulating data to fit a certain pre-established theory. At the

other extreme of processes of coding, grounded theory practitioners developed

methodologies to identify themes systematically inductively, after data is collected

(Strauss and Corbin, 1990).

This research classifies data inductively, incorporating participants in the process of

identifying themes and classifying data. Thus the classification starts to take place

during data collection through participatory techniques. The underlying motivations

for this approach are to discover and pursue unanticipated issues and encourage

analysis that can reflect meanings that people attach to the process of housing.

Furthermore participatory analysis also aims at encouraging participants to reflect on

existing mechanisms of subordination and unequal power relations.

This inductive and participatory classification is implemented through a two stage

process. As explained earlier in this chapter, the first stage of classification elaborates

on dimensions of housing freedoms, which become the analytical framework of this

research. A focus group activity is undertaken with the purpose to explore these

categories through a dialogue between theories and concepts of housing identified in

the relevant literature and participants’ perceptions and aspirations.

The second stage of data classification is undertaken during the implementation of the

two research methods which are employed. The researcher proposes a certain

classification of data and discusses with participants their analysis of the semi-

structured interviews and focus group activities. The responses given during the semi-

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structured interviews were recorded in forms of notes in their relating categories,

associated by the researcher during the interview. At the end of the interview, the

interviewer provided the interviewee with a summary of the interview. The responses

were described according to the categories the researcher associated them to, and

interviewees were asked to check and provide their own interpretation.

Meanwhile, at the end of the focus group activity the researcher suggests a list of

dimensions of housing that have come out of the exercise and asks participants to

check and discuss them further. Thus the process of categorizing of the focus group is

the inverse of the semi-structured interviews: dimensions are identified out of the

discussions that take place during the focus of activity. The objective of applying

different techniques to the process of classification is to triangulate responses and

enhance the validity of the research.

4.5.3 Making Connections

After disaggregating and splitting in different categories, the analysis aims at finding

patterns, clustering data, examining regularities, and identifying variations and

singularities (Miles and Huberman, 1994). This research uses matrices and tables to

clarify data collected and identify substantive connections. For each of the two

squatter settlements studied a table is produced to analyse the responses from the

semi-structured interviews and a matrix is put together to explicate the results of the

focus group activities.

The analysis of the semi-structured interviews aims at revealing the frequency of

responses, thus identifying the most and least relevant issues residents are concerned

with. A table is formulated where in its first vertical column all the issues mentioned

by interviewees and recorded by the researcher during the interviews are listed (see

Appendixes 1 and 3). In the first horizontal column the number of the respondents is

listed. Every time a certain aspect of housing was mentioned then it was marked in the

table. The colours of the responses are associated with the classification undertaken

during the data collection. The final product is a list of most frequent and least

frequent responses which unfolds the residents’ evaluation of the squatter upgrading

programme in a comprehensive and systematic form.

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Focus group responses are recorded in a matrix that aims at developing a systematic

table that can reveal patterns and singularities while also capturing the process of

social interaction which took place during the activities (see Appendixes 2 and 4). In

the first vertical column of the matrix all the cards of the activity are listed. The

following four columns are related to the four types of focus groups: the young,

women, men and community leaders. The optimum choices identified by the group

and recorded by the researcher during the activities are marked in the matrix. The tick

or the cross at each choice represents the evaluation of the group if such a feature has

been implemented by the squatter upgrading project. Analytical comments based on

the notes on the discussions undertaken during the focus groups are displaced on the

right of the matrix and associated to the patterns emerged out of the data. Such matrix

elaborates on participants’ housing aspirations and unfolds a level of responsiveness

of the squatter upgrading projects.

It is important to note at this stage of the analysis that the objective of the analysis is

not to generate universal theories of housing, nor to identify overall consensus on the

most and least successful aspects of the squatter upgrading projects. Rather these

methods aim at highlighting relevant themes that contributes to the exploration of the

relationship between housing and poverty and the application of the Capability

Approach through participatory methods and in an urban context.

4.5.4 Producing an Account

The regularities and variations of the data are finally selected and summarized in the

analytical chapters of this research. The production of the account is the ultimate

outcome of the analytical process (Dey, 1993). At this research the account is

examined in two levels of analysis. Firstly the findings of each of the squatter

settlement upgrading projects are summarized in their corresponding Chapters (6 and

7). These accounts mainly explore the impacts of the squatter upgrading projects and

their association with the five categories of housing freedoms. Then Chapter 8

develops a macro account of the findings of the research. The comparison between the

findings from Calabar and Novos Alagados addresses the overall objectives of the

thesis, elaborating on the relationship between bottom-up and top-down initiatives,

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unfolding strengths and weaknesses, consistencies and contradictions of the market

enablement and community driven approach to squatter upgrading.

4.6 Conclusion and Limitations

The methodology of this research aims at testing and building on theories. It tests the

use of participatory methods to the application of the Capability Approach and makes

an assessment of the World Bank-funded squatter upgrading project. Meanwhile the

comparison with the community-led squatter intervention aims at building on theories

which can contribute to the clarification of the relationship between housing and

poverty. Thus this chapter explains how these two main purposes of evaluation are

addressed.

By applying the Capability Approach through participatory methods, the

philosophical approach underpinning this research has a critical social science

character, as it unfolds some hidden dimensions of housing, perceives people as active

agents of change and aims at challenging social realities. However this research is

different from traditional critical social science approaches, as it accepts the openness

of Sen’s thinking and does not aim at overcoming a ‘false sense of consciousness’.

The comparison between the Capability Approach and participatory methods

literature reveals the similarities, strengths and challenges of combining both

approaches. The research design is oriented to address such challenges explicitly and

propose methods that aim at exploring housing freedoms. Participatory tools are

adapted to identify and examine the dimensions of housing. In a first stage of the

design of methods a workshop with squatter inhabitants assess a list of housing

functionings and develop the features of such dimensions. Then in a second stage

semi-structured interviews and a focus group activity is elaborated.

During the implementation stage of the research, the methods were applied in the

squatter settlements of Novos Alagados and Calabar. Four focus groups and 20 semi-

structured interviews were carried out in each of the squatter settlements. The process

of analysis started during collection of data, when participants engaged on the

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classification of the issues discussed. Using notes from the field work, matrix and

tables were complied unfolding connections, patterns and singularities on the data.

Finally, findings are selected and summarized to produce analytical accounts of the

research.

The methodological challenges of this research are mostly linked to the application of

participatory methods and their adaptation to explore capabilities. The former are

addressed by paying careful attention to the validity of data gathered and explicating

the process of reflexivity. The latter applies a two stage process to identify and

examine housing freedoms which is evaluated in Chapter 8.

Nevertheless some practical and conceptual limitations of this research methodology

can already be highlighted. This thesis cannot develop a final overall evaluation of the

squatter upgrading interventions, as the sample is not representative enough to

generalize findings. Similarly, the research does not identify a universal list of

housing freedoms. Conceptually, the links between housing and other dimensions of

well-being is not elaborated explicitly and in an in-depth manner. Also the role of

agency in the expansion of housing freedoms is not addressed directly by the methods

of research. These limitations are associated to the focus of research. Due to lack of

resources and time, some aspects were left out of this evaluation. However such

limitations are argued not to have compromised the validity, reliability and innovative

features of this research. The data disclosed in the following chapters address

effectively and thoroughly the overall objectives set by this thesis, which are:

Objective 1: to assess to what extent Sen’s focus on freedom has affected the

World Bank’s urban practices;

Objective 2: to explore Sen’s approach, especially applied in the urban

development context;

Objective 3: to elaborate on the concept of ‘housing freedom’ and evaluate

the use of participatory methods in this application of the Capability

Approach.

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Chapter 4: Methodology - An Evaluation Using the Capability Approach andParticipatory Methods..................................................................................................94

4.1 Introducing the methodology.............................................................................944.2 Evaluating through the Capability Approach and Participatory Methods .........95

4.2.1 The Philosophical Approach of the Research.............................................96a) The Critical Social Science Character .........................................................96b) Differing from Conventional Critical Social Science..................................98

4.2.2 Introduction to Participatory Methods ........................................................994.2.3 Participatory Methods and the Capability Approach: Similarities ...........1004.2.4 Participatory Methods and the Capability Approach: Complementarities1014.2.5 Participatory Methods and Capability Approach: Limitations .................103

4.3 Research Design...............................................................................................1054.3.1 Background Information...........................................................................1064.3.2 Immersion .................................................................................................106

a) Knowing-self .............................................................................................107b) Seeking Connections, Building Trust and Solidarity ................................107c) Grounding in Context ................................................................................107

4.3.3 Identifying Housing Functionings ............................................................107a) Freedom to expand and to individualize....................................................109b) Freedom to afford living Cost ...................................................................109c) Freedom to live in a healthy Environment.................................................110d) Freedom to participate in the Decision making.........................................110e) Freedom to maintain Social Networks.......................................................110

4.3.4 Adapting participatory Techniques to capture Capabilities......................111a) Semi-structured Interview Framework ......................................................111b) Focus group Activity .................................................................................112

4.3.5 Tackling Validity of Research Methods ...................................................113a) Comparability ............................................................................................114b) Reliability ..................................................................................................114c) Generalization............................................................................................114d) Casual weighting .......................................................................................115

4.4 Implementation ................................................................................................1154.4.1 Reflexivity.................................................................................................1164.4.2 The Challenges..........................................................................................117

a) The Gap between Researcher and Squatter Inhabitants.....................117b) Suspicion towards Researchers ..............................................................118c) Interviewees’ Interests.............................................................................118

4.4.3 Coping with Challenges ............................................................................119a) From ‘blending’ to Facilitator................................................................119b) Engaging and finding Similarities..........................................................119c) Decentralizing Control ............................................................................120

4.5 Analysis............................................................................................................1204.5.1 Description................................................................................................1214.5.2 Classification.............................................................................................1224.5.3 Making Connections .................................................................................1234.5.4 Producing an Account...............................................................................124

4.6 Conclusion and Limitations .............................................................................125

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Chapter 4: Methodology - An Evaluation Using the Capability Approach andParticipatory Methods..................................................................................................94

Figure 4.1: The Two Levels of Analysis. ................................................................94Table 4.1: Summary of Definitions of Housing Functionings...............................111Box 4.1: Focus Group Activity – Card Game........................................................113Figure 4.2: Process of Analysis .............................................................................121

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Chapter 5: Introducing Case Studies – Housing the Poor

in the Context of Brazil and Salvador da Bahia

5.1 Introduction

This second part of the thesis investigates the interventions that took place in two

squatter settlements from Salvador da Bahia, Brazil: Novos Alagados, where squatter

upgrading program was funded by the World Bank, and Calabar, where interventions

were led by a community-based organization. Figure 5.1 shows the squatter

settlements of Salvador da Bahia registered in 1990 and especially highlights the

location of the case studies of this research.

Figure 5.1: The Case Studies – Novos Alagados and Calabar

Source: Severo and Souza (2000: 90)

Before presenting the data collected during field work in these two squatter upgrading

programs in Chapter 6 and 7, this chapter introduces the context of each case study.

NovosAlagados

Calabar

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The objective of this chapter is to assess the evolution of low income housing policies

in Brazil and Salvador da Bahia. Since the 1940s national and local governments in

Brazil have reacted to squatter settlements in different ways: initially encouraging;

then ignoring; evicting; resettling; and now upgrading. On the one hand many of the

national trends to conceptualise and tackle squatter settlements have had an impact on

local policies. On the other hand, Salvador da Bahia being the oldest urban centre of

Brazil has developed unique patterns of squatter formation and also low income

housing alternatives. Thus after reviewing the Brazilian strategies for squatter

settlements, this chapter analyses the particular challenges and policies addressing the

increasing density of squatter settlements in Salvador da Bahia.

5.2 Brazilian Housing Policies: 1940s – 2000

Brazil’s largest cities have been reshaped by the tremendous increase in the national

levels of urbanization since the 1940s. By the year 2000, 138 million people lived in

cities in Brazil, an urban population 100 times larger than the 1940s. The percentage

of the Brazilian population living in urban areas jumped from 31% in 1940 to 81% in

2000 (IPEA, 2003). This growth was not only urban but also concentrated in nine

Brazilian metropolitan regions. Due to the fact that the rate of urban employment

could not keep up with the rate of urban population growth and the lack of affordable

housing, the growth of squatter settlement was inevitable.

The 2001 the Brazilian national census identified 2.362.708 households registered in

squatter settlements (IBGE, 2001). Since the 1940s Brazilian housing policies have

been tackling its housing problem in different ways. The existing literature on

Brazilian housing policies argues that the evolution of housing policies has been

influenced by a combination of many factors, including global economic growth and

crisis, internal political interests, demographical changes and the international

agencies’ growing role on Brazilian policy-making (Shidlo, 1990; Maricato, 1996 and

2002; Gordilho, 2000). The evolution of policies also reflected the changes in

conceptualising the relation between physical improvements and quality of life

(Ribeiro and Lago, 2001). Policies moved away from the eradication of squatter

settlements and displacement towards legalization of tenure and upgrading.

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5.2.1 The Populist Era: 1940-1960

This period has been called the populist era (Taschner, 1995 and Shidlo, 1990)

because housing policies were perceived as a means to win political support of the

popular sector, while assuring the progress of Brazilian industrialization. In 1946 the

Foundation of Popular Housing was created, the first and only national agency

exclusively conceived for the provision of low income housing during this period

(Shidlo, 1990). Due to the paternalistic mode of selection of candidates, lack of funds

and no real commitment to solve the growing housing problem, the impact of the

Foundation was very limited. From the time it was established until the early 1960s

(when it was abolished), the Foundation only built 4,879 houses in 12 states of Brazil

(Taschner, 1995). “Due to the incapacity of the state to deal with the housing problem,

the solutions ended up transferred to the workers, through self-help initiatives”

(Bonduki, 1998:115).

Thus by the 1950s the increase in the squatter population in the major cities became

evident. With the creation of the Favelas Law, municipal governments were able to

get credit lines to improve the squatter housing condition (Taschner, 1995).

Nevertheless local policy markers and the elite perceived squatter settlements as an

environmental and aesthetic problem of the city that needed to be removed. According

to Burgos (1998) the ‘discovery’ of the problem of squatter settlements was motivated

by the inconvenience caused by their formation rather than the precarious living

conditions of their inhabitants. Thus the scarce local initiatives were based on the

eradication of squatter settlement from the city centres, and placing the city migrants

on urbanized villages in the outskirts of the cities (Burgos, 1998).

5.2.2 National Housing Policies: 1960-1985

In the 1960s interventions in popular housing in Brazil become more systematic,

based on illegalization of squatter settlements and relocation of the poor in suburban

ghettos. Also during this period as well international development agencies started to

fund housing projects in Brazil. In 1962 the USAID funded a major project to

eradicate and relocate the poor from Rio de Janeiro. Twelve squatter settlements were

removed from the city and 800 housing units were built on the periphery (Carvalho,

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2002). With the beginning of the Military government (1964-1984), oppressive

measures intensified and squatters were removed with the aid of the public security

forces.

In 1964 the military government created the Brazilian National Housing Bank (BNH)

with the objective to encourage economic growth and meet a national housing deficit

estimated at 8 million units (Maricato, 1987). However, it failed to target the poor and

it “rather promoted mass housing construction as a means to advance the interests of

the prevailing elite” (de Souza and Zetter, 2004:4). “Up to 1975, two thirds of the

BNH’s social interest budget was allocated to families with an income range of one to

five minimum salaries” (Shidlo, 1990:42).

However, a significant Brazilian conceptual innovation at the time was the adoption

of “alternative programmes” from the mid 1970s based on Turner’s self-help housing

approach, which was also supported by the World Bank. While the population in the

metropolitan regions reached its highest rate of growth, the BNH faced a financial

crisis. The Brazilian military government, not able to cope with the demand for

housing, reverted to the tradition of building houses to sell. New programmes

perceived squatter settlements as cost effective solutions to the Brazilian housing

crisis (Mattedi, 1979). Site and services and self help housing policies were funded

such as PROFILURB 1 (which was created in 1975 and encouraged low income

workers to acquire a plot of land provided with basic infrastructure) and

PROMORAR2 (which was implemented in 1979 and proposed land regularization and

self help improvements) (Taschner, 1995). According to Carvalho (2002) the many

reasons for the adoption of alternative programmes included: need to increase

efficiency of housing policies; comply to the World Bank approach; avoid political

and social costs involved in squatter eradication and displacement; and to reach the

lower income population in the long term. However due to the financial crisis in the

beginning of the 80s, national resources became more scarce, and local and state

governments started to implement their own solutions. The national government

become a fragmented and inefficient institution to deal with the growing process of

inner city illegal occupation and the increasing number of squatter dwellers in the

1 Programa de Financiamento de Lotes Urbanizados (Sites and Services Financing Programme).2 Programa de Erradicação de Sub-habitação (Shanty Replacement Programme).

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periphery. In 1986 BNH was officially extinguished with an estimated deficit of 20

billion dollars (Taschner, 1995).

5.2.3 Market Enablement and Decentralization: 1986-2000

Since the end of the military government and the return of the democratic system in

1985 the processes that marked Brazilian housing policies were: decentralization and

market enablement. The expansion of these two processes can be divided in two

phases: in the 1980s when there were the political and economic reforms necessary on

one hand to balance the national account and on the other hand to empower the

market. In the 1990s decentralization was encouraged through devolution of power

and regional loans that aimed at alleviating poverty and improving the conditions for

the market to work more efficiently.

a) The `80s – Enabling Markets

This phase was characterized by the near omission of the national state government to

deal with the housing crisis (Carvalho, 2002). Meanwhile structural reforms aimed at

enabling the housing market. On the one hand the return of the civilian government in

1985 initiated an era of renewed democratisation, but on the other hand, as the BNH

faced a financial crisis, the World Bank assumed a more central role in the

formulation of national housing policies. Through the structural adjustment

programmes the World Bank encouraged a package of policies that aimed at

controlling the international deficit. In 1986 the BNH was abolished, there was a cut

in public expenditure, reduction of protective barriers to foreign goods, the beginning

of privatisation of state companies, increasingly flexibility of labour laws, and

empowerment of the private sector through less state interventions in the market

(Maricato, 1997).

While the rate of population growth of the metropolitan regions was reduced in the

1980s, poverty and inequality increased. Lago (2002) argues that due to the market

enablement policies, jobs became more scarce and insecure. The informal market

boosted while the ability of poor to access loans for formal housing worsened. Thus

organized land occupations returned and the squatter settlements population increased

considerably (Gordilho, 2000). “This period also saw the institutionalisation of much

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more avowedly market-orientated government policies which, although in different

ways, have similarly impacted negatively on low income urban dwellers” (de Souza

and Zettter, 2004:6).

b) The `90s – Decentralization

The process of decentralization and devolution of power from the national state to

municipal governments were consolidated with the 1988 new constitution. According

to Cardoso (2002) this process was strengthened in 1996 with the creation of the

Ministry of Urban Policies. New loan strategies were developed, clarifying and

reinforcing the role of local and municipal governments in tackling the housing

problem. By the mid 1990s international housing loans become increasingly available

to local governments as poverty reduction had become a top priority of agencies such

as the World Bank, and housing was recognised as a facet of poverty (Riley et al,

2001). Local housing policies aimed at increasing the productivity of squatter

settlements and stimulating the housing market through squatter upgrading,

regularization of tenure, access to credits and housing finance systems, targeting

subsidies (Pugh, 1995). Another phenomenon that followed the process of

decentralization was the increasing participation of non-governmental organizations

in the provision of housing in Brazilian states (Bonduki, 1998).

However the effects of the decentralization policies have been criticised as stimulating

further regional inequalities in Brazil (Maricato, 1997). According to Cardoso (2002)

decentralization was followed by a fragmentation and dispersal of initiatives that were

not scrutinized systematically. Cardoso (2002) also argues that between 1993 and

1996 the poorest municipalities, located on the northeast, were the least effective in

implementing local housing policies. Such inequality is argued to be due to financial,

technical and administrative resources that the richer municipalities possess to attend

to their needs. Meanwhile the local political cultural heritage would also be

influencing the provision of housing, as in the northeast “clientelistic” practices are

mechanisms still present in the reproduction of power and limiting the effectiveness

of the allocation of resources.

As evident in this section of the literature review, housing policies have changed from

the 1940s to the end of the 1990s, moving away from forced eviction to squatter

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upgrading and the enablement of the housing market. Conceptually, the policy

makers’ perception of squatter settlements has changed, from being a place of

pollution and environmental degradation, to a potential productive market, that needs

to be integrated to the city and global economy. Politically, the responsibility for

adequate housing has shifted from national to local governments. Meanwhile the role

and influence of international development agencies, such as the World Bank, has

increased since the 1940s. By evaluating the World Bank project in the city of

Salvador da Bahia, this thesis unfolds the contemporary shifts and trends of the

national and international housing policies. While evaluating the effectiveness of such

policies, the thesis also assesses the local and international factors influencing and

shaping local housing policies. Thus to contextualize the contemporary policies, the

next part of this section reviews the development of housing policies in Salvador da

Bahia.

5.3 Squatter Settlements and Housing Solutions in Salvador da Bahia

Founded in 1549, Salvador was one of the first urban centres in Brazil and Latin

America. Today it is the third most populated city of Brazil, reaching 2.5 million

inhabitants by the end of the twentieth century. The analysis of the expansion of

informal settlements in Salvador da Bahia and the local responses have been divided

into five phases: 1940-49, the first occupations; 1950-68, response in the form of

eviction; 1969-79, expansion of squatter settlements and self-help projects; 1980-89,

absence of housing policies and strengthening of social urban movements; and in the

1990s, the return of housing policies in the form of squatter upgrading (Mattedi, 1979;

Gordilho, 1990, 2000; Carvalho, 2002).

5.3.1 1940-49: The first Occupations

Since the formation of the first squatter settlement in Salvador da Bahia in 1946, the

number of settlements has been increasing. The period between 1940 and 1949 is

marked by the increase in migration from the rural areas surrounding Salvador da

Bahia and the initial acceptance by policy makers and land owners of the illegal

occupations. Due to the crisis of the sugar cane economy, and the lack of instability of

the cocoa market, the unemployed rural population went to Salvador da Bahia looking

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for work. From 1940 to 1950 the population of Salvador da Bahia increased from

290.443 to 417.235 inhabitants. While in the previous decade the rate of population

growth was 2%, during the 1940s the population of the city increased by 44%

(Gordilho, 2000).

Due to the lack of affordable housing, it is estimated that in the 1940s around 14,000

units were built without a license from the municipal government, most of them being

in precarious conditions (Brandão, 1978). The informal settlements were organized in

the forms of collective occupations. This process took place mainly because of the

vast amount of available land belonging to a few powerful landowners. Between

1946 and 1950 there were 26 invasions occupying around 253 hectares, mostly

located on the limits of the urban centre (Taschner, 1995). According to Brandão

(1978), during the 1940s there was a general informal consent given to the

occupations by the large land owners who controlled most of the urban land. They

aimed at using the occupations as a means to attract urbanization to those areas

outside the city centre and thus raising the price of their property. Occupants paid a

rent for the land owners and built their own houses. This process initiated the

separation of the ownership of the land and the house, which increased the difficulties

of regularizing tenure and encouraged the continuation of informal settlements

(Gordilho, 2000).

5.3.2 1950-1968: Response in the Form of Eviction

From the 1950s the process of occupation intensified and rental of lands was not

attractive anymore for land owners. As the formal city enlarged, the early occupiers

were evicted, thus activating the process of peripherisation. As identified in the

previous section, the same process was taking place at a national level since 1964 with

the emergence of the military government and repressive policies.

According to one of the first studies of the housing problem in Salvador da Bahia by

Simas (1954) the “problem is not to give houses to those who do not have them, but to

give them to those who have one in terrible condition” (1954:220). Simas (1954)

estimated the housing deficit as being of 40,000 units at the beginning of 1950s.

However nothing was done to increase the supply of popular houses for the low

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income population. According to Neves (1985) the process of land invasions

continued due to the lack of employment, concentration of income and property, and

“the lack of incentives for the construction of houses when the demolitions were

constant” (1985:17). Between 1950 and 1968 Gordilho (2000) identified 79 new

squatter settlements in Salvador da Bahia.

5.3.3 1969-1979: The Consolidation of Squatter Settlements

During this period housing policy in Salvador reflected a national political realization:

squatter settlements were not going to be extinguished. On the one hand repression

policies increased in the inner city occupations, but on the other squatter settlements

on the periphery became perceived by policy makers as an affordable solution to the

housing shortage (Carvalho, 2000). Two main factors can be identified in the

literature influencing the consolidation of the squatter settlements: their growth even

through repression (Mattedi, 1979); and the formation of urban social movements

(Carvalho, 2000).

Due to the intensification of the process of modernization of Salvador and economic

growth, the city’s population increased considerably from 655.735 in 1960 to just

over a million in 1970 (Gordilho, 2000). The construction of an industrial centre on

the outskirts of the city and the improvements of the transport system expanded the

boundaries of the city. Most of the new population in Salvador settled on the

periphery of the city. According to Mattedi (1979) they were mostly migrants, looking

for work, and found it increasingly harder to settle closer to the city centre due to the

systematization of the repressive measures against the emergence and expansion of

squatter settlements. According to Gordilho (1990) the squatter settlement control

measures were not able to stop their appearance, as 109 new occupations were

registered between 1969 and 1979.

The second factor influencing the consolidation of squatter settlements in Salvador

was the formation of urban social movements during this period. While demand for

affordable housing increased due to population growth, policies to deal with the

housing crisis involved mainly control, relocation and eviction. Thus the struggle for

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land intensified and the occupiers formed collective organizations and developed

techniques to settle on the unused urban spaces (Carvalho, 2000).

Due to the increasing demand for housing and the organization of squatter dwellers,

Carvalho (2000) argues that squatter settlements started to be perceived by policy

makers as a solution to the quantitative housing deficit. The local self help initiative of

Plano de Ajuda Mutua (Plan of Self-Help) (1975) and the upgrading project of

Alagados (1973) illustrate that the national government supported local politicians on

the shift towards alternative housing programmes, such as squatter upgrading.

5.3.4 1980-1989: Commodification of Urban Land

According to Gordilho (2000) the process of urbanization was marked in the 1980s by

the increasing transformation of the urban land into a commodity. Gordilho (2000)

argued that during the 1980s the commodification of urban land and the development

of the real estate sector changed the patterns of formation and expansion of squatter

settlements as well as the type of state intervention. The municipal government shifted

from a position of repression and control, to one concerned with the expansion and

development of markets. Combined with the closure of the BNH and the lack of a

clear national housing approach, the state reduced its role in the provision of housing

and focused on the relocation of settlements that occupied land of interest to the real

estate sector. Forced eviction was substituted by economic eviction, where squatter

inhabitants got compensation for the removal of their dwellings (Gordilho, 2000).

Due to the continued population growth of the city, the failure of the state to tackle the

quantitative housing deficit, and the end of the repressive period, the number of

squatter settlements increased at a rate faster than ever before. While from 1946 until

1979 Gordilho (1990) identified the formation of 204 squatter settlements, in the

period between 1980 and 1989 there were 240 new settlements in Salvador da Bahia,

which represent 54% of the total occurrences until then (See table 5.1).

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Table 5.1: Squatter Settlements in Salvador da Bahia, 1946 - 1989OccurrencesPeriod

Number Percentage1946-1949 16 3,61950-1968 79 17,91969-1979 109 24,51980-1989 240 54,0Total 444 100

Source: Gordilho, 1990:97

Furthermore Gordilho (2000) argues that during the 1980s the housing crisis became

more complex than the years before: collective occupations spread in the city centre

as well as on the periphery; the density of squatter settlements increased which

accentuated the vulnerability of the dwellings; the lack of available land led to the

occupation of land in risk of crumbling and flooding; and environmental conditions

worsened due to the increased amount of sewage and lack of infrastructure.

5.3.5 1990s onwards: The Return of Housing Interventions

Four main trends reshaped housing policies in Salvador da Bahia in the 1990s: firstly

there was a consolidation of the decentralization of housing policies; secondly local

governments started to directly access funds from international donors; thirdly policy

makers increasingly recognized the need for housing interventions to be concerned

with other aspects apart from physical improvements; and fourthly NGOs,

community-based organizations and social movements became involved in the

process of delivering housing programmes (Gordilho, 2000; and Carvalho, 2002).

Local housing policies became more systematic after the establishment of the new

1988 Constitution that recognised the devolution of power to local governments, and

the availability of national and international funds for housing policies. During the

first half of the 1990s local government engaged in housing intervention in Salvador

da Bahia, but with little impact. However from the second half of the 1990s housing

interventions intensified and investments increased considerably. In 1995 the state

government created the project Viver Melhor which intervened in 65 communities

from Salvador da Bahia. The funds came from the national programmes Habitar-

Brasil and Pro-Moradia (these national programmes were mainly funded by the World

Bank). While building new housing estates, the project’s main focus was to improve

138

the environmental conditions of the squatter settlements by building toilets; infra-

structure; containment walls in areas of risk of crumbling; drainage services to avoid

floods; and pavements. Between 1995 and 2000 the total investment of the

programme in Salvador da Bahia amounted to US$ 95 million (CONDER, 2004).

In the second half of the 1990s the decentralization trends started to become more

apparent in the housing policies of Salvador da Bahia. The devolution of power

resulted in a decentralization of loans. From 1998 a new phase of housing policies

started in Salvador da Bahia with the direct link between the local government and

international donors and loans. A new state department focusing on urban

development was created called Companhia do Desenvolvimento Urbano do Estado

da Bahia (CONDER). Its main ambition was to gather national and international funds

to implement the Ribeira Azul Programme. The objective of the programme was to

scale up one of the Viver Melhor interventions in the area of Novos Alagados to

improve the lives of 150,000 squatter and stilt inhabitants that lived in an area of

4km2. In 2001 the resources for the project totalled US$60 million, which included a

US$5 million donation from the Italian Government, a direct loan from the World

Bank, and funds from the state and federal government (Carvalho, 2002). Further

findings about this project will be reviewed in chapter 6.

During the 1990s NGOs and community based organizations started to play a much

more important role in the implementation of housing policies (Gordilho, 2000). In

previous periods, NGOs were involved in some limited initiatives, mainly setting-out

social projects. However from the 1990s there was an increase in their numbers and

an enhancement of their responsibilities. They also became funded to implement

physical interventions, while being encouraged to work with a variety of donors and

partners. The objectives were to increase the efficiency of urban interventions while

also reducing the costs of the state government in the provision of housing. The

Ribeira Azul programme mentioned above and elaborated further in the next chapter,

is a typical example where an International NGO, Associazone Volontari per il

Servizion Internazionale (AVSI), is engaged on the delivering of social facilities and

projects while also improving houses and bringing in their own resources.

139

Also community-based organizations started to receive funds from the municipal and

state government to implement social and physical interventions. One of the first

initiatives of this kind in Salvador da Bahia was the upgrading project led by the

neighbourhood association of Calabar in 1990 and examined further in Chapter 7.

More recently the “Ta Rebocado” (It’s been plastered) project, was started in 1999 by

the Pracatum Social Action Association of the squatter settlement of Candeal and it is

an example of the engagement of a cultural community organization, typically

concerned with educational and awareness projects, in the provision of housing and

infrastructure.

5.4 Conclusion

This analysis of the development of the approaches to housing the poor in Brazil

reveals that there is a convergence between strategies put forward by initiatives in

Salvador da Bahia, Brazilian national policies and the international mainstream.

Squatter upgrading projects were supported with the objective of improving the

housing conditions of the low income population as well as reducing poverty through

physical and social interventions. Thus, it can be argued that poverty is perceived to

be caused and accentuated by the lack of access to the formal city and the increasingly

socio-spatial segregation of the urban poor. Squatter upgrading policies aimed at

increasing the mobility between the formal and informal city by opening physical

access of squatter settlements. Thus improvements in the built environment became

recognised as a means to overcome poverty and social exclusion. Social inclusion is

also encouraged through social projects (such as vocational courses and awareness

activities) and regularization of tenure, which aims at integrating the informal

settlements in the legal city. Meanwhile non-governmental organizations are

increasingly involved in all stages of the upgrading projects, inclusively fundraising

and provision of housing, services, infrastructure and social projects (Riley et al.,

2001).

However, the contemporary trend to squatter upgrading has become contradictory and

inconsistent. Firstly it is not clear how spatially designed policies can address the

processes causing poverty. In this sense, as argued by Valladares (2005), squatter

140

settlements have been mistakenly perceived as places of uniform poverty, leaving

behind the low income population living in the formal areas of the city. Secondly it is

not clear how the processes of implementation of squatter upgrading projects are

creating mechanisms to avoid poverty or to sustain a system of unequal power

relations. Community-based organizations are being incorporated in the process of

enablement, and the consequences are far from clear if it is empowering or co-opting

the collective organizations of the poor. Therefore squatter upgrading strategies seem

to be a result of conceptual agreement between bottom-up organizations, local

populist politicians and top-down market oriented international institutions.

This critical analysis of the processes of implementation of squatter upgrading

policies aims to clarify the different motivations to upgrading, thus reflecting on

different approaches to the actual praxis of upgrading. For example, can regularization

of tenure enhance squatter inhabitants’ citizenship rights as well as include informal

houses into the formal market? What happens if land regularization infringes on other

rights of squatter inhabitants, such as to afford living costs? Can participation be cost-

effective, enhance long term sustainability and empower local organizations? What

happens if participation becomes costly and not economically viable? In the following

sections the squatter upgrading projects in Novos Alagados and Calabar are analysed.

The data collected during field work aim at evaluating the two different approaches to

upgrading, revealing the contemporary inconsistencies in the conceptualization of

poverty and the application of spatially-targeted policies, thus clarifying the

relationship between housing and the alleviation of poverty.

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Chapter 5: Introducing Case Studies – Housing the Poor in the Context of Brazil andSalvador da Bahia. .....................................................................................................127

5.1 Introduction......................................................................................................1275.2 Brazilian Housing Policies: 1940s – 2000 .......................................................128

5.2.1 The Populist Era: 1940-1960 ....................................................................1295.2.2 National Housing Policies: 1960-1985 .....................................................1295.2.3 Market Enablement and Decentralization: 1986-2000 .............................131

a) The `80s – Enabling Markets.....................................................................131b) The `90s – Decentralization.......................................................................132

5.3 Squatter Settlements and Housing Solutions in Salvador da Bahia.................1335.3.1 1940-49: The first Occupations ................................................................1335.3.2 1950-1968: Response in the Form of Eviction .........................................1345.3.3 1969-1979: The Consolidation of Squatter Settlements ...........................1355.3.4 1980-1989: Commodification of Urban Land ..........................................1365.3.5 1990s onwards: The Return of Housing Interventions .............................137

5.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................139

Chapter 5: Introducing Case Studies – Housing the Poor in the Context of Brazil andSalvador da Bahia. .....................................................................................................127

Figure 5.1: The Case Studies – Novos Alagados and Calabar ..............................127Table 5.1: Squatter Settlements in Salvador da Bahia, 1946 - 1989......................137

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Chapter 6: The World Bank Funded Squatter Upgrading

Programme in Novos Alagados

6.1 Introduction

Novos Alagados was a squatter settlement built mainly on stilts over the Cabrito cove,

within the Todos os Santos Bay and situated in the Northwest of the city of Salvador

da Bahia, Brazil (see map in previous chapter). Since 1995, the squatter upgrading

programme Ribeira Azul, funded by the World Bank, began to intervene in the area.

Picture 6.1: The Area targeted by Ribeira

Azul Programme

Houses inland were upgraded and stilts

were removed. Residents were relocated

in housing estates in adjacent areas. The

programme also targeted the occupations

in the neighbouring Tanheiros Cove (see

Picture 6.1). The objective of the

programme was to impact not only on the

physical aspects of Novos Alagados, but

also to improve the environmental

conditions and strengthen the local social

assets. Through a participatory strategy,

Ribeira Azul aimed at eradicating the

stilts and alleviating poverty.

One of the housing estates built by the

programme and the one examined in this

thesis is within the Novos Alagados

neighbourhood and called Nova

Primavera.

Alagados

Cabritocove

Novos Alagados

Tanheiroscove

Todos osSantos Bay

Source: Carvalho, 2002

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The residents who were moved to Nova Primavera came from stilts in the Cabrito

cove and the River Cobre (see Picture 6.2). This physical intervention was part of the

second stage of the programme which was initiated in 2000 and finalized in 2004.

Picture 6.2: Cabrito Cove After Intervention and Nova Primavera Housing Estate

This chapter applies the Capability Approach in the context of housing to assess the

impacts of the squatter upgrading programme in Novos Alagados. After this brief

introduction on the themes of the chapter, the second section outlines the history of

Novos Alagados, describing the local processes of urbanization and consolidation of

the occupation of the sea. Then a snapshot of Novos Alagados, as the upgrading

project encountered, is described as a place of poverty, vulnerability, cultural identity,

violence and inequalities. In the third section of this chapter the squatter upgrading

intervention is depicted. The focus of description is on the second stage of the

upgrading programme, when the Nova Primavera housing estate was built.1 The four

1 The second stage of the programme was chosen for the focus of analysis because all projectsconcerning that stage were already implemented at the start of the PhD research. Meanwhile the first

stage of the programme was considered a pilot, thus not representative.

Source: Google Earth (2007)

River Cobre

Cabrito cove

Nova Primavera

Suburbana Avenue

Park SãoBartolomeu

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major components of the programme identified by this research are outlined: physical

improvement; environmental sustainability; economic and social development; and

participation and strengthening of civil society.

A preliminary analysis of the second stage of the squatter upgrading project is based

on existing literatures and interviews with stakeholders and is laid out in the fourth

section of this chapter. The main impacts are elaborated according to the following

themes: housing features and infrastructure of Nova Primavera; social programmes;

institutional relations; and sustainability of the programme. The limitations of the

evaluations are outlined.

The fifth section of this chapter presents and analyses the data collected through the

focus group activities and semi-structured interviews. This micro analysis elaborates

on the links between poverty and housing by revealing the impacts of the squatter

upgrading project on the five housing freedoms of the participants of focus groups and

interviewees: interaction and expansion; healthy environment; affordable living costs;

maintenance of social networks; and participation in decision-making, as described in

Chapter 4. The sixth section concludes this chapter by summing up the main micro

findings while also explicating the limitations of this micro evaluation (a macro

evaluation, assessing the World Bank policies, exploring the uses of the Capability

Approach and concepts of housing and poverty is elaborated in Chapter 8).

6.2 History of the Settlement and Snapshot of locality

This historical description of Novos Alagados is divided into three periods. From

1946 to 1977 a first stage of occupation of the area took place, through the formation

of the settlement of stilts over the Tanheiros cove. The second period of this

historical analysis is marked by expansion of the stilts into the Cabrito cove and the

consolidation of this process of urbanization (1977-1990s). The living conditions of

Novos Alagados just before implementation are described in the third period of

analysis.

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6.2.1 The Origins of the Stilts 1946 – 1977

The area of Novos Algados started to be occupied in 1977, however the first illegal

stilt houses of the area appeared in 1946, in the Tanheiros cove. That area became

soon known as Alagados (Portuguese adjective, which means flooded). The houses

were made of wood on top of the swamp and ocean, with no connection to either

water or electricity. They were built overnight, in the form of organized collective

occupation. The main reason for occupying the water and not the land was due to the

fact that the Navy had control of the water, which was perceived to be less vigorous in

its control than the local police and military on the land. Nevertheless, in December

1949 the local police made its first and brutal attempt to destroy the stilts. Due to

media pressure and the organization of occupiers, demolitions were stopped. By then

there were already 2000 houses built by the occupation. In the 1960s the process of

densification increased, reaching in 1967 an annual growth rate of 27% which meant

64,500 people were living in the area (Carvalho, 2002). From the 1970s the

population growth stabilized and followed the annual growth rate of the city at around

3%. The main reason for the decrease in the rate of growth was natural constraints.

