... in the form of squatter settlements. These settlements are collectives of self-built houses, hastily constructed on lands that have not been formally conveyed to the builder-occupants through legal channels and are usually to be found on the fringes of urban areas. At present self-help housing accommodates 924 million of the world's population and accounts for 78% of the urban population in developing regions (Potter 1998). These figures illustrate the high demand for housing in urban areas and show the crisis occurring in Third World cities as government land and capital fails to keep up with the growing demand for shelter. It is firstly important to consider the negative aspects of self-help housing, of which there are many. The spontaneous nature of the building of favelas as they are known in Brazil, or barriadas as they are called in Peru, is that the structures are hastily constructed with no regulation from ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now