The stilts had arrived at levels of depth in the ocean that became impractical to build

more wooden houses.

The residents of Alagados were mainly inner-city migrants, coming from rented

accommodation or living as guests. In 1973, 79.8% of the families in Alagados came

from other areas within Salvador da Bahia (Carvalho, 2002). According to Carvalho

(2002), the stilts were not perceived as temporary accommodation for new comers to

the city, but actually housing on stilts wes seen as a means to acquire permanent

houses by improving it gradually and transforming it in solid, safe and stable houses.

6.2.2 Novos Alagados Consolidation - From Stilts to Houses

The expansion of stilts into the Cabrito cove is linked to three main factors:

improvements that had taken place in Alagados since the 1970s; the opening of new

industries in the surrounding areas of the city and the construction the Suburbana

Avenue. In 1971 the Suburbana Avenue was built, connecting the centre of Salvador

da Bahia with the surrounding cities in the Reconcavo Baiano. The construction of the

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motorway impacted in two ways to the formation of Novos Alagados. Firstly, the

families that were evicted for the construction of the motorway received a token

amount of money that was not enough to buy new houses. These families became the

first occupiers of the Cabrito cove (Lazzarotto, 1988). Meanwhile the motorway

increased the mobility and access to the city centre. In the second half of the 1970s

two industrial centres were built in neighbourhing municipalities (Polo Petroquimico

de Camacari, 1978 and Centro Industrial de Aratu, 1977). The Suburbana Avenue

became the main route of access from the industrial centres and the city (Nascimento,

2002). Thus the attractiveness of the area of Novos Alagados increased considerably

for residents looking for cheap accommodation between the city centre and industries.

Another factor that attracted new residents was the 1973 government intervention in

Alagados. The project aimed at improving the environmental conditions of the stilts

by filling in, improving houses and connecting them to service facilities such as water

and electricity. Such intervention was seen as a victory by the occupiers and attracted

new migrants to the area with the hope of getting similar improvements. However the

tough control imposed by local police in the growth of the stilts in the Tanheiros cove

led to the formation of new stilts by the Cabrito cove from 1977, which became

known as Novos Alagados.

By 1980 there were already 1,100 houses in the Cabrito cove which covered an area

of 18 hectares. In 1981 the estimated population was 9.000 inhabitants, with a density

of 500 inhabitants per hectare (Carvalho, 2002). The conditions and processes of

consolidation of the built environment in Novos Alagados were very similar to

Alagados.

Carvalho (2002) explains the process of consolidation of the stilts: firstly they were

built with pillars reaching the bottom of the sea of around 7m. Houses varied in size,

from 16m² to 100m². They were built already in arrangements that would facilitate the

gradual improvement of the area and space for future paved streets. Access is

improved by the building of bridges, made of wood that was thrown out by

construction sites. The second stage starts with the gradual filling in of the sea with

rubbish, provided by the municipal government. The infill is then improved by adding

sand and other materials to make it more solid. In the final stage of consolidation of

the land, the streets are paved and houses are connected to electricity and water.

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Finally the houses are improved. Wood is replaced by bricks and, in some cases

houses can securely have up to three floors (see figure 6.1).

Figure 6.1: Stages of Consolidation of the Stilts

During the process of consolidation of the built environment, community

organizations were also formed and strengthened. In 1973 there were already 16

neighbourhood societies in Alagados. These societies worked as pressure groups,

demanding investments in the locality. From 1969 they were given some limited

power by the state government to participate in the implementation of physical and

social improvements (Carvalho, 2002). In this context, the neighbourhood society of

Novos Alagados, Primeiro de Maio (1st of May), was created in 1977. By the end of

1978 the community centre of Novos Alagados was built. The main activities of the

society included mobilisations and demonstrations, provision of three community

schools, a kindergarten, a library and after school cultural activities (such as theatre,

art, capoeira, cinema in the streets and picture exhibitions of the area).

In the 1980s the predictions of a study by the state government in 1981 argued that the

stilts in Novos Alagados were going to keep expanding at a pace of 400 units per year

(GTEP, 1981). In 1984 there were 3,511 units in Novos Alagados, 71.42% of them

were located over the Cabrito cove or on the swamp of Cobre river (see Picture 6.3).

The total population was estimated to be just over 17,000 inhabitants (HAMESA,

Stage 1Stage 2Stage 3Stage 4

Bottom of the ocean

Flooded AreaSemi-consolidated AreaConsolidated Area

Paved streets

Brick constructions

Streets made of sand Garbage

fill-in

Over 7m deep

Source: Adapted from Carvalho, 2002

Wood constructions

Limit of occupation

Stilt Houses

147

1984). However after 1984 the population living on stilts over the Cabrito Cove

reduced slightly and stabilized around 1,500 households. According to Carvalho

(2002) the stagnation of the growth of the stilts took place “…because of the growing

gravity and instability of their situation, the precarious conditions of the bridges, the

advance of the tide, and the possibilities offered by the political period of 1986 which

contributed to the occupation of two free neighbourhood areas inland” (2002: 93).

Until 1995, no significant intervention took place in Novos Alagados and

improvements were made by residents and the community. A study led by the state

government in 1993 shows that the total population of Novos Alagados reduced to

11,921. Just before the first intervention took place in the Cabrito Cove, 4,512 people

lived on stilts, which represented almost 40% of the total population of Novos

Alagados. Picture 6.3 shows the occupation of the Cabrito Cove and the River Cobre

in 1984.

Picture 6.3: Novos Alagados 1984

Source: Carvalho (2002)

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6.2.3 Novos Alagados Prior to Intervention

The data on the area of intervention of the second stage of the Novos Alagados

project, collected in 2000, reflects the living standards of one of the poorest areas of

Salvador da Bahia, prior to the implementation of the squatter upgrading programme.

Meanwhile academic studies have also brought to light the mysticism and strong

cultural identity of its residents. Picture 6.4 was taken in 1996, just before stilts

started to be removed.

Picture 6.4: Novos Alagados 1996

Source: Carvalho (2002)

a) A place of Poverty and Vulnerability

The studies of Carvalho (2002) and Ferreira Santos (2005) argue that the population

of Novos Alagados stabilized around 15,000 people. Most of this population suffered

from income deprivation in 2000. While 88.69% of the active population of Novos

Alagados earned a maximum of US$280 per month (two minimum salaries2), nearly

2In March 2006 the rate of the Brazilian minimum salary per month was R$ 300 (Ministerio da

Fazenda, 2006), which is equivalent to US$ 140 (March 07, 2006).

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half of its active population (45%) did not work or generate any income. Furthermore,

62% of the households lived with a monthly income of no more than US$70, half a

minimum salary (CONDER, 2000). The workers of Novos Alagados were mostly

involved with the informal market, working as street vendors or biscateiros3 (Ferreira

Santos, 2005). Thus Novos Alagados was an area of very low income population,

with a majority of people living on unstable and insecure forms of income generation.

Meanwhile the levels of education and access to public health services were very low.

Nearly half of the population was illiterate or had gone to school only for up to four

years. That means that nearly half of the population had difficulties in reading and

writing. Meanwhile only 0.12% of the residents of Novos Alagados had had more

than twelve years of studies, thus completing high school (IBGE, 2000). Access to

public health systems were considered limited. According to a study by CONDER

(2000) 40% of the population of Novos Alagados said that they experienced

difficulties in accessing formal medical facilities, thus leading 20% of the population

to practice self-medication (CONDER, 2000).

The population living on stilts experienced a highly vulnerable and unhygienic

environment. Nevertheless, there were different levels of quality of stilt houses. Some

of them were built with strong foundations and good quality wood. However, most

were inadequate and residents lived with the constant threat of their houses collapsing

or getting flooded by the tides. Structurally, the stilts were fragile. They were made of

used woods that needed to be constantly replaced (see Picture 6.5). They lacked any

type of infrastructure (piped water and sewerage). Electricity was mostly acquired

through illegal connections. Life was insalubrious and stilts represented the lack of

housing alternatives for the low income population (Carvalho, 2002; Soares and

Espinheira, 2006).

3 Biscateiro is a person that lives out of odd jobs in building works, mainly in their ownneighbourhoods. They are mostly ex-builders and unemployed.

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Picture 6.5: Novos Alagados – a Place of Poverty, Risk and Insecurity

Source: Carvalho, 2002: pp.

b) A place of Cultural Identity

Despite being characterized as a place of poverty and sub human conditions of living,

Novos Alagados has also been described as a place of strong cultural identity and

mysticism. According to Ferreira Santos (2005) the identity and social relations of

Novos Alagados is strongly influenced by: the indigenous communities living in the

area until the arrival of the Portuguese colonizers in the 16th century; and then the

appearance of quilombos (communities formed by rebellious slaves, running from the

sugar plantations during the colonial period). Many of the names of places of

neighbourhood area, such as Paripe, Periperi, Itapagipe, Itacaranha, have Tupi (the

indigenous language) origins. Their meaning is normally describing the strong ties

between the Indians and the ocean.

During the colonial period, the area surrounding the Tanheiros and Cabrito cove

attracted many slaves running away from the sugar cane plantations of the Reconcavo

Baiano due to its dense and high Atlantic forest. Africans coming from different

origins got together in the forest to form communities of resistance, ‘quilombos’.

Many times they even fought and beat Portuguese troops. Due to the scarce amount

of research on these rebellious organizations, it is hard to know their numbers and

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sizes. However it is known that they were not just temporary communities, some even

developing identities and religious rituals. In the area of Novos Alagados and

Alagados, the Quilombo of Urubu was the most famous. In 1826 it was formed and

soon became a symbol in the area due to its organization and leadership. It possessed

a terreiro de candomblé (a place for the practice of religious activity of African

origin), which led Nascimento (2002) to argue that the Quilombo of Urubu had a

permanent nature, where identities of the African migrants were being expressed and

constructed. Its first and most famous leader was Zeferina, an African woman who is

still a symbol of liberty, strength and resistance for the residents of Novos Alagados

(Nascimento, 2002).

As a consequence, Novos Alagados became a place strongly influenced on the one

hand by the indigenous relations with the sea and on the other hand by the African

religious, community and resistance identity. According to Soares and Espinheira

(2006), residents of the stilts developed a sentimental relationship with the sea, as the

sea is incorporated in their everyday lives. Festivities, like the March tide celebration,

illustrate the importance of the sea, as a source of food, entertainment and mysticism.

Also the strong African roots of its residents can be seen today in Novos Alagados by

the high number of terreiros de candomblé present in the area who are highly

respected. The natural park of São Bartolomeu (see Picture 6.2, p.149) is still

perceived as a sacred place for the residents of Novos Alagados where rituals of

candomblé take place frequently. Meanwhile the strong community bond is perceived

by academics and local residents as one of the main resources and strengths of the

inhabitants of Novos Alagados (Carvalho, 2002; Ferreira Santos, 2005).

c) A place of Inequalities and Violence

However Novos Alagados, as with most occupations in Salvador da Bahia, is far from

a place of uniformity and homogeneous inhabitants living only through solidarity and

cooperation. The population on the stilts and those farthest away from the coast are

considered the poorest. Meanwhile the population living in the inland area of São

João are the oldest occupiers of Novos Alagados and are recognised as the richest.

Commercial activities take place there such as clothes and building construction

shops, bakeries, butcheries, small super markets and bars. The prices of some goods

are highly speculated due to the distance from the city centre and the scarcity of

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competition. Also land in this area is highly valued, and many of the houses rent their

second floor, which has led to the formation of a few, powerful landlords. These

landlords and local entrepreneurs take advantage of their monopoly position and the

need for the poor to buy in small quantities. Prices end up being 10 to 15% higher

than in the city centre. Thus in the same way the city exploits the informal settlements

due to its provision of cheap accommodation, a small number of Novos Alagados

residents reproduce the same dynamics within Novos Alagados (Aka, 1997).

Even though stigmatized as a place of violence by the local media and elites, it is hard

not to notice the increasing level of violence in Novos Alagados, and neighbourhoods

surrounding it. The studies on the region of Suburbio Ferroviario4 show alarming and

increasing indices of violence. According to Espinheira (2004), the Suburbio

Ferroviario is the region of Salvador with the highest concentration of crime, such as

murder and rape. In the first four months of 2005, 45 teenagers with ages between 16

and 24 were murdered in the Suburbio Ferroviario. Involvement with drugs

represented 80% of the reason for the crimes. Residents frequently identify

alcoholism as a source of violence within families. According to the residents, the

police and drug dealers are the main sources of violence (A Tarde, 2005). Meanwhile

Espinheira (2004) notes that the most worrying issue is the rise in reasonless crimes

between young people and the acceptance of violence in everyday life. The reason for

the appearance of this phenomenon is argued to be the increased frustration, isolation,

marginalization and exclusion of the residents of the Suburbio Ferroviario

(Espinheira, 2004).

This brief history and description of Novos Alagados identifies some of the many

aspects that characterize the place and its residents. It is a place of poverty, where

access to services, employment and a healthy environment was limited before

interventions. However this poverty was far from homogeneous, as Novos Alagados

is also a place of inequalities, varying from being a place of living under inhumane

conditions on stilts to being a place for profitable businesses. It is a place of violence,

where isolation and frustration push young people into criminality. Meanwhile it is

also a place of cultural identity, where the indigenous and African mix has influenced

4 Suburbio Ferroviario is a denomination of the various neighbourhoods located by the SuburbanaAvenue (see Picture 6.2, p. 142).

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the way residents lead their everyday lives. Resistance and solidarity are resources

that have transformed the built environment, leading to the endogenous process of

upgrading from stilts to up to 3 floors brick houses.

6.3 The Squatter Upgrading Intervention

Nova Primavera, the residential area built by the programme funded by the World

Bank and examined in this thesis, is part of the second stage of intervention of the

Ribeira Azul Programme. Its main aim is to alleviate poverty in the Cabrito and

Tanheiros cove by improving the living conditions of 150,000 people. The main

components of the programme include physical, social and environmental

improvements while also strengthening civil society. However Ribeira Azul was not

the first attempt to tackle the formation of stilts and poverty in the Cabrito and

Tanheiros cove.

6.3.1 Previous Attempts to Eradicate Stilt-houses

The first major intervention that tackled the increasing number of stilt-houses in the

region of the Suburbio Ferroviario was in 1973, in the area called Alagados. Until

then the government had intervened through ad hoc improvements and infill due to

community pressure. Normally those initiatives were motivated by electoral and

political interests. However with the funding from the national housing bank, BNH,

the first systematic attempt to improve the living conditions of the residents living

over the Tanheiros cove could take place. One of the first recommendations from the

BNH technicians was to find solutions that kept the residents within the same area,

thus avoiding their eviction. This was an innovative project at that time in Brazil, as

the BNH did not have funds specially directed towards the urbanization of squatter

settlements. In 1973 the studies and proposals for intervention were drawn up. In 1974

the company responsible for the implementation of the project was created, Alagados

Melhoramentos S.A. (AMESA). The main objectives of the project were to: create

firm land to the existing stilt house by filling in; regularize tenure; improve unstable

houses; create of streets; connect houses to public services through alternative infra

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structure techniques; and build ‘community equipments’ with the participation of

local leaders (Carvalho, 2002).

The intervention was concluded in 1983 and benefited 18,362 families. An area of

104 hectares was filled in, which represents 39.22% of the area of Alagados; 2,148

houses and 17 community facilities were built; 807 streets were paved or created.

After considering a series of alternatives, the project decided to use local labour and

technology to build wood ‘embryos’ of 27.06m², in an area of 60m². Thus the extra

space was left to allow residents to improve and expand the house in their own time.

Land titles were distributed and the ‘embryos’ were connected to water, electricity

and sanitation infrastructure. This approach was chosen due to: its affordability; the

acceptance of local residents; and its functional typology compatible with local

culture and easily improved. Another important aspect of this intervention was that

the material of the stilt houses was used as a method of repayment for the new houses.

When the stilts were valued higher than the new embryo, residents were reimbursed

the difference. According to Carvalho (2002) the success of the project occurred

because local dynamics were incorporated in the intervention: stilts were considered a

capital invested by the residents while local technology and labour were used in the

housing solution. By the 1990s the stilts had come back to the area. The Tanheiro and

also the Cabrito Cove became once again associated with poverty and inhumane

living conditions.

6.3.2 The New Intervention - The Project

In 1984 the first project of intervention in Novos Alagados was put together,

commissioned by the state government and elaborated by the same team that worked

in the 1973 Alagados project. The concepts underlying the proposal were therefore the

same as the Alagados project. The commission advised an urbanization process that

did not involve the displacement of the residents. Filling in was to take place and new

houses were proposed in accordance with the socio-ecological characteristics of the

area. The intervention was to apply appropriate technology through the use of the

local labour force. Meanwhile this project would be different from the previous one

by going beyond physical and infrastructural intervention and investing in

employment generation and improvements in health and educational facilities of the

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area. Also the project aimed at revitalizing the São Bartolomeu Park, a place of

religious and historical importance for Novos Alagados and the city.

In 1992 the state government reviewed the project, accepting the environmental and

social aspects but rejecting the proposal of local labour being used to build wood

houses linked to services by arguing that it would reproduce conditions of poverty.

Stilts were to be replaced by brick houses, located inland by the Cabrito cove, while

filling in and environmental impact was to be kept at a minimum level. The new

Novos Alagados project was called Project of Environmental Recuperation and

Social Promotion of Novos Alagados, which incorporated proposals drawn by the

state government department of urban development, CONDER; the neighbourhood

association of Novos Alagados, Primeiro de Maio (1st of May); and the Italian NGO

Associazone Volontari per il Servizion Internazionale (AVSI). Funds came mainly

from the Metropolitan project of Salvador da Bahia, which was financed by the World

Bank. In 1994 the first stage of intervention started to be implemented. By 1996 285

new houses were built and many houses were improved, by fixing roofs, plastering

the wall and setting up toilets. Existing social equipment was strengthened, such as

the kindergarten, schools and community institutions. Also new urban infrastructure

was built, such as a professional centre, fish market, commercial centre, social centre,

and a neighbourhood cooperative. A total number of 8,000 people living between the

neighbourhoods of São João to the river Cobre were affected (Carvalho, 2002). This

first stage of the project was celebrated by the good coordination between the

neighbourhood associations, international NGOs and state government officials. On

the other hand, the houses built inland soon cracked due to the type of land in the area

and their inappropriate foundations.

6.3.3 Scaling-up, From Project to Programme

While CONDER, AVSI and Primeiro de Maio neighbourhood association were

working in the Cabrito Cove, the housing department of the state government,

URBIS, were intervening at the Tanheiros Cove through the project called Viver

Melhor (live better). However in 1998 the Ribeira Azul Programme was drawn up and

brought together the interventions in Alagados and Novos Alagados. The work of

URBIS in Alagados was transferred to CONDER. The coordinators of the Novos

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Alagados project became the coordinators of the Ribeira Azul Programme. The main

objectives in the merger were to improve the coordination, attract more resources and

expand the scale of the interventions in both areas.

The Programme gathered US$ 68 million to implement the social, physical and

environmental improvements of Alagados and Novos Alagados. The role of the Cities

Alliance, an international organization led by the World Bank and UN-Habitat, was

essential for the acquisition of the resources. Due to the work and contact of AVSI, in

1999 the Italian Ministry of International Affairs was interested in donating funds to

the programme. In April 2000 delegates of the World Bank, UN-Habitat and the

Italian Ministry of International Affairs went to Salvador da Bahia to discuss the

possibility to providing funds through the assistance and surveillance (scrutiny) of the

Cities Alliance. By 2001 the donation agreement was signed between the Italian

Ministry of International Affairs and Cities Alliance, which allocated US$ 5million

for the development of social policies. The rest of the funds came from federal

resources, which were financed by the International Development Bank, and a World

Bank loan to the state government for urban administrative and infrastructural

development (Programmea de Administração Municipal e Desenvolvimento de Infra-

estrutura Urbana – PRODUR).

Between 1999 and 2004 the programme re-housed 2,500 families that lived in the

stilts over the Cabrito and Tanheiros Coves. The social and physical projects reached

approximately 150,000 residents, living over the sea and inland. This was an

ambitious attempt to improve the quality of life of 6% of the population of Salvador

da Bahia. The programme divided the coves into sub areas, where improvements were

to take place. In Alagados, 11 sub areas were created, and in Novos Alagados

interventions were to take place in three stages. The first one was the Project of

Environmental Recuperation and Social Promotion of Novos Alagados, which was

finalized by 1998. The second stage of the programme included the construction of

two residential areas: Nova Primavera and São Bartolomeu. They were built to shelter

inhabitants from the stilts or those displaced because of the infrastructure

construction. The other stages and areas of intervention in the Cabrito and Tanheiros

Cove were mostly finalized by 2005. According to studies by the World Bank, the

programme was highly successful and praised in terms of its implementations,

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improvements in living conditions and its participatory nature (Baker, 2006; Imparato

and Ruster, 2003).

6.3.4 Nova Primavera: The Second Stage of a Programme

This thesis concentrates its analysis on the second stage of intervention in Novos

Alagados (Novos Alagados II). Specifically it focuses on the impacts of the

programme in the lives of the residents of the Nova Primavera residential area. In the

area of intervention of this second stage of the programme 7,782 people resided in

2,021 houses, 523 of which were on stilts over the Cabrito Cove and River Cobre and

1,498 inland. The general objective stated in the plan of the project was to “make it

possible for all residents of the area of the second stage of the Novos Alagados project

to access a dignified level of housing, that means an adequate shelter” (CONDER,

2000:7). The plan argued that the concept of ‘adequate shelter’ adopted by the project

is the same as that in The Habitat Agenda, which defined it as more than simply “a

roof over one’s head”—it also means:

(…) adequate privacy; adequate space; physical accessibility;

adequate security; security of tenure; structural stability and

durability; adequate lighting, heating and ventilation; adequate

basic infrastructure, such as water-supply, sanitation and waste-

management facilities; suitable environmental quality and health-

related factors; and adequate and accessible location with regard to

work and basic facilities: all of which should be available at an

affordable cost (UNCHS, 1997:35).

This analysis of Novos Alagados II project identifies four major elements in the

project plan which aimed at generating adequate shelter: physical improvements;

environmental sustainability; economic and social development; and participation and

strengthening of civil society.

a) Physical Improvements

The Novos Alagados II aimed at improving the infrastructure and housing conditions

by building two new residential areas, Nova Primavera and Boiadeiro, with capacity

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to host 312 and 270 families respectively. Meanwhile vulnerable inland houses were

to be improved by the housing cooperative created at the first stage of the Novos

Alagados project, COMONAL.

i) The Beneficiaries

Out of the 312 families that were to be allocated at Nova Primavera, 187 came from

stilts over the River Cobre, 30 came from stilt-houses over the Cabrito cove and 86

were resettled due to the demolitions needed for the implementation of the project (9

houses were left for any emergency, and some of them were provided to the residents

from the first stage of the Novos Alagados project that had their houses cracking and

in danger of falling down).

ii) The Houses

In the initial plan, the houses of Nova Primavera were to be 22 square meters in size.

However due to the community dissatisfaction and mobilization, the size of the

houses were doubled. Each house has two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a

service area outside the house. The architectural plan for the houses came from

Invento Espaço Anastassakis & Associados S/C, which was led by the architect and

former president of the Institute of Brazilian Architects, Demetre Anastassakis. The

typology of the houses applied a technique already used by Anastassakis in squatter

upgrading projects in Rio de Janeiro. Organized and ordered houses were to be built

with the objective of sheltering residents with adequate density and infrastructure,

while also generating open spaces to encourage sociability. The existing logic of

urbanization was to be replaced, as stilts were not considered a cultural identity, but

rather a manifestation of chaos and poverty. Two types of houses were built: vertical

and horizontal. The vertical ones consisted of two units, one on top of the other. The

horizontal houses were built in blocks of 16, which aimed at resembling a village,

with a square in the middle.

iii) Payment and Land Titles

According to the project, the state government was to subsidize most of the cost of the

new houses, but residents were expected to collaborate. Beneficiaries were to pay

20% of the total cost of the house, which meant a payment of 10% of the minimum

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salary5 over a period of 10 years (Baker, 2006). According to the coordinator of the

Ribeira Azul Programme from CONDER Mario Gordilho, “this was not our (state)

decision, but that of the international organizations that financed the programme, like

the World Bank, who demanded this charge” (A Tarde, 2004:5). Furthermore

Gordilho explains that the charge aimed at avoiding paternalism and encouraging a

feeling of ownership and responsibility from the residents (A Tarde, 2004). The funds

generated from the payment were going to be allocated at the building cooperative

COMONAL to finance the improvement of vulnerable houses in Novos Alagados.

Meanwhile, land tenure was to be secured by the provision of land titles. However, as

the default rate for payment of the houses were extremely high (estimated at 90%), the

State made the acquisition of property titles conditional on the payment of the houses.

b) Environmental Sustainability

One of the main innovations of this programme over the previous interventions in the

Cabrito and Tanheiro cove is its environmental awareness. The park of São

Bartolomeu was to be revitalised. The objectives of the revitalisation of the park

included the preservation of an area of environmental and cultural value while also

enhancing the tourism capacity of the area. The mangroves were to be replanted,

which revitalised the ecosystems by the coves.

In the previous interventions land-filling of the sea was undertaken without much

study of its environmental impacts, but the Ribeira Azul hoped to minimize the

impact through a minimum amount of land-infill. Another motivation behind this

cautiousness was that maintenance of the land infill was costly as it needed heavy

engineering interventions.

An environmental education project was proposed with the objective of generating

environmental awareness in the population of Novos Alagados. Schools, community

centres and residents were to be involved in the activities of the project that focused

on the need to recycle, preserve the environment while also educating residents on

healthy sanitation practices.

5In March 2006 the rate of the Brazilian minimum salary per month was R$ 300 (Ministerio daFazenda, 2006), which is equivalent to US$ 140 (March 07, 2006).

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Furthermore, the environmental sustainability of the Cabrito cove was to be

encouraged by the prevention of new stilts formation. On the one hand AVSI,

CONDER and the community were to play a monitoring role. On the other hand, a

‘border’ road between the houses and the sea aimed at blocking the construction of

the new stilts.

c) Economic and Social Development

As already mentioned, one of the main objectives of the programme was to go beyond

physical improvements, and intervene in the economic and social conditions of Novos

Alagados. The project aimed at increasing residents’ income, while at the same time

strengthening community organizations and improving the social equipment of the

area.

The funds allocated for the social programme came from a donation provided by the

Italian Ministry of International Affairs, which totalled US$ 5 million, and

represented around 7% of the funds of the programme. The social and income

generation projects were implemented through PATS, the Ribeira Azul Technical and

Social Assistance Project (PATS). According to Baker (2006), the interventions

included health, education, day care, nutrition support, assistance to children and

youth at risk, job-training, and income-generation through support to local

cooperatives.

In the PATS plan, employment opportunities were to be created through the opening

of a soap and a sail factory. Cooperatives were to be formed and financed, such as a

sewing and a fishing cooperative. The project proposed the construction of a

Professional and Sport Centre (CEDEP) where a civil construction course for 120

young people was to take place. Another aspect of the income-generation project

aimed at creating micro-credit facilities for the financing of local businesses and

housing improvements.

Meanwhile social interventions aimed at creating leisure facilities, such as a football

pitch and a sport project targeted at young people. A health centre by Nova Primavera

was to be built to attend to the residents of the area while also generating employment

opportunities. Community health agents were to be formed to educate and act as

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instructors in case of emergencies. PATS also aimed at supporting some of the

initiatives already introduced by AVSI, such as the Centre for Family Orientation

(COF) and the school João Paulo II.

d) Participation and Strengthening of Civil Society

The most acclaimed characteristics of the programme by Cities Alliance and the

World Bank are its participatory nature and the aim of strengthening civil society.

According to the project:

To develop socially and economically a community situated in a context

of urban poverty, demands actions that go beyond the expansion of

income and employment. It is necessary to develop the social capital,

strengthening the capacity of organizations and participation of the

community, involving them in the planning and implementation process

of the projects. (CONDER, 2000:5).

The project aimed at creating and strengthening existing local organizations by

organizing capacity building courses and financing projects developed and led by the

local organizations. Meanwhile, residents were also to engage in the decision-making

process of the overall programme strategies. The management of the project were to

be carried out by a Project Management Unit – Unidade de Gestão do Programmea

(UGP). Headed by two technicians, one from CONDER and one from AVSI, the UGP

and the World Bank Task Manager were to hold regular meetings with a group of 50

community representatives to discuss project development and implementation issues.

The community representatives were to be street leaders, elected by the residents of

the streets where they lived. To complete the institutional arrangements of the

programme, a Tripartite Committee, made up of representatives from State

Government, the government of Italy, and the Cities Alliance, was to meet once a

year.

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6.4 Preliminary analysis of Nova Primavera

This section lays out a preliminary analysis of the impacts of the second stage of the

squatter upgrading programme Ribeira Azul, based on primary and secondary data.

Interviews with stakeholders were carried out and existing literature evaluating the

squatter upgrading project is reviewed. This specific project has been addressed in a

variety of literature, such as Cities Alliance reports, a World Bank working paper,

academic papers and newspaper articles. Interviewees also came from different

backgrounds, including, government officials involved in this project and previous

interventions in Novos Alagados, academics, leaders of community-based

organizations, NGO workers and a local politician. The main themes tackled by the

literature and interviewees are: the housing features of the housing estate and the

infrastructure of Nova Primavera; the social programmes implemented by the Italian

NGO AVSI; the institutional relation between NGO, state government and local

community; and the sustainability of the programme by assessing its long term

impacts.

6.4.1 Housing and Infrastructure

In 2006 an evaluation of the Ribeira Azul Programme commissioned by the World

Bank was published. It was of vital importance for the state government of Bahia: the

findings would inevitably impact on the negotiations taking place between the World

Bank and the state government of Bahia to finance US$ 96 million to scale up the

Ribeira Azul from a city intervention to a state-wide squatter upgrading programme.

In the Cities Alliance report of 2005, the overall findings of the commission of the

World Bank was already disclosed: “The field study, carried out in early 2005, found

that the overall experience of integrated urban development in Ribeira Azul has been

considered highly successful in terms of its implementation and positive impact on

living conditions” (Cities Alliance, 2005: 54).

However the working paper published in 2006 presented a more dubious picture of

the housing and infrastructure actions. Among the positive aspects mentioned by the

study were the reduced pollution and re-growth of the mangroves, a reduction in

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health problems due to better environmental conditions, safer conditions in the

improved new houses, more opportunities for leisure, improvements in access to

urban transport, and a perceived reduction in urban crime and violence. The study also

mentioned that residents talked about the benefits of having a fixed address, and the

social status and dignity associated with that, increases in property values, and rights

associated with tenure (Baker, 2006).

On the other hand, the negative aspects mentioned by residents and presented by the

working paper were the poor quality of the building materials and feelings of

insecurity due to the poor quality of construction; an increase in domestic violence

against children; the size of the houses; problems related to the foundations

hydraulics, plaster and finishing; common walls and lack of privacy; inadequate land;

and uncertainty related to ownership of the housing units. Nevertheless the paper

concludes that “residents were, on the whole quite positive about the infrastructure

investments referring to the over all improvements in quality of life” (Baker, 2006:4).

Furthermore it stated that “the negative perceptions around the housing are somewhat

perplexing given that the size is relatively standard compared to average middle-class

housing in Brazil, and certainly no smaller than the size of the palafitas [which means

stilts in Portuguese] ” (Baker, 2006:5).

On the other hand, academics and officials of the state government were not as

“perplexed” by the dissatisfaction of the residents of Nova Primavera. Their main

critiques of the housing estate were concerned with its features, such as the size of the

houses; the poor quality of the construction; the impossibility to expand and the

rupture with the existing type of urbanization. According to Espinheira, a sociologist

who has researched the impacts of the Ribeira Azul, many families did have a house

bigger than the new one of 44 m²: “During my research I followed a family moving

from the stilts to the housing estate. They had so much furniture that a sofa and some

benches were left on the street because of the lack of space in the new house. They

used to say: what I was given here is too small for what I had before”6 (Interview,

October 2006).

6 Primary data from interviews with stakeholders is presented in Italics for clarity purpose.

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Moura, a local leader of the community-based organization Primeiro de Maio, argued

that while the size was not sufficient, it was structurally dangerous to expand the

houses: “The foundation is a carpet in the form of a cross. The houses are in

equilibrium, if it is expanded towards one side, the other side cracks and can even fall

down. The government building inspector of this area is especially concerned with the

expansions being made at Nova Primavera. In other words, these houses were not

made to be expanded” (Interview, October 2006).

Meanwhile the lack of quality of the construction material of the houses at Nova

Primavera was addressed in an article by the local newspaper ‘A Tarde’:

The happiness of receiving a new house transformed into a nightmare

for the residents of the housing estate Nova Primavera, in Novos

Alagados. Delivered in 2001, the new houses are full of cracks and are

being invaded by water and sewage, to the desperation of residents. (…)

Apart from the cracked walls, in the lower part of the housing estate the

sewage is backing up in to the interior of the houses because the land is

below sea level. (A Tarde, 2004: 5).

Carvalho, an architect and professor at the Federal Univsersity of Bahia who has

worked in previous interventions in Alagados and Novos Alagados, argued that there

has been an imposition of aesthetics and typology which have replaced the local

organic process of urbanization. Residents’ feelings of belonging and satisfaction are

inhibited by the features of the housing estate, such as the unconventional typology

with colourful houses in sway, projected into the space, with shared walls, with some

having two stories. According to Carvalho, “there exists a clear predominance of

aesthetics over all the other variables… it is a victory of the image over the content,

and its intention is much more political than social” (Interview, June 2004). Finally

Carvalho concludes: “The worst is to see that there has been no learning from the

previous experiences of the 1970s. What has been done is everything what we did not

want to do” (Interview, June 2004).

Medici, a colleague of Carvalho during the 1970s intervention but also coordinator of

the Ribeira Azul when the Nova Primavera project was accepted, agrees with

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Carvalho’s concerns, and argues that a different squatter upgrading project was

initially proposed, much closer to the 1970s approach:

“I think that we should have followed the local architecture rather than making

something completely different. This different style does not cause problems? And

what are its side effects, shouldn’t we be following the local architecture in urbanistic

terms, following the existing urban morphology and form, so that we could attend the

historical process of that community? In relation to the issue of expansion, we cannot

also be giving unlimited power to residents for expansion. But the houses could have

an area for expansion, with conditions favourable to expand until a certain limit. Was

this the case of Nova Primavera? No. The houses are ready made, with defined

delimitations. If you improve your financial condition, sell this house or rent it and go

to another better one (…) We proposed to build wooden sheds, connected to services,

leaving an area for expansion, using local labour and technology, like we did in

Alagados in the 1970s. You know what the politicians told us? Do you want to

reproduce the slums? We were told to leave this proposal” (Interview, June 2004).

Medici explained that many projects from different architects were analysed, and

Demetre Anastassakis’ proposal was chosen because of his previous experiences in

Rio de Janeiro. The village type of housing was aimed at encouraging spaces of peace

and sociability. “I even called a meeting to discuss the project because I was worried

about its extremely innovative character.” The project was discussed and accepted in

this assembly with the architects of the proposal, state technicians and politicians.

However another state official involved with the decision-making process at the time

of the acceptance of the Nova Primavera project, argued that the project was accepted

due to the pressure coming from the World Bank. “As the money was coming mainly

from their loans, the World Bank suggested this architect and it was readily accepted

by CONDER” (July, 2005).

According to Soares and Espinheira (2006) the top-down unconventional typology of

the housing estate did not lead to the expected inclusion to the rights to the city. On

the other hand it segregated those residents from the rest of the neighbourhood. “The

exuberant lightness of the colours and the differentiated architectural form are strange

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in the local context. Instead of inserting, the housing estate segregates itself breaking

from the normal order of things and the expectations of residents and neighbours”

(2006:60) Furthermore, the residents “…continue in the marginality of the expected

citizen humanization, becoming clear that the right to the occupation was given, but

not the right to the city” (2006:60).

6.4.2 Social Programmes

The evaluation of the World Bank’s working paper argued that social inclusion in the

city was encouraged by the social programmes implemented through PATS, the

Ribeira Azul Technical and Social Assistance Project run by AVSI and CONDER.

The paper praised the positive impacts of the social provisions introduced in the area

such as health care, education, day care, nutrition support, assistance to children and

youth-at-risk, job-training, and income-generation through support to local

cooperatives. The only criticism was the unmet demand. Thus, the paper concluded

that the current procedures of delivery of social programmes were working and it

recommends the expansion of such an approach (Baker, 2006).

The same view is shared by the coordinator of CONDER, Fonseca, the Cities Alliance

reports and the World Bank task team leader of the Ribeira Azul Programme,

Imparato. In the Cities Alliance 2005 Annual Report, Imparato evaluated this squatter

upgrading intervention as “a comprehensive approach…which combined social

programmes undertaken in conjunction with infrastructure and housing

improvements.” The Cities Alliance 2004 Annual Report had already praised the

programme by stating that “the programme takes aim not only at target 11 of the

MDGs (to improve the lives of slum dwellers) but also at many of the other MDGs.”

(2004: 40). Meanwhile Fonseca argued that the social programmes were strengthening

local organizations and enabling local people to get out of a condition of poverty

(Interview, October 2006).

The assessment by academics and community leaders reviewed here leads to a

different analysis of the impacts of the social programmes. The critique of the Ribeira

Azul Programme argued that the social programmes were limited and at the same time

it challenged existing community-based strategies instead of strengthening them.

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Carvalho argues that there was not a real commitment to tackle the social challenges

of the area, as there were no more than 7% of the total budget allocated to social

programmes. The administrator of the CONDER office at Nova Primavera, Oliveira,

also argued that there had not been a serious effort to tackle increasing violence, drug

traffic, the lack of employment and marginalization: “The only real attempt to

generate income here was the building cooperative COMONAL, which went

bankrupt. Meanwhile the health clinic was never built” (Interview, July 2005)

Soares and Espinheira (2006) argued that the objectives were only focused on the

physical intervention and insensitive to residents’ needs. “In this sense the housing

estate is made to be built and not to be lived in” (2006: 58). In the same line Santos

(2005) argued that the preoccupation with leisure, education, employment and

community activity were not part of the main objectives of the project. They were on

the side lines of the main physical interventions. Nevertheless, when they did take

place they did not challenge the unequal logic of the capitalist system, but rather

reinforced the life style of the periphery, as a place of exclusion and the provision of

cheap labour.

Furthermore Espinheira and Moura argued in their interviews that the social projects

were weakening social movements by transforming mechanisms of change into

mechanisms of acceptance and conformity. Espinheira explained:

“In the case of Alagados there were already existing social programmes of Primeiro

de Maio and a series of work of the Catholic Church, and of other institutions. Thus

nobody could intervene there, without continuing such social work, because it already

existed. And in a certain way, the government interfered in the work of Primeiro de

Maio, because it created an alternative social programme, one that was not a critical

social programme, on the contrary, it was a conformist work. Thus all the critical

dimensions that the Primeiro de Maio inserted and that the Catholic Church also

encouraged, were substituted by a social programme based on donations and

cooptation. In this approach the more you agree, the more you will benefit, the more

you disagree, the more distant you will become from the funds” (Interview, October

2006).

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Moura argued in the interview that Primeiro de Maio took a critical position towards

the PATS because of its lack of transparency. As a consequence they were perceived

as problem-makers and thus distanced from the project and did not benefit from the

funds of PATS. Moura also argued, like Espinheira, that the social movements are

losing their strength and becoming fragmented because of the social programmes of

Ribeira Azul: “Institutions that used to criticise the World Bank and the state

government, are now financed by them and becoming complaisant. Making

cooperatives, forming new leaderships are disguises, they are false creations that do

not represent the community” (Interview, October 2006).

Meanwhile Cigarini, the coordinator of the AVSI Centre for Family Orientation in

Risk Situation COF (Centro de Orientação Familiar) argued that the social

programmes of the intervention had mainly an emergency focus. Cigarini argues that

support projects, such as nutritional initiatives which involve families of under-

nourished children, can have a long lasting impact on the community (Interview,

October 2006). However, the causes of poverty can only be tackled through a more

systematic and structural change.

6.4.3 Institutional Arrangements: NGO, State Government and Community

The analyses of the institutional arrangements of the Ribeira Azul Programme have

also taken two opposing sides. On one hand the evaluations of the World Bank and

State Government describe a project that has been participatory and “integrated”,

enhancing the learning and acquisition of new skills between all the actors involved.

On the other hand, the critiques of the programme have argued that the process of

participation was extremely manipulative and did not give decision-making power to

the community. The relation of the NGO and the state government was also

questioned due to the lack of transparency in the whole project.

The Working Paper of the World Bank (Baker, 2006) mainly tackled the partnership

between CONDER and AVSI, which it argued generated a “strong and effective

working relationship”. Furthermore the Paper states: “By working together, staff from

both agencies have acquired additional skills, which has generated a much more

holistic and integrated approach to urban development” (Baker, 2006:12). In the

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section analysing the learning experiences for scaling up, it stated: “The partnership

between AVSI and CONDER in the Ribeira Azul has been a positive, win-win

experience. AVSI has gained from CONDER’s experience, and the state

government’s capacity to attract diversified funds for the programme. CONDER has

gained substantially from AVSI through their approach of integrating social and

physical interventions” (Baker, 2006:24).

While the working paper does not analyse in depth the relation between the NGO and

the state government with the community, the Cities Alliance 2004 Report argued that

the Ribeira Azul Programme is characterised by a participatory and integrated

approach to development. An interview with Fonseca is provided as evidence of the

participatory nature of the intervention:

Fonseca notes…‘I realised that I just couldn’t put in a street or a house’,

says the engineer. ‘With a broader understanding, I realised there were

people involved. I just couldn’t put a road through their house’. Fonseca

has learned that ‘you need to build with them [the community], to

involve them far in advance during the planning process’. He has gained

a greater understanding of the needs and demands of the families in the

programme area. ‘I am becoming a social engineer’, he proudly declares.

(Cities Alliance, 2004: 41).

Fonseca further explained the participatory nature of the intervention by saying that

68 entities sent their projects to PATS, and that the programme worked with more

than 10 of them. Fonseca also mentioned that a group of 50 community

representatives was formed to discuss periodically the development and

implementation of the programme with AVSI, CONDER and the World Bank.

However the type of participation implemented was evaluated by the critiques of the

project as being merely ‘consultative’ and ‘manipulative’. According to the

administrator of the CONDER office at Nova Primavera, Oliveira, “the role of the

community leaders was only to express their opinion about things. Even so, most of

their opinions were not taken on board” (Interview, July 2005). Jerry Wilson, the

president of Primeiro de Maio, explained that the elected community leaders got

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frustrated with the meetings held by CONDER, because there was no intention to

discuss the project, but only work out how these elected leaders could help to

implement the interventions planned by them. This was the reason given by Wilson

why most stopped attending the meetings. Currently only two of them are still

working with CONDER, having contractual agreements and receiving regular salaries

(Interview, October 2006).

Soares and Espinheira (2006) described such processes of participation “as a form of

social engineering searching for consensus. Leaders are recognised and upgraded to a

condition of privileged speakers who work as advanced guards of the managers and

thinkers of the project” (2006: 65). Furthermore it is explained that the project of

Nova Primavera was ready before consultation took place. Thus the process was a

“mere simulation of discussions with the population, manipulating information and

building an ideology-based argument in favour of heath, safety and the environment”

(2006:61).

Espinheira, who had already done consultancy work for AVSI, focused his analysis

on the lack of accountability and transparency of the relation between AVSI and the

state government:

“I have thought hard about the role of NGOs in urban interventions, and I never quite

understood why an Italian NGO is working in Novos Alagados. There are so many

NGOs here, and it was an Italian NGO that got privileged…Let’s say that the model

of international NGO and government could work in a region that does not have a

certain technology. This is not our case here. We have here experiences much more

audacious and more advanced. I would say we have all the competence installed to do

everything AVSI does or even better” (Interview, October 2006).

Espinheira argued that the manner in which AVSI is being used by the state

government is a form of cooption of civil society: “If there had been public

competition, open to the public saying that there is a housing programme that should

be elaborated to be implemented in the area of Ribeira Azul, and who can present the

best project wins, then the project would be of an NGO, the project would be driven

by quality. But this was not the case. The project is of CONDER, and the NGO is the

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executor (…) Some times one could argue that the bureaucracy of the state makes the

process slower, and that by using the NGO one could speed it up and sometimes even

reduce public costs. This could even take place, but the social control over this is

minimized, and some times even lost” (Interview, October 2006).

Finally Espinheira believes that the process of outsourcing is a manoeuvre of the state

government to avoid taxes, apparently reduce public spending, by contracting

employees outside the normal state hiring procedures, thus avoiding payment of the

benefits of a state employee. Espinheira concludes by expanding his worries: “I watch

with a lot of anxiety when social projects of this size are not transparent. I don’t

know the level of scrutiny of the expenditures of a non-public organization, which

does not offer transparency” (Interview, October 2006).

6.4.4 Sustainability and Long Term Impacts

The evaluations of the Ribeira Azul Programme have approached the theme of longer

term sustainability from different perspectives. Sustainability has been understood as

the cost recovery capacity of the programme; the states’ ability to put in place other

poverty alleviation projects; the interventions’ capacity to tackle the causes of poverty

rather than merely the manifestations of poverty; and the residents’ ability to benefit

from the improvements in the longer term. Even with such diverse perspectives on

sustainability, the evaluations have addressed some common aspects of it: financial,

tenure security, environmental, physical and poverty reduction.

a) Financial Sustainability

The analysis of financial sustainability by the World Bank Working Paper (Baker,

2006) and the Cities Alliance Reports (2004, 2005), concentrated mainly on the

programme’s cost-recovery capacity. On the one hand the cost effectiveness of the

project was praised, as the expenditure per house unit of the second stage of the

programme was not dissimilar to a Latin American estimate of the cost of a house

unit. On the other hand the Working Paper criticised the state’s ability to recover the

costs of the programme. Around 90 percent of the beneficiaries were not paying for

their new houses. According to the Paper, “this is attributed to the culture of

entitlement to donations and resistance to payments rather than the value of the

payments” (2006:17). The only strategy applied by the state to enforce payment, was

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to make the issue of property title conditional on repayment. This mechanism was not

effective, according to the Paper, “as a culture of informality prevails, and residents

can buy and sell their new or improved homes using informal documents” (2006:17).

Furthermore the paper also acknowledged that cost-recovery has been compromised

due to the fact that the municipality of Salvador has been ineffective in collecting

property taxes in squatter settlements.

The Working Paper of the World Bank also explored the residents’ financial

sustainability by evaluating the job creation programme, such as cooperatives,

vocational and training courses: “While there is no official data available on

employment, interviews indicate the (job creation) programme are considered to be

successful in terms of employment generation, albeit on a relatively small scale”

(2006:21).

The critiques of the project have also analysed the financial sustainability theme from

the perspective of the residents, arguing that the high default rate was due to the lack

of income-generation opportunities, dissatisfaction with the new houses and the

increased financial burden generated by the breaking of social bonds. The argument of

the critiques is that the move from stilt-houses to Nova Primavera reduced the

financial sustainability of the residents’ of Novos Alagados. Oliveira, the

administrator of the office of CONDER in Nova Primavera had a different view to the

Working Paper of the World Bank and the reason for the limited repayment of the

houses and the impact of the job creation programmes: “I believe that nearly 100% of

the 278 families that live here cannot pay for their houses. Why doesn’t the

government just give the houses to their residents?” (Interview, July 2005).

The issue of payment for the housing was also criticised by Carvalho, who argued that

in the 1970s interventions the solution given to the lack of income of the residents was

to accept the stilt houses as a form of payment. The materials collected were then

stored and re-used on the housing improvements. Carvalho agreed that there should be

a form of repayment to avoid clientelism. However this process does not need to be

monetary. The use of the stilt houses as a form of repayment valued the material used

on their construction and the labour invested in them.

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Soares and Espinheira (2006) have argued that the move from the stilt-houses to the

housing estate has generated new costs to the residents and broken social subsistence

mechanisms which caused a “budgetary disorganization”. While not financially

prepared to take on the new bills (such as payment for the house, property taxes,

water, sanitation and electricity), Soares and Espinheira (2006) have stated that the

residents’ ability to acquire goods and resources was reduced because the process of

collaboration and cooperation, which existed in the stilt-houses, was replaced by one

of competition and individualism. Espinheira in the interview explained in more

detail:

“In a competitive and difficult environment, you stop to look at the other, because the

other becomes a burden to you. So what was of a benefit, such as the available time,

the seafood, the common work, disappeared. People started to take care of themselves

in a situation of survival and left behind the communitarian strategies, the visits, the

game in common, the participation in collective concerns. The collective bonds were

breaking apart and people became more bitter, making explicit references to such

bitterness and missing the stilt-houses. They make a rational and an emotional

evaluation. The rational recognises the benefits of living in a secured land. But the

emotional misses the space and the social relations of the life on stilts” (Interview,

October 2006).

Another fact mentioned by the critiques that contributed to the reduction of the social

capital was the typology of the housing provided. The administrator of CONDER in

Nova Primavera, Oliveira, explained that some of the features of the housing estate

generated conflicts between residents, such as two water tanks in one house, including

the tank of the neighbour; a shared wall leading to lack of privacy; and two storey

flats limiting the residents’ ability to expand. Carvalho explained that the two storey

flats particularly lead to fights in the neighbourhood because once the ground floor

resident expanded his house sideways, a conflict was created about the roof of this

expansion, which became also the floor of a possible expansion of the second storey

flat. Espinheira argued that the move from stilts to Nova Primavera reduced the

privacy of life, as before houses had no shared walls and were also bigger: “The

aspects of the discrete life, in the housing estate started to become more public. Life

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became more exposed, everything that happened in the house of one could be heard

from the neighbours’ houses” (Interview, October 2006).

b) Tenure Security

The Working Paper of the World Bank also addressed the issue of “sustainability of

land tenure”, and made an evaluation that “the processes of land regularization are

long and costly”, mainly due to the inefficiencies in the judiciary system. The

mechanism applied by the state to acquire titles through the payment of the houses

were not criticised as an approach, but rather its implementation was seen as

incomplete due to the lack of accessible credits: “The introduction of accessible credit

programmes for residents would ensure that they could actively participate in the cost

recovery scheme, ultimately enabling them access to definitive titles” (2006:18).

The critiques’ analyses of the programme have gone beyond the perception of tenure

security as distribution of titles or as a commodity that can be bought with the creation

of credit schemes. According to Oliveira and Espinheira, the link between tenure

regularization and payment of the houses led to increased tenure insecurity and

segregation. Oliveira explained that the poorest who were afraid not to benefit from

the intervention if they were not able to pay for the houses, sold them much cheaper

than their market price. Those dwellers went again to live in illegal occupations on the

outskirts of the city, much farther from employment opportunities. Espinheira argues

that land regularization of the area is far from increasing tenure security because its

objective is to prepare all the area of Ribeira Azul for a market speculation process.

According to him, the plan of the state government is to revitalize that area, by

building marinas, restaurants, five star hotels and apartments for the middle class.

Thus, once that region is integrated into the mass tourism dynamic of Salvador, a

process of gentrification would inevitably occur, and the residents of Nova Primavera

would be expelled to the outskirts of the city.

Santos (2005) also argued that the land policies of the programme were more

concerned with the “insertion of residents in the capitalist real-estate market”, rather

than the reduction of poverty. Inevitably this insertion would accentuate inequalities

by activating market forces that reduced the residents’ capacity to avoid deprivation.

Conceição, the state of Bahia coordinator of the National Union for Popular Housing,

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explained: “There is no concern to inhibit the real-estate speculation process. On the

contrary they are activating it. There should had been some protection, in the style

ZEIS in Recife, or a local organization controlling the sales of the houses. In this way

there would be some assurance that the price of the houses would be lower than their

market value. Only by controlling the housing price would it have been possible for

the ones most in need to benefit” (Interview, July 2004).

c) Environmental Sustainability

One of the most acclaimed successes of the programme made by the Working Paper

of the World Bank and by Fonseca has been the sustainability of the environmental

improvements. The main initiatives cited as successful are: the plantation of

mangroves and their renewed growth; and the prevention of new stilt formation

assured by the “border” road between the houses and the sea and the close monitoring

of CONDER.

However Santos (2005) has argued that the environmental concern of the programme

is more closely related to the image of the programme rather than true intentions of

environmental sustainability. Firstly Santos (2005) explained that the environmental

sustainability of the programme is merely related to the prevention of the re

appearance of stilts. Meanwhile “the sewage of the houses built by the programme is

still being thrown in the cove of Tanheiros and Cabrito without having any

environmental impact, from the state planners’ point of view” (2005:108).

Furthermore Santos (2005) states that: “The environmental discourse and the

environmental problems are objectives for political uses to attract international

financial resources, without the objectives necessarily being met with the appropriate

rigor” (2005:108).

d) Physical Sustainability

The sustainability of the physical improvements has been criticised by all the

evaluations, but different reasons were given to the emerging problems in the

infrastructure, public spaces and the houses of Nova Primavera. The Working Paper

of the World Bank blamed the lack of involvement of the municipal government for

the ineffective maintenance of the physical interventions: “The Municipality is

responsible for garbage collection, and the maintenance of paved roads, public spaces,

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and drainage. (…) This has not functioned well…” (Baker, 2006:20). Meanwhile the

maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure, carried out by the state water

company EMBASA, was said to be “working relatively well”.

From the critiques of the Ribeira Azul Programme’s point of view, it is the poor

quality of the construction materials, the inappropriate planning and lack of

community involvement that has caused the emerging physical problems. A state

councillor, journalist and professor of communication, Dr Emiliano argued that

sewage and drainage pipes are getting blocked, houses are cracking, and public areas

are being spoilt because the Ribeira Azul was executed “without the appropriate care

and planning, it was done in a hurry and without any real study” (Interview, July

2004). Dr Emiliano believes the quality of the houses and the infrastructure was the

lowest possible, thus compromising the physical sustainability of the programme.

Meanwhile Soares and Espinheira (2006) have argued that the physical sustainability

has also being affected by the lack of care and maintenance effort from the residents

of Nova Primavera. This estrangement between residents and public facilities has

been encouraged by their limited involvement in the planning and implementation of

the programme: “Without making the residents themselves part of the project of urban

improvements and of social life, these housing estates, incredibly precarious, do not

have self sustainability, as well as their residents who do not have self-subsistence”

(2006:64).

6.4.5 From Emergency to Sustainable Poverty Alleviation

A clear divide in opinion has emerged in this review of the evaluations on the role of

the Ribeira Azul Programme in tackling poverty, in the short term and in a longer

term more sustainable manner. The Working Paper of the World Bank, the Reports of

the Cities Alliance and the coordinator of CONDER, Fonseca, have argued that the

project has reduced poverty in one of the poorest regions of Salvador. Furthermore by

using the same approach in the scaling up of the programme in other poor places of

the state of Bahia they argue they will also have the opportunity to overcome poverty.

Nevertheless the limited ability of the state to deal with the increasing housing

demand has been identified as a weakness for sustainable poverty alleviation.

However Fonseca argues that by strengthening local organizations, in the same way as

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in Novos Alagados, communities can be empowered in the long term to fight for

better housing provisions, services and social facilities.

On the other hand, the critiques have questioned the ability of the programme to

reduce poverty in the short and long term. Santos’s (2005) main point of view is that

the evaluations made by the World Bank and the state government do not reflect the

true picture of the impacts of the programme. The same view is shared by the

administrator of CONDER in the Nova Primavera housing estate, Oliveira, who

argues that it would be inappropriate to judge the programme as successful.

According to Oliveira, there was an improvement in the general environmental

conditions, but the typology of the housing estate generated conflicts and most of the

residents did not benefit from the job creation activities, social projects and facilities

promised. Soares and Espinheira (2006) argue that the programme is increasing social

segregation, therefore worsening the reduction of poverty in the long term. The state

councillor Dr Emiliano also stated that the project has only an emergency character,

dealing only with the effects of poverty and not tackling the root causes of

deprivation. Dr Emiliano goes further by arguing that the state government does not

have a real public policy strategy to reduce poverty and the housing shortage in the

longer term. Espinheira, Moura and Conceição meanwhile argue that the project is

having a negative impact on the lives of residents by breaking social bonds,

weakening social movements, and destabilising residents’ budgets by increasing costs

and reducing social capital.

6.4.6 Why an Analytical Study?

This review of the existing evaluations of the Ribeira Azul Programme shows that

they could be placed on opposing sides. From one perspective the impacts have been

mainly positive, in the short and the long term. From the opposing side, the

interventions have been portrayed as having a negative impact on the well-being of

the supposed beneficiaries, causing segregation and enhancing the barriers to

overcome poverty. Therefore this analytical study first added value is to enrich the

existing evaluations by aiming at overcoming the dualistic perspective of the existing

evaluations, and unfolding the housing dynamics that have been encouraged by the

Ribeira Azul Programme in the housing estate of Nova Primavera.

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Secondly this analysis hopes to fill in the gaps in the existing evaluations, by

clarifying some of the issues that have not been properly developed and explored by

them. Interviewees have brought up important insights on the impacts of the

intervention that have not yet been explored in-depth in the field. The Working Paper

of the World Bank argues it has applied a participatory approach for part of its

evaluation, but it does not disclose the type of participation applied. It also does not

present the data in a systematic manner which could be used for further analysis.

Finally it presents participatory information as a perspective derived from the

residents, and not as an actual analysis of the Ribeira Azul Programme.

Meanwhile the evaluations criticising the programme, such as Santos (2005) and

Soares and Espinheira (2006), take a top-down approach to criticise the lack of

responsiveness and participation of the programme. Thus, the participatory approach

taken in this thesis aims at unfolding, in a systematic manner, residents’ perspectives

on the interventions. Furthermore it breaks from the utilitarian approach of looking at

the actual implementations, to one that analyses the uses and functions of the physical

and social projects. The Soares and Espinheira (2006) analysis started to reveal these

processes, however not thoroughly enough nor from a theoretical framework. Using

the Capability Approach, this thesis applies a comprehensive framework to explore

the impacts the squatter upgrading programme had on the housing freedoms of the

residents of the housing estate of Nova Primavera. Thus, this analytical study aims at

enriching the existing evaluations by exploring the social changes caused by the

squatter upgrading project in Novos Alagados.

6.5 Presentation of Data and Micro Analysis: Novos Alagados

In this fifth section of the chapter, the data collected through the focus group activities

and the semi-structured interviews are disclosed and analysed. The data elaborates the

residents’ perceptions of the impacts of the Novos Alagados project on their housing

conditions. The data was acquired through twenty semi-structured interviews

elaborating the impacts of the squatter upgrading project on the five housing freedoms

specified in Chapter 4 (see table of interview responses in Appendix 1). The focus

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group activities engaged the residents of Nova Primavera in a discussion of how they

would intervene in their living environments. Then, participants were asked to

compare their ideal upgrading project with the one implemented in Novos Alagados

(see table of focus group preferences in Appendix 2).

An overall and quantitative analysis of the data collected revealed a high level of

dissatisfaction with the squatter upgrading intervention. According to the data

collected through the focus group activities, most of the participants’ prioritized

aspirations of a housing project were not met. Eighty percent of the cards “bought” by

the four groups were not implemented by the project. This lack of responsiveness of

the project is also identified by the extensive amount of complaints about the project

by the respondents of the semi-structured interviews. There were in total 184 negative

comments compared to 86 positive remarks by respondents about the upgrading

project. Thus, out of the 452 comments recorded during the interviews, 41% were

complaints while 19% praised the project. Nevertheless, positive aspects of the

intervention were stressed frequently by the interviewees, mainly associated with the

increased security and better infrastructure.

However, this analysis of the data collected aims at unfolding in detail residents’

perceptions on the impacts of the squatter upgrading project on their five housing

freedoms: to individualise and expand; to afford living costs; to live in a healthy

environment; to participate in decision-making; and to maintain social networks.

Interviews and focus groups elaborated on the many features that are associated with

each of the housing freedoms (i.e. schools, typology of houses, urban facilities and

etc…). Through the use of tables and charts, features were aggregated into aspects of

housing freedoms. Furthermore features were analysed according to their individual,

collective and institutional character. The objectives of this micro-analysis of the data

were: to carry out an evaluation of the squatter upgrading project based on its impacts

on the valued housing functionings; to compound different levels of analysis (i.e.

aspects of housing and collective, individual and structural dimensions); and to unfold

the limitations of this method of evaluation.

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6.5.1 Freedom to Individualise and Expand

Three main aspects were identified impacting on residents’ freedom to individualise

and expand: house typology and design; the legal permit to expansion and change;

and the familiarity with construction technology.

a) House Typology and Design

Data from the focus group and semi-structured interviews revealed that residents had

a very similar ideal of housing typology: small detached houses with a foundation, in

a plot of land, with a backyard and space where they could expand their house over

time. The female group7 chose backyards (see Appendix 2, column 2, card 9) because

then the house could grow horizontally or they could have a space to plant vegetables.

They also valued a foundation with the house (see Appendix 2, column 2, card 12), so

that the second storey of the house could easily be built. The male group for example

argued that space is essential once the family grows, children marry and they have

grandchildren and they would like to provide them with space for their families in

their houses (see Appendix 2, column 3, cards 2, 8, 9, 11 and 12). The youth group

valued space because there they could play or dry clothes (see Appendix 2, column 4,

cards 2, 9 and 12). Meanwhile, the leaders group supported this house typology (see

Appendix 2, column 5, cards 2, 9 and 12) so that residents could do whatever they

would think is appropriate to their house without disturbing the neighbours.

Furthermore, the cards about the type of house finishings and the structural system

prioritised by the four groups’ reveal that participants value being free to individualise

the house, change its facade and interior. In the first stage of the game, the female,

male and leaders groups chose to have a house with plaster, and to be allowed to paint

and expand it as they wished. However, to reduce the expenses of their intervention

and thus leave more money for other features, the groups chose in the second stage of

the game to buy a house without plaster (see Appendix 2, column 2,3 and 5, card 13).

7 For clarity reasons, every time information from focus groups is disclosed, the respective group wherepreference was undertaken is underlined. The precise location of the choices of the groups presented inthe table of analysis (Appendix 1) is outlined in italics. Meanwhile, quotations from respondents ofsemi-structured interviews are also disclosed in italics. Interviews and focus groups were undertakenfrom May to August 2005.

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All the groups preferred the structural system with brick walls and a structure of

pillars, because it allowed residents to change the interior design of the houses (see

Appendix 2, card 17). The respondents from interviews also valued the freedom to

individualise and expand, which was argued to have existed in the stilt-houses.

According to participants of group activities and the respondents of interviews, the

Nova Primavera housing estate differs from these ideals. According to 65 % of

interviewees, the typology of the housing estate constrained residents’ ability to

expand. Houses were attached one to another and created difficulties in building a

foundation and expanding sideways or upwards, while also impacting on the

reduction of privacy of residents. Six interviewees also mentioned that the houses did

not incorporate space for expansion. Respondent 2 said: “There is not enough space

here and not enough area to expand so that my family could remain all together. So

my daughter had to move with her husband to another neighbourhood which is a

shame.”

Respondents also noted that houses were not built to be expanded, as new

constructions led to cracks in the walls. Respondent 6 explained: “I expanded to the

front of my house but the floor of the second storey started to crack.” Respondent 7,

who lives in the second storey of one of the two flats blocks, one on top of the other,

argued that it will be impossible to expand his house, as the family living on the

ground floor does not even think of enlarging their house (see picture 6.6).

Respondent 15 explained the same situation. Meanwhile Respondent 19 explained

that if he wants to build another floor, it would be difficult because of the shared wall

characteristics of the housing estate. He would need to build a pillar inside his house

without touching the wall that is shared with his neighbour.

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Picture 6.6: Two Storey Flats – Inability of Expansion for the top Household

Source: Eduardo, 2004

These dissatisfactions generated in some respondents a feeling of nostalgia towards

life in the stilt houses, as nine respondents argued they miss the availability of space

for expansion and also higher levels of privacy of the stilt houses. Respondent 1 said:

“We used to have plenty of space, those who did not expand their houses did not do so

because he/she did not want to”. Respondent 6 stated: “I used to change my house

constantly, but I always painted it blue. I also liked having the space to have plants”.

Respondent 20 argued: “I had total freedom to do whatever I liked to my house. So I

had it filled in with rubbish, changed the material of the house from wood to bricks

and built the floor of the second story of the house”.

b) Legal Permit for Expansion and Change

Six respondents of the interviews argued that legally they were not allowed to build

on the unused areas outside their houses because they were denominated by the local

government as passing areas or pavements. Those that expanded did it without the

consent from the government, therefore risking going back to illegality (see Box 6.1).

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Box 6.1: Comments about the Lack of Legal Permit for Expansion

Respondent 5 said: “We are not allowed to change the house and paint it. But we willdo it anyway.”

Respondent 6 said: “Here we are not allowed to change the colour of the housesbecause it changes the patterns of the residential area.”

Respondent 9 said: “There is space to expand in the front of my house, but CONDER(the State Government Department in charge of the programme) does not give me thepermit to do it.”

Respondent 20 said: “In the document the space of the house is only including thebuilt area, if we expand we will become illegal again.”

While the analysis of interviewees and group participants assessed features of design

and typology of houses according to its individual character, the legal aspect of the

freedom to individualise and expand is associated with structural conditions through

the analysis of institutional legislation.

c) Familiarity with Construction Technology

Residents’ ability to expand their houses was also compromised by the lack of

familiarity with the construction technology of the Nova Primavera housing estate.

According to the discussions in the four focus groups, lack of familiarity was

generated by two factors: residents were not involved in the process of construction of

the housing estate; and houses were built over an atypical structural system. Focus

group participants argued that by subcontracting a firm to build Nova Primavera and

not involving local labour, residents became unfamiliar with the construction system

used. Participants would have rather used cooperatives, community self-help paid or

not paid, which would enhance familiarity, strengthened community bonds, generate

income in the long term, and thus assure long term sustainability of the project (see

Appendix 2, cards 23, 24 and 25).

Discussions and interviews also revealed that there was a lot of uncertainty about the

capacity of the house for expansion due to the type of house structure employed.

Instead of having a system known by residents of four underground foundations, the

housing estate has an atypical structural technology. Thus, residents were unsure

about the amount of weight the house might support and afraid to build another floor.

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These uncertainties were revealed mainly during discussions in focus groups on the

foundation of the houses. The female and male groups came to the conclusion that the

houses were not prepared to be expanded vertically (see Appendix 2, column 2 and 3,

card 12), while the youth and leaders groups argued the structural system was strong

enough to support extra floors (see Appendix 2, column 4 and 5, card 12).

This insecurity and unfamiliarity with the structural system was also revealed during

the semi-structured interviews. Only two interviewees acknowledged that the

structure of the house allowed residents to expand it. Ideally participants argued for

the use of accessible and familiar technology and local labour, which would also

encourage residents’ generation of income. This analysis of unfamiliarity with the

construction technology expands on the institutional aspects of the intervention (e.g.

implementation strategy and technology employed), unfolds individual impacts of

such institutional aspects (e.g. insecurities, uncertainties, and unfamiliarity), while

proposing collective solutions (e.g. community self-help and cooperative strategies).

6.5.2 Freedom to Afford Living Costs

The freedom to afford living costs is shaped by two main aspects: expenditure and

income of the household.

a) Household Expenditure

The data collected reveal that according to residents their housing costs have

increased and very limited income generation opportunities have been created.

Reasons for increased costs revealed by the interviews included the requirement for

repayment for the new houses, connection to services and council taxes. These

features while being implemented by institutions (local government and service

companies), have been analysed according to their impact on the individuals’ and

households’ ability to afford living costs.

Fourteen interviewees did not agree that they should pay for the houses for a series of

reasons. Respondent 5 said: “They lied to me by saying that they would give me the

house, but in reality I have to pay for it. When the bill arrives I will not pay, if they

want me to pay they should have given us everything well made, decent houses with

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plaster, water tank out of the house and divided rooms.” The dissatisfaction with the

houses was also expressed by respondent 19: “I should not pay for anything, nobody

asked them to take me from where I was. If they had done everything they promised,

like a police station, sewage, a health clinic, an adequate house, then they could ask

for money.” Meanwhile other respondents focused on the lack of money to pay for the

houses. Respondent 8 said: “I don’t have money to buy food, how can I pay for the

house?” Respondent 9 said: “If I had a job I would pay for the house, but the project

did not create employment.” Some respondents stressed that the requirement to pay

for the houses pushed the poorest to sell them as soon as they got it. Respondent 15

said: “Many people sold their houses way below the market value because they were

afraid that if they could not pay for them the government would throw them out. Thus,

before losing everything, their old homes and the new ones, they thought of selling

them to make a bit of money.”

Meanwhile, the female, male and youth groups criticised the repayment of the houses,

by arguing that for a feeling of ownership to take place, it is not necessary to pay in

the form of monetary capital (see Appendix 2, column 2,3, and 4, card 59).

Ten interviewees stated that residents were not able to cope with the new costs

generated by the connection of services and council taxes. Respondent 13 said: “I

could not afford the new costs, I am already behind two months in the electricity

bills.” Respondent 16 said: “People do not have enough to feed themselves, how are

they going to pay for the bills?” Furthermore a deeper institutional analysis of the

ability to afford living costs was developed when interviewees addressed the

malfunctioning of service companies. Respondent 4 explained: “For the first year I

did not receive water bills, when it arrived it was too expensive and I could not afford

to pay it. I was forced to make an illegal connection again to get water.” Respondent

7 mentioned the same process happening in their house: “The water bill took a long

time to arrive, and when it did it was too expensive.”

Thus, according to respondents the malfunctioning of companies delivering services is

creating obstacles for residents to cope with new costs (e.g. overcharge of electricity

and water use; bills not being sent regularly, accumulating costs and hindering their

payments). Meanwhile all focus groups valued individual land title, even

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accompanied by council taxes, as long as income-generation activities were

implemented simultaneously. However land titles have not been distributed evenly, as

half of the groups argued that the documentation has not being handed over to

residents (see Appendix 2, column 2 and 3, card 56), while the other two groups said

they have (see Appendix 2, column 4 and 5, card 56).

b) Household Income

Focus groups and interviews analysed the squatter upgrading strategies to enhance the

freedom to afford living costs through the improvement of the households’ level of

income. There has been a very limited amount of comments reporting an increase of

opportunities to generate income. Two respondents mentioned that because of the

physical improvements it is now possible to open a shop in-front of ones’ house (see

picture 6.7), while one respondent argued that the vocational courses enhanced the

participants’ ability to get a job.

Picture 6.7: Shop in-front of a house

Source: Field work, 2006

However, nineteen interviewees complained about the lack of income, arguing that

household earnings are the same or worse than it used to be before the intervention.

The focus of the analysis criticised institutional mechanisms, such as: general

worsening of the availability of jobs, and no generation of employment opportunities

as promised (see Box 6.2).

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Box 6.2: Comments about Income Conditions

Respondent 1 said: “It is harder for us street vendors to make a living. The other daywe were kicked out from the spot we used to sell for a long time.”

Respondent 2 said: “We miss more things here than before. There is no employmentanymore. I tried opening a small shop here but it did not work.”

Respondent 6 said: “I wanted to open a small shop here, but the electricity bill takesall my money. Before we still did not have money, but we had less costs.”

Respondent 18 said: “My financial situation worsened. My shop was destroyed withthe house I used to have, and here the employment opportunities promised neverarrived.”

Respondent 20 said: “I used to have everything I needed in my house before, now weare struggling to pay the bills.”

Meanwhile different strategies were discussed, proposed and prioritised to generate

income in focus group activities. Both individual and collective alternatives were

mentioned. The former included formation of small business, micro-credit, vocational

courses linked to jobs in the private sector (see Appendix 2, column 3, 4 and 5, card

50; and column 2, card 52) while the latter emphasized the role of cooperatives (see

Appendix 2, column 2 and 3, card 53). Respondents of interviews and participants of

the focus group argued mostly that income generation opportunities had to motivate

people to engage in them, as well as offering a solution that could be sustainable in

the long term. However their evaluation was that none of the alternatives discussed

were implemented by the squatter upgrading project.

6.5.3 Freedom to Live in a Healthy Environment

The interviews and focus group activities from Novos Alagados revealed five aspects

associated with the freedom to live in a healthy environment: the physical conditions

of the house and infrastructure; access to health services; to education facilities; and

spaces for leisure and social interaction; and safety.

a) Physical Conditions

By moving from stilts to Nova Primavera housing estate, all respondents argued that

their living physical conditions had improved considerably. Comments explored the

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collective and individual dimensions of the impacts of the physical intervention.

Seven respondents mentioned the good size of the houses and the environmental

upgrading by living on land, in houses made of brick and having access to services.

All interviewees praised the move of the community from the sea to land. Respondent

12 said: “Here life is more secure, I am not afraid anymore of the water flooding my

house. People used to say that they would not buy a fridge because the house would

flood. Now they can buy their fridge without worrying about the water.” Respondent

13 said: “We now have a street, with pavement and without mud.” Respondent 20

said: “Sewage here is much better, there (on the stilts) it was horrible, we had to clean

our dishes on the mud.”

Five interviewees mentioned that their self-esteem have been enhanced due to the

physical improvements. Respondent 5 said: “I can now invite a friend and I am not

ashamed, I can even make a party in my house if I want.” Respondent 7 said: “People

used to look at us as if we were dogs, as if we were nothing. Now people look at us

with other eyes. We live in true houses, people can come and visit us and they respect

us more.” Respondent 9 said: “Now I am not ashamed to say I live in Novos

Alagados”.

Picture 6.8: Sharing Walls

However there were also criticisms of the

physical aspects of the intervention. The

shared wall characteristic of the houses was

mentioned by fourteen interviewees as

impacting negatively not only on their

freedom to expand, but also to reducing

residents’ privacy (see picture 6.8).

Respondent 13 said: “I have four neighbours

attached to my house, one in each wall.

Everything I do in my house they hear in

theirs. This is an invasion of my privacy.”


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All the twenty respondents complained about the lack of quality of the houses and

services. Complaints included: cracks in the walls, poor quality of the stairs, rats

proliferating inside the bricks, weak and limited supply of infrastructure such as

sewerage and drainage that were not able to cope with the demand, infiltration due to

rain and lack of plaster in the walls, and poor quality tiles easily broken by winds and

not repaired, thus leading to floods. Respondent 5 said: “When it rains everything gets

flooded here, the water comes up from the toilet bringing all the sewage up. How do

they expect us to pay for something like this?” Respondent 6 said: “The stairs inside

the houses are made of wood and dangerous, many people have already broken their

legs or arms as the wood rotted.” Respondent 12 said: “My floor is cracking. When I

wash my floor, the house downstairs gets wet. My wall upstairs is also cracking. We

talked to the government officials and nobody came here to fix it.” Respondent 13

said: “It is not right to have the sewage interconnected and of the wrong size. When

the neighbour flushes the toilet I can see the water coming up in my toilet. There is

something really wrong.”

Sixteen interviewees also did not approve of receiving the houses and neighbourhood

not finished properly: the walls were not plastered (see Picture 6.9); the electricity

was not installed; the floor was just made of cement and there were no tiles; the rooms

were not divided in the ground floor; the public areas of the neighbourhood were not

illuminated and some of them were left without cement, thus getting muddy once it

rained. Respondent 5 said: “The house came raw. I had to spend a lot of money to

finish the house.” Respondent 8 said: “There were not even the electrical installations

in the bedrooms. It was shameful to give a house like this to us.” Respondent 15 said:

“My floor has a big hall where the light from the neighbour downstairs is connected. I

can see their house, it is dangerous for the children and they get wet when we have to

clean our floor. The government gave the house to us like this and disappeared.”

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Picture 6.9: Walls not Plastered, and Water Tank Inside the House

Source: Field Work 2005

Meanwhile the lack of maintenance of collective infrastructure, such as services and

drainage systems, were also criticisms mentioned by 37% of interviewees.

Respondent 19 said: “It is true we did not have sewerage on the stilts, but sewerage

that is all the time blocked is unhygienic”. Respondent 2 said: “The sewerage got

blocked here a long time ago and nobody came to fix it. We have to pay for it and they

don’t fix it.” Respondent 18 said: “Before we had to fix our sanitation problems and

we did it. Now everybody waits for the service companies to fix them but they never

come and the problem is left on the streets.” Respondent 11 explained: “The sewerage

pipes here are smaller than they should be, they do not support the amount of sewage

produced here. The pipes first get blocked and then they explode. The companies

don’t come to fix them and the sewage is there on the street.”

The installation of water tanks inside the houses was also a source of complaints

because they took away the households’ limited amount of space. Many that

complained live in the second flat of the two blocks of flats, where in their second

floor two water tanks were installed: their water tank and their neighbours’ tank from

the ground floor flat. Respondent 6 said: “They put a water tank of 1.000 litres inside

our houses so that we have to spend the money to put it outside?” Respondent 7 said:

“The tank of my neighbour downstairs is here in my house. We are always fighting

and the neighbour is afraid that I might put something in their water.” Respondent 9

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said: “The tanks take away a lot of the space and if they leak water goes everywhere

in my house.”

b) Access to Health Services

According to the interviews and focus groups, there was no improvement in access to

health services through the squatter upgrading intervention. Participants of the four

focus group activities highlighted the importance of intervening in the access to health

services as all of them prioritized the construction of a health clinic (see Appendix 2,

column 2,3,4 and 5, card 40). Meanwhile eight interview respondents and participants

of the group argued that the clinic that was on the plan of the intervention was never

built (see Picture 6.10).

Furthermore it was mentioned in interviews and focus group activities that residents

of Nova Primavera were already transferred to the promised and nonexistent health

clinic, thus they were not anymore able be treated in their previous clinic. This

analysis focused on the institutional inability to provide access to health to the

community, and on the impact on the community and individuals. However there was

no exploration of the reasons for not building the health centre, or even the reasons for

the lack of alternative health assistance.

Picture 6.10: Area where Health Clinic was Supposed to be Built

Source: Field work 2006

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c) Education Facilities

On the other hand, new education facilities were built in the neighbourhood and

existing ones were strengthened. The focus of the improvements from the data

collected was on the after-school activities for children and teenagers. The focus

group participants noted the importance of these activities to take the children off the

streets and possible involvement with anti-social behaviour, such as drug using and

trafficking. Seven interview respondents explained that their children go to these

centres where they play and do sports, get help to do their homework, and learn how

to use a computer. There were two main community schools where children went:

five of them went to the Clubere school (which is run by the community-based

organization Primeiro de Maio) and three of them went to the Centre João Paulo II

(which is run by the Italian NGO AVSI). However not everybody benefited from the

education opportunities created: Twelve respondents argued that apart from the house

and the urban infrastructure, the programme did not improve the life for their family

in any other way. Respondent 4 said: “There was no after school class or vocational

course for my children.”

The data presented elaborates mainly individual and collective impacts of the new

education facilities, and little is addressing institutional arrangements such as formal

education. During the focus groups, access to university was discussed, but only one

group prioritized courses to improve assess to public universities.

d) Spaces for Leisure and Social Interaction

The focus group activities revealed that spaces for leisure and social interaction are

also concerns of the residents of Nova Primavera, the female group prioritising a

venue for multi usages (see Appendix 2, column 2, card 33); the youth group choosing

a space for open interaction (see Appendix 2, column 4, card 35); and leaders group

identifying the need for a community centre (see Appendix 2, column 5, card 41). The

choices and discussions unfold an awareness of the participants of the group towards a

collective dimension of housing. These three equipments prioritized were evaluated

by the respective groups as not implemented by the upgrading project. Meanwhile the

interviews revealed that there has been a leisure facility built, the football pitch, but

not used equitably. Two interviewees praised the football pitch. While eight

respondents argued that there is still a need for a space especially targeted for children

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to play. This unjust use of a public space is a collective mechanism impacting

negatively mainly on children’s housing freedom.

e) Safety

The last component of the freedom for a healthy environment explored in the analysis

is the issue of safety. While two residents evaluated the housing estate of Nova

Primavera as tranquil and calm, six other respondents felt unsafe. The feeling of

insecurity can be seen in the frequent use of fences in the houses (see Pictures 6.11

and 6.12) Respondent 4 said: “I had to put fences all around my house otherwise we

would get robbed.” Respondent 5 said: “I am afraid here, people already came

knocking many times at 2am.” Respondent 6 said: “After getting bullets in my wall

because of a fight between bandits and the police I decided to build a wall in front of

my house. But now because of this wall the house got unbalanced and the floor of my

second floor is cracking.” Respondent 9 said: “This housing estate worsened the

problem of criminality, this place calls for young people to be hanging around here

and selling drugs.”

Picture 6.11: Houses with Fences Picture 6.12: Houses with Fences



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The interviews revealed also that the lack of street lights led to a failure to enhance

safety in the housing estate. Respondent 1 said: “Without street lights we don’t have

safety here, we arrive late at night from work and we come in afraid.” Therefore the

institutional failure to provide street lights is argued to be impacting negatively on the

collective environment, leading to a feeling of insecurity for individuals. The focus

groups also emphasized the concern with safety, as the four groups identified the need

for a police station (see Appendix 2, column 2, 3, 4, and 5, card 37). The groups

engaged in an institutional analysis of the police force and highlighted the need to

reform it as they outlined their mistrust with the existing one.

6.5.4 Freedom to Maintain Social Networks

The features identified in the data collected and associated with the freedom to

maintain social networks relate to two aspects: typology of housing estate and

community facilities and activities.

a) Typology of housing estate

According to 60% of the interviewees, the typology of the housing estate has affected

negatively their ability to maintain existing social networks by creating conflicts with

neighbours. The design of the houses was extensively criticised because it created

conflicts because of the lack of privacy caused by the houses’ shared wall design, as

mentioned in the previous section. Also the vertical terrace units were criticised by

not offering an area of expansion for the household from the top storey, and by

placing the bottom household’s water tank, inside of the top storey house (see Figure

6.2).

Respondents argued that the bad quality and inappropriate installations were also

leading to conflicts, such the interconnected sewerage system. Respondent 6 said:

“The sewage system is the same for every three houses. If one gets blocked there are

problems with the three houses. This is causing many problems, because if I don’t

have the money to fix it now, everybody is going to suffer.” Such analyses elaborate on

features of houses, institutionally implemented, affecting individuals’ lives and

leading to the breaking of collective bonds.

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Figure 6.2: Conflict due to Typology of Two Flats Blocks

Source: Elaborated by author, based on interviews

Meanwhile the data collected also reveals features of the housing estate institutionally

implemented but affecting directly the collective lives. Two interviewees mentioned

that the lack of divisions and delimitations of the public areas would be creating

conflicts when using them, for laundry or housing expansion. On the other hand, all

focus groups preferred unclear divisions between private and public space (see

Appendix 2, column 2, 3, 4, and 5, card 80), by arguing that the strict divisions of

pavement and street would compromise the use of the street as a social environment,

thus affecting their freedom to maintain social networks. All groups argued that in this

way the street could be used as a place for people to meet and children to play.

The male, youth and leaders groups prioritized the arrangement of public facilities to

be centralized to enhance interactivity between neighbours from different regions (see

Appendix 2, column 3, 4, and 5, card 76). These groups supported such choice with

the motivation to avoid inner neighbourhood conflicts and inequalities while also

encouraging residents to meet other residents from different areas of Novos Alagados.

None of these choices of arrangement of public spaces was implemented by the

squatter upgrading project according to the evaluation of the focus group participants.

Floor of conflict

Areaexpanded

House 2

House 1

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These findings show that residents are aware of the ways the built environment could

activate or hinder collective bonds. Furthermore, this analysis reveals that the

typology of the housing state Nova Primavera has harmed the residents’ ability to

maintain social networks.

b) Community Facilities and Activities

The other features associated with the freedom to maintain social networks were

related to community facilities and activities. Focus group participants prioritized

many community bonds cards reflecting the importance residents place on the role of

facilities and activities to strengthen social networks. Community centre, school,

radio; discussion group activities; and social worker assistance were facilities and

services valued by groups as features that could be encouraged by institutions to

strengthen collective mechanisms to improve the quality of housing in the

neighbourhood (see Appendix 2, cards 69, 70, 72 and 73). All such features were

assessed by group participants as not being implemented by the squatter upgrading

project, apart from the social worker assistance in the female focus group (see

Appendix 2, column 2, card 73). The male and leaders groups also valued the social

worker option, revealing a strong need in the locality to support families to deal with

problems of alcoholism, drugs, and family violence. Unlike the female group, these

two groups argued that such option was not implemented by the project (see Appendix

2, column 3 and 5, card 73).

Thus, the data collected reveal that interviewees and focus group participants believe

that the squatter upgrading project has not strengthened social networks, while

hindering their ability to maintain collective bonds. Three of the interviewees argued

that the breakage of collective bonds led to an increased feeling of isolation and

competition in Nova Primavera. Respondent 14 explained: “On the stilts nobody

wanted to be better than the other. Here people want to be seen as better than the

other because of the improvements done to their houses. People became very

competitive, less tolerant, less helpful and less involved in community activities.”

A large number of comments were made by 13 interviewees stating that they miss the

general level of tolerance and the supporting social relations that existed previously in

the stilt-houses. Respondent 1 said: “Neighbours could knock at your door to ask for

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sugar or use your fridge. In the ocean we built our houses together, we knew each

other and we helped each other.” Relating to the level of tolerance, respondent 7 said:

“Before we used to make much more noise with parties and music and nobody

complained.” Respondent 15 said: “I lived 20 years there. My friends are still there. I

preferred where I was, I enjoyed staying in front of my house talking to people. Here

it is not like that. I know few people. They mixed people from different places.”

Respondent 19 said: “Everybody used to help each other before. Then there used to be

a community, now it is not the same and the mix between different people here has led

to more conflicts”. Respondent 20 said: “There used to be more unity on the stilts.

Here some people feel they are superior and they isolate themselves.”

6.5.5 Freedom to Participate in Decision Making

The impacts on squatter upgrading project on residents’ freedom to participate in

decision making was analysed by group participants and interviewees according to

three aspects: mechanisms of participation; process of design; and process of

implementation.

a) Mechanisms of Participation

The discussion from the focus group activities reveals that the democratic mechanism

of participation implemented by the project is the preferred strategy of participation

for group participants. There have been different alternatives proposed, the female

group valuing a deliberative mechanism, the male group preferring a combination of

new and old leaders, and the youth and leaders group supporting the new leaders

alternative. The leaders group discussions revealed that their main concern was to

assure that all residents could benefit from projects, not only those involved in

existing institutions. The common factor present in all four groups was that they all

support an electoral process to choose leaders and make decisions. Participants called

for an institutional led process, creating a mechanism to increase residents’ ability to

participate, leading to responsive policies, strengthening collective organizations and

improving the lives of individuals. The female and male group claimed that their

choices were not implemented by the squatter upgrading project. Meanwhile the

youth and leaders group argued that the new leaders’ mechanism of participation took

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place. However, it was not effective, as elected leaders did not have real decision

making power.

b) Process of Policy Design

While the squatter upgrading project implemented an elective mechanism of

participation, interviewees and group participants argued that its process of policy

design did not enhance residents’ freedom to participate in decision-making. All focus

groups valued a participatory process of design, where technicians, architects, policy

makers, leaders and residents would be together compounding all aspects of the

squatter upgrading project, especially the design of the houses and character of the

social programmes. Also all the groups agreed that such a process of participation did

not take place, arguing that policies were designed by policy makers and shared with

elected leaders and residents. The interviews revealed the same perception from

respondents (see Box 6.3).

Box 6.3: Comments about the Non-participatory Process of Policy Design

Respondent 1 said: “Nobody liked those houses. We came here because we had tocome. They took us from where we were, without asking us anything.”

Respondent 2 said: “The project was presented to us before, we did not like it, butthey built it anyway.”

Respondent 5 said: “They did not ask us anything. ‘Here are your keys’ and that is it.Or you go, or you stay homeless.”

Respondent 8 said: “There was a meeting before the intervention. They asked ouropinion, we gave it and they did not accept it.”

Respondent 11 described his experience as a street leader elected to work for theproject: “They saw us as a link between the project and the community. Our job wasto help with the transition phase of residents from the stilts to the new houses. Wenever had the power to change the project. During the construction of the houses wetried to have access to the building site to see how it was going, but they did not allowus to come in. Then after we moved here, the problems started to appear, like the onewith the sewage. The residents came to us, as if we were the ones responsible. Wewent to the government, and they did not do anything. So I quit because the peoplehere were blaming me for the problems of the programme.”

Respondent 15 also described his experience as a street leader to work in the project:“The programme tried to manipulate and use us for the implementation of theirobjectives. The role of the leaders was to tell the residents of the stilts that the truckswere coming to destroy their houses and identify the houses that needed

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improvements(…). That is why nearly all the elected leaders decided not toparticipate, because we found out there was never the intention for us to discuss theproject”

The comments outlined in Box 6.3 reveal that the non-participatory process of policy

design were led by an operational motivation to transform elected leaders into

technicians of the project. In this way there was an attempt by the squatter upgrading

project to co-opt leaders to the implementation of the top-down elaborated project.

Furthermore, the combination of electoral mechanism without a participatory design

led to a negative impact of the reputation of the elected leaders, causing mistrust from

residents to community mobilization, thus weakening the collective mechanism to

claim for rights and changes.

Meanwhile the financing of fragmented organisations was criticised by respondent 15

who argued that this is a structural practice also leading to co-option and weakening

of social organization: “This style of financing the projects of local entities also

weakened the participation of smaller groups. While the government excluded the

main organization of Novos Alagados, Primeiro de Maio, because of their criticism to

the project, the government also ended up just financing the most prepared entities

already set up. These entities on the other hand will never rebel against the

government because they depend solely on them or their income. In this way there is a

system of co-optation of social organizations.”

c) Process of implementation

The data collected revealed that another aspect of participation is the ability people

have to take part in the construction and maintenance of their houses and

neighbourhoods. Focus group participants prioritised a process of implementation that

involved residents’ participation and enhanced their ability to interact with the built

environment in the long term. Groups argued that building materials should be bought

from the local shop or self made, because of the local financial return but also because

of increasing familiarity with construction technology (see Appendix 2, column 2 and

4, card 21; and column 3 and 5, card 22). As already mentioned on the freedom to

individualise and expand, the labour force strategies prioritized by the four groups

varied, but all valued residents’ involvement in the process of implementation (see

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Appendix 2, column 5, card 23; column 2, card 24; column 3 and 4, card 25).

According to the groups, because of the lack of participation in policy design, the

process of implementation did not take into consideration local access to building

materials or the involvement of residents in the construction of the houses. Thus, for

the group participants, the institutional incapacity to empower residents hindered the

sustainability of the project, inhibiting collective mechanisms to interact with the built

environment which could have strengthened social networks.

The interviews support these perceptions, as six interviewees called for real

participatory processes and five respondents ‘missed’ the sustainable maintenance of

the stilts built environment. According to these respondents, by taking part in the

process of construction and maintenance of the stilts, a sense of community and

cooperation was also being built and maintained. Respondent 6 said: “We used to

make and fix the pathways and streets of the neighbourhood ourselves.” Respondent

19 said: “Then we used to participate in the construction of the neighbourhood, here

it is each one taking care of one’s own life.”

6.6 Conclusion: Summary of Micro Findings and Limitations of

Analysis

Until the squatter upgrading programme in Novos Alagados, the neighbourhood

evolved out of the failure to provide adequate housing supply to the low income

population. The pull factors attracting the low income population to settle in Novos

Alagados were typical factors attracting the formation of squatter settlements around

developing countries: the construction of an avenue linking the near-by city centre

and industrial area and a previous housing project in an adjacent area. However there

was a peculiarity about Novos Alagados that attracted the media and civil society’s

attention since its formation: it represented the expansion of stilt settlements. Soon

Novos Alagados became stigmatized as a place of extreme poverty, deprivation,

inhumane living conditions and more recently, violence.

There were two main factors pushing occupants to build their houses over the Cabrito

Cove and not inland: the tough control of the military government on land occupation,

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and people’s dream to make their stilt house, a permanent house. In this sense the stilt

house offered occupants a more secure tenure in the long term. An organic

urbanization trend was implemented by the occupants, where stilts were built, then

garbage was used as infill, wooden shacks were substituted with brick, streets were

paved, and finally additional floors were built. Through this process, security was

enhanced since land was created and then appropriated by the residents.

However, this organic process of urbanization was replaced by the squatter upgrading

programme Ribeira Azul. Stilts were destroyed and residents allocated in housing

estates in adjacent areas. Nova Primavera was one of them, accommodating the

residents from the River Cobre and the Cabrito Cove. The incorporation of stilt

residents into a new logic of urbanization created new dynamics and maintained

others. The initial evaluation of the squatter upgrading programme based on

interviews and existing literature showed that there is a great disparity among the

views of the impacts of the introduction of stilt residents into this new process of

urbanization. While the reports of the World Bank, state government and AVSI argue

that there have been great environmental improvements, reduction of poverty,

strengthening of local organizations through a participatory process, academics have

stressed that poverty has been perpetuated, collective bonds weakened, and

segregation enhanced.

However, none of these evaluations engages in a comprehensive investigation of how

local residents analysed the squatter upgrading programme. This thesis explores the

impacts caused by the shift from stilt to housing estate on the five housing

functionings identified. Housing is defined and evaluated through the perspective of

the residents of Nova Primavera.

The analysis of the data collected shows that the freedom to expand and individualise

ones’ house has been compromised. In the stilts residents actively engaged in the

process of changing their houses, improving them constantly. In Nova Primavera the

typology and design of the housing estate, the legal arrangements and the lack of

familiarity with construction techniques led to the reduction of people’s ability to

change, expand and individualise their houses.

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While some income generating opportunities were mentioned as a result of the move

towards Nova Primavera, the overall evaluation was that there has been a reduction in

the freedom to afford living costs. New costs were generated and promised

employment was not created.

However, the data reveal that the freedom to live in a healthy environment has been

strongly expanded, through the physical improvements of the area and the educational

opportunities implemented. However, some limitations of the improvements were

raised, such as the unequal use of the leisure facility, lack of access to health services

and safety, due to the mistrust of the police force.

The analysis of the participation process of the intervention outlines three aspects

influencing the freedom to participate in decision making: mechanism of

participation, process of policy design and process of implementation. The data

reveals that the mechanism of participation involved an elective process to identify

new leaders. However the freedom to participate was not concretized in the design

stage as leaders only had a consultative role. Furthermore local residents were not

involved in the process of implementation of Nova Primavera. Finally, this analysis

has revealed that the application of a democratic and elective mechanism of

participation together with a non-participatory process of design could be detrimental

to the community by leading to the breakage of collective bonds.

The focus group activities and interviews also revealed other processes obstructing

resident’s freedom to maintain social networks. The typology of the housing estate

was criticised as they would be creating conflicts rather than expanding collective

bonds. Also community facilities that could strengthen social networks were not

implemented.

This analysis has explored many dimensions of the squatter intervention project that

have affected resident’s housing freedom. However, the main limitation of this

examination is that it does not expand on how residents have incorporated the changes

that have taken place. Even with their freedom to maintain social networks

compromised, people still established collective bonds. The question not answered by

this evaluation was for example what types of bonds were established? Who managed

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to establish new bonds, and who did not? The same questions also could be posed in

relation to the other housing functionings.

This limitation is caused by the focus of analysis of the research. By analysing

housing freedom and not housing achievements the research explores the impacts of

the intervention on these processes, and not how people adapted to a certain limitation

or expansion on these processes. In other words, the research focuses on the freedom

to expand and individualise, and not on the solutions found by residents to regain their

freedom if it has been compromised. The focus on housing freedom is led by the

research methods employed. The focus group activities evaluate the squatter

upgrading programme in relation to a certain ideal of housing. Meanwhile interviews

explored the impacts of the intervention and focused on how it has compromised or

expanded housing freedoms. These methods do not elaborate in-depth on how people

overcome or expand their housing freedoms once intervention took place. It is

acknowledged here that new housing patterns might emerge out of these adaptations.

Therefore further research is necessary which could focus on achievements, the

process of claiming freedoms once compromised, and the production of new patterns

of housing freedoms.

Nevertheless, this evaluation sheds lights on crucial aspects of a squatter upgrading

intervention affecting residents’ housing freedom. The focus on processes of housing

reveals the impact of the replacement of a bottom-up by a top-down imposition of

urbanisation processes. New processes of interaction between residents and the built

environment were introduced and the impacts have been elaborated by this freedom

focus analysis. The next section reveals the data collected in the Calabar

neighbourhood, where the squatter upgrading project was led by a community-based

organization. The objective of this evaluation is to explore how housing freedom has

been impacted through a bottom-up strategy, rather than top-down one led by

international institutions and the local government. Thus, the comparison between the

findings from Novos Alagados and Calabar aims at clarifying the relationship

between housing, squatter upgrading initiatives and poverty.

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Chapter 6: The World Bank Funded Squatter Upgrading Programme in NovosAlagados ....................................................................................................................141

6.1 Introduction......................................................................................................1416.2 History of the Settlement and Snapshot of locality .........................................143

6.2.1 The Origins of the Stilts 1946 – 1977.......................................................1446.2.2 Novos Alagados Consolidation - From Stilts to Houses ..........................1446.2.3 Novos Alagados Prior to Intervention .....................................................148

a) A place of Poverty and Vulnerability ........................................................148b) A place of Cultural Identity .......................................................................150c) A place of Inequalities and Violence .........................................................151

6.3 The Squatter Upgrading Intervention ..............................................................1536.3.1 Previous Attempts to Eradicate Stilt-houses.............................................1536.3.2 The New Intervention - The Project .........................................................1546.3.3 Scaling-up, From Project to Programme ..................................................1556.3.4 Nova Primavera: The Second Stage of a Programme...............................157

a) Physical Improvements..............................................................................157i) The Beneficiaries....................................................................................158ii) The Houses ............................................................................................158iii) Payment and Land Titles......................................................................158

b) Environmental Sustainability ....................................................................159c) Economic and Social Development ...........................................................160d) Participation and Strengthening of Civil Society ......................................161

6.4 Preliminary analysis of Nova Primavera .........................................................1626.4.1 Housing and Infrastructure .......................................................................1626.4.2 Social Programmes ...................................................................................1666.4.3 Institutional Arrangements: NGO, State Government and Community...1686.4.4 Sustainability and Long Term Impacts .....................................................171

a) Financial Sustainability..............................................................................171b) Tenure Security..........................................................................................174c) Environmental Sustainability.....................................................................175d) Physical Sustainability...............................................................................175

6.4.5 From Emergency to Sustainable Poverty Alleviation...............................1766.4.6 Why an Analytical Study? ........................................................................177

6.5 Presentation of Data and Micro Analysis: Novos Alagados............................1786.5.1 Freedom to Individualise and Expand ......................................................180

a) House Typology and Design......................................................................180b) Legal Permit for Expansion and Change...................................................182c) Familiarity with Construction Technology................................................183

6.5.2 Freedom to Afford Living Costs...............................................................184a) Household Expenditure..............................................................................184b) Household Income.....................................................................................186

6.5.3 Freedom to Live in a Healthy Environment .............................................187a) Physical Conditions ...................................................................................187b) Access to Health Services..........................................................................191c) Education Facilities....................................................................................192d) Spaces for Leisure and Social Interaction .................................................192e) Safety .........................................................................................................193

6.5.4 Freedom to Maintain Social Networks .....................................................194a) Typology of housing estate........................................................................194b) Community Facilities and Activities .........................................................196

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6.5.5 Freedom to Participate in Decision Making .............................................197a) Mechanisms of Participation .....................................................................197b) Process of Policy Design ...........................................................................198c) Process of implementation.........................................................................199

6.6 Conclusion: Summary of Micro Findings and Limitations of Analysis ..........200

Chapter 6: The World Bank Funded Squatter Upgrading Programme in NovosAlagados ....................................................................................................................141

Picture 6.1: The Area targeted by Ribeira Azul Programme .................................141Picture 6.2: Cabrito Cove After Intervention and Nova Primavera Housing Estate................................................................................................................................142Figure 6.1: Stages of Consolidation of the Stilts ...................................................146Picture 6.3: Novos Alagados 1984.........................................................................147Picture 6.4: Novos Alagados 1996.........................................................................148Picture 6.5: Novos Alagados – a Place of Poverty, Risk and Insecurity ...............150Picture 6.6: Two Storey Flats – Inability of Expansion for the top Household.....182Box 6.1: Comments about the Lack of Legal Permit for Expansion .....................183Picture 6.7: Shop in-front of a house .....................................................................186Box 6.2: Comments about Income Conditions ......................................................187Picture 6.8: Sharing Walls .....................................................................................188Picture 6.9: Walls not Plastered, and Water Tank Inside the House .....................190Picture 6.10: Area where Health Clinic was Supposed to be Built .......................191Picture 6.11: Houses with Fences ..........................................................................193Picture 6.12: Houses with Fences ..........................................................................193Figure 6.2: Conflict due to Typology of Two Flats Blocks...................................195Box 6.3: Comments about the Non-participatory Process of Policy Design .........198

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Chapter 7: A Community-based Squatter Upgrading

Initiative in the Squatter Settlement of Calabar

7.1 Introduction

Calabar is a squatter settlement located in a valley between four high income

neighbourhoods of Salvador da Bahia. It is situated between two major avenues,

Centanario and Sabina Silva and three high income neighbourhoods: Graça, Ondina,

Federação and Jardim Apipema. The total area of the occupation is approximately 8

hectares. Its population is estimated to be around 18 thousand inhabitants (See Map

1). Since the 1970s residents have been mobilized to improve their living conditions

by enhancing their social and physical facilities. Projects were led by the local

neighbourhood association Sociedade Beneficente Recreativo do Calabar (SBRC).

Thus, the distinctive characteristic of Calabar is that the squatter upgrading initiatives

were formulated and led by a community-based organization.

The area of intervention analysed by this research is a street in the south east side of

Calabar, called Vila Eliane Azevedo but known by its residents as Pinga (see Picture

7.1). There, wooden shacks were upgraded into brick houses though a community

self-help strategy in 1991. This housing intervention was a result of a partnership

between the neighbourhood association (SBRC) and the Foundation José Silveira

(FJS)1. The partnership also led to the construction of a community centre, school and

health clinic. The initiative in Calabar was the first squatter upgrading project in

Salvador that was led by a community-based organization and which tackled the

physical and the social needs of squatter inhabitants.

1 Foundation Jose Silveira is part of the private Hospital Santo Amaro and it was created with theobjective to improve the health facilities and conditions of the residents surrounding the Hospital.

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Picture 7.1: Calabar, Pinga and the Surrounding Neighbourhoods

While being a place of poverty and environmental degradation, Calabar has also been

a symbol of community mobilisation and struggle. The physical and social

improvements took place as a result of a combined effort by the neighbourhood

association, and clientelistic politicians seeking electoral support. The houses at Pinga

were completed quickly, but the other interventions (such as community school,

general infrastructure, and community centre) took place at irregular intervals, and

many times construction stopped before completion due to the lack of resources.

This evaluation of the squatter upgrading intervention in the area of Pinga aims at

assessing the housing project and also the other social improvements that have

affected the lives of the residents of that area. The objective of this analysis is to

reveal the impacts of this community-led intervention on the residents housing

freedom. This first section of the chapter introducing the case study is followed by an

exploration of the history of Calabar, and provides a snapshot of the locality. The

third section of the chapter describes the squatter upgrading initiatives led by the

community-based organization. The community struggle is outlined, the first

initiatives are described, and the housing project of Pinga is analysed. The fourth

Ondina ↓

JardimApipema

Federação

CentenárioAvenue

Sabino SilvaAvenue Source: Google Earth

Graça ↑

Calabar

Pinga

206

section of the chapter explores the existing analysis of the squatter upgrading

interventions in Calabar. The strengths and limitations of the studies and the

evaluations of the stakeholders are assessed. The fifth section discloses and analyses

the data collected through the focus group activities and semi-structured interviews at

Pinga. Finally the sixth section draws conclusions on the community-led upgrading

initiatives by summarizing the impacts of the interventions on Pinga residents’

housing freedoms.

7.2 The History of Settlement and a Snapshot of Locality

Due to the scarcity of data on the origins and first developments of Calabar, it is

difficult to identify with precision the date of formation of the first settlement and

assess its rate of growth. Nevertheless, Severo (1999) argues that the history of

Calabar can be divided into two stages: the first that does not have a precise starting

data and goes until the end of the 1950s, when the occupation did not encounter any

resistance from the government, landlords or army; and from the 1960s when the

population growth in the area intensified and the government started to threaten

residents with eviction. This analysis incorporates another stage of development of

Calabar, from the 1990s, when the settlement became consolidated and was identified

as a place of poverty and social segregation.

7.2.1 Calabar until the End of the 1950s – the Struggle for Freedoms

The origin of the squatter settlement Calabar is still disputed in the literature.

According to Conceição (1984), the historian Cid Teixeira argues that a group of

slaves from the Nigerian town of Calabar, when arriving in Bahia, managed to escape

from the Portuguese colonizers and settled in the location where today can be found

the squatter settlement. In this place they formed a Quilombo, a place of resistance of

slaves, which soon became known as the Quilombo of the Kalabari.

However, Vansconcelos (2002) does not agree with Teixeira’s explanation by arguing

that the first Quilombos were formed farther away from the city centre. Whether the

origins of Calabar are associated with slave rebellions of the colonial period or with

207

land occupations in times of rapid urbanisation, the common aspect of these two

interpretations is the collective mobilisation of the deprived to claim their freedoms.

Nevertheless, Severo (1999) discloses interviews with residents who stated that in the

1940s there were three already small not connected occupations in the valley. While

the houses were precarious and made of wood, environmental conditions were

moderate. Residents mentioned melancholically the clean stream that ran through the

middle of the valley (Severo, 1999).

The lack of resistance encountered by the first settlers of Calabar is explained by two

factors: first while density was not extremely high, occupiers were seen as a means to

attract public spending in the area, thus increasing the attractiveness and price of the

land. Secondly the land of Calabar had always been under dispute between different

landlords. The 1990 report of the Fundação José Silveira reveals that in the 19th

century the land of Calabar was disputed between three powerful landlords at the

time: the church institution Santa Casa de Misericordia, Army officer Horacio Urpia

Junior and Dr. Vergne de Abreu. During the 20th century the institutions disputing the

land were the Federal University, the Local Government and the Church.

7.2.2 From the 1960s – The Beginning of the Struggle for Security of Tenure

The population of Calabar began to increase significantly from the early 1960s

onwards. The new occupiers were mainly intra-urban migrants. In the second half of

the 1960s the local government demolished many squatter settlements around

Calabar. In the neighbourhood by the coast, Ondina (see Picture 7.1), areas were

cleared out to build luxury hotels. Bico de Ferro was one of the squatter settlements

which was bulldozed. In the neighbourhood Jardim Apipema, the squatter settlement

of Mirante was cleared out for the construction of a housing estate, financed by the

Brazilian Housing Bank (BNH) for the middle income population. According to

Conceição (1984) “during this period many occupations close to Calabar had to yield

space to the political administrative ambitions of the mayor, who demolished the

shacks with tractors to build streets and imposing five star hotels …” (1984:22).

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Thus the low income population living in Calabar and the surrounding areas became

pressurised by the activation of market speculation through the construction of

unaffordable housing and luxurious hotels. Calabar became one of the few refuges for

the low income population within these middle-high income neighbourhoods. The

rapid increase in the density of Calabar during this period can be seen in the

comparison between the maps in Figures 7.1 and 7.2.

Figure 7.1 Settlements in Calabar 1965 Figure 7.2 Settlements in Calabar 1978

Source: Severo, 1999: 47 Source: Severo, 1999: 48

As the densities increased and the occurrence of evictions increased the residents of

Calabar became concerned with security of tenure and the degrading environmental

conditions. In 1978 there were already 1000 families living in Calabar (Conceição,

1984). As settlers began to occupy the slopes of the valley, erosion intensified and

land slides started to take place. The river became an open sewerage, hosting rats and

spreading diseases. Residents recounted that during the period of torrential rains, the

mud brought to the middle of the valley corpses from the cemetery located at the top

of the valley.

After 1978, the population kept increasing. As employment opportunities increased in

the surrounding middle and high income neighbourhoods, Calabar’s attractiveness

was also enhanced. The scarce available land in the valley was occupied and houses

started to grow vertically. The impact of verticalisation worsened the environmental

209

conditions of the squatter settlement. While the process of erosion intensified, the

three and four storeys houses blocked the access of light and circulation of air.

7.2.3 Consolidation of Settlement: Calabar a Place of Poverty and Segregation

By the beginning of the 1990s the population growth of Calabar stabilized as the

capacity of the area reached its limit. However the inadequate living standards of the

squatter settlement remained. The main problems identified in the literature about

Calabar were poor environmental conditions, violence, and segregation.

a) Calabar: as a Place of Poor Environmental Conditions

In 1993 the Fundação José Silveira (1993) carried out a study on the social and

environmental characteristics of Calabar. It reveals that there were 17,200 residents,

of approximately 2,800 families, living in the valley. The majority of the houses were

of one family occupancy. On average there were 4.2 residents per household. The

Fundação José Silveira’s study shows that residents suffered from health problems

frequently due to high density, lack of infrastructure and poor environmental

conditions. The increased density of Calabar by 1993 can be seen in the map (Figure

7.3), where the houses of Pinga appear for the first time.

Figure 7.3 Settlements in Calabar 1993

Source: Severo, 1999: 49

In the seven days of the field research

undertaken by the Fundação José

Silveira in 1993, 49,8 % of the children

under 5 years old suffered from lung

infection, and 9,6% had diarrhoea (FJS,

1993). By 1999, residents of Calabar still

lived in poor environmental conditions.

According to Severo (1999), different

areas of Calabar suffered different types

and levels of environmental degradation

(see Matrix in Section 7.4.1). However

the main problems of most of the area of

Calabar were visual degradation, water

contamination and waste disposal.

210

b) Calabar: as a Place of Violence

Calabar appears in the local newspaper articles most frequently because of the

conflicts between criminals and the police. Drug trafficking in Calabar is often

described as the major factor enhancing violence and gun crime (A Tarde, 2000;

2001; and 2002). Meanwhile a report led by the Brazilian Human Rights Organization

Rede de Observatórios de Direitos Humanos reveals two clarifying aspects about

violence in Calabar. Firstly, it explains that there are different types of violence in

Calabar. Drug trafficking is one of them, but also present is police violence and

violence against women and homosexuals. And secondly it argues that the violence in

Calabar is “socially constructed”, due to a variety of factors: an increasing desire to

consume not matched by consuming power, thus leading to frustration; and a

combination of marginalisation and helplessness with indignation caused by formal

violence (police violence, inadequate health and education opportunities, inhumane

prison system) and marginal violence (drug-trafficking, rape, murder etc…) (Rede de

Observatórios de Direitos Humanos, 2002).

c) Calabar: as a Place of Segregation

Calabar is also described as a socio-economic and ethnic enclave. The inequality

between Calabar and its neighbours can be described visually as well as through the

use of social and economic indicators. Picture 7.2 shows the luxury apartments and

houses with swimming pools of the neighbourhood of Jardim Apipema side by side

with the crowded houses of Calabar.

Picture 7.2: Spatial inequality – Jardim Apipema and Calabar

Source: CONDER (2006)

Jardim Apipema

Calabar

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According to the 2000 national social and economic indicators (IBGE) the income

and educational levels of Calabar inhabitants were drastically lower than their

neighbours. The GIS figures of the selected areas (see map in Figure 7.4) shows that

73.13% of the population earned between 0 and 2 minimum salaries per month2

(CONDER, 2006). According to Severo (1999), the majority of this population

worked in the informal or the service sector, as builders, maids, waiters and shop

attendants. The level of education of the inhabitants of Calabar was also very low.

According to the GIS tools, 46.87% of the population selected had attended up to 4

years of formal education. Thus, half of the population living in Calabar was illiterate

or lacked basic education

Figure 7.4: Calabar - Selected Areas from GIS Programme

Source:CONDER (2006)

These figures become more apposite when compared with those of one of the more

affluent adjacent neighbourhoods, Jardim Apipema (see map in Figure 7.5). There,

densities were a third of Calabar, with 156.33 habitants per hectare. Most of its

population earned more than 10 minimum salaries (64.08% of the population).

Furthermore more than half of the population of Jardim Apipema had attended formal

education for more than 12 years.

2 In March 2006 the rate of the Brazilian minimum salary per month was R$ 300 (Ministerio daFazenda, 2006), which is equivalent to US$ 140 (£78) (March 07, 2006).

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Figure 7.5: Jardim Apipema – Selected Area from GIS Programme


Figures 7.6 and 7.7 show the impressive inequalities that reside side by side in many

Brazilian cities. They compare the income and educational levels of residents of

Calabar and Jardim Apipema. Figure 7.6 highlights the fact that while the majority of

the population in Calabar earns between 0 to 5 minimum salaries, the majority of the

population of Jardim Apipema earns more than 10 minimum salaries. Figure 7.7

compares the different levels of education of the two areas and reveals that nearly no

resident of Calabar went to university, while in Jardim Apipema most of its residents

did. Thus, Calabar is an economic enclave, where levels of income are low and ability

to get a well paid job are limited due to insufficient educational level of its

inhabitants. However, it can be argued that there is a functional relationship between

Calabar with Jardim Apipema, as Calabar provides service workers (and drugs) to its

middle class neighbourhoods.

213

Figure 7.6: Income Levels of the Population of Calabar and Jardim Apipema (2006)

0 to 22 to 5

5 to 1010 to 20

more

than 20

Calabar

0

20

40

60

80

Calabar

Jardim Apipema

Source: Compiled from CONDER (2006)

Figure 7.7: Levels of Formal Education of the Population of Calabar and Jardim

Apipema (2006)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

up to 4 5 to 12 more than 12

Calabar

Jardim Apipema

Source: Compiled from CONDER (2006)

According to Conceição (1984) Calabar was also an ethnic enclave, where

descendents of African slaves struggled against the white’s economic and cultural

pressures. The organized occupation of Calabar was perceived as a means to acquire

not only housing rights, but also the right for an African culture and identity. Thus,

education became one of the focuses of the collective mobilizations of Calabar,

leading to the construction of a community school. According to a local teacher,

Passos, “the community school can talk about the black population as beautiful and a

citizen. Such elements are not mentioned in the didactic books of the conventional

schools” (in Raça, 1998: http://www2.uol.com.br...).

Years attending formalschool

% ofpopulation

No. of minimumsalaries

% ofpopulation

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7.3 The Squatter Upgrading Intervention

Calabar is also described in the existing literature as a place of collective mobilisation,

where the struggle of the community-based organization led to several improvements

in the squatter settlement. This section describes how the neighbourhood association

was formed and the interventions were implemented.

7.3.1 The Community Struggle and the First Interventions

At the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s the process of collective organized

occupation of land intensified. Many communities were getting organized to struggle

for security of tenure and social-environmental improvements (Gordilho, 2000).

According to Reis (1991), Calabar was a pioneer community in setting up an

organized neighbourhood association, which became an inspiration and example for

other community-based organizations of Salvador da Bahia. The first interventions in

Calabar were a result of the struggle between community mobilisation and

paternalistic politicians interested in votes rather than in tackling the causes of

deprivation. This section analyses this stage of development in Calabar in detail to

reveal the mechanisms of community mobilisation and paternalism.

a) The first steps – United Youth of Calabar (JUC)

In 1977 a group of young residents of Calabar, varying from 14 to 21 years old,

formed the community organization Jovens Unidos do Calabar – United Youth of

Calabar (JUC). Their first activities were to set up regular weekly meetings and run

community self-help initiatives. The first of these occurred in November 1977 to fix a

water fountain, which ended up involving many residents and led to a weekend of

organized cleaning of Calabar. Soon afterwards an assembly with all residents of the

valley was arranged and their main concerns were shared. According to Conceição

(1984), one of the initiators of JUC, the organization was a reaction to the increased

insecurity of tenure, worsening health conditions, stigmatization of Calabar as a place

of marginality and the increase in violent attacks by the police.

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Another important factor contributing to the formation and consolidation of JUC and

many other community-based organizations in Salvador da Bahia, was the support

from the local priests, in the case of Calabar, of the priest Rubens Andrade. The priest

supported the initiative of the youngsters, which contributed to the acceptance by the

community of JUC as their representative organization.

In 1979 the local mayor Mario Kertèsz, in the middle of a re-election campaign,

contacted JUC and visited the neighbourhood. This was the first governmental official

visit to Calabar. Leaders of JUC were then invited by the municipal government for a

series of meetings to discuss intervention policies in Calabar. The first project to come

out of these meetings was the rubbish collection project, which had the innovative

character of involving the community-based organization in the process of its

formulation and implementation. The municipal government would provide material

necessary for the collection and a monthly salary to JUC. This organization would

then be responsible for the administration and running of the service. Fifteen youths

(12-18 yrs) who were members of the community were employed by the project. The

initiative worked until 1981 when the municipal government stopped funding for the

project.

Meanwhile the municipality proposed the displacement of the population of Calabar

to a residential area on the outskirts of the town. Together with the JUC, the

community did not accept the proposal. They believed they had the right to remain in

the same locality and to receive improvements through physical and social

interventions (Severo, 2000). However, other than the rubbish collection programme,

the municipal government did not implement any improvements. JUC organized

community mobilisation and newspapers increased the visibility of their demands. At

the end of 1980 the government agreed to start to engage in the process of

regularization of the area by a process of communal land title. It was only in 1985 that

the area of 79.354 m² became recognised as an Area of Socio-Environmental

Protection, thus guaranteeing the legal security of tenure of the residents of Calabar.

Up to then, a series of demonstrations and activities had been organized by the

community with the ambition of getting the promised communal land title and the

physical and social improvements. (Severo, 1999)

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b) The 1980s – Neighbourhood Association and the First Interventions

After a couple of years of work, JUC had to face its first crisis. Leaders were

disagreeing and many members left due to the intense amount of work. Thus it was

decided to open up the running of the organization to all the members of the

community. The Neighbourhood Association Sociedade Beneficiente Recreativa do

Calabar (SBRC) – Beneficent Recreational Society of Calabar – was formed. Its first

initiative was a demonstration on the 11th of May of 1981. Residents and sympathizers

went to the square in front of the office of the mayor to demand improvements to

Calabar. This was the first freely-organized demonstration since the establishment of

the military regime in 1964. The event was covered by local and national newspapers

(Conceição, 1984).

By then, Calabar had become an example of social mobilisation and organization that

encouraged other squatter settlements to form their own neighbourhood associations.

Meanwhile it maintained its political neutrality, by not associating with any political

party. The main objective of SBRC was to bring improvements to Calabar and

strengthen the housing movement of Salvador da Bahia. Thus SBRC also received

leaders of other neighbourhood association to share with them their experience and

knowledge. One of the leaders trained by SBRC was Idelson Moura, a current leader

of the neighbourhood association of Novos Alagados, Primeiro de Maio (Field

interview, 2005).

The demonstrations and the pressures exhorted through the media led to the first

systematized intervention. From August 1981 and September 1982 a series of

improvements took place in Calabar. The municipal government sponsored the

construction of stairs, ramps and some infrastructure. The main access road was paved

and drained, thus allowing the access of vehicles, services of water, sewerage and

electricity as well as rubbish collection and ambulances. However, improvements

were more concerned with political interests rather than having a real impact on the

living conditions of the valley. The solution given to the open sewage of Calabar

illustrates the palliative character of the intervention. Instead of canalizing the sewage

and providing a definite solution to the problem, a series of plates were placed on top

of it, covering the sewage. These plates were especially produced for the intervention.

217

After the construction was concluded, the plates were not produced anymore. Once

they started to break, there was no available replacement (Severo, 1999).

During this period of mobilization and organization, SBRC organized the construction

of the most significant community achievement by then in Salvador da Bahia: the

construction of the community school Escola Aberta do Calabar. In July 1982,

together with a group of university students, SBRC wrote-up the project and sent it to

the National Ministry of Education. The project was approved and the SBRC

organized teacher training courses for residents and study groups to come up with the

curriculum. The objective of the school was to implement Freire’s philosophy of

‘pedagogy of the oppressed’ based on concientization, critical thought and awareness.

Through community self-help, in three months an area was cleared and the school was

built. In 1983 the school started functioning, employing residents of Calabar and

offering an opportunity for local children to go to a community school. Escola Aberta

soon became a symbol of the achievements of community organization and a topic of

many studies by pedagogy and anthropology students and researchers. The

accomplishments of Calabar reached a national audience with a meeting of squatter

inhabitants from 14 Brazilian states that took place in Calabar, June 1983. This was

the first national squatter inhabitants meeting that took place in Salvador, and SBRC

was the main reason to take it there (Conceição, 1984).

In 1984 SBRC elaborated another project with an innovative character: an

employment generation centre, PROVIDA. The plan aimed at opening local

entrepreneurial initiatives, which would create employment and the profits would be

invested in the community. The initial idea involved opening a soap and ice-cream

factory, a bakery and a grocery store. While resources were being fundraised for the

construction of the centre, an employment agency had already started to run. The first

stage of construction of the PROVIDA building was concluded in 1985 but the

entrepreneurial activities were slow to take off.

While SBRC remained active throughout the 1980s, another systematic urban

intervention from the government would only take place again in the beginning of

1990. In the meantime a local newspaper of the name Kalabari, printed and distributed

218

by young members of the SBRC, was informing the community about events,

important happenings and the development of the on-going projects.

7.3.2 The Occupation of Pinga and the 1990s Interventions

The area that this research focuses on is a street in the south east of Calabar (see

Picture 7.3), known by its residents as Pinga and where improvements took place in

1990. The origin of the settlement is linked to the increased densification and

degraded living conditions in the valley.

Picture 7.3: Calabar and Pinga

Source: Google Earth

a) The Formation of Pinga

After the torrential rains of the summer of 1985, 16 families lost their houses. The

army built provisional shelter in the area, while the government had the ambition to re

house these families on the outskirts of the city. However the families’ ambition was

to remain in Calabar. During the Carnival of 1987 a group of residents of Calabar,

organized by SBRC, occupied the area which is known as Pinga to build wood

shelters for these families. This area was owned by the Federal University, however

had never been used. The police intervened, but due to the pressure from the

Pinga

219

community and lack of plans from the University to use the land, an agreement was

reached and the occupiers were allowed to stay (Field work interview).

Meanwhile SBRC engaged in the task to find funds for a housing project for the 16

families. SBRC found an international NGO that wanted to fund the project, but could

not transfer money directly to the neighbourhood association. At the same time the

Foundation José Silveira (FJS) was interested in helping Calabar by intervening with

health projects. FJS was approached and asked if they would like to get involved in a

housing project. The idea was accepted with enthusiasm from FJS, which then

proposed to draw with SBRC an “Integrated Project of Calabar” that would go beyond

housing and health. The project was rapidly put together and the partnership started to

work from 1990.

b) The Partnership and the Integrated Project of Calabar3

The Integrated Project of Calabar had wanted to run a series of physical and social

interventions in Calabar. They would be led by SBRC, but assisted by the technicians,

social workers and nurses from FJS. The objective of FJS was to support the

community-based organization to enhance the sustainability of the developments that

had been taking place. According to Madeiro, one of the workers of FJS, “this is an

integrated project, which aims at enhancing the quality of life of the targeted

population, through interventions in the area of sanitation, education, housing, health

and employment” (A Tarde, 1993:2).

The project became the first initiative in Salvador da Bahia of squatter settlement

upgrading led by a community-based organization aimed at tackling the social as well

as physical needs of the community. Another crucial and innovative objective of the

partnership between FJS and SBRC was to strengthen the community-based

organization by improving the institutional capacity of the organization. It is difficult

to know the exact amount of funding spent on the projects and their origins as they

came from different sources including FJS, donations, international NGOs and

municipal, state and federal governments. The FJS and SBRC worked together until

3 The information for this section was compiled from the FJS publications (1991, 1993, 1994 and 2006)

220

1993, and below we review the main projects that came out from the three years of

partnership.

i) Housing Projects

The housing projects were divided in two stages. The first one took place in 1991 and

the second in 1992.

Stage 1: The first stage of the project and the focus of this research had the objective

of re-housing the displaced families of the 1984 and 1985 rains. The area where the

new houses were to be built was denominated Vila Eliane Azevedo, but known by its

residents as Pinga. Forty six houses were built in an area of approximately 6,253 m²

(see Picture 7.4). Each house had a bathroom, living room/kitchen, and one bedroom,

which added up to a space of 22m². Also as part of this intervention, 103 houses under

risk of collapse were identified in Calabar and improved.

Before interventions took place, an assembly was convened to decide on the main

characteristics of the housing project. In the meeting the leaders of SBRC, technicians

of FJS and the residents of the new houses were present. In the meeting it was decided

to build houses in pairs, with shared walls. Even though shared walls were strongly

disliked by residents, this decision was taken so that there would be enough space to

houses all residents of the area. New houses were to be built in the same spot where

existing shelters were already built. FJS would provide technicians and architects,

who would assist residents to build their houses through community self help. This

would reduce the cost of the project, thus allowing for more houses to be built.

Finally, it was decided that houses should be built with a foundation due to the eroded

condition of the soil, but which also allowed residents to build a second floor in the

future.

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Picture 7.4: Vila Eliana de Azevedo, Pinga


The houses were to be connected to services, electricity, water and sewerage. The

stream that ran through the middle of the houses, which had become an open sewage,

was to be canalized and a street was to be built on top of it.

Stage 2: After the first stage of the project was concluded, FJS aimed at expanding its

housing interventions in the area of Calabar. The second stage of the project planned

to build 258 new houses and improve another 331 houses. The houses were to be of

similar typology. Community self-help would be substituted by paid work. A team

was to be formed to carry out the building and improvements of the houses. While in

the first stage a whole street was built, in the second stage the intervention hoped to

focus on individual houses. When improvements could not take place due to the poor

condition of the infrastructure of the house, a new one would be built in the same

place of the shelter. Most of the new houses were planned to be built by the north

entrance to Calabar.

ii) Education

The ambition of the project was to encourage education in Calabar by improving its

education facilities and by running courses targeted at teachers and students. The

physical and pedagogical capacity of the community school was revitalised. Another

Stage 1: Pinga

222

floor was to be added to the Escola Aberta. Building material would be provided by

FJS and the labour by the community, through community self-help. Teaching courses

would be run by students from the Federal University which aimed at improving the

teaching capacity of local teachers. Awareness and concientization projects were also

planned, such as health and environmental education.

iii) Employment

The employment and income generation aspect of the project was seen as one of the

principal means to increase the sustainability of the CBO which would enhance the

long term impacts of the project. Thus the project aimed at revitalising the Provida

initiative and running capacity building courses. The physical installations of the

Provida building were to be concluded. The building of 452 m², where the Provida

project had been running since 1985, was still not finalised. Sponsored in 1991 from

the state Department of Employment and Social Action, the bakery was to be

revitalised with new machines and training courses.

The project also hoped to revitalise other existing initiatives and create new courses.

The grocery shop was to be improved. New projects included the creation of an ice

cream factory, a printing shop, a paper recycling centre. A venue for seminars,

courses, parties and events was to be built, within which courses for employment

generation would be ran on culinary, construction and cleaning. All these initiatives

would be run by SBRC, generating employment locally and outside Calabar. The

profits would be invested in further improvements of Calabar.

iv) Health

The major focus of the project was to improve the health conditions of Calabar. In

1990 the project obtained funding from the National Ministry of welfare to build a

local heath centre named Ivone Silveira. The format of the contract was the same as

for the other initiatives: the funds for the construction was provided by the

government, Calabar would provide the space and labour for the construction of the

site and the skilled staff such as architects and nurses would be provided and

employed by FJS.

223

Meanwhile the open sewage was another aspect the project wanted to tackle. A

system of drainage and sanitation aimed at improving the environmental conditions of

Calabar was planned to contain the spread of diseases.

As a means to improve the environmental quality of Calabar, a leisure area was

proposed by the project. The location would be by the southern exit of Calabar. The

objective was to create a space for leisure for the young people of Calabar while also

encouraging interaction with young people from the neighbouring areas.

v) Strengthening Community Organization

Community organization was to be strengthened through the creation of spaces for

open discussions as well as providing capacity building courses for the administrators

of SBRC. The former objective was achieved through the creation of the community

radio. While being a space for discussion and dialogue between the residents of

Calabar and SBRC, the radio station also aimed being an educational tool, running

programmes on hygiene, cooking, employment opportunities and informing people

about forthcoming events.

Finally sustainability would be enhanced through courses for the administrators of

SBRC. They aimed at improving their ability to write projects, monitor assessments,

budgets and the bureaucratic requirements from funding institutions.

7.4 Initial Analysis of Integrated Project of Calabar

This section reviews existing literature on the impacts of the intervention in the

neighbourhood of Calabar during the 1980s and beginning of 1990s. Interviews with

stakeholders, where they give their evaluation of the improvements, are also used to

complement this initial assessment. Three main dimensions of analysis were explored

by literature and interviews: environmental improvements, the engagement of the

community-based organisation and the role of the Fundação Jose Silveira (FJS).

224

7.4.1 Environmental Impacts

Severo (1999) investigated in detail the environmental degradation in different areas

within Calabar, including Vila Eliana Azevedo, the area of Pinga. Maps of slope

declivity and soil occupation, data of analyses of water conditions and other field data

were used to produce an impact matrix (see table 7.1).

Table 7.1: Evaluation of environmental conditions of Calabar

Source: Severo (1999: 70), translated by author

The assessment concluded that Vila Eliana Azevedo is less environmentally degraded

area than the other regions of Calabar, with generally acceptable standards of

environmental conditions.

In the region denominated the area of the University or Vila Eliana

Azevedo, the living conditions are better. The houses are of better

quality, as they were built under orientation/ sponsorship of the

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Fundação Jose Silveira, thus being plastered, painted and provided with

some basic infrastructure. Nevertheless, some already show cracks on

their walls. The risk of landslide is negligible because the slope is very

soft and the presence of vegetation is still significant (Severo, 1999: 65).

On the other hand, the study revealed that the water of Vila Eliana Azevedo was

significantly contaminated. Nearly all samples analysed detected the existence of

faecal coliforms. The study argued that this level of contamination occurred because

the canal that runs underneath the whole region of Vila Eliana Azevedo received the

sewage and drainage of the higher altitude neighbouring regions (Severo, 1999).

7.4.2 The Engagement of the Community-based Organization

The interviews and literature identified argues that the community-based organization

of Calabar was essential for the social and physical improvements that took place in

the neighbourhood. It also provided a lead to the housing movement of Salvador

which pressured for more responsive low income housing policies and better living

conditions for squatter inhabitants of the city.

The history of the community-based organization is described in detail in a book

written by one of its founders, Fernando Conceição (1984). He argued that the

community mobilization and the formation of the neighbourhood association at the

end of the 1970s led to improvements in the neighbourhood, such as the development

of an environmental awareness, garbage collection, installation of the community

radio, pavement of streets and construction of the community school.

The community leader Lindalva dos Santos, who was the president of the CBO at the

time of the intervention in Pinga, explained that the CBO was essential for the

construction of the Vila Eliana Azevedo. Dos Santos argued that the land, where the

houses were built, was only made available because of the occupation organized by

the neighbourhood association. Furthermore she said: “The association found the

funds for the intervention from an international NGO. But these funds could not be

transferred directly to the Association, so we asked the Fundação Jose Silveira, to

come in. The government did not have anything to do with these improvements”

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(Interview, July 2004). According to dos Santos the intervention was very successful

due to the quality of the houses and the level of participation: the project was led by

the community-based organization; residents could remain where they were; the

houses were adapted to the residents’ preferences; and by now they have been

improved and expanded.

Meanwhile Samuel Reis, advisor of the human rights secretary of the municipal

government of Rio de Janeiro who worked with the Calabar CBO throughout the

1980s, argues that the impact of the Calabar CBO was greater than the social and

physical improvements of its neighbourhood. “The neighbourhood association of

Calabar was one of the leaders of the squatter movement of Salvador. With its

leadership, the Movimento em Defesa dos Favelados, MDF, (Movement in Defence of

Squatter inhabitants) was formed in 1983” (Interview, September 2006). Reis

explained that many of the improvements and rights acquired by squatter inhabitants

since the mid-1980s were due to organized pressure from MDF. One of the longest

lasting impacts of the movement was the construction of 14 community schools in

squatter settlements of Salvador from 1983 and 1989.

The community school of Calabar was assessed in an article in the national magazine

Raça (1998) as a successful initiative that used alternative pedagogical methodology

based on the writings of Paulo Freire with the objective of generating empowerment,

awareness and concientization.

The work of the neighbourhood association was also explored by an undergraduate

report from Social Work students of the Universidade Catolica do Salvador

supervised by professor Romani (Marques et al, 2003). Their findings were that “the

activities and functions initiated by the community-based organization, often took on

the role of the public authority, but were also of great importance in minimizing the

precarious subsistence conditions of the community’s residents” (2003:11).

Improvements outlined were: the construction of the police station, health clinic,

community school, bakery and radio; and social programmes like vocational courses,

health assistance and provision of the milk and bread. Nevertheless, the report

acknowledged it was essential for the success of the projects that partnerships were

established by the neighbourhood association with organizations from outside the

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neighbourhood, like GAPA (Group of Support for and Prevention of HIV/AIDS) and

the Fundação Jose Silveira.

7.4.3 The Role of the Fundação José Silveira

The intervention of the Foundation in Calabar was assessed by their staff and the

report as having a positive impact on the improvement of the quality of life of the

neighbourhood, while also leading to the long term sustainability of the community-

based organization. According to the Foundation, from 1990 to 1996 “the Fundação

Jose Silveira carried out housing improvements, the construction of 240 houses and

one health clinic, as well as revitalizing the community school and the vocational

centre” (FJS, 2006: http://www.fjs.org.br). After 1996 the role of FJS changed,

moving from a partner position to a consultant, as the neighbourhood association

achieved self sustainability by being able to manage its own projects (FJS, 2006).

The improvements at Calabar generated by the partnership with the FJS were also

highlighted in an article published by the local newspaper A Tarde (2000). According

to A Tarde (2000), the housing improvements and the construction or revitalisation of

the main equipment of Calabar, such as the health clinic, community school, and the

vocational and income generation centre took place due to the partnership with FJS.

A social worker from FJS involved in the works in Calabar, Luciana Garcia, argued

that the sustainability of the community organization by 1996 was achieved because

of the social programmes set up in partnership between the neighbourhood association

and FJS, such as pedagogical support to the community school, the environmental and

health awareness programmes, vocational courses and employment generation

initiatives with the installation of the bakery and mercenary. Luciana Garcia also

stressed that “all the work of the FJS had as a fundamental principle to work in

partnership with the community of Calabar, the local leaders, and technicians from

FJS and other entities whether non-governmental or from the public authorities”

(Interview, May 2004). This approach was then considered essential for strengthening

the local community-based organization, avoid dependency and assure the long term

sustainability of the intervention of FJS.

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7.4.4 The Gaps

The analysis drawn out from the existing literature and interviews show that there has

been a significant environmental improvement in the area of Vila Eliana Azevedo and

that the community-based organization has been strengthened through physical

implementation and social programmes. While it has been argued by FJS that the

intervention has achieved a high level of sustainability, Severo (1999) showed that 8

years after the intervention took place the walls of some of the houses were cracking

and the water presented high levels of contamination.

Nevertheless, the evaluations are not comprehensive and do not engage with

residents’ perceptions and preferences. Apart from Severo’s (1999) environmental

analysis, the researches and reports were superficial, lacking content and evidence.

The role of the SBRC has not being explored comprehensively. Studies and

evaluations did not explore the limitations of improvements led by the community-

based organization. Furthermore, none of the evaluations took into account the

perceptions of residents on housing and how they have been met by the physical and

social interventions.

7.5 Presentation of Data and Micro Analysis: Calabar

This section outlines and analyses the data gathered during the field work. The

objective of this micro analysis is to evaluate the squatter upgrading intervention in

Calabar within a capability framework. Focus group activities and semi-structured

interviews elaborate on the five housing freedoms identified (individualise and

expand; afford living costs; have a healthy environment; maintain social networks and

participate in decision making) (see Appendix 3 for comments from semi-structured

interviews and Appendix 4 for choices from focus groups). This exploration outlines

and analyses how the features of the squatter upgrading in Pinga (i.e. educational

projects, house typology and etc…) impacted on residents’ housing freedom.

Focus groups generated discussions on what type of interventions the communities

would like to have in their neighbourhood, and also revealed the reasons why. Then

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the participants of the focus group undertook a comparison between the improvements

the group prioritised and the interventions implemented by the squatter upgrading

initiatives described in the previous section.

In addition the twenty semi-structured interviews with residents of Pinga explored

more in-depth the impacts of the upgrading initiatives on their five housing

functionings. The objective of this research tool was to generate a more personal

account on how the squatter upgrading projects expanded or limited the ability of

squatter inhabitants to achieve their valued housing functionings. Thus, this

evaluation elaborates on the Calabar inhabitants’ capabilities to achieve the valued

functionings.

Through a general and initial quantification of the results of the focus group activities

and interviews, it is possible to conclude that the project was quite responsive to

residents’ expectations, which led to a high level of satisfaction with the

improvements that took place. Out of the 81 features of a squatter settlement

intervention prioritized by the four focus groups, 41 were implemented by the

community led project. In other words, approximately half of the focus group

participants’ expectations were met by the community led initiative. Such a level of

responsiveness reflected the high amount of positive comments about the upgrading

project recorded during the semi-structured interviews. There were 374 comments of

respondents recorded, 72 of which criticised the intervention while 114 praised it.

Thus, 57 percent of the comments of the respondents recorded were positive remarks

about the intervention.

These general findings reveal a correlation between levels of responsiveness and

satisfaction. However this analysis of the data collected aims at going further than

engaging on a quantification of qualitative data. It presents the micro findings of the

evaluation of the intervention in Calabar discursively, outlining discussions during

focus group activities and arguments recorded during semi-structured interviews. The

objective of this section is to clarify the impacts of the intervention in Calabar on the

five housing freedoms: to individualise and expand; to afford living costs; to live in a

healthy environment; to participate in decision-making; and to maintain social

networks. The features of the squatter upgrading intervention elaborated by

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participants of focus groups and interviewees were aggregated into aspects of housing

freedoms. The micro analysis of the intervention in Novos Alagados, involved the

features of the squatter upgrading project being analysed according to their individual,

collective and institutional character.

7.5.1 Freedom to Individualise and Expand

Two main aspects of the freedom to individualise and expand were elaborated by the

participants of focus groups and interviewees: the house typology and design and the

familiarity with construction technology. While for residents in Novos Alagados the

legal permit influenced the freedom to individualise and expand, the residents of

Calabar that participated on interviews and focus groups did not elaborate on this

legal aspect. The reason for that probably is due to the time lapsed since the

intervention took place. This and other comparative issues are further developed in

Chapter 8.

a) House Typology and Design

The house typology cards prioritised during the focus group activities disclosed that

participants had different ideals of what their houses should look like, the female

group4 valuing improvements of shacks (see Appendix 4, column 2, card 0), the male

group a plot of land with an embryo house (see Appendix 4, column 3, card 2), the

youth group a detached house (see Appendix 4, column 4, card 3) and the leaders

group a block of flats (see Appendix 4, column 5, card 7). However discussions with

the female, male and youth groups revealed that the underlying motivation of

participants was the ability to expand and individualise their houses. This motivation

is noted by the other typology cards prioritised, such as the roof of cement slab and

foundations.

Meanwhile the evaluation of the impact of the housing typology of the intervention on

residents’ freedom to individualise and expand was not uniform. On one hand the

4 As in the previous chapter, for reasons of clarity every time information from focus groups wasdisclosed, the respective group where preference was undertaken was underlined. The precise locationof the choices of the groups presented in the table of analysis (Appendix 3) is outlined in italics.Meanwhile, quotations from respondents are also disclosed in italics. Interviews and focus groups wereundertaken from May to August 2005.

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responses from semi-structured interviews revealed several comments about the

freedom to change and expand their houses due to the house typology and design.

Seventeen interviewees praised the physical characteristics of the houses which were

adequate for expansion (see Picture 7.5).

Picture 7.5: Houses Adequate for Expansion

Eleven interviewees mentioned that

they were satisfied with the

foundations provided with the houses,

because in this way it was easier to

build a second floor. Respondent 16

said: “I like the house because I have

space to expand and I can modify the

house as I wish.” Respondent 15 said:

“The size was good, and in time I

could slowly improve. I expanded in

the front and I made a small terrace. I

also built strong pillars, and now I am

building the second floor.”


Also nine interviewees said they like the space provided for a backyard and terrace or

that their houses were detached from the neighbours.

On the other hand the data shows that not everybody benefited equally from this

house typology. Three interviewees said that they did not like the fact that not all

houses were built with a foundation, which limited their freedom to build a second

floor. The male and the youth group also criticised the fact that not all houses were

built with foundations. Another house typology criticised by the focus group

participants and interviewees was the shared wall feature of the houses, which would

be compromising their ability to expand. Respondent 9 said: “I can hear everything

that happens in the house of my neighbour, there is no privacy here”. Respondent 12

said: “I don’t like shared wall because when I built my second floor, I had to build a

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pillar inside my house which reduced even more the size of my small living room”.

However, many of the residents argued that even disliking the shared wall, the

decision to build in this style was taken in an assembly by the community so that all

residents of Pinga could remain there. Respondent 16 explained: “I don’t like the

shared wall, but we decided to build like this because there was not enough space for

every body if we had built differently. For everybody to stay here, we needed to build

like this.”

Meanwhile the evaluation of the female, male, and youth focus group reveals that the

prioritised roof made of cement slab was not implemented by the intervention (see

Appendix 4, column 2, 3, and 4, card 11). This feature was valued because it would

had helped residents in the construction of the second floor of the house.

The leaders group acknowledged that residents strongly valued the freedom to

individualise and expand and that the physical characteristics of the house influenced

this freedom. However, discussions led the group to prioritise a block of flats because

of the high density of the neighbourhood and its potential to enhance collective bonds

(see Appendix 4, column 5, card 7). While the other three groups and interviews

elaborated on interventions that could mostly enhance the individuals’ freedom to

expand and individualise, the leaders valued a housing feature that prioritized

collective over individual freedom.

b) Familiarity

The second aspect affecting residents’ freedom to expand and individualise revealed

by the data collected is the level of familiarity with the construction technology

employed. The four focus group discussions revealed that participants believe that

familiarity was enhanced due to the technology used and the process of

implementation employed. According to the female, male and youth groups, the

structural system of pillars and foundation valued by the groups was implemented by

the project (see Appendix 4, column 2, 3, and 4, card 12; column 4, card 165; column

2 and 3, card 17). Meanwhile the community self-help strategy was seen as a positive

process that improved residents’ knowledge of building and construction.

5 In Appendix, this card has been evaluated by the youth group as not implemented, however due to thelack of internal divisions rather than the lack of structural system with pillars.

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However, the four focus groups activities revealed that participants would have

implemented other labour and building materials strategies which could have

enhanced other positive aspects of the intervention. The acquisition of building

materials from local shops (see Appendix 4, column 2 and 3, card 21) or self-made

(see Appendix 4, column 4 and 5, card 22), and the formation of building cooperatives

(see Appendix 4, column 3, 4, and 5, card 23), which could have been contracted by

the intervention, were some of the solutions prioritised, and not implemented. The

motivation behind these choices was to propose solutions which could have impacted

on the familiarity with the construction technology, but also generating income and

strengthening community bonds in the long term.

Thus, this analysis reveals that residents perceived the different dimensions of

housing to be interconnected. Also they perceived that a squatter upgrading

programme impacts on these multiple housing dimensions. Therefore their process of

prioritisation took into consideration the impacts on all these dimensions.

Furthermore, the discussions from the focus group emphasised how the process of

implementation should not only enhance the individual’s ability to expand their

houses through increased familiarity, but also collective mechanisms to generate

income and maintain social networks.

7.5.2 Freedom to Afford Living Costs

The freedom to afford living costs is shaped by mainly two aspects: the expenditure

and income of the household.

a) Household Expenditure

The rise in household expenditure was not mentioned as a problem that compromised

the freedom to afford living costs. Residents did not have to pay for the new houses,

which was valued as a positive characteristic of the intervention. However the male

and leaders groups argued that if income generation opportunities were created, then

they would have preferred to pay for the houses to enhance a feeling of ownership and

security (see Appendix 4, column 3 and 5, card 58). Individual land title, instead of

community land concession, was prioritised by the four focus groups, even though it

led to the payment of land taxes (see Appendix 4, column 2, 3, 4, and 5, card 56). The

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reason given by the groups was to increase residents’ freedom to do whatever they

liked with their land and house in a legal fashion.

Apart from the leaders’ group, all the other focus groups argued that the project has

regularised tenure through the distribution of individual land titles. Leaders explained

that residents were given concession of ownership, but not land titles. Meanwhile all

groups welcomed regulations to avoid land speculation and gentrification.

Furthermore, sixteen interviewees mentioned that the community bakery established

by the neighbourhood association provided cheaper and larger bread. Generally there

were not many complaints about the rise of household costs probably because

upgrading and connection to services took place not recently, and thus people had

time to deal and adapt to the expenses created by the improvements.

b) Household Income

Participants of the focus groups and interviewees identified that there were income

generation opportunities created, however they were not enough to ensure residents

the freedom to afford living costs due to the unequal distribution of opportunities and

the perpetuating structural conditions. Half of the interviewees argued that the

vocational courses offered by the neighbourhood association increased the residents’

ability to obtain employment. Respondent 19 explained: “There was a vocational

course once provided by a telephone company together with the association for 20

young residents of Calabar and which gave a scholarship and possibility of

employment once the course was concluded. I did not finish it, but friends of mine that

did are now working for the telephone company.” Respondent 8 also explained how

she learned to knit and paint in one of the association’s courses. Today she gets

money by fixing people’s clothes and making cushions. She also mentioned that the

association is organizing an exhibition with her work and that of her colleagues.

However the data collected revealed that courses provided by the association were not

enough to assure the freedom to afford living costs. Focus group activities revealed

that not all residents from Pinga benefited from the vocational courses. The youth and

leaders group argued that vocational courses were implemented (see Appendix 4,

column 4 and 5, card 50), while the female and male groups argued that it did not take

place (see Appendix 4, column 2 and 3, card 50).

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The discussions during focus groups also revealed that opportunities created by the

neighbourhood association were not distributed evenly. Residents in the area of Pinga

were not as quickly informed about courses as residents living closer to the

neighbourhood association centre. This limited their opportunity to enrol in them on

time. In this sense the analysis revealed collective mechanisms enhancing the

residents’ opportunity to obtain employment, but also an unequal process of

distribution of such opportunities.

Furthermore, structural conditions were analysed, revealing the absence to credits for

small business, unavailability of employment opportunities, and the stigmatisation of

Calabar as a place of vagabonds and criminals. Respondent 16 related to the lack of

success of vocational courses to generate income: “I enjoyed learning about baking

sweets. It was difficult to get money as a baker afterwards because I did not have

money to buy the cooking ingredients. But here at home it is me that bakes the cakes

for the parties and birthdays”.

Four respondents have argued that lack of employment is a problem for residents of

Calabar. This is surprising as 75 per cent of the interviewed were unemployed or very

low paid workers doing occasional odd-jobs. The reason for such a counter intuitive

outcome on employment concerns seems to be because interviewees compared

Calabar with other low income neighbourhoods. The common perception is that

among the available areas for the poor to live, Calabar is not a bad place to look for

jobs. As argued by respondent 13: “I don’t move from here because there are worse

places than here”.

Nevertheless the interviewees that talked about the lack of employment argued that

unemployment strengthens the drug traffic organizations which then supports the

stigmatization of the neighbourhood, finally inhibiting the ability of other residents to

get jobs. Respondent 11 said: “What generates criminals is the lack of employment …

It is also necessary to end with the prejudice from companies that do not employ

people from Calabar, thinking that all of us are criminals.” Two residents have

mentioned that stigmatization of Calabar, as an area of criminality, affects their ability

to get jobs. Finally, three respondents also argued that their income generation ability

is constrained by the fact that there is no access for cars to the area of Pinga.

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Respondent 5 said: “It is impossible to set up a shop here, cars don’t come here, the

area is too closed and just for local residents”.

Thus, interviewees and focus group participants argued that they were satisfied with

staying in Calabar because of its location in the city and the proximity to employment

opportunities. At the same time, interviewees also mentioned that a problem

compromising their ability to obtain employment is not only the lack of employment

opportunities but also the reputation of Calabar as a ‘place of criminals’. By reflecting

on how the stigmatisation of poor neighbourhoods compromises low income urban

inhabitants’ freedom to afford living costs, interviewees engaged on a structural

analysis of their housing freedom.

7.5.3 Freedom to Live in a Healthy Environment

The interviews and focus groups at Calabar revealed five aspects of the freedom to

have a healthy environment: physical conditions; access to health services; education

facilities; leisure; and safety.

a) Physical Conditions

The features associated with the physical conditions of the squatter intervention

addressed the impacts of the house, and the neighbourhoods’ infrastructure and

services. Most of the residents praised the quality of the houses built, by arguing that

there were made of good quality materials. Seventeen respondents argued that they

were quite satisfied with their houses because of the good quality of the bricks, the

tiles, the floor or the bathroom.

On the other hand, interviewees have complained about features of the house. Six

interviewees mentioned the lack of appropriate space for expansion, which led to high

density and lack of privacy (see Picture 7.6). Four interviewees criticised the size of

the houses, arguing they are too small. As argued by respondent 9: “My house before

the upgrading was bigger. I don’t have space even to put up a table now.”

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Picture 7.6: Street in Pinga


Eleven interviewees argued that the services and infrastructure installed had had a

positive impact on the squatter inhabitants’ freedom to have a healthy environment.

However residents also argued that infrastructure was inappropriate, while services

were poorly maintained. Thus, ten interviewees argued that insalubrity was tackled by

the intervention but not overcomed. Flooding, land slides, lack of maintenance of

services were mentioned as remaining problems. Respondent 10 explained how the

main sewerage pipe is becoming eroded, and the water carries away the soil

underneath some of the houses: “This is a problem of maintenance. They will only do

something about it when somebody dies”. Respondent 13 also argued that the lack of

maintenance is leading to appalling conditions: “When it rains the defecation from the

toilet comes up and spreads throughout the house. Last weekend I was cleaning for

two days and the smell is still here”.

The result is the compromise on residents’ freedom to have a healthy environment as

floods occur frequently, sewerage gets blocked, and rats are often seen in the street.

This analysis of the physical conditions of Pinga links local living conditions to

institutional limitations to ensure a healthy environment. However it does not

elaborate on how and why these limitations take place. The participatory methods

reveal the impacts of the poor service delivery and maintenance, but it does not reveal

the causes for this malfunctioning.

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b) Access to Health Services

The issue of access to health services was not addressed in detail by interviewees and

focus group participants. The female and youth groups prioritised the card of a health

clinic, which they argued was implemented by the intervention (see Appendix 4,

column 2 and 4, 40). Six interviewees also argued that the health clinic that was built

by the squatter intervention improved their freedom to have a healthy environment.

Interviewees did not mention any health facility among the suggestions for

improvements in the neighbourhood. Therefore access to health services did not

surface from the data collected as an issue preoccupying residents of Calabar. Taking

into consideration the precarious situation of the public health services of Salvador da

Bahia (Severo, 1999), this analysis does not elaborate on the institutional capacity to

provide equitable and efficient access to health services of the residents of Calabar.

c) Education Facilities

Interviews and focus groups reveal that the residents of Calavar strongly value access

to educational opportunities, especially the youth group that prioritised five cards that

could enhance their ability to be educated (kindergarten, primary school, after school

support, and community school) (see Appendix 4, column 4, cards 28, 29, 32, 70). On

the other hand, the male group only chose one card that could affect the educational

opportunities in Calabar (see Appendix 4, column 3, card 69). The evaluations of the

opportunities created by the squatter upgrading initiative were that it had expanded

the ability of residents to be educated. According to the discussions in the focus

groups, kindergarten (see Appendix 4, column 2 and 4, card 28), primary school (see

Appendix 4, column 4, card 29), after school support (see Appendix 4, column 4 and

5, card 32) community school (see Appendix 4, column 4, card 70) and discussion

groups (see Appendix 4, column 2, 3, and 5, card 69) were implemented by the

squatter upgrading project.

The educational initiatives implemented by the neighbourhood association were

mentioned by eleven interviewees as positive projects providing education and

activities for the young and the old. The community school, which provides primary

and secondary education, was mentioned as a great opportunity for the children to

have a good education in their own neighbourhood. After school activities, such as

homework clubs, sport and music classes were seen as a way of taking children off

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the street and out of contact with drug dealers, while also providing them with the

space for exercise and leisure.

Thus, the discussions of focus groups and interviews revealed the different roles of

education opportunities as a means to: enhance the skills of residents; allow mothers

to work while children were in kindergartens or schools; provide leisure for the old;

create employment opportunities; and avoid the involvement of young people with

criminal activities. It was also argued that more educational opportunities were

needed in the neighbourhood, especially targeting the youth and the old of Calabar, as

interviewees often suggested more activities for the young and old and vocational

courses. However, during the analysis of the access to education facilities, little was

elaborated on the public education system, or how the community school was

integrated successfully or not in that formal and conventional education system.

d) Leisure

Spaces and facilities for leisure were aspects mentioned by interviewees and focus

group participants influencing the freedom to have a healthy environment. Due to the

high density of the neighbourhood, space for leisure is scarce in Calabar, especially in

the area of Pinga. Interviewees mentioned the plan to build a football pitch in an

adjacent area which never took place because the land was not provided by the

landowner. Also the leaders group explained that the land that was supposed to be the

football pitch for the residents of Pinga was bought by a construction firm which built

a high income residential block of flats. Thus, the analysis of the leisure facilities of

Pinga reveals that the squatter upgrading project was unable to build facilities due to

the unavailability of land and the pressure from construction firms to develop the area.

In this sense the data explores institutional and structural conditions affecting the

availability of space for leisure facilities, which would impact on the collective

housing conditions of the area of Pinga.

On the other hand the community radio was mentioned by twelve interviewees as

enhancing their freedom to have a healthy environment, by providing entertainment,

education, and useful information on domestic hygiene, opportunities for courses and

employment. Respondent 1 said: “I really like the radio, I listen to it the whole day,

and the day that it does not play I miss it”. Respondent 19 said: “I like the radio

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because it gives me useful information”. However not every interviewee was satisfied

with the access to the radio. Respondent 10 said: “I cannot hear it from my house. I

wish I could hear it, they give the news and information about employment

opportunities”.

e) Safety

One of the main problems identified by interviewees and focus groups of Calabar and

not tackled by the squatter upgrading project is the rising violence and the sense of

insecurity.

Eleven residents argued that they feel insecure in Calabar because of the growth of

drug gangs and the hostile relations with the police. Interviewees talked frequently but

with caution about the drug and violence issue of Calabar. While some have argued

that drug dealers have established internal security, many have stressed the negative

aspects of the growth of drug gangs. They also explained that once there is a conflict

between police and drug dealers, criminals normally run through Pinga as a way out

of the neighbourhood. Therefore residents were especially concerned with the safety

of the most vulnerable, such as children and old people (see Box 7.1).

Box 7.1: Comments about the Lack of Safety in Calabar

Respondent 11 explained how her child got involved with the gangs when she couldnot provide him with what he demanded, like expensive trainers and clothes: “my sonis now on crack, he stole everything here in the house to buy his drugs. I took him todoctors and psychologists and he should be good by now, but nothing worked. I willhave to put him in a rehabilitation clinic”.

Respondent 17 also argued that drug gangs are attracting the children that do not haveactivities after school: “The biggest problem here is not the sewage, nor the house, itis the lack of activities for the children that give in to the drugs”.

Respondent 20 also described the reasons for insecurity: “Even though the guys fromhere do not bother anybody, they carry guns. Then any little discussion ends up withbullets. On the other hand the police do not respect anybody”.

Respondent 12 described the distrust of the drug gangs and the police: “Here only godprotects us”.

The four focus groups also discussed the lack of safety in the neighbourhood. They

identified it as a major problem but none of them prioritised the police station card

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arguing that the existing police do not increase their safety (see Appendix 4, column 2,

3, 4, and 5, card 37). While the interviews expand on the ways the drug trafficking is

impacting on the housing freedom of the residents of Pinga, the focus group

discussions reveal the institutional limitations of tackling the problem of criminal

activities, violence and lack of safety.

7.5.4 Freedom to Maintain Social Networks

Eight interviewees argued that collective bonds used to be stronger before the

intervention. Some of the reasons mentioned for this deterioration are increased

internal conflicts caused by drug-trafficking, and the lack of a common purpose to

fight for after residents acquired the house.

Nevertheless, 70% (n=14) of interviewees mentioned that social networks are one of

the positive characteristics of the area of Pinga maintained by the squatter upgrading

project. Respondent 4 said: “I really like my neighbours, sometimes my next door

neighbour pays some of my bills on her credit card, and then I pay her in the end of

the month. She trusts me.” Respondent 16 said: “We don’t leave anybody dying alone,

always somebody shows up to help. When somebody asks for help, it does not matter

how hard it is, we help. The other day six people got together to cut some of the trees

behind the house of a neighbour.” Respondent 17 said: “When there is something

broken in the street, people get together to fix it.”

Interviewees used a variety of arguments to explain how social networks were

maintained including: the typology of the housing area and community facilities and

activities. The participatory process of design and implementation was also another

aspect enhancing the maintenance of social networks, which is explored in the

following section of the chapter.

a) Typology of the Housing Area

According to interviewees and participants of the focus group, the typology of the

housing area strengthened their ability to maintain social networks. Eleven

interviewees argued that collective bonds were strengthened because they remained in

the same place where the collective occupation took place and shacks were built.

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Respondent 1 said: “I am really happy that the street is like it was when we lived in

the shacks, I was used to these neighbours and I am happy that only a few of them

moved and we are almost the same people living here”. Three interviewees argued

that collective bonds were strengthened by the feeling of achievement caused by the

collective struggle. They described the process of occupation and how they led the

neighbours to get to know each other and develop social bonds. Respondent 4 said: “I

like these houses here because we fought for them and we obtained them”.

The discussions in the four groups also argued that social networks were maintained

because there was a preservation of the spontaneous design of the street led by the

occupation (see Appendix 4, column 2, 3, 4, and 5, card 80). In this sense, participants

argued that the street are still being used for private use, such as drying clothes, and

neighbours house are still open for public use, such as socialising (see Picture 7.7 and

7.8). Therefore the mixed use of public and private spaces were maintained, also

maintaining the way private lives relate to each other in public areas. Discussions

outlined that if streets were built, improving the access to cars and enhancing the

movement pedestrians, collective bonds would be challenged and also property prices

would have increased. This would have led to an economic eviction of the area. On

the other hand, it was mentioned that it could have created business opportunities,

improving residents’ freedom to afford living expenses.

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Picture 7.7: Maintaining Mix-use of Private and Public Spaces

Source: Field Work (2006)

Picture 7.8: Maintaining Mix-use of Private and Public Spaces

Source: Field Work (2006)

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b) Community Facilities and Activities

Another mechanism influencing the maintenance of social networks identified is the

distribution and running of community facilities and activities. The male, youth and

leaders focus groups argued that by centralizing all the urban equipment or

distributing them in different parts of the neighbourhood, the collective bonds could

be strengthened as people from different areas could relate more to each other. They

also assessed that such options of distribution of urban equipment were implemented

by the project, the male and youth groups saying they were centralised (see Appendix

4, column 3 and 4, card 76) and the leaders group arguing that they were distributed

(see Appendix 4, column 5, card 77).

However there were interviewees that argued that the centralisation of urban

equipments did not influence the relation among residents in different areas of

Calabar. They mentioned that internal segregation took place, where opportunities

were mostly provided by residents close to the community facilities. Respondent 11

said: “They could help us more here in the Pinga. When the news of a job offer arrives

here, it is too late, people from down there have already taken the vacancy… Up here

we don’t know what is happening down there”. Respondent 18 also agued that “in

Calabar there are vocational courses for residents, but the people that live close to

the neighbourhood association are the ones who are better informed”.

For this reason the female focus group prioritized that each area of Calabar could have

its own community facilities (see Appendix 4, column 2, card 78). This analysis of the

community facilities revealed the limitations of implementations led by a community

organization and the unequal impacts on the individuals’ ability to access

opportunities.

Meanwhile, all the focus groups associated educational opportunities to the

strengthening of collective bonds. The female, male, and leaders groups prioritised

discussion group activities for the young and adults, arguing that it would improve

relations in the neighbourhood and provide an alternative to the involvement in

criminal activities (see Appendix 4, column 2, 3, and 5, card 69). The youth group

prioritised the community school as a means to enhance a sense of community and

encouraging collective initiatives to solve local problems (see Appendix 4, column 4,

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card 70). The groups argued that the squatter upgrading project implemented

community schools and discussion groups, which has enhanced their freedom to

maintain social networks.

7.5.5 Freedom to Participate in Decision Making

The freedom to participate in decision making of the squatter upgrading project was

analysed by focus group participants and interviewees according to three aspects:

mechanism of participation; process of design; and process of implementation.

a) Mechanism of Participation

Analysis of the focus group discussions showed that there was a participatory

mechanism, in which the elected leaders of the Neighbourhood Association were at

the centre of decision-making processes (Picture 7.9 was taken during a meeting of

the Neighbourhood Association in 2006).

Picture 7.9: Meeting of Neighbourhood Association, 2006


However, the mechanism of participation through the Neighbourhood Association

was not the mechanism valued by the groups. They prioritised a process where new

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and local leaders could be elected, thus enhancing the participation of local residents.

Many participants of the focus groups stressed that a weakness of the mechanism of

participation of the squatter upgrading project was that it did not involve local

residents in the planning stage of the intervention.

The male group identified the need to have a two stage process of participation.

Firstly the project of squatter upgrading should be elaborated in a dialogue with all

members of the community through a general assembly (see Appendix 4, column 3,

card 48). Then, implementation decisions and challenges should be tackled by a

group of new leaders elected by the community (see Appendix 4, column 3, card 46).

This option was elaborated because while the group thought everybody should have a

voice in the process of participation, it was acknowledged that this might not be the

most effective process for all decisions that would have to be made. Even though the

squatter upgrading project was participatory, the group argued that the type of

participation was not the same as the one they thought was best.

The female group called for a process that could identify new leaders as they argued

that the community-based organization, SBRC, did not represent them (see Appendix

4, column 2, card 46). Participants stated that there had never been a resident from the

area of the Pinga as one of the main leaders of the CBO. Furthermore they believe that

the SBRC is biased towards the north and most visible part of Calabar, where the

main community facilities are located (i.e. Escola Aberta, the Radio and the

PROVIDA).

Even the leaders group preferred the mechanism of participation which elected new

leaders (see Appendix 4, column 5, card 46). They explained that their choice was to

preserve the existing democratic process of representation of the community-based

organization but also to have localized leaders that would work with the community-

based organization. It was argued that this process of participation was not

implemented by the squatter upgrading project and it would have had enhanced the

responsiveness of the intervention.

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b) Process of Design

Interviewees and participants of the focus group valued a process of design that would

be participatory, involving technicians, architects and residents. While 90% of

interviewees (n= 18) argued that the project was participatory, the discussions from

the focus groups reveal that not all residents were given the same opportunity to

influence the design of their houses. The objective of the project was that residents

involved in the community self-help activity could talk to the technicians on-site and

have a certain freedom to choose some aspects of the design of their houses, such as

size of windows and bathroom position.

However, the female and youth groups argued that not everybody was capable of

influencing the design of their houses, as some people were working and could not

participate on the community self-help activity. They also argued that the possibility

of changing the house design was not offered or sometimes rejected. As a result,

participants mentioned as an example that not every house was built with a foundation

(see Appendix 4, column 2 and 4, card 12). The data revealed the limitation of the

community self-help strategy due to its unequal impact on residents’ ability to engage

on the process of design.

c) Process of implementation

Interviewees and discussions of focus groups revealed that the process of

implementation was participatory, as houses were built through community self-help

activity. However the focus group participants prioritised other types of labour force,

such as cooperatives (see Appendix 4, column 3, 4, and 5, card 23) or paid community

self-help (see Appendix 4, column 2, card 25), as outlined in the analysis of the

freedom to afford living costs. Nevertheless, it was argued that the participatory

process of implementation strengthened collective bonds and generated skills for

residents which became assets for finding employment as builders. Furthermore,

residents who were interviewed who had participated in the community self-help

(caring materials, cooking, or building), felt proud to have participated on the

construction of their own houses.

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The data revealed that the participatory process of implementation encouraged a

feeling of ownership of the house, enhanced the responsiveness of the intervention,

strengthened social bonds, and generated skills (see Box 7.2).

Box 7.2: Comments about Impacts of Participatory Process

Respondent 1 said: “I enjoyed participating in the community self-help. It was fun andwe got to know each other better”.

Respondent 4 said: “I liked this house because before building it they (the technicians)asked us what to build and how”. Respondent 4 also mentioned that the satisfactionwith the house increased because during the construction of the house residents couldchange the layout of the house, like the position of the toilet, which was built in theback of the house rather than in the middle as planned originally by the architects.

Respondent 15 said: “I joined in the community self-help, I helped carry constructionmaterials to build the houses. I then learned the profession and since then I have beenworking as a builder”.

Respondent number 16 said: “I gave my opinion about the way I wanted the house tobe during the meetings before the construction and then the house was built like Iwanted it to be”.

7.6 Conclusion: Summary of Micro Findings and Limitations of

Analysis

The history of Calabar is marked by struggles and conflicts. Due to lack of freedom,

inhabitants grouped themselves collectively to find solutions to their deprivation.

Some argue that such a process was initiated during colonial times, when slaves from

Nigeria might have occupied the valley forming a settlement of resistance. The

relation evolved and changed. While the first settlers of Calabar might have been

seventeen century slaves running away from colonial Portuguese landlords, in the

1980s residents of Calabar were squatter inhabitants claiming new types of freedom

from the ruling elite of Salvador da Bahia. Slavery was abolished in 1888, with the

Areia Law, but other patterns of unfreedom developed as the city expanded and the

inhabitants of Calabar remained with limited ability to achieve the things they valued.

From the second half of the twentieth century Calabar became known as an enclave of

poverty settled in desirable land situated between rich neighbourhoods. High density,

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poor environmental conditions, violence and segregation are some of the facades of

the squatter settlement. However it is also a place of collective mobilisation struggling

for physical improvements, social opportunities, and cultural identity. In 1983 a

community-based organization was formed to claim for the social, political, economic

and cultural rights of its residents. The neighbourhood association Sociedade

Beneficente Recreativa do Calabar (SBRC) organised demonstrations, fought against

eviction, led the construction of local facilities, and headed housing projects. SBRC

became an inspiration to other squatter inhabitants to mobilise, organise and claim

their rights.

The housing project at Pinga was one of the initiatives led by SBRC to enhance the

freedoms of the residents of Calabar. After organizing the occupation of the area of

Pinga 1987, SBRC from 1990 to 1993 worked in partnership with the Fundação José

Silveira to upgrade the wooden shacks, transforming Pinga into Vila Eliana Azevedo,

and strengthening the community facilities of Calabar. Existing evaluations about the

intervention in Pinga reveal that: Vila Eliana Azevedo has better environmental

conditions than other regions of Calabar; the community organization has impacted

positively on the implementation and sustainability of the project, it has pressued the

government for improvements in other squatter settlements; and the partnership of

Fundação José Silveira was successful as it generated technical support for the

instalment and improvements of health, educational, income generation and

community facilities in Calabar.

However none of these evaluations engage in an analysis based on residents’

perspectives of improvements. Furthermore they reveal certain outcomes of the

interventions, such as the construction of urban facilities or the role of community

organization and the foundation. But to evaluate if housing freedom have been

expanded it is necessary to explore how residents have being using these facilities and

how they have been affected by the SBRC and FJS. Thus, this research focuses on the

residents’ use of such improvements and evaluates the impacts of the community-

based initiatives on the five housing freedoms of the residents of Pinga.

According to the data collected, the freedom to expand and individualise has been

generally expanded, but has not impacted equally on all residents of Vila Eliana

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Azevedo. The house typology and adequacy for expansion was praised by many

interviewees. However the data also revealed that not everybody has benefited

equally, as foundations were not built for all of the houses. Not everybody managed to

participate in the community self-help activity, and those that were present managed

to do so more in the process of construction. On the other hand, the community self-

help strategy enhanced residents’ familiarity with the construction technology,

impacting positively on their ability to expand and individualise their houses.

The initiatives of the community-based organisation improved residents’ freedom to

afford living costs, however not sufficiently. Costs generated by the intervention were

not mentioned as a problem by interviewees and participants of focus group.

Residents did not have to pay for the new houses, but they were connected to services

and they started to receive electricity and water bills. The reason for the lack of

complaints about the new costs was probably because residents have learned how to

manage the service bills, as the intervention took place in the beginning of the 1990s.

Meanwhile income generation activities were created, but according to residents not

enough to assure residents’ freedom to afford living costs. Furthermore employment

and vocational courses opportunities were evaluated as not being distributed equally

by the community-based organisation. Residents living closer to the community

centre would have a better chance to hear, get informed and benefit from

opportunities generated by the community-based organisation.

The freedom to live in a healthy environment was expanded, but again with

limitations. The physical features of the houses were praised, while the infrastructure

was criticised due to its inappropriate size and lack of maintenance. Health services

did not preoccupy local residents, due to the functioning of a local health clinic. Data

collected also reveal that educational facilities installed by SBRC expanded the

residents’ freedom to live in a healthy environment. However more educational

opportunities were needed especially for the young and the old. Spaces for leisure

were not created by the intervention, mainly due to the lack of available land.

Furthermore, the main limitation of the community-based initiatives is that they did

not address directly the problem of drug trafficking and lack of safety.

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The types of participation implemented by the community-based initiatives were not

the ones valued by interviewees and group participants. Participatory mechanisms

concentrated decisions with the community-based organisation, rather than involving

local leaders. Residents did not have the same ability to participate in the process of

design during community self-help. Residents preferred processes of implementation

that could also generate income to residents in the long term. Nevertheless, the

freedom to participate on decision making was expanded, as SBRC represented the

community, there was flexibility in housing design, and residents constructed their

houses enhancing a feeling of ownership and collective bonds.

While the process of implementation enhanced the freedom to maintain social

networks, other aspects of the initiatives of SBRC also strengthened collective bonds.

By remaining in the same place, people sustained and expanded the relation with

neighbours. The activities in the community centre also enhanced the collective bonds

of the neighbourhood. However social relations were being compromised as residents

argued that a process of segregation was taking place within Calabar, with residents of

Pinga not benefiting as much as other areas closer to the community centre.

This evaluation of the improvements at Pinga has revealed the strengths and

limitations of the squatter upgrading initiatives led by the community-based

organization. On the one hand the project has been participatory and responsive to

many of the aspirations of local residents. On the other hand the initiatives have had

unequal impacts on residents and the community-based organisation was not able to

sustain infrastructural improvements, when collaboration with governmental

institutions and providers of services were needed.

Therefore the questions raised by this micro analysis of the data generated raises

bigger questions such as: are community-based organisations the appropriate

institutions to expand all squatter inhabitants’ housing freedom? What are the

limitations of poverty reduction policies led by community-based organisations? What

is then the role of local governments? When talking about the colonial period, it is

clear that expansion of any type of freedom starts by abolishing slavery. However

even then, quilombos, such as the one that might have led to the origins of Calabar,

were settlements of ex-slaves looking for more than a legal status of freedom.

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Through this perspective, the function of quilombos in the colonial period and

squatter settlements in contemporary democratic cities from developing countries is

not that different. Squatter inhabitants suffer from many forms of unfreedoms and it is

not yet clear how poverty alleviation and squatter upgrading policies can expand their

housing freedom. Thus, the next chapter elaborates on the macro findings generated

by the comparison between the World Bank funded squatter upgrading project and the

community-based initiatives revealed in this chapter.

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Chapter 7: A Community-based Squatter Upgrading Initiative in the SquatterSettlement of Calabar.................................................................................................204

7.1 Introduction......................................................................................................2047.2 The History of Settlement and a Snapshot of Locality ....................................206

7.2.1 Calabar until the End of the 1950s – the Struggle for Freedoms..............2067.2.2 From the 1960s – The Beginning of the Struggle for Security of Tenure 2077.2.3 Consolidation of Settlement: Calabar a Place of Poverty and Segregation............................................................................................................................209

a) Calabar: as a Place of Poor Environmental Conditions.............................209b) Calabar: as a Place of Violence .................................................................210c) Calabar: as a Place of Segregation.............................................................210

7.3 The Squatter Upgrading Intervention ..............................................................2147.3.1 The Community Struggle and the First Interventions...............................214

a) The first steps – United Youth of Calabar (JUC) .....................................214b) The 1980s – Neighbourhood Association and the First Interventions ......216

7.3.2 The Occupation of Pinga and the 1990s Interventions .............................218a) The Formation of Pinga .............................................................................218b) The Partnership and the Integrated Project of Calabar..............................219

i) Housing Projects.....................................................................................220ii) Education...............................................................................................221iii) Employment .........................................................................................222iv) Health ...................................................................................................222v) Strengthening Community Organization...............................................223

7.4 Initial Analysis of Integrated Project of Calabar .............................................2237.4.1 Environmental Impacts .............................................................................2247.4.2 The Engagement of the Community-based Organization.........................2257.4.3 The Role of the Fundação José Silveira....................................................2277.4.4 The Gaps ...................................................................................................228

7.5 Presentation of Data and Micro Analysis: Calabar..........................................2287.5.1 Freedom to Individualise and Expand ......................................................230

a) House Typology and Design......................................................................230b) Familiarity .................................................................................................232

7.5.2 Freedom to Afford Living Costs...............................................................233a) Household Expenditure.............................................................................233b) Household Income.....................................................................................234

7.5.3 Freedom to Live in a Healthy Environment .............................................236a) Physical Conditions ...................................................................................236b) Access to Health Services..........................................................................238c) Education Facilities....................................................................................238d) Leisure .......................................................................................................239e) Safety .........................................................................................................240

7.5.4 Freedom to Maintain Social Networks .....................................................241a) Typology of the Housing Area .................................................................241b) Community Facilities and Activities .........................................................244

7.5.5 Freedom to Participate in Decision Making .............................................245a) Mechanism of Participation .......................................................................245b) Process of Design ......................................................................................247c) Process of implementation.........................................................................247

7.6 Conclusion: Summary of Micro Findings and Limitations of Analysis ..........248

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Chapter 7: A Community-based Squatter Upgrading Initiative in the SquatterSettlement of Calabar.................................................................................................204

Picture 7.1: Calabar, Pinga and the Surrounding Neighbourhoods .......................205Figure 7.1 Settlements in Calabar 1965..............................................................208

Figure 7.2 Settlements in Calabar 1978.................................................................208Figure 7.3 Settlements in Calabar 1993.................................................................209Picture 7.2: Spatial inequality – Jardim Apipema and Calabar .............................210Figure 7.4: Calabar - Selected Areas from GIS Programme .................................211Figure 7.5: Jardim Apipema – Selected Area from GIS Programme ....................212Figure 7.6: Income Levels of the Population of Calabar and Jardim Apipema (2006)................................................................................................................................213Figure 7.7: Levels of Formal Education of the Population of Calabar and JardimApipema (2006) .....................................................................................................213Picture 7.3: Calabar and Pinga...............................................................................218Picture 7.4: Vila Eliana de Azevedo, Pinga...........................................................221Table 7.1: Evaluation of environmental conditions of Calabar .............................224Picture 7.5: Houses Adequate for Expansion ........................................................231Picture 7.6: Street in Pinga.....................................................................................237Box 7.1: Comments about the Lack of Safety in Calabar......................................240Picture 7.7: Maintaining Mix-use of Private and Public Spaces ...........................243Picture 7.8: Maintaining Mix-use of Private and Public Spaces ...........................243Picture 7.9: Meeting of Neighbourhood Association, 2006 ..................................245Box 7.2: Comments about Impacts of Participatory Process.................................248

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Chapter 8: Macro Analysis - Unfolding Contradictions,

Assessing Approaches and Developing Concepts

8.1 Introduction

After exploring the squatter interventions according to their corresponding impacts on

residents’ housing freedoms, this chapter compares both evaluations in order to

address the three objectives of the thesis outlined in the introduction:

Objective 1: to explore Sen’s approach and develop it in the urban

development context;

Objective 2: to develop the concept of ‘housing freedom’ as and evaluate the

use of participatory methods in an application of the Capability

Approach;

Objective 3: to assess to what extent Sen’s focus on freedom has affected the

World Bank’s urban practices.

Objective 1 is concerned with an analysis of Amartya Sen’s concepts and the

Capability Approach. It expands on the purposes of the Capability Approach, its

application to urban development, and its links to neo-liberalism. Objective 3 sheds

light on the process of applying the Capability Approach. Thus, the analysis of the

application of the Capability Approach through the concept of housing freedom and

use of participatory methods evaluates the contribution of this research methodology.

Finally, objective 3 is an analysis of World Bank policies and neo-liberal thinking and

practice. It reveals the contradictions of the two squatter upgrading approaches

evaluated by this thesis, one funded by the World Bank and the other led by

community initiatives.

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8.2 Objective 1: To explore Sen’s approach and develop it in the

urban development context

The first objective of this thesis is to investigate Sen’s concepts and approach to

development. The aim of this first section of the macro analysis is to explore how far

the perpetuation of the market enablement strategy to the urban policies of the World

Bank is due to a selective use of Sen’s concepts or due to the intrinsic neo-liberal

assumptions underpinning the Capability Approach. The functions and purpose of the

Capability Approach are analysed through a comparison with the Human

Development paradigm. The contribution of the Capability Approach to urban

development thinking and practice is then explicated. The final part of this section

evaluates how far Sen’s concepts and their application can provide an alternative to

neoliberalism.

8.2.1 Capability Approach and Human Development

Chapter 2 showed how the existing literature distinguishes the Capability Approach

from the Human Development paradigm. It is argued that the Capability Approach is

a conceptual evaluative framework based on the writings of academics that have taken

on board Sen’s ideas and concepts. Human Development, on the other hand, is

proposed as an operational development paradigm which also draws from Sen’s ideas

and concepts. This analysis argues that for Sen’s concepts to become an alternative to

development thinking and practice the relation between the Capability Approach and

Human Development needs to be fully understood, given the existing similarities,

complementarities and inconsistencies between the Capability Approach and Human

Development.

a) The Similarities

The motivation and the theoretical approach underpinning both the Capability

Approach and Human Development are the same. Both aim to overcome the income-

led perception of development by focusing on the multiple aspects of well-being.

They stress the need to recognise the instrumental and intrinsic values of the multiple

goals of development. The role of commodities is analysed in this manner. The

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Capability Approach and the Human Development paradigm both focus on the usage

of commodities and the way in which conversion factors influence individuals’

processes of transforming commodities into achieved functionings. Finally, agency is

perceived as an essential component in the evaluation and expansion of freedoms.

Due to these theoretical similarities, it becomes confusing and inappropriate to

separate the evaluative framework from the approach to development.

b) The Complementarities

The Capability Approach and the Human Development paradigm have overlapping

functions, complementing each other and delimiting a clear distinction between an

evaluative framework and an approach to development. One of the functions of an

evaluative framework is to suggest an alternative approach to development. Therefore

the Capability Approach not only analyses policies, but also suggests policies.

Meanwhile, one of the functions of a development paradigm is to monitor and

evaluate the policies and projects it is implementing. Therefore the Human

Development paradigm not only makes policies, but also evaluates implementation.

The overlapping characteristics of the Capability Approach and the Human

Development paradigm became explicit during this evaluation of the squatter

upgrading projects. One of the aims of the research methods was to reveal the

mechanisms and strategies of how people enhance their housing freedoms. Thus, as

part of the evaluation, different mechanisms were weighted, policies were suggested

and strategies elaborated. This evaluation reveals that the Capability Approach can be

used as a framework not only to make evaluations, but also to formulate policies.

Therefore this application of the Capability Approach argues that this conceptual

framework and the Human Development share overlapping functions and objectives.

c) The Differences and Inconsistencies

Nevertheless, this evaluation revealed differences between the Capability Approach

and the Human Development paradigm. The thesis argued that the latter is an

application of the former. Human Development is a paradigm put forward, mainly by

the UNDP, to apply the concepts of the Capability Approach at an international level.

The objective was to offer an alternative to measure and compare development apart

from the GDP levels. Different sets of indexes have been elaborated, such as the

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Human Development Index, Human Poverty Index, Gender Related Development

Index and Gender Empowerment Measure (UNDP, 2004), which take into account the

social and distributive elements of development.

The Capability Approach is an evolving theory that provides a space for developing

concepts and approaches that can be applied in various contexts and for various

objectives. Its strengths are its openness and multidimensionality. In this research it is

used in the investigation of housing, while other researchers have used it to

investigate vulnerability and disability (Bakhshi and Trani, 2006), the well-being of

children (Biggeri et al, 2007) and indigenous peoples (Gigler, 2005). Thus the

Capability Approach can contribute to debates beyond the development context. In

the field of planning for the built and natural environment the Capability Approach

can shed light on the different impacts of public goods on citizens’ well-being in both

developing and developed countries.

8.2.2 Capability Approach and Urban Development

In the field of Urban Development, the Capability Approach sheds light on the

conceptualisation of squatter settlements in relation to poverty, informality, and

exclusion. This thesis argues that the focus on freedom paradoxically ensures that the

existence of squatter settlements perpetuates the dynamics of exclusion, while

exclusion perpetuates the existence of squatter settlements. Thus, policies intervening

in squatter settlements should be concerned with the problems generated by squatter

settlements, but should also address the problems that caused the formation of squatter

settlements. This relationship between the local and structural dynamics is further

elaborated by analysing the concept of informality, the meaning of squatter

settlements and the purpose of squatter upgrading that emerged out of the

investigation of housing freedoms.

a) Informality

The concept of informality is normally employed by the literature to describe a

condition of “illegality”. The moral implication underlying this perception is that

informality is viewed as unjust, perpetuating conditions of poverty. This thesis does

not wholly disagree with this perception. The data reveal that informality does create

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mechanisms that constrain housing freedoms. However, the data also reveal that

residents look to informality to find freedoms that do not exist in the formal sector.

The freedom to individualise and expand while also being able to afford living costs

are some of the aspirations that drive residents towards informality. Whenever an

intervention does not offer the opportunity for residents to achieve such aspirations

within the formal sector, residents will look to their solutions within the informal

sector. Thus, a careful reading of informality and informal processes highlight that it

can produce as much or more freedom than the formal mechanisms the World Bank

supports.

The informal sector is not uniformly unjust. It is not merely a condition of illegality,

nor necessarily a sector populated by the excluded. Informality has dynamics that both

expand and constrain freedoms. Its norms need to be studied as the formal sector,

because that “legal” sector has also dynamics that expand and constrain freedoms.

Informality is an inherent part of the city. Its existence is directly associated with the

unequal dynamics of the formal sector. Meanwhile, its development and expansion is

associated with the opportunities offered in the informal sector. The exploration of

freedoms in the urban development context can reveal the different mechanisms that

operate in the formal and informal sectors, revealing their relation and

interdependence. This breaks from the dualistic perception of cities as formal versus

informal, the legal versus the illegal, the included versus the excluded. The city is

legally illegal, it is formally informal, it is excluding in the process of including.

b) Squatter Settlement

This application of the Capability Approach perceives squatter settlements as places

of struggle for freedom. Instead of being a place motivated by the purpose of

formation of capital, this approach perceives squatter settlements as being a place

where the residents’ aim to achieve a series of aspirations. Indeed this characteristic is

present in every location in a city. However, the difference among locations relies on

the definition of aspirations and the process of claiming them. The right to be

sheltered for example is valued by all residents in a city. But the meaning and values

attached to a house and the process of realising such aspirations will differ according

to groups and individuals. In the context of this research, five freedoms associated to

the process of housing are identified as present in the squatter settlements from

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Salvador da Bahia. These are the values of housing, revealing the aspirations of local

residents which might contrast with aspirations from residents not living in squatter

settlements.

The perception of squatter settlements through the Capability Approach aims at

overcoming the myths and dogmas outlined in section 3.5.1. Squatter settlements

cannot be defined by their origin. Some of them did originate through collective or

individual occupations of land. However others were formal occupations that become

irregular. Thus, seeing squatter settlements as places of informality is not an

appropriate conceptualisation because within squatter settlements there are both

formal and informal settlements and markets.

This analysis through the Capability Approach investigates the diversities in and

between squatter settlements. It acknowledges that these locations are not places with

homogenous characteristics or uniform poverty. However, there is an underlying

motivation to conceptualise squatter settlements and elaborate on the issues that make

these localities different from others in the city. Nevertheless, overgeneralisations are

avoided to prevent the propagation of the existing myths and the dogmas of squatter

settlements.

Are squatter settlements manifestations of exclusion and lack of access to rights? The

analysis through the Capability Approach reveals that this perception is also limited.

On one hand there are characteristics within squatter settlements that create local

exclusions and maintain the city-wide processes of exclusion. But on the other hand

squatter settlements are also places of acquiring rights. The Capability Approach

provides a framework for the analysis of squatter settlements which reveals squatter

inhabitant’s potentialities and deprivations.

These potentialities and deprivations are elaborated in the Capability Approach by the

exploration of conversion factors. In the case of residents of squatter settlements, the

various aspects influencing the residents’ ability to transform commodities into

achieved functionings are related to the formal and informal sectors; community, non-

governmental, governmental and private institutions; and collective and individual

norms. Therefore an investigation of capabilities instead of being concerned with the

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dichotomies between formal and informal or top-down and bottom up, explores the

various factors influencing the residents’ ability to achieve their housing aspirations.

This thesis proposes a framework for an alternative conceptualisation of squatter

settlements, but further research is needed to reveal the characteristics that shape a

squatter settlement and differentiate it from other forms of housing in a city.

c) Squatter Upgrading

Through the Capability Approach, squatter upgrading policies should focus not only

on the generation of income, or merely on including squatter inhabitants through

legalistic manners to enter the formal sector. Instead, squatter upgrading policies

should address the squatter inhabitants’ freedom to achieve the things they value. This

investigation reveals that squatter inhabitants’ freedoms are affected by local and

structural mechanisms. Some of the local mechanisms identified in this research

included social networks, typology of houses, and safety and environmental

conditions. These local aspects are influenced by structural dynamics such as: the

stigma of squatter settlements; employment opportunities; the running of public

services (i.e. policing, education and health); and institutional arrangements between

NGOs, CBOs, the private sector, government and international agencies.

Squatter upgrading policies based on the expansion of capabilities would address local

and structural processes that strengthen squatter inhabitants’ ability to achieve their

valued freedoms while also tackling the mechanisms of exclusion causing the multiple

aspects of deprivations. By addressing the local and structural mechanisms shaping

the struggles in squatter settlements, policies can tackle the deprivations experienced

in these settlements and the processes of exclusion which produce them. Such an

approach is a fundamental challenge to the World Bank orthodoxy of market

enablement.

8.2.3 Capability Approach and Neoliberalism

While the Capability Approach has the potential of being applied in a variety of

contexts, this thesis is concerned with its ability to provide an alternative to

neoliberalism in the urban development context. The previous section argued that

Sen’s concepts open up a space where an alternative to neoliberalism can emerge.

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However, this thesis also argues that there are limitations and contradictions that can

compromise the shift from neoliberalism.

a) The Shifts from Neoliberalism

This application of the Capability Approach concludes that Sen’s concepts offer an

opportunity to break from neoliberalism by providing a comprehensive framework

that: embraces multidimensionality; elaborates on what policies and commodities do,

rather than merely analysing what they are; it perceives the state as a corrector of

market mechanisms; and aims at enhancing local dynamics.

This thesis argues that the Capability Approach is an alternative to materialistic and

income-led evaluations and policy making. The evaluation of the squatter upgrading

projects reveals the multidimensional aspects of housing. According to Sen’s

concepts, these dimensions have instrumental and intrinsic values. The underlying

assumption is that residents do not only value those freedoms that might affect their

ability to generate income. Thus, the approach attempts to elaborate on how people

make decisions. Furthermore, the approach investigates the forces and mechanisms

that affect people’s ability to make such decisions.

The Capability Approach moves from neoliberalism by not only focusing on what

policies and commodities ‘are’, but also by elaborating on what they ‘do’ to people’s

lives. The physical interventions of squatter upgrading projects are analysed according

to their characteristics (i.e. quality and quantity), but the focus of evaluation is on their

impacts on the residents’ ability to achieve the housing freedoms they value. Thus

Sen’s concepts overcome the materialist perception of development, which avoids

ethical questions and value judgements while concentrating on more practical issues

such as the determinants of economic growth and the merits of competition and trade.

Sen’s concepts differ from neoliberalism by accepting an interventionist role of the

state which should ensure the expansion of the positive and negative aspects of

freedom. The Capability Approach elaborates on ‘freedom from’, but also

acknowledges the need to expand the idea of ‘freedom to’. Sen acknowledges in his

writings the inequalities generated by market mechanisms and that people need

freedom to compete fairly (Sen, 1999). For Sen, the state has a role to play in

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correcting the market failures on the positive aspects of freedom by assuring that

people are not left behind, while protecting their freedom to be left alone. Thus, the

Capability Approach is concerned with the distributive aspect of development.

Evaluations and policies of squatter upgrading through Sen’s perspective can be

differentiated from the market enablement approach by paying special attention to the

impacts of interventions on inequalities. This evaluation unfolds the inequalities

generated by the top-down and the bottom-up strategies locally and at the city level.

While a neo-liberal approach to squatter upgrading focuses on the working of markets

for the poor, the Capability Approach focuses on the impacts and enhancement of

local dynamics and potentialities. The making and analysis of policies based on

capabilities elaborate on the acceptance of the existing resources of squatter

inhabitants. This analysis of the intervention in Novos Alagados through the

Capability Approach reveals that for example top-down interventions can compromise

existing capabilities, such as social networks (see section 6.5.4) But, rather than

focusing on income and productivity, the Capability Approach aims to address power

relations. The analysis of the Calabar initiatives revealed how the intervention did not

challenge the unequal practices of the community-based organisation (see section

7.5.5).

This application of the Sen’s ideas shifts from the neo-liberal approach to planning,

which encourages the single ideal of economic productivity. Applying Sen’s ideas to

the urban context, it is possible to see a critique of the instrumentalist planning of

cities which promote, through rules and regulations, some kind of holistic order. By

calling for freedom in urban planning, the top down ‘master planning’ of cities and

the need for the city to be compatible with a single ideal is criticised. Universal

solutions for the enhancement of urban populations would be increasing coercive

regulations, restricting people’s freedoms and encouraging the replication of a global

and monocultural city model (Khosal and Samuel, 2005: 19). This research proposes

an alternative approach based on freedom, which is concerned with multiple

aspirations of citizens and the interaction between them. In the case of these squatter

settlements in Salvador da Bahia, five housing freedoms are identified and explored.

Thus the Capability Approach addresses the various dynamics taking place in cities,

and not universal values. City planning becomes a challenge for enabling agents to

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flourish in their own and different ways rather than promoting a preconceived ideal of

the city. Nevertheless, more research is needed to reveal how the Capability Approach

can be applied overcome the top-down master planning, but also not perpetuating the

fragmented character of strategic planning.

b) The Limitations and Contradictions of the Capability Approach

However, this application of the Capability Approach argues that if Sen’s concepts

merely investigate individual freedom, contradictions and limitations arise

compromising its potential to become an alternative to neoliberalism. If collective and

structural aspects of freedom are not taken into consideration, the comprehensive

framework of the Capability Approach can be appropriated by the market enablement

paradigm to justify the continuation of the neo-liberal agenda, but with a ‘human

face’.

This analysis elaborates five areas that illustrate the continuation of the neo-liberal

agenda through squatter upgrading projects focusing on individual freedom:

regulatory systems, spatial dimensions, collective bonds, the role of state and the role

of the market. These five dimensions emerged out of the literature review and the

analysis of data gathered during field work.

The comparison between the interventions in Novos Alagados and Calabar reveals

that land tenure regularization is often related to the ideal of individual freedom and

greater user control. Rather than deregulating interests, this approach regulates

commodities which had never been regulated. From the state perspective it seems as if

urban laws are promoting new freedoms, but from the squatter inhabitants’

perspective this represents an increase in restrictions and unfreedoms. As respondents

from Novos Alagados argued in section 6.5.1, the size of houses become limited to

what is determined in the title document, and any variation in the delimitation brings

the house back to illegality. Instead of accepting existing collective regulatory

systems of squatter settlements, the individual freedom approach advocates the

inclusion of the excluded into the formal city.

The second contradiction of the individual freedom discourse which emerged out of

the research in Novos Alagados and Calabar occurs in the separation of the mixed use

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spaces (see section 3.5.2). This process leads to replacement of a collective by an

individualistic perception of the use of space (See Figure 8.1).

Figure 8.1: The Separation of the Mixed uses of Space

Source: Developed by Author

Instead of perceiving the mixed use of spaces as a capability, the individual freedom

approach sees them as a constraint on privacy, autonomy and an instrument to impose

collective principles. The splitting and separation of private from public spaces is

done by defining clear boundaries between the two spaces. On the one hand the

urbanization of squatter settlements clarifies the limits between street, pavement and

houses. On the other hand regularization of tenure delimitates where the house or

private space finishes and pavement or public space starts.

The contradiction of the individual freedom discourse is that, on the one hand it

argues for the expansion of squatter inhabitants’ interaction with space, while at the

same time it replaces opportunities for the flexible and mixed use dynamic of space

with a rigid, separated, disjointed, fragmented spatial form.

Collective bonds are also compromised by squatter upgrading interventions based on

the ideal of individual freedom by fragmenting spaces and constraining the spirit of

co-operation and collective action. Section 7.5.4, argues that in Calabar the spaces

remained under mixed use (see Pictures 7.7 and 7.8) thus encouraging residents’

freedom to maintain social networks. However, in Novos Alagados, the increase of

Dynamic and FlexibleProcesses

Rigid and FragmentedSpatial Form

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regulation and the clear spatial delimitation between public and private spaces

constrained the capability that people have to interact with their house and

neighbourhood (see sections 6.5.1 and 6.5.4). Urbanization projects concerned only

with the physical improvements of squatter settlements inhibit the evolution of the

squatter settlements. The place of constant change and interaction is transformed into

a place of planned and rigid form. This process has the potential of enhancing market

mechanisms and breaking collective bonds. This analysis of housing freedom reveals

the inconsistencies of individual and collective freedom. While expanding individual

freedom, through land regularization and the splintering of mixed use spaces,

collective freedoms can be compromised, such as the inhibition on social networks

and collective bonds.

The discourse commending the expansion of existing capabilities has a direct impact

on the role of the state. The contradiction in this context arises if the Capability

Approach is employed to justify the roll-back of the state through the rhetoric of

enabling communities. In this case, as shown in section 8.1, instead of tackling broad

structural constraints that cause housing shortages, policies merely support self-

initiated projects. Inequality both within squatter settlements and citywide is

exacerbated by the fact that only the better organized are likely to be eligible for

government funding. Co-operation and solidarity is replaced by a system of

competition for scarce resources among individuals or neighbourhoods. Meanwhile

project-based approaches are limited to immediate problems and not integrated into

broader planning strategies. The implication here is that the housing problem is

perceived as a local technical problem, thus avoiding broad socio-political change.

Finally, as identified in the policy analysis of World Bank orthodoxy, the motivation

to expand individual freedom aims to improve squatter inhabitants’ abilities to interact

with market mechanisms. However, other researchers have already argued that

introducing squatter inhabitants to a system of transferable private property rights

under the flag of autonomy of decision, exposes residents to taxes and commodity

markets in land and property (Burgess, 1982, 1992; and Pradilla 1976). As revealed in

the case of Novos Alagados (see section 6.5.2), squatter upgrading projects focused

on the expansion of individual freedom end up forcing the poorest, who cannot afford

the new costs, to move to other squatter settlements, in even more remote locations.

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The economic eviction takes place because regularization of tenure is not followed by

regulation of land market prices. Stopping such interventionist practice are technical

difficulties but also the unwillingness of the state to restrain autonomy of decision

making.

Meanwhile the individual freedom approach does not tackle the structural

determinants of housing problems such as: privatisation of services, high interest rates

which deny squatter inhabitants access to credit without falling into severe debt;

monopoly control of critical building materials such as cement, iron, glass etc.; and

the impact of the market mechanism on social segregation and inequalities (Burgess,

1992). Finally, as Pradilla (1976) also argued, squatter upgrading policies focusing on

individual freedom transmits a private property and consumption ideology that

undermines the arena for social co-operation and collective actions.

The analysis of these five areas (regulatory systems, spatial dimensions, collective

bonds, the role of state and role of the market) considers the way in which a focus on

individual needs can impose certain values, suppress local dynamics of interaction

with the space, and weaken collective bonds while not challenging the causes of

poverty. It is argued in this thesis that it is not the freedom discourse that perpetuates

neoliberal policies, but rather its application. Further research is needed to clarify if

and how the freedom approach can make a positive contribution in the long term

struggle against urban poverty.

This application of the Capability Approach argues that Sen’s thinking can be an

alternative to neoliberalism if it accepts the collective and structural aspects of

freedom. Then squatter upgrading intervention can also strengthen social movements

which can make a more effective political impact on city-wide governance. This

research elaborates the housing freedom framework with the objective of overcoming

the individualistic approach to Sen’s concepts. The next section of the analysis

evaluates the methodology of application of the Capability Approach, unfolding its

strengths and limitations.

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8.3 Objective 2: To elaborate on the concept of ‘housing freedom’

and evaluate the use of participatory methods in this application of

the Capability Approach

This thesis proposes the concept of Housing Freedom as a means of applying the

Capability Approach to the evaluation of squatter upgrading projects. Participatory

methods are used to reveal and evaluate the impacts of the intervention on squatter

inhabitants’ housing freedoms. This section of the analysis evaluates this

methodology by first analysing the concept of housing freedom, and then exploring

the benefits of the use of participatory methods within this approach. Finally this

section reveals how the evaluation addresses the limitations of the Capability

Approach by taking on the contributions of other approaches to development,

described in Chapter 3.

8.3.1 Housing Freedom as a Conceptual Framework

This section of the chapter analyses the conceptual framework of housing freedom

according to its purposes and strengths. The evaluation of the squatter upgrading

projects reveals three characteristics of the framework: it focuses on the process of

housing, rather than the outcome of a home; it is a framework that is flexible in its

application, adapting to different contexts; but also it is a comprehensive framework,

with components, such as aspects of freedoms and features of intervention.

a) Exploring the process of housing

The thesis argues that the concept of housing freedom is a framework that can be used

to investigate and intervene in the process of interaction between residents’ and their

home. The underlying assumption in this thesis is that the sense of home is composed

of values which have individual and collective dimensions. This research is not

concerned with the outcomes of home, but rather with the process of achieving such

outcomes. Therefore, housing, the process, is perceived by this research as the focus

of evaluation. Such differentiation between home and housing has emerged out of the

data analysis, and further research is needed to clarify the differences, similarities and

complementarities between the two concepts.

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Nevertheless, the first strength of a framework that focuses on the process of housing

is that it moves the focus from what a house is to what it does. Housing is not

addressed from a materialistic approach, but rather, this research investigates the

various ideals people aspire to in the process of housing. Thus, housing is understood

as an on-going activity associated with a certain set of functions of the house. Such

aspirations of the process of housing are defined as housing functionings.

b) Housing freedom, an adaptive framework

While the framework of housing freedom is comprehensive and absolute, its

application is relative to a certain time and context. In the case of the squatter

settlements investigated by this research, five housing functionings were identified:

freedom to individualise and expand; freedom to afford living costs; freedom to live

in a healthy environment; freedom to participate in decision-making; and freedom to

maintain social networks. The data from the focus group activities and semi-

structured interviews support these identified housing functionings, as residents

demonstrate that they attribute these different aspirations to the process of housing.

This set of functionings is not understood as complete or universal. They are relevant

aspirations in that time and context as they were affected by the squatter upgrading

projects in a variety of ways. Thus, the second strength of this framework is that it can

adapt to different contexts, avoiding universalistic assumptions and top down

interventions.

c) Housing Freedom, a Comprehensive Framework

The comprehensiveness of the framework is related to the different components

explored in this research. Each of the five freedoms explored was analysed according

to a set of aspects that emerged out of the data collected (see Table 8.1). These aspects

are interconnected dimensions of freedoms that relate to each other in a variety of

ways. While some aspects have intrinsic values, it is necessary to analyse the relation

among them to evaluate the impact on housing freedoms, as the expansion of one

aspect does not necessary have a positive impact on the overall freedom. Also one

aspect of freedom can have an impact shaping another freedom. These characteristics

of the aspects of freedoms are identified in the analysis of the freedom to participate

in the decision-making processes of the squatter intervention in Novos Alagados. The

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data analysis revealed that the elective mechanism of participation without a process

of design that empowers leaders resulted in frustration and conflicts.

Table 8.1: Aspects of Housing Freedom

Housing Freedoms Aspects

Freedom to individualise and expand House typology and design

Legal permit for expansion and change

Familiarity to construction technology

Freedom to afford living costs Household costs

Household income

Freedom to have a healthy environment Physical conditions

Access to health services

Education facilities

Spaces for leisure and social interaction

Safety

Freedom to maintain social networks Typology of housing area

Community facilities and activities

Freedom to participate in decisionmaking

Mechanism of participation

Process of policy design

Process of implementation

The data also reveal that each aspect of freedom is shaped by features of the squatter

upgrading projects. These features are the actual intervention that took place (i.e.

facilities, houses, social programmes etc…). They might affect positively or

negatively the aspects of freedom. Furthermore, they can also influence more than one

aspect of freedom. For example the data analysis reveals that the shared wall

characteristic of the housing estate Nova Primavera reduces the residents’ ability to

expand and individualise. Meanwhile it also constrains the residents’ freedom to live

in a healthy environment and maintain social networks, as it impacts negatively on the

privacy of residents, and causes conflict among neighbours.

Furthermore, the relation between features of intervention and aspects of housing

freedoms are analysed according to the individual, collective, and structural norms

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affecting this relationship. These norms are the conversion factors influencing

residents’ ability to transform features of the intervention into achieved housing

functionings. For example the data collected shows that spaces for leisure, such as a

football pitch, would enhance the freedom for a healthy environment by improving

the leisure aspect of that freedom. In the case of Calabar, these features were not

implemented due to structural and institutional conditions (lack of availability of land

and the pressures from construction firms to develop the area). Meanwhile in the case

of Novos Alagados, the football pitch was built but not used equally by residents, as

adults controlled the use of the space. Even though the feature was implemented,

collective norms compromised the children’s ability to use the football pitch for

leisure purposes. As a result, children were not able to convert this feature of the

intervention into an expansion of the freedom to live in a healthy environment.

8.3.2 Housing Freedom and Participatory Methods

Chapter 4 unfolds similarities and complementarities between the Capability

Approach and participatory methods. However this section of the analysis aims at

addressing the four main challenges outlined in the same chapter (see section 4.2.5):

can participatory methods operationalize the concepts of development as freedom?

Does the Capability Approach wrest back participatory methods from their

instrumental usage? Who are the target participants of analysis: individuals, groups or

both? Finally, can the combination of both approaches go beyond the analysis and

proposal of local solutions to global problems and address the causes of poverty?

a) Challenge 1: Participatory Methods Applying the Capability Concepts

The Capability Approach is deliberately incomplete. It does not specify the field and

dimensions of analysis, nor does it propose mechanisms for the exploration of

capabilities. This thesis applies participatory methods to identify and investigate the

dimensions of the freedoms associated with the process of housing. This investigation

of housing freedoms argues that participatory tools are appropriate mechanisms to

unfold and explore the aspects and features of freedoms thoroughly. Firstly,

participatory methods share similar conceptual assumptions to the Capability

Approach. Both approaches perceive people as agents of change and as a source of

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knowledge; and poverty is understood as a complex and multidimensional

phenomenon.

Secondly, even though the participatory tools needed to be modified, the field work

reveals that they are able to explore freedoms. Participatory tools normally focus on

the materialistic aspects, such as resources, distribution and preferences. However, the

evaluation of housing freedoms required a focus on use values of commodities, thus

exploring not only preferences, but also the reasons for choosing such preferences.

The semi-structured interviews and the focus group activities were both successful in

revealing local aspirations, perceptions, preferences and their reason for choosing

such preferences. In the case of the semi-structured interviews, this was achieved by

continually asking the question “why?”.

Meanwhile the focus group based on a card game was also able to capture reasons

underpinning preferences, through the notes taken on the discussions during the

process of choosing and prioritising cards. The female, male, youth and leaders group

attributed sometimes similar, other times different reasons for their choices. The data

states some of the similarities and differences, but it does not elaborate in detail such a

comparison. Further analytical work could obtain findings related to gender, age and

role in the community. However, this would also require further field work focusing

specifically on these issues.

Finally, the analyses of local residents were constructive, revealing various

dimensions of housing, exploring the features of interventions, which led to the

identification of the aspects of freedom. Therefore, participatory tools were effective

mechanisms to operationalize the Capability Approach, elaborating concepts and

procedures for application of Sen’s concepts.

b) Challenge 2: Wresting Back Participation

Applications of participatory methods have been criticised as being too instrumental

and not challenging the conditions of poverty. This exploration of housing freedom

argues that the Capability Approach can be a conceptual framework that has the

potential to wrest back participation to its original goals of empowerment. One of the

values attributed to the process of housing, is the ability to participate in decision

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making. Participatory methods reveal that people value participation as an intrinsic

component in the process of housing. Thus, participation is a means of investigation

and policy making, and a goal in itself. This research involved local residents in the

process of identifying dimensions of evaluation, in the exploration of these

dimensions, and in the initial stage of analysis of the data collected.

Meanwhile, the research also hopes to encourage the practice of participation. Firstly,

participation was promoted through the focus group activities and informal group

discussions that took place in people’s houses, in streets and in community facilities.

By asking questions and bringing people together to discuss issues related to the

squatter upgrading projects, common concerns and motivations could be identified.

Thus, this research potentially contributed to the strengthening of collective bonds.

By encouraging residents to think critically about their housing conditions and in

ways of improving them, the research hopes to improve their ability to overcome the

feeling of helplessness and isolation.

Finally, the research has also produced a documentary about the intervention in

Novos Alagados that hopes to encourage participation in a variety of ways. The

documentary features mainly interviews with local residents, opening up the space for

them to express their thoughts and reactions on the squatter upgrading intervention.

The film will be shown in different locations and events, such as a premiere in Novos

Alagados and international conferences. This hopes to further tackle residents’ sense

of passivity, encouraging confidence by portraying them as a source of information

and knowledge. Also, the documentary hopes to disseminate some of the findings of

this research in an accessible manner, to policy makers, academics, development

practitioners and civic society in general.

c) Challenge 3: Targeted Participants and Field of Analysis

The Capability Approach and participatory methods literature have not reached a

consensus on the targeted participants of their analysis: are evaluations based on the

perspective of individuals, groups or both? Meanwhile the literature from both areas

differentiates between approaches that focus on individual or collective aspects of

well-being. The Capability Approach has been criticised as being too individualistic.

To overcome this limitation, recent applications propose the investigation of

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individual and collective capabilities. Recent applications of participatory methods

have been criticised by focusing on the ‘empowerment’ of individuals and moving

away from its collective traditions.

This methodology proposes a procedure to address the issues of targeted participants

and the field of analysis. The thesis undertakes research methods that focus on both

individuals and groups. Semi-structured interviews unfold individual perceptions and

analysis. Focus group activities are concerned with the collective process of making

choices. Thus, it is acknowledged in this research that individual and group methods

elaborate differently on the problem under analysis. They produce evidence that

triangulates and complements each other.

However, the thesis does not support the differentiation between individual and

collective capabilities. This application of the Capability Approach argues that

housing freedoms are aspirations that can be achieved by different means. These

means are the choices, opportunities and abilities that compose the capability space

(see Figure 2.1). Thus, this approach does not propose a list of capabilities. The

collective and individual aspects are included in the framework as conversion factors.

Added to these two aspects, are also structural elements affecting the transformation

of commodities into achieved functionings. However, the following question still

stands: can the Capability Approach applied through participatory methods reveal and

analyse these individual, collective and structural conversion factors?

d) Challenge 4: Local Solutions to Global Problems

This thesis has tried to address the limitation raised about the Capability Approach

and participatory methods, that they analyse and provide merely local solutions whilst

they fail to address global problems. The thesis argues that participatory methods do

elaborate in-depth the local processes affecting people’s capabilities. In the context of

this research, residents were able to provide various local insights on the impacts of

interventions. These analyses elaborated comprehensively individual and collective

conversion factors, revealing the causes and mechanisms by which capabilities were

impacted.

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However, there was a limited elaboration of the structural conversion factors affecting

the achievement of housing freedoms. Some structural issues were raised and

identified by the semi-structured interviews and focus groups. But residents did not

expand on the mechanisms by which structural issues operate. On the other hand, the

methodology reveals the local impacts of structural processes, which contribute to the

understanding and analysis of these processes. The thesis suggests that by developing

further the links with other discourses in development, such as the rights based

approach and social exclusion analyses and policy making based on this methodology

can be complemented by structural considerations.

8.3.3 Housing Freedom and Discourses on Development

Sen’s concepts are associated with other discourses of development that have

approached urban poverty through a multidimensional and context-related

perspective, such as the Rights Based Approach, Livelihoods Approach, and the

Social Exclusion discourse. The thesis argues that the limitations of exploring housing

freedoms through participatory methods disclosed in the previous section can be

addressed by incorporating the strengths of these discourses to development.

Meanwhile, this application of Sen’s thinking also reveals that the Capability

Approach contributes to the Rights Based Approach, Livelihoods Approach and the

Social Exclusion discourse in a variety of ways.

a) Contribution of the Capability Approach

This exploration of housing freedoms expands the Rights Based Approach (RBA) by

applying an evaluative framework based on a set of values but which is not based on

legal agreements. Therefore, this elaboration of the Capability Approach can be

analysed as an application of the Rights Based Approach which moves away from a

legalistic towards a sociological motivation. By investigating housing through Sen’s

thinking, this thesis broadens the RBA by elaborating in-depth the mechanisms

involved in the process of realising freedom, as well as addressing the opportunities

associated with freedom. Instead of merely analysing the formal institutions involved

on the process of securing housing rights, the thesis also explores the informal

arrangements and mechanisms that have an impact on residents’ freedom.

Furthermore, the evaluation of housing freedoms broadens the RBA by being

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concerned with the residents’ ability and opportunity to achieve housing freedoms.

Thus, instead of merely analysing the process of protecting residents’ freedom, the

Capability Approach is also concerned with the process of expanding residents’

freedom.

The application of the Capability Approach also incorporates the notion of

livelihoods. This investigation of housing freedoms explores the processes in which

residents’ interact with the built environment, transforming houses and

neighbourhoods into livelihoods. However, it differs from the Livelihoods Approach

by moving away from a utilitarian approach to dimensions of livelihoods. As argued

in Chapter 3, capabilities differ from assets as the latter is concerned with capital

formation, and the former aims at expanding residents’ ability to achieve the things

they value. Thus, by applying the notion of livelihoods through Sen’s perspective, the

social capital theory underpinning the Livelihoods Approach is replaced by the

Capability Approach framework.

The Capability Approach also explores the processes of social exclusion. Here the

evaluation of squatter upgrading projects is concerned with the structural and local

elements constraining housing freedoms and causing processes of exclusion. This

application of Sen’s concepts in the urban development context contributes to the

literature on social exclusion by emphasizing the focus on exclusion as a process and

not as an outcome. Furthermore, the thesis also reveals the “unfavourable inclusions”

that impact on housing freedoms. Therefore, Sen’s thinking can break the dualistic

and limited application of the social exclusion discourse by revealing the mechanisms

underpinning the process of housing.

b) Addressing Limitations

The dialogue between Sen’s concepts and the discourses on development aims at

addressing the limitations and weaknesses of the Capability Approach. By

complementing the Capability Approach with concepts from the Rights Based

Approach (RBA), Livelihoods Approach and Social Exclusion discourse, this

investigation of housing freedom aims at explicitly tackling the limitations of Sen’s

concepts which were raised in Chapter 2: i.e. that the Capability Approach is too

theoretical, broad, and context-dependent; which would prevent it from having a

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practical and operational significance; and thus, it would provide only local solutions

while perpetuating global problems.

Together with participatory methods, the notion of livelihoods contributes to the

application of the Capability Approach. The livelihoods approach has developed

concepts and methods to address local mechanisms, especially concerned with the

optimization of existing potentials of the poor to overcome obstacles to development.

This approach studies spatial areas based on a multidimensional analysis. The focus

on local potentials and aspirations has underpinned this investigation of housing

freedom. Thus, the thesis argues that the livelihoods approach and participatory

methods are some of the tools that can contribute to the Capability Approach by

providing methods of application without losing the openness of Sen’s concepts.

While the focus on freedom aims at unfolding the causes and the manifestations of

capability deprivation, the use of participatory methods was unable to elaborate in

detail the operation of structural factors that had an impact on residents’ housing

freedoms. If policy-making relies only on such an approach, the structural causes of

capability deprivation might be left untouched. Therefore the thesis argues that the

Capability Approach needs to develop further mechanisms to incorporate agreements

on basic rights that need to be protected. However, the challenge is to identify these

basic rights without being universalistic whilst still leaving the approach open for

contextualization. Thus, concepts of the RBA can contribute to the development of

common agreements on rights that should be protected. In this evaluation of the

squatter upgrading projects, some common concerns were identified: such as the right

for safety, to have access to education and health. While further research is needed on

this topic, the data collected reveal that bottom-up and participatory processes are

alternatives to contribute to the elaboration of a set of basic rights.

Furthermore, Social Exclusion discourses can contribute to the Capability Approach,

by revealing the macro processes impacting on segregation, inequalities and poverty.

While the Capability Approach reveals how freedoms operate at the local level, Social

Exclusion analysis investigates the operations of macro soco-economic and political

norms. This analysis can contribute to the clarification of the structural factors

affecting the conversion of commodities into achieved functionings.

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The Social Exclusion discourse can also contribute to the analysis of power relations,

and the development of tools to investigate the agency aspect of the Capability

Approach. The investigation of housing freedoms revealed aspects of the internal

processes of exclusion, revealing how power relations impact on the achievement of

functionings. This analysis of participation of squatter inhabitants in the squatter

upgrading project and city-wide policy-making elaborates on how power relations are

perpetuated unequally at the city level. However, agency in itself is not addressed

directly by this research, nor measured and analysed comprehensively. Further tools

and research are needed to conceptualise agency, elaborating on its individual and

collective dimensions. By incorporating the analysis of power relations from social

exclusion discourse and by exploring agency, the Capability Approach can enhance

its ability to investigate power inequalities and challenge the root causes of

deprivations.

8.4 Objective 3: To assess to what extent Sen’s focus on freedom has

affected the World Bank’s urban practices

The third objective of this thesis is to assess the contemporary World Bank urban

policy and examine how far Sen’s focus on freedom affected its thinking and practice

of development within the case study area. The analysis of the World Bank

publications and the evaluation of the squatter upgrading project in Novos Alagados

reveal that the World Bank approach to urban development is contradictory and

inconsistent. Publications, such as the 2000 World Development Report and an article

published by a former president of the World Bank and Amartya Sen (Wolfensohn

and Sen, 1999), acknowledge the need to redress poverty, moving away from a

narrow income-led perception, to one based on the multiple aspects of deprivations.

As a result, urban poverty became a direct concern to the World Bank and squatter

upgrading initiatives were to be a result of this more inclusive perception of the

dimensions of poverty. However, a closer look at the policy papers (World Bank,

2000a) and Cities Alliance Reports (2001; 2002; 2003) reveal that instead of re-

conceptualizing poverty, the contemporary approach targeted the poor so that market-

oriented policies could flourish. The macro-level analysis of the World Bank funded

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squatter upgrading project in Novos Alagados argues that the effects of the project

reveal this contradiction.

The first part of this fourth section of the chapter reveals the inconsistencies and

contradictions of the World Bank approach by comparing the five functions of

squatter upgrading developed in Chapter 1 with the findings from the World Bank

funded project and the community-based initiative. Then the contradictions and

inconsistencies of the World Bank approach and the community-based initiative are

outlined. The analysis argues that the market enablement approach to urban

intervention was more appropriately implemented by the community-based initiatives

in Calabar than the Word Bank funded project in Novos Alagados. In the third part of

this section the limitations of this analysis are indicated.

8.4.1 The Five Functions of Squatter Upgrading

Chapter One reviewed that while the broad discourse of the World Bank on

development has being influenced by Amartya Sen’s writings, the World Bank’s

squatter upgrading agenda still aims at expanding the market enablement strategy by

enhancing competitiveness; maximizing productivity; enabling actors; alleviating

poverty; and integrating the excluded. Thus, this chapter assesses how far the Novos

Alagados and Calabar approach to squatter upgrading can be associated with such a

market enablement strategy.

a) Enhancing Competitiveness

The underpinning motivation of the intervention in Novos Alagados is to enhance the

competitiveness of Salvador da Bahia. The beautification agenda is revealed in the

design of the Nova Primavera housing estate and the legal restraints on expansion. As

shown in section 6.4.1, the colourful paints, the unusual typology of the houses are

used as a means to replace the image of Novos Alagados as a place of stilts and

deprivation, to one of hope and formal and legal development. However, the housing

estate is a victory of image over content. Participants of the focus groups and

interviewees were very critical of the design of the squatter upgrading intervention,

arguing that it constrained their ability to expand their houses (see section 6.5.1) and

to maintain social networks (see section 6.5.4).

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Meanwhile the project of Calabar did not aim to enhance the competitiveness of the

city. Beautification was not an objective of the project neither its outcome (see picture

7.5). However this community-based initiative does enhance the competitiveness of

the city as provider of cheap labour without tackling structural inequalities. As

respondents demonstrated in section 7.5.2, the intervention did not lead to significant

increase in the cost of living. The reasons provided by respondents were because

residents were not displaced, thus allowed to remain close to work, and they were not

asked to pay for the houses. Thus, the upgraded squatter house remains a cheap

housing alternative which allows residents to live despite low wages. This outcome of

the upgrading initiative combined with community-based organisation inability to

tackle structural processes leads to the practice of a market enablement strategy

through the funding of community led upgrading initiatives.

b) Maximizing Productivity

The squatter upgrading project of Novos Alagados aimed to enhance the productivity

of the neighbourhood through a spatially-targeted policy. By moving residents from

the stilts to the Nova Primavera housing estate, the programme aimed at encouraging

entrepreneurship and employment. As revealed in Box 6.2, the lack of credits and

employment opportunities compromised residents’ freedom to afford living costs,

thus limiting the improvement of the productivity of the area.

Furthermore, such a function of the market enablement approach to squatter

upgrading has the mistaken underlying association between squatter settlements and

income deprivation. By focusing on productivity, the stilt inhabitants were perceived

as uniformly poor and unproductive. However, as revealed by the field work, the

reality was far more complex. Inequalities existed and residents were generating

income and resources to upgrade their living standards by filling in and replacing

housing materials from woods to bricks.

The squatter upgrading in Calabar, while not focusing on the productivity of the

squatter settlement, recognised the local existing resources by organising community

self-help strategies. The data also reveals that there was an attempt to raise the

economic productivity of the settlement through the vocational courses provided by

the community-based organisation. However, as argued by respondents in section

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7.5.2, the overall impact on productivity was limited due to the lack of training linked

to employment opportunities and accessible credit.

c) Enabling Actors

One of the main objectives of the squatter upgrading in Novos Alagados was to

enable the different actors involved in the project, such as community-based

organisations, the international NGO AVSI and the local government. The initial

evaluation of the project revealed that the partnership between AVSI and the local

government has enhanced the local government’s capacity to attract funds and

implement a squatter upgrading project (see section 6.4.3). Meanwhile, as

demonstrated in Box 6.3, respondents argued that the participatory strategy adopted

failed to empower the community as it weakened the existing community-based

organisation and weakened collective bonds. Furthermore, the data also revealed that

the typology of the houses had impacted negatively on the ability of the residents of

Nova Primavera to mobilise collectively and to enhance social networks (see section

6.5.4).

The project of Calabar, on the other hand, coordinated the partnership among various

actors, such as an international donor, the local government, the Foundation José

Silveira (FJS), community-based organisation and residents. Section 7.3 explained

that the neighbourhood association SBRC, assisted by FJS compiled resources from

the government and an international donor. SBRC led the design of the physical and

social interventions. Residents participated in the implementation of the project

through the community self-help. Long term sustainability was enhanced as the

project was run and managed locally. Therefore, Calabar is an example of a squatter

upgrading project that enabled the actors, but which had a limited impact on

challenging structural inequalities. The roll-back of the state in the provision of social

services was achieved without tackling existing power relations (see section 7.5.3).

There was no objective of the community-based organisation to develop strong links

with other grassroots organisations, nor was the space created to enhance their ability

to participate in city-wide policy making (see section 7.5.5). Nevertheless, even

though SBRC did not efficiently develop links with other social movements, the

success story of Calabar did encourage other community-based organisations to

mobilise residents and their existing resources.

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d) Alleviating Poverty

The evaluation of the squatter upgrading project in Novos Alagados reveals that

poverty was not alleviated in a homogenous way by the project. According to the

findings in section 6.5.3, those that were able to afford the new costs of living

benefited more from the environmental improvements. Meanwhile the poorest faced

deteriorating living standards, as the freedoms to maintain social networks (see

section 6.5.4) and afford living costs (see section 6.5.2) were compromised. As argued

in the initial evaluation of the project (section 6.4), the most vulnerable groups were

more likely to be pushed away from the improvements to squatter settlements further

from the city, as they could not afford to pay the new bills nor the cost recovery

scheme.

The squatter upgrading project in Calabar also did not alleviate poverty effectively

either. According to respondents in section 7.5.3, the infrastructure in Pinga did

improve, community facilities were introduced, such as a community school, health

clinic, and vocational courses. However, this same section also revealed that the

freedom to have a healthy environment remained limited in the community. Services

are poorly maintained and infrastructure is still precarious. The localised intervention

was unable to tackle structural problems that caused the lack of safety in Calabar.

Residents remain suspicious of a corrupt police force, while drug-trafficking remains,

providing an alternative to the young looking for a quick source of income and

recognition.

e) Integrating the Excluded

Through the regularisation of tenure, connection to services and infrastructure,

installation of the new urban fabric by the Nova Primavera housing estate and

improvement of education facilities, the squatter upgrading project of Novos

Alagados aimed at integrating the excluded. The policy analysis of section 6.3.3

reveals that the underlying motivation of the project was to incorporate the excluded

inhabitants of stilt-houses into the city mechanisms.

However, this approach was compromised by two mistaken assumptions: inclusion is

perceived as an outcome which can be achieved through legal mechanisms, physical

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improvements and basic education services; and all types of inclusion are considered

favourable inclusions. The findings of this thesis reveal that exclusion in Novos

Alagados is not an outcome but a process that addresses the underlying forces causing

the different types of deprivation. Therefore, for inclusion to be encouraged, it is

necessary to tackle a variety of local and structural factors, including community

dynamics, access to education, health, employment, security and safety. In addition,

the findings reveal that the squatter upgrading project also implemented unfavourable

processes of inclusion, such as the connection to services and taxes without raising the

income of the households (see section 6.5.2), and a participatory strategy that used an

elective mechanism without empowering leaders (see section 6.5.5).

The motivation of the Calabar project was also to overcome exclusion. But rather than

an outcome, exclusion was perceived as a process causing poverty. The struggle to

remain in the same location, instead of being evicted to housing estates in the outskirts

of the city, was perceived as a victory over the exclusionary processes. However,

Calabar, despite being located in an adjacent area to affluent neighbourhoods, is a

segregated enclave. People from outside hardly access the neighbourhood and

interviewees mentioned the existing stigmatisation of Calabar as a place of

vagabonds, poverty and criminality. While the project encouraged a better awareness

of the processes of exclusion to its residents through the community school and

educational opportunities, it had a limited impact on changing the perspective of those

outside. Furthermore, the findings also revealed that in the struggle against structural

exclusionary processes through the creation of community-based organisations,

internal patterns of exclusion were enhanced. Residents of Pinga argued that they had

less access to community facilities than other areas located closer to the community

centres (see section 7.5.4). Furthermore, participation in the project empowered those

heading the community-based organisation and not the inhabitants of the area that was

upgraded (see section 7.5.5).

8.4.2 Contradictions and Inconsistencies

The comparison between the squatter upgrading projects in Novos Alagados and

Calabar revealed contradictions and inconsistencies in the bottom-up and top-down

approaches to urban development.

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a) Novos Alagados: A Market Oriented Approach to Squatter Upgrading

First, this analysis of the project financed by the World Bank argues that the market

enablement development paradigm has not been superseded. Amartya Sen’s writings

have been adapted to an approach to squatter upgrading that still focuses on the

enhancement of cities’ productivity and competitiveness. The policy analysis and

evidence abstracted from respondents reveals that the social functions of squatter

upgrading are perceived as instrumental to the expansion of the market enablement

agenda. Enabling actors are concerned with the roll-back of the state from being a

provider of social services. Alleviation of poverty aims at addressing merely the side

effects of liberalisation policies, and not the root causes of deprivations. By

integrating the excluded, the project in Novos Alagados aims at incorporating

informal housing solutions into the formal market. Local processes of interacting with

the built environment are not recognised, and the project imposed a new urban form

that could strengthen the formal housing market.

This approach to squatter upgrading does incorporate new dimensions to the neo-

liberal approach. The agenda of the World Bank is not only concerned with economic

growth, but also with participation and poverty alleviation. The difference from the

previous development paradigm is that the World Bank recognises that to make

markets work, these new dimensions need to be addressed. The project in Novos

Alagados is an example of this second stage of the market enablement paradigm. It

addresses the rhetoric of poverty alleviation, but still largely using the instruments of

the first stage of market enablement paradigm. Furthermore, this thesis argues that

instead of redirecting objectives, the World Bank has appropriated the new language

that came from the ‘left’ to reinforce the expansion of the market enablement strategy.

b) Novos Alagados: An Appropriate Application Market Enablement?

This evaluation of the squatter upgrading project in Novos Alagados reveals that in

practice this market enablement approach contains a series of contradictions and

inconsistencies. First the process of enabling actors has been unsustainable,

unaccountable and ineffective. The government has not reduced public expenditure

but merely indebted itself with the World Bank. Most of the funds provided were

loans by the World Bank which will need to be repaid. The state remains a provider of

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funds, but it has shared the responsibility in the implementation stage with the

international NGO AVSI. However, crucial to the accountability of the NGO would

have been the open competition of projects which would allow the state government

to select the organisation fittest for the project. The preliminary analysis of the

intervention in section 6.4.3 argues that such a process of NGO selection did not take

place. AVSI was involved from the beginning of the project, exercising state powers

without being accountable or having been selected through a transparent and open

process.

Furthermore, as revealed in section 6.5.5, the process of participation implemented

was unsustainable, misconceived and pre-emptive. The project did not pro-actively

involve the community-based organisation, which became very critical of the

intervention. Also, most of the elected leaders stopped attending the consultation

meetings due to their limited power.

The second contradiction and limitation of the project in Novos Alagados is the

process of regularisation of tenure. According to the market enablement approach,

inclusion would be encouraged through the distribution of land titles. That was linked

to the cost recovery scheme, thus only the residents that paid for the houses would

receive the deeds. However, as residents did not have any new form of income and

were dissatisfied with the quality and type of the houses, the repayment scheme was

totally unsuccessful. The project in Novos Alagados, according to respondents, does

not seem to have alleviated income poverty (see section 6.5.2). Finally, it also did not

legally encourage inclusion as residents interviewed were not provided with land

titles.

c) Calabar: Perpetuating and Executing Market Enablement?

The comparison between the squatter upgrading projects in Novos Alagados and

Calabar reveals that while using common terms such as participation, empowerment,

freedom and inclusion different meanings have been attributed to them. The main

difference relies on the motivation underpinning the use of the language. In the

project in Novos Alagados, the policy analysis reveals that these ‘soft’ variables are

perceived as instruments for the enhancement of productivity and the competitiveness

of the city. However for the leaders of the community-based organisation of Calabar,

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these variables are the main motivation and outcomes in their own right of the

squatter upgrading project. Another difference relies on the conceptualisation of social

exclusion. The Novos Alagados case study perceives social inclusion as a goal that

can be achieved through legal status and inclusion into formal markets. The project in

Calabar perceives social exclusion as social, political and economic processes that

inhibit peoples’ ability to move away from poverty.

Although the squatter upgrading project in Calabar was motivated by these more

structural and less pragmatic perceptions of poverty, in practice it was unable to

achieve changes that addressed the root causes of poverty and inequality.

Stigmatisation; lack of employment and safety; inappropriate access to education and

health; ineffective processes of participation in city-wide decision making are some of

the continuing problems of residents of Calabar. Nevertheless, the data collected

revealed residents’ high level of satisfaction with the housing intervention, because of

its participatory character. Meanwhile actors were successfully enabled as the project

implemented an effective partnership between the community-based organisation,

international donors and the Foundation José Silveira. Furthermore, the project

fundraised its own resources without indebting the state government. On the one hand

the productivity of the city might have been compromised, as Calabar is located on

valuable land where speculators were interested in building luxury block of flats. On

the other hand, by allowing residents to remain in adjacent areas to rich

neighbourhoods, the supply of a cheap labour force remains in close proximity to the

demand, lowering transportation costs and contributing to the maintenance of low

wages. Therefore, this analysis argues that the community-based initiatives in

Calabar, while having different motivations to the market enablement strategy, was

constrained in achieving its initial structural goals, and became an effective

perpetuator and executer of the fragmented neo-liberal agenda.

This evaluation of the project in Calabar reveals the process of cooption of

community-based organisations, which fragments and weakens social movements.

Community-based organisations came to be competitors for funds provided to

different causes, such as housing, education, and gender equality. The communities

that are best organised have better access to funds, while those less well organised and

usually the poorer delve further into poverty, segregation and exclusion. Such a

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process drives community-led interventions to become more and more influenced by

donors’ priorities and the availability of funds, rather than the needs and deprivations

of the poorest.

8.4.3 Limitations and the Seeds of Change

This thesis argues that rather than counterposing its new concepts of poverty against

market enablement, the World Bank approach to squatter upgrading has used it to

expand its market enablement strategy. The new dimensions such as poverty

alleviation and inclusion are perceived as instruments for the enablement of markets.

The evaluation of the project in Novos Alagados revealed the contradictions in the

implementation of this agenda. The state government still works as a provider of

social services while the involvement of the international NGOs is carried out without

the appropriate accountability. The acquisition of land titles linked to the cost-

recovery scheme without the creation of employment opportunities inhibited the

project’s ability to legally integrate the residents of Nova Primavera into the dynamics

of the formal city. Therefore, this analysis argues that the project in Novos Alagados

does not implement consistently or effectively the principles of the market enablement

paradigm, despite being implemented in the name of market enablement principles.

The limitations of the research lies in the lack of firm knowledge of how policies are

elaborated within the World Bank, and how they are transmitted and absorbed by

local governments in developing countries. Further research is still needed to

elaborate if the contradictions and inconsistencies of the project in Novos Alagados

are caused by contradictions emanating from the World Bank or due to inappropriate

implementation by the local government and the international NGOs. The thesis does

not investigate the different positions within the World Bank, which might be causing

the divergence between the declared discourse of development and the unrealised

outcomes of market enablement approach to squatter upgrading.

Meanwhile the macro analysis of the squatter upgrading initiatives in Calabar reveals

the process of cooption of community-based initiatives to the implementation of the

neo-liberal agenda. The community-based initiative became a pragmatic intervention

tackling the effects of poverty, and not its root causes. The limited impact on

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structural changes was assured as the state did not create spaces for residents to

participate in city-wide decision-making and the community-based organisation failed

to establish strong networks with other community-based associations and social

movements. As a result the cooption of community-based organisations fragments

social movements and encourages a pragmatic approach to poverty alleviation.

Strategic, city-wide and long term solutions are overcome by projects funded by

international donors that establish their own priorities of what the urban poor need.

Thus, the squatter upgrading project of Calabar is an example of how community-

based initiatives can be perpetuators and executors of the neo-liberal agenda.

Nevertheless, this evaluation cannot omit the effects of the perceived victory and the

success of the mobilisation of the community-based organisation of Calabar. Due to

the community school and educational opportunities, the youth of Calabar developed

a better understanding and awareness to the exclusionary processes causing poverty.

Positive racial identity was encouraged, leading youth to become more confident and

better prepared to claim their rights. The success of the community school also

encouraged other neighbourhood associations to set up their own community facilities

and organisations. This thesis argues that there is a potential to work along side the

market enablement process of urban intervention, as long as bottom-up initiatives

work together, in collaboration, to claim their rights. But if CBOs keep working in a

fragmented and pragmatic way, they will always be incorporated into the neo-liberal

approach, which reproduces the processes causing poverty and inequality.

8.5 Conclusion

By addressing the three objectives of the thesis, this chapter contributes to

development thinking and practice. It unfolds contradictions, assesses approaches and

proposes concepts. The analysis of Objective 1 argues that the continuation of market

enablement policies of the World Bank is due to a selective, inappropriate and

individualistic application of Sen’s concepts rather than a result of a fundamental neo-

liberal character of the Capability Approach. The exploration of the Capability

Approach proposes that it should be perceived as a conceptual framework

underpinning the Human Development paradigm, rather than an evaluative approach

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that differentiates it from the approach to development. The application of Sen’s

concepts to urban development argues that it moves away from neo-liberal

approaches, as it elaborates alternative perspectives on informality, squatter

settlements and squatter upgrading. However, this analysis suggests that if capabilities

are merely concerned with individual freedom, it will sustain neo-liberal principles.

The methodology of this research is assessed, through the analysis of objective 2. The

housing freedom framework is evaluated as an adaptive and comprehensive

framework that focuses on the process of housing. By investigating housing freedoms

through participatory methods, this thesis argues that participatory tools can

operationalize the concepts of development as freedom; the Capability Approach has

the potential to wrest back participatory methods from its instrumental usage; and it

can contribute to the unfolding of conversion factors that are associated with

individual, collective and structural processes. However, this research reveals that the

application of the Capability Approach through participatory methods needs to be

complemented by other discourses on development to address the lack of analysis of

structural processes and tools that explore comprehensively agency and power

relations.

Finally, the analysis of objective 1 argues that the World Bank is still expanding its

market-oriented approach to urban development by: enhancing competitiveness,

maximizing productivity; enabling actors; alleviating poverty; and integrating the

excluded. The squatter upgrading project in Novos Alagados, funded by the World

Bank, while being motivated by neo-liberal goals, fails to maximize productivity, it

has a limited impact on the enablement of actors, and it is unable to include the

excluded through the distribution of land titles. Thus, the project in Novos Alagados is

evaluated as an ineffective application of the market enablement approach.

Meanwhile, paradoxically, the community-based initiative in Calabar is evaluated as a

better executor of neo-liberal policies. By failing to address the structural changes, the

community initiatives in Calabar perpetuate the pragmatic, fragmented and spatially-

targeted projects that enhance competition, break social movements and which does

not challenge existing power inequalities.

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Chapter 8: Macro Analysis - Unfolding Contradictions, Assessing Approaches andDeveloping Concepts .................................................................................................253

8.1 Introduction......................................................................................................2538.2 Objective 1: To explore Sen’s approach and develop it in the urbandevelopment context ..............................................................................................254

8.2.1 Capability Approach and Human Development .......................................254a) The Similarities..........................................................................................254b) The Complementarities..............................................................................255c) The Differences and Inconsistencies .........................................................255

8.2.2 Capability Approach and Urban Development.........................................256a) Informality .................................................................................................256b) Squatter Settlement....................................................................................257c) Squatter Upgrading ....................................................................................259

8.2.3 Capability Approach and Neoliberalism...................................................259a) The Shifts from Neoliberalism ..................................................................260b) The Limitations and Contradictions of the Capability Approach..............262

8.3 Objective 2: To elaborate on the concept of ‘housing freedom’ and evaluate theuse of participatory methods in this application of the Capability Approach........266

8.3.1 Housing Freedom as a Conceptual Framework ........................................266a) Exploring the process of housing...............................................................266b) Housing freedom, an adaptive framework ................................................267c) Housing Freedom, a Comprehensive Framework .....................................267

8.3.2 Housing Freedom and Participatory Methods ..........................................269a) Challenge 1: Participatory Methods Applying the Capability Concepts ...269b) Challenge 2: Wresting Back Participation.................................................270c) Challenge 3: Targeted Participants and Field of Analysis.........................271d) Challenge 4: Local Solutions to Global Problems.....................................272

8.3.3 Housing Freedom and Discourses on Development.................................273a) Contribution of the Capability Approach ..................................................273b) Addressing Limitations..............................................................................274

8.4 Objective 3: To assess to what extent Sen’s focus on freedom has affected theWorld Bank’s urban practices................................................................................276

8.4.1 The Five Functions of Squatter Upgrading...............................................277a) Enhancing Competitiveness.......................................................................277b) Maximizing Productivity...........................................................................278c) Enabling Actors .........................................................................................279d) Alleviating Poverty....................................................................................280e) Integrating the Excluded............................................................................280

8.4.2 Contradictions and Inconsistencies...........................................................281a) Novos Alagados: A Market Oriented Approach to Squatter Upgrading ...282b) Novos Alagados: An Appropriate Application Market Enablement? .......282c) Calabar: Perpetuating and Executing Market Enablement? ......................283

8.4.3 Limitations and the Seeds of Change........................................................2858.5 Conclusion .......................................................................................................286

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Chapter 8: Macro Analysis - Unfolding Contradictions, Assessing Approaches andDeveloping Concepts .................................................................................................253

Figure 8.1: The Separation of the Mixed uses of Space ........................................263Table 8.1: Aspects of Housing Freedom................................................................268

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Chapter 9: Conclusion – Housing and Poverty,

Limitations, and Areas for Further Research

9.1 Introduction

The World Bank states it is “working for a world free of poverty”

(http://www.worldbank.org/). The United Nations says it aims to “promote social

progress and better standards of life in larger freedom”

(www.un.org/Overview/rights.html). Oxfam advertises that it is “united for a more

equitable world” (http://www.oxfam.org). DIFID announces that it is “leading British

Government’s in the fight against poverty” (http://www.dfid.gov.uk/). Meanwhile

poverty, deprivation and inequalities continue to exist and expand, especially in

developing countries’ cities (Hasan et al., 2005). On one hand the development field

is populated by commitments, but its practices are falling behind the growth of

deprivation. A relevant, but not new, question that comes to mind is: can development

agencies move from the rhetoric of development to the practice of social change?

The underlining assumption of this thesis is that ideally development agencies can

contribute to the struggle against the causes of injustice and poverty. However, their

practices are compromised due to the processes of applying the rhetoric of

development. Projects and practices are concerned with programmatic objectives,

which do not challenge the political power inequalities in the city. Development

interventions target spaces in the city, and not city-wide conditions. This approach

leads to assumptions that are usually not elaborated thoroughly. For example, squatter

upgrading has been recently perceived as a means to alleviate poverty through the

improvement of housing. This thesis contributes to the elaboration of the relationship

between the concepts of poverty and housing, while also challenging the

programmatic and spatially-led practices of development institutions.

The relationship between the concepts of housing and poverty has evolved and

changed in a variety of ways. Different theories of development have encouraged

similar shifts in the approaches to housing and the understanding of poverty (see

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Table 1.1). The concept of poverty has moved from being a phenomenon that needed

to be overcome by the modernisation of developing countries, to one that focuses on

the multiple aspects of deprivation. Housing interventions have also changed from

housing estates, mirrored on western standards, to squatter upgrading projects aimed

at enhancing cities’ competitiveness and the enablement of communities. Thus, during

the modernization period, housing projects aimed at modernization; during the equity

with growth period, housing projects aimed at assuring basic needs; during the neo-

liberal period, housing projects aimed at enabling markets; and in the ‘emerging’

paradigm, housing projects became a means to alleviate poverty.

In contemporary development thinking, housing is perceived as a dimension of

poverty. The writings of Amartya Sen have been at the centre of the move towards

this multidimensional approach to development. Rhetorically, there seems to be a

consensus among the different actors involved in the development field towards the

perception that housing conditions are aspects of poverty. However, a closer analysis

reveals the differences in discourses and their underlying assumptions. It is argued in

this thesis that the World Bank has attempted a shift in the conceptualisation of

poverty, however its housing policies are still concerned with the enablement of

markets.

This concluding chapter relates the findings of this thesis to the relationship between

the concepts of housing and poverty. The following section examines how the

emerging paradigm of the World Bank perpetuates rather than challenges the market

enablement model of the relationship between housing and poverty. Then the

framework of housing freedom is assessed according to its contribution to an

alternative conceptualisation of housing and poverty. These two sections summarise

the main findings of the thesis, while also setting out the limitations of the research

and proposals for areas that need further investigation.

290

9.2 World Bank: Perpetuating Market Enablement

Although the World Bank defines development as a process based on the expansion of

freedoms (Wolfensohn and Sen, 1999), Chapter 1 reveals that its ideal of the city is as

a place for business expansion. The traces of neoliberalism throughout the World

Bank policy papers and the squatter upgrading project in Novos Alagados were

identified in the literature review and field work. Meanwhile, the comparison with the

squatter upgrading initiatives in Calabar revealed the processes in which community-

led projects ended up as effective executers of market enablement policies. In the first

part of this section the mechanisms of perpetuating market enablement are

summarized, and the limitations of this analysis are elaborated. The third part of this

section proposes areas where further research is needed to investigate the practice and

impacts of market enablement.

9.2.1 Mechanisms of Perpetuation

The underlying assumptions that associate the squatter upgrading projects in Novos

Alagados and Calabar with market enablement are their approach to the relationship

between housing and poverty:

- Housing is perceived as a mechanism of inclusion. Through greater inclusion

to urban markets and the urban fabric, squatter inhabitants are seen as having a

greater ability to overcome deprivations. Therefore the overall processes and

structures are not addressed as a cause of poverty. The assumption is that the

lack of access to existing urban processes is the problem. Meanwhile,

unfavourable inclusions are not analysed or challenged by projects.

- Housing is a localised phenomenon. Squatter upgrading aims at tackling

poverty by improving local facilities and conditions. Thus, as argued in this

thesis, neo-liberal policies are implemented by seeming to present local

solutions and perpetuating city wide and global problems.

291

- Housing is perceived as an outcome that reduces poverty. The multi

dimensional approach to housing is related to the expansion of focus from

merely building houses to one that also builds communal squares, community

centres and paved streets. However, the continuation of this materialistic

approach to housing does not address the processes and factors shaping the

usage of commodities (these being local or structural), and which are at the

crux of the causes of poverty.

The identification of these three aspects of the neo-liberal relation between housing

and poverty elaborates on the limitations of the market enablement approach to

squatter upgrading. It expands on the practice of grass-roots initiatives, unfolding

mechanisms of cooptation and appropriation that perpetuates neoliberalism. Thus, this

thesis hopes to contribute to the formulation of an alternative approach to urban

development. The recommendations brought forward by this thesis are:

- Squatter settlements are the overwhelming realities of developing countries

cities. If the dichotomy included/excluded is to be used, squatter settlements

are part of the included city, while the gated communities, luxury shopping

malls, expensive residential high scrapers with their gates and security

cameras are the self-excluded city. Policies should be concerned with breaking

such self-excluded mechanisms that perpetuates the concentration of income

and opportunities. Instead of trying to fix the poor, policies focused on

distribution, equal rights and opportunities should target the privileged (not

only from developing countries) and the processes that perpetuate inequalities

and injustices locally, at the city level and globally.

- Empowerment of social movements cannot only mean power to execute

projects. Empowerment needs to be about opening-up spaces to change local

but also city-wide policies. Meanwhile, the fragmentation of social movements

needs to be avoided. Instead of different causes competing with each other to

become central themes on donor’s agendas, their practice needs to be driven

by collaboration and a common underlying focus. The different movements

(i.e. shelter, rural, gender, cultural or environmental movements) face common

objectives, struggles and obstacles that need to be emphasised.

292

- When thinking about housing, a multi-dimensional approach should be about

moving from what housing is, to what it does. In this manner, commodities or

buildings are not the central outcome of urban interventions, but rather the

challenge and optimisation of processes. Interventions should focus on how

infrastructure, houses, and social projects can address the dynamics and

patterns that create poverty. Thus, housing projects address poverty as long as

housing is perceived as a process, rather than an outcome that is expanded by

merely building houses and facilities.

9.2.2 Limitations of Analysis

This research has three main limitations in the analysis of the World Bank’s practices

and the perpetuation of market enablement:

- Firstly this research does not elaborate in-depth on the processes of decision

making within the World Bank and between the World Bank and local

politicians. The examination of the World Bank policies reveals contradictions

and inconsistencies. However, it does not elaborate on how general

approaches become policies, and thus does not reveal the institutional

processes that cause the contradictions and inconsistencies of policies.

- Secondly this research does not investigate the mechanisms created in Calabar

and Novos Alagados that might challenge in the long term the perpetuation of

market enablement. Squatter upgrading interventions might have effects that

trigger gradual changes that could address the structural conditions causing

poverty. In the case of Novos Alagados it was mentioned how spatial change

can enhance residents’ self-esteem, thus improving the freedom to have a

healthy life and the ability to participate in decision making. In the case of

Calabar, the youth educated by the community school could become residents

critically aware of social problems and the limitations of local interventions.

Thus, they could have a better ability than their parents to challenge the

formulation of city-wide policies and tackle the causes of poverty.

293

- And thirdly, while concluding that community agency is at the crux of an

alternative approach to urban interventions, the concept of agency is not

developed in depth nor addressed explicitly by the research methods. It is

argued that market enablement can only be overcome if community-based

organisations can enhance their ability to network and intervene in city-wide

policy-making, and this thesis recommends interventions that enhance

communities’ agency. Thus, the concept of agency, in terms of individual

residents and of communities within a city context, is crucial for the evaluation

of squatter upgrading interventions. While this thesis elaborates indirectly on

the aspects of agency, it does not directly examine the dimensions and

measurement of agency.

9.2.3 Areas for Further Research

Taking into consideration these limitations, this thesis proposes further research on

the following three themes:

- Firstly, more research is needed to investigate the multi perspectives existing

in the World Bank. By undertaking institutional research on the process of

policy making in the World Bank, further research could identify the reasons

underpinning the inconsistencies and contradictions of the World Bank

published work.

- Secondly, a more socio-anthropological study is still needed to uncover how

squatter residents and groups react to the practice of neo-liberal interventions.

While this research reveals the limitations of the market enablement approach,

further research can investigate the reaction of squatter inhabitants and their

mechanisms to claim for freedoms in cities that are governed by market

enablement principles.

- Thirdly, when investigating the role of civil societies, this research argues that

their agency is crucial to unfold organisations’ freedom to participate in

decision making without cooptation and appropriation. The exploration of the

294

agency of civil societies would contribute to the elaboration of an alternative

to neo-liberal urban planning.

9.3 Housing Freedom: An Alternative?

This thesis proposes the framework of housing freedom as an alternative to thinking

about and practice in squatter upgrading interventions. The concept is drawn from

Sen’s thinking, which aims to overcome the income-led definition of poverty by

proposing the concept of development as freedom. The first part of this section

summarises the contributions of the housing freedom framework to clarify the

relationship between housing and poverty. Then, the limitations of the framework and

this application are explained. The third part outlines areas for further research that

are needed to contribute to the elaboration of frameworks that can address the causes

of poverty and the process of housing.

9.3.1 The Contributions of the Framework

By applying this approach to the urban development context, this research aims at

breaking away from the neo-liberal assumptions of the relation between housing and

poverty, outlined in the previous section. The housing freedom framework proposes a

method of research that:

- Identifies local aspirations associated with the process of housing, and

denominated housing functionings (or housing freedoms).

- Evaluates the housing freedom, which is the ‘capabilities space’ composed of

the choice, ability and opportunity residents have to achieve their housing

functionings.

- This space is influenced by individual, collective and structural factors, which

are acknowledged as conversion factors, shaping people’s ability to transform

commodities into achieved housing functionings.

295

The evaluation of the squatter upgrading projects in Novos Alagados and Calabar

reveal housing functionings, assess housing freedom and elaborate on the conversion

factors that compose the capabilities space. Thus, the housing freedom framework

examines the links between the process of housing and the dynamics of poverty. In

the case of Novos Alagados, this evaluation reveals that the project improved the

environmental conditions of the area: residents moved from stilt-houses to inland

houses, connected to services and infrastructure. However, the project failed to

optimise the existing values attached to the process of housing, such as the freedom to

individualise and expand; participate in decision making; maintain social networks;

and afford living costs.

Meanwhile, in the case of Calabar, the community initiative was more responsive to

residents’ process of housing. The project does address the five housing freedoms.

The evaluation reveals that the freedoms to participate in decision making and

maintain social networks were particularly enhanced by the project. Nevertheless,

impacts on the other three freedoms (to individualise and expand; to live in a healthy

environment; to afford living costs) were often limited or/and frequently unequal.

The research revealed the conversion factors influencing the process of realising

housing freedoms. Individual, collective and structural factors were recognised as

major players in the relation between housing and poverty. The evaluations revealed,

for example, that better houses can improve individuals’ self-confidence; and

collective mechanisms can create freedoms as well as unfreedoms. Meanwhile, if

projects do not challenge structural injustices (i.e. stigmatisation, corrupt police

forces, unemployment) housing freedom will still be compromised, minimising the

impact on poverty.

Thus, this assessment of Sen’s thinking argues that the Capability Approach attempts

to capture the complex process in which people perceive and practice development. It

is a comprehensive theory that explores what people aspire to and how they can

achieve such aspirations; thus, it is open to different values and aspirations; it is not

about providing the same levels of material standards for all, but assuring that people

have equal opportunities; it acknowledges that to achieve certain aspirations, people

might need different levels of material standards. Therefore, it is an approach to

296

development that deconstructs the fixed ideal of development and focuses on the

process of how development comes about. In this sense people are not poor, they are

weak.

The concept of housing freedom applies the Capability Approach to the investigation

of housing, incorporating the aspects associated with poverty, which have been

analysed by other approaches to urban development. The rights based approach

highlights the importance of associating development with a set of basic principles.

The livelihoods approach addresses the different assets involved in the process of

development. Meanwhile, the social exclusion discourses address the structural causes

of poverty. By incorporating these principles in the thinking and practice of housing,

the framework of housing freedom aims at clarifying the relation between housing

and poverty.

The framework of housing freedom contributes to the Capability Approach and the

thinking of poverty, by overcoming the individualistic approach to development and

by proposing mechanisms that apply Sen’s concepts. Instead of supporting the divide

between individual and collective capabilities of well-being, the research proposes an

alternative where capabilities are understood as a freedom space. Within such space,

individual, collective and structural norms are shaping people’s freedom to achieve

valued functionings. Thus, it is argued here that it is not the question of people as a

group would value different things than as an individual. But, poverty is better

addressed by focusing on the complex set of norms that enable or constrain

individuals’ ability to achieve what they value.

Meanwhile, participatory methods provide a useful set of tools to apply the Capability

Approach and to elaborate the relation between housing and poverty. By applying

participatory methods to the investigation of housing freedoms, residents’ perceptions

and evaluations are revealed, depicting insights not only of the aspects of housing, but

also of the dynamics of poverty. As argued in this thesis, participatory methods can

identify local aspirations and power relations, encourage awareness and critical

thinking, and elaborate on the impacts of structural processes. Thus, through the

practice of participatory methods, this research captures the elements of the concept of

poverty that shape and influence the process of housing.

297

9.3.2 Limitations

This research identifies four main limitations of the housing freedom framework.

- The first limitation is related to the amount of data collected in each squatter

settlement and its generalization capacity (see section 4.35). Twenty

interviews and four focus groups are not enough to draw conclusions about the

overall success of the upgrading initiatives. Nevertheless, the data analysis is

concerned with impacts and trends that residents have identified with certain

frequency.

- This application of the housing freedom framework is concerned with the

impacts of the squatter upgrading projects on residents’ housing freedoms. The

limitation of this focus is that it does not elaborate on how residents

incorporated and changed the intervention to claim freedoms, or even to seek

new freedoms. Therefore, the temporal character of this research is focused on

what it was, and what it has become. The research is limited in its examination

of what it is and what it might become.

- While the description of the framework in Chapter 2 identifies agency as one

of its fundamental elements, this research does not elaborate directly on

agency. It does not identify the main aspects of agency, nor does it address

directly the question of the impacts of the squatter upgrading projects on

residents’ and communities’ agency. Nevertheless, the concept of agency is

implicit throughout the whole thesis. Residents’ and communities’ ability to

make decisions underpins the focus on freedoms and processes rather than

outcomes. Furthermore, during the course of the research it become apparent

that to direct this research towards the investigation of agency would be a

reductionism that would suppress the complexities of the links between

housing and poverty.

- The final and significant risk of the housing freedom framework is to become

a tool for development thinking and practice that perpetuates the existing

market-oriented and fragmented approach of international aid practices, and

298

which does not address the structural problems limiting the effectiveness of

international development agencies. The challenge for this framework is to

work within the field of development practice, but at the same time proposing

alternatives to overcome the competitiveness and fund-oriented trends that

dominate the field and which constrain development agencies to move from

rhetoric to the practice of social change.

9.3.3 Areas for Further Research

Based on the limitations outlined above, three areas for further research are needed to

expand on the assessment of the housing freedom framework:

- Further research is needed to examine how approaches to development can

contribute to the practice of development, without perpetuating the trends that

enhance rhetoric and inhibit social change, such as competition and

fragmentation of development thinking and practice.

- The concept of agency needs to be further developed, especially in the case of

urban development. The clarification of the tension and synergies between

housing and poverty can be further expanded by the formulation of

mechanisms to investigate and expand the agency of individuals and

collectives through housing initiatives. The challenge here is to elaborate

concepts that can contribute to the development arena, without losing the

subtle complexities of what the concept of agency refers to. Furthermore, by

elaborating on the differences between agency and autonomy, further research

can contribute to the formulation of participatory methods that can overcome

cooption and appropriation.

- Finally, further research is needed to elaborate on the concept of home, given

that this research focuses on the process of housing. By elaborating on the

meanings and values attached to home, a more comprehensive analysis could

elaborate on the linkages between well-being and housing.

299

9.4 Concluding thoughts

During informal talks with residents of the Nova Primavera the following question

was often posed to them: Do you think of yourself as poor? More than once the reply

has been: I am not poor, I am weak. Then, respondents explained about the different

assets around them influencing their strength to achieve the things they value. While

being poor refers to a condition of material deprivation and status associated with it,

being weak refers to a condition of power deprivation. The shift from what makes one

poor to what makes one weak is related to the openness of the goals of development

and the need to focus on processes. These two objectives are the main motivations

underlying Sen’s concepts and of this elaboration of the housing freedom framework.

Being poor is associated with an absolute level, with passivity and with uniform

deprivation. Meanwhile being weak is related to ability, opportunity, choice, freedom,

thus the process aspect of development. Being weak is also related to the idea that

strengths can lead to different types of achievements.

This research engages with the complex dynamics of development. It attempts to

contribute to the formulation of approaches to development thinking and practice that

can be comprehensive in their conceptual foundations, but that leave room for

adapting to the different things that people value. The underlying motivations of this

research have been: to overcome fragmented thinking and practice, while including

multidimensionality and diversity; to overcome top-down impositions through

participation and empowerment without cooption and appropriation; and finally to

ensure that development can overcome the rhetoric, and truly benefit the intended

recipients. This research pursues hope for alternative thoughts and solutions. Realities

are not unchallengeable or unchangeable. While some militate in developing country

cities, by occupying land and mobilising communities, likewise others militate within

academia, searching for concepts and frameworks that can better resonate with the

principles of social justice and equality.

300

Chapter 9: Conclusion – Housing and Poverty, Limitations, and Areas for FurtherResearch .....................................................................................................................288

9.1 Introduction......................................................................................................2889.2 World Bank: Perpetuating Market Enablement ...............................................290

9.2.1 Mechanisms of Perpetuation.....................................................................2909.2.2 Limitations of Analysis.............................................................................2929.2.3 Areas for Further Research .......................................................................293

9.3 Housing Freedom: An Alternative? .................................................................2949.3.1 The Contributions of the Framework........................................................2949.3.2 Limitations ................................................................................................2979.3.3 Areas for Further Research .......................................................................298

9.4 Concluding thoughts ........................................................................................299

325

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Appendix 1: Table of Analysis of Semi-structured Interviews - Novos Alagados

RespondentsQuestions and Answers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 T

Question 1: What did you like when living in the stilts, beforeintervention?

IE - Space for expansion and individualization – privacy X X X X X X X X X 9HE - Less conflicts and more secure X X X X 4HE - More space in the house X X X X X X X 7

LC - Less costs X X X X X X X X X X 10MS - Better social networks – Tolerance X X X X X X X X X X X X X 13PA - Sustainable maintenance (house and bridges) X X X X X 5

- Do not miss anything X X X X X X 6

Question 2: What do you like here, after intervention tookplace?

IE - Area for expansion X X 2IE - Not shared wall X 1IE - Good structure – possible to expand X X 2LC - It is possible to have a small business X 1HE - Good size of the house X X X X X X X 7HE - Area for leisure and space for children to play X X 2HE - Life in land: infrastructure and security X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 20HE - House made of brick X X X X 4HE - Decent house – self esteem X X X X X 5HE - Access to cars, in front of the street X X X X 4HE - Calm X X 2MS - Good relation with neighbours X X X X X X 6

301

Question 3: What don’t you like here?

IE - Difficulty in expanding X X X X X X X X X X X X X 13IE - Lack of space for expansion X X X X X X 6IE - Shared wall – privacy X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 14IE - Not allowed X X X X X X 6LC - Payment of the house X X X! X X X X X X X X X X X 14LC - lack of financial access to have services X X X X X X X X X X 10LC - Financial situation worsened X X X X X X 6HE - Lack of quality of the houses and services X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 20HE - “Raw” house and neighbourhood X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 16HE - Bad drainage system X X X X X 5HE - Lack of maintenance of services X X X X X X X 7HE - Water tanks inside the house X X X X X X X X 8HE - Lack of space in the house X 1HE - No Health Clinic X X X X X X X X 8HE - No space for leisure, sociability and children to play X X X X X X 6HE - Lack of Safety X X X X X X 6HE - No street light – lack of safety X X X X 4HE - No Police Station X 1MS - Difficult relation with neighbours due to: x x x X x x x x x x X x x X x x x x 18MS - Public areas X X 2MS - mix from different neighbourhoods X X X 3MS - Isolated, no collective bond X X X X X X X X X X 10MS - Competitive environment X X X 3MS - Typology of the house and installations X X X X X X X X X X X 12PA - Lack of participation and acceptance X X X X X X X X X X! X X X X X 15

Question 4: The programme improved the life of you andyour family? How?

LC - Vocational course X X 2LC - Worked as builder during construction of houses X 1HE - After school for the children x x x x x X x 7HE - Clubere (Primeiro de Maio) X X X X X 5

302

HE - Centro Joao Paulo II (AVSI) X X X X 3- Nothing else rather then the house X X X X X X X X X X X X 12

Question 5: How would you have improved the life you hadbefore the intervention?

IE - Detached houses X X X X X X X X X X X X X 13IE - Area for expansion X X X X X X X 7IE - Filling in, remaining same place X X Xi X X X 6IE - Bigger house X X 2IE - Freedom to change X X 2IE - Better structure of the house X 1LC - No payment for the house X X X X 4LC - Vocational courses X X X X X X X X X 9LC - Employment generation initiatives X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 16LC - Formation of cooperatives X X 2LC - Market area to sell goods X X X X 4LC - Credit X 1LC - Decent money for the house X 1HE - Health clinic X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 15HE - Kindergarten and communitarian schools X X X X X X X X 8HE - Area for leisure X X X X X X X X 8HE - House finished – plastered X 1HE - Police station X X X X X X X 7HE - Well functioning sanitation X X X X 4MS - Communitarian Centre X X X X X X X 7MS - Remaining same neighbours X X X X 4PA - Really participatory X X X X X X 6

Table Legend:

IE – Freedom to Individualise and Expand MS – Freedom to Maintain Social NetworksHE – Freedom to Live in a Healthy Environment PA – Freedom to Participate in Decision MakingLC – Freedom to Afford Living Costs

Appendix 2: Table of Analysis of Focus Group Activities

Novos Alagados

Columns: 1Cards

2Female

3Male

4Youth

5Leaders

Typology

0. Improvements: Stilts/Shacks

1. Plot of land

2. Plot of land and embryo X X X X

3. Detached house

4. Terrace house

5. Terrace house, 2 floors

6. Housing estate

7. Block of flats

8. Terrace X

9. Back yard X X X X

10. Roof – Tiles

11. Roof - Cement Slab X

12. Foundation X X

Finishing

13. House WITHOUT plaster 14. House WITH plaster/ NOT allowed to change

15. House WITH plaster/ allowed to change X

Structural System

16. Without divisions + Structure of pillars

17. Brick walls + Structure of pillars X 18. Flexible walls + Structure of pillars

19. Structural walls + NO pillars

Access to Building Materials

20. High Technology – from specialized suppliers

21. Local technology – local shop X X

22. Self made X X

Labour force

23. Cooperative X

24. Community self help NOT paid X

25. Community self help paid X X

26. Contracted

27. Building course

Education

28. Kindergarten

29. Primary school

30. Secondary school

31. Preparatory course to access University X

32. After school support

Urban Equipments

33. Multi use venue X

34. Football pitch

35. Space for interaction X

36. Sport hall

37. Police station X X X X

38. Cultural centre

39. Vocational centre

40. Health clinic X X X X

41. Community centre X

42. Religious space

Process of design

43. Projected design

44. Self-design

45. Participatory design X X X X

Participation

No participation

46. New leaders X 47. Existing leaders X

48. Deliberative process X

49. Consultation of Active participation

Income generation

50. Vocational course linked to private institution X X X

51. Commercial centre – employment

52. Formation of small businessman X

53. Cooperatives X X

Costs

54. Involvement of private sector

55. Recycling

56. Individual land title X X 57. Community land concession

58. Paid house: payment → ownership

59. subsidized house: No payment →ownership X X X

Transport

60. Transport

61. Streets and buses

62. Cycle paths X

63. Streets for cars

64. Pedestrian signalization

Environmental Quality

65. Home Ventilation

66. Hygiene education X X

67. Infrastructure and services 68. Urban Ventilation

Community Bonds

69. Discussion Groups X

70. Community School X

71. Community Journal

72. Community Radio X X

73. Social worker X X

Public Spaces

74. Overcoming physical barriers: Walking

75. Transport

76. Distribution of Urban Equipment - Centralized X X X

77. One equipment per area - Distributed

78. All equipment in all areas - Divided X

79. Public and Private spaces: Clear divisions

80. Not clear divisions X X X X

New Cards

81. Micro Credit X

Table of Evaluation

% X % X % Total

Female 3 14 18 86 21Male 2 9 20 91 22Youth 5 23 17 77 22Leaders 7 32 15 68 22Total 17 20 70 80 87

306

Appendix 3: Table of Analysis of Semi-structured Interviews - Calabar

RespondentsQuestions and Answers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 T

Question 1: What did you like when living in the shack, beforeintervention?

MS - Better social networks X X X X X X X X 8HE - Less conflicts and no drug traffic X X X 3

HE - More space for leisure X X 2LC - Less costs X X X X 4

- Did not miss anything X X X X X X X X X X 10

Question 2: What do you like here, after intervention took place?IE - House features (Backyard, terrace, detached) X X X X X X X X X 9IE - Foundation X X X X X X X X X X X 11IE - Can expand and change as it pleases X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 17LC - Did not have to pay X X 2LC - Location of settlement X X X X X X X X X 9HE - Better access for services: post, gas and rubbish collection X 1HE - Secure X X X X X X X X X X X 11HE - Tranquillity of the street X X X X X X X X X X 10HE - Services and infrastructure X X X X X X X X X X X 11HE - Good quality of construction materials X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 17HE - Facilities, health clinic and police station X X X X X X 6HE - Security of tenure X X X 3MS - Social network X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 14MS - House as a result of struggle X X X 3MS - Remained in the same place X X X X X X X X X X X 11MS - Community based organization X 1PA - Participation in decision making and building X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 18

307

Question 3: What don’t you like here?

IE - Shared Wall X X X X X X X X X 9IE - No foundation X X X 3LC - Lack of employment X X X X 4LC - Stigmatization, difficulty in getting a job X X 2LC - No access of car – Health and income X X X 3HE - House features, no terrace or backyards X X X X X X 6HE - The house too close to each other, lack of privacy X 1HE - Size of the house X X X X 4HE - Insalubrity (flooding, rats etc…) X X X X X X X X X X 10HE - Lack of quality and maintenance of services X X X X 4HE - No area for leisure X X X X 4HE - Lack of activities for the young X 1HE - Violence and Insecurity X X X X X X X X X X X! 11HE - Not tranquil X 1HE - Not enough facilities (such as kindergarten) X 1MS - Internal segregation X X X X 4MS - Lack of social network and unity X X 2PA - There was not appropriate participation X 1PA - Inefficient community based organization X 1

Question 4: The programme improved the life of you and yourfamily? How?

LC - Vocational courses X X X X X X X X X X 10LC - Bakery X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 16LC - Carpenter X X X 3HE - Education – School, academic support and activities X X X X X X X X X X X 11HE - Radio X X X X X X X X X X X X 12HE - Garbage collection X 1HE - Social services X 1HE - Nurses and Health agents X X 2MS - Recreation X 1

- Nothing X X X 3

308

Question 5: How would you have improved the life you had beforethe intervention?

IE - Foundation X X X 3IE - Roof of cement slab X X X 3IE - Terrace X X 2IE - Back yard X 1IE - Detached house X X X X 4IE - Technical support X 1LC - Vocational courses X X X X X X X X X X 10LC - Employment generation initiatives X X X X X X X X X X X X 12HE - Space according to family size X X X X 4HE - Activities for the young and old X X X X X X X X 8HE - Infrastructure improvements X 1HE - Area for leisure X X X 3HE - Tackle the drug problem X X X 3HE - Adult alphabetization X 1HE - Garbage collection X 1PA - More participation X X X X 4

Table Legend:

IE – Freedom to Individualise and Expand MS – Freedom to Maintain Social NetworksHE – Freedom to Live in a Healthy Environment PA – Freedom to Participate in Decision MakingLC – Freedom to Afford Living Costs

Appendix 4: Table of Analysis of Focus Group Activities

Calabar

Columns: 1Cards

2Female

3Male

4Youth

5Leaders

Typology

0. Improvements: Stilts/Shack 1. Plot of land

2. Plot of land and embryo X

3. Detached house X

4. Terrace house

5. Terrace house, 2 floors

6. Housing estate

7. Block of flats X

8. Terrace X

9. Back yard X

10. Roof – Tiles

11. Roof - Cement Slab X X X

12. Foundation X X

Finishing

13. House WITHOUT plaster X

14. House WITH plaster/ NOT allowed to change

15. House WITH plaster/ allowed to change

Structural System

16. Without divisions + Structure of pillars X

17. Brick walls + Structure of pillars 18. Flexible walls + Structure of pillars

19. Structural walls + NO pillars

Access to Building Materials

20. High Technology – from specialized suppliers

21. Local technology – local shop X X

22. Self made X

Labour force

23. Cooperative X X X

24. Community self help NOT paid

25. Community self help paid X

26. Contracted

27. Building course

Education

28. Kindergarten 29. Primary school 30. Secondary school

31. Preparatory course to access University

32. After school support X

Urban Equipments

33. Multi use venue X X

34. Football pitch

35. Space for interaction X

36. Sport hall

37. Police station

38. Cultural centre

39. Vocational centre X 40. Health clinic 41. Community centre 42. Religious space

Process of design

43. Projected design

44. Self design

45. Participatory design X X

Participation

No participation

46. New leaders X X X X

47. Existing leaders

48. Deliberative process X

49. Consultation of Active participation

Income generation

50. Vocational course linked to private institution X X 51. Commercial centre – employment

52. Formation of small businessman

53. Cooperatives X

Costs

54. Involvement of private sector

55. Recycling

56. Individual land title X

57. Community land concession

58. Paid house: payment → ownership X X

59. subsidized house: No payment →ownership

Transport

60. Transport

61. Streets and buses

62. Cycle paths

63. Streets for cars

64. Pedestrian signalization

Environmental Quality

65. Home Ventilation

66. Hygiene education

67. Infrastructure and services X 68. Urban Ventilation

Community Bonds

69. Discussion Groups 70. Community School 71. Community Journal

72. Community Radio

73. Social worker

Public Spaces

74. Overcoming physical barriers: Walking

75. Transport

76. Distribution of Urban Equipment - Centralized 77. One equipment per area - Distributed 78. All equipment in all areas - Divided X

79. Public and Private spaces: Clear divisions

80. Not clear divisions New Cards

81. Support to the elderly 82. Credit to buy working tools X

Table of Evaluation % X % X % Total

Women 10 50 8 40 2 10 20Men 11 50 10 45 1 5 22Young 10 45 9 41 3 14 22Leaders 10 59 7 41 0 0 17

Total 41 51 34 42 6 7 81

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Appendix 5: Pictures of Focus Group Cards

Card 0: ImprovementsShack (Calabar)

Card 0: ImprovementsStilts (Novos Alagados)

Card 1: Plot of land Card 2: Plot of land and embryo

Card 3: Detached house Card 4: Terrace house Card 5: Terrace house, 2 floors Card 6: Housing estate

Card 7: Block of flats Card 8: Terrace Card 9: Back yard Card 10: Roof – Tiles

313

Card 11: Roof – Cement Slab Card 12: Foundation Card 13: House WITHOUT plaster Card 14: House WITH plaster/ NOTallowed to change

Card 15: House WITH plaster/ allowedto change

Card 16: Without divisions + Structureof pillars

Card 17: Brick walls + Structure ofpillars

Card 18: Flexible walls + Structure ofpillars

Card 19: Structure walls + NO pillars Card 20: High Technology – fromspecialised suppliers

Card 21: Local technology – local shop Card 22: Self-made

314

Card 23: Cooperative Card 24: Community self-help NOT paid Card 25: Community self-help paid Card 26: Contracted

Card 27: Building Course Card 28: Kindergarten Card 29: Primary School Card 30: Secondary School

Card 31: Preparatory course to accessUniversity

Card 32: After school support Card 33: Multi-use venue Card 34: Football pitch

315

Card 35: Space for interaction Card 36: Sport hall Card 37: Police Station Card 38: Cultural centre

Card 39: Vocational centre Card 40: Health clinic Card 41: Community centre Card 42: Religious space

Card 43: Projected design Card 44: Self-design Card 45: Participatory design Card 46: New leaders

316

Card 47: Existing leaders Card 48: Deliberative process Card 49: Consultation of activeparticipation

Card 50: Vocational course linked toprivate sector

Card 51: Commercial centre -employment

Card 52: Formation of small business Card 53: Cooperatives Card 54: Involvement of private sector

Card 55: Recycling Card 56: Individual land title Card 57: Community land concession Card 58: Paid house:payment ownership

317

Card 59: Subsidised house:No payment ownership

Card 60: Transport Card 61: Streets and buses Card 62: Cycle path

Card 63: Streets for cars Card 64: Pedestrian signalisation Card 65: Home ventilation Card 66: Hygiene education

Card 67: Infrastructure and services Card 68: Urban ventilation Card 69: Discussion groups Card 70: Community school

318

Card 71: Community Journal Card 72: Community Radio Card 73: Social Worker Card 74: Overcoming Physical barriers –Walking

Card 75: Overcoming Physical barriers –Transport

Card 76:Distribution of urban equipmentCentralised

Card 77: Distribution of urban equipmentDistributed

Card 78: Distribution of urban equipmentDivided

Card 79: Public and Private spaces -Clear divisions

Card 80: Public and Private spaces -NOT Clear divisions

Card 81: Joker card

319

Appendix 6: Focus Group Informant Sheet

Comments $$ Cards ZonesTypology 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 0. Improvements: Stilts/Shed4 1. Plot of land8 2. Plot of land and embryo10 3. Detached house12 4. Terrace house28 5. Terrace house, 2 floors20 6. Housing State16 7. Block of flats2 8. Terrace2 9. Back yard2 10. Roof - Tiles2 11. Roof - Cement Slab2 12. Foundation

Finishing0 13. House WITHOUT plaster2 14. House WITH plaster/ NOT allowed to change2 15. House WITH plaster/ allowed to change

Structural System0 16. Without divisions + Structure of pillars2 17. Brick walls + Structure of pillars2 18. Flexible walls + Structure of pillars2 19. Structural walls + NO pillars

Access to Building Materials2 20. High Technology – from specialized suppliers1 21. Local technology – local shop0 22. Self made

Labour force2 23. Cooperative0 24. Communitarian self help NOT paid2 25. Communitarian self help paid3 26. Contracted2 27. Building course

Education2 28. Kindergarten2 29. Primary school2 30. Secondary school2 31. Preparatory course for exam to access University2 32. After school support

Urban Equipments2 33. Multi use venue

320

2 34. Football pitch2 35. Space for interaction2 36. Sport hall2 37. Police station2 38. Cultural centre2 39. Vocational centre2 40. Health clinic2 41. Communitarian centre2 42. Religious space

Process of design1 43. Projected design0.5 44. Self design2 45. Participatory design

Participation0 No participation1 46. New leaders0.5 47. Existent leaders2 48. Deliberative processN/F 49. Consultation of Active participation

Income generation2 50. Vocational course linked to private institution2 51. Commercial centre – employment2 52. Formation of small businessman2 53. Cooperatives

Costs1 54. Involvement of private sector2 55. Recycling1 56. Individual land title0.5 57. Communitarian land concession0 58. Paid house: payment → ownership 2 59. subsidized house: No payment →ownership

Transport60. Transport

2 61. Streets and buses2 62. Cycle paths2 63. Streets for cars2 64. Pedestrian signalization

Environmental Quality1 65. Home Ventilation2 66. Hygiene education2 67. Infrastructure and services2 68. Urban Ventilation

Communitarian Bonds2 69. Discussion Groups2 70. Communitarian School2 71. Communitarian Journal

321

2 72. Communitarian Radio2 73. Social worker

Public Spaces74. Overcoming physical barriers: Walking75. Transport

2 76. Distribution of Urban Equipments - Centralized4 77. One equipment per area - Distributed

78. All equipments in all areas - Divided79. Public and Private spaces: Clear divisionsN/V80. Not clear divisions

New Cards?

Dimensions:

Participants

Name Occupation Age Address

322

Appendix 7: Semi-structured Informant Sheet

Participant:______________________________________________________________

House: ___________________________ Occupation:___________________

Question 1: Question 2:What did you like when living in the stilt/shack? What do you like here, after intervention?

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Question 3: Question 4:What don’t you like here? The programme improved the life

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Question 5: Question 6: ....How would you have improved the life that you hadBefore the intervention?

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Housing Freedom, Amartya Sen and Urban Development Policies - Squatter Settlement Upgrading in...

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