ABSTRACT

The primary goal that people set themselves in developing this comparative research project was to explore the socio-economic nature and housing dynamics of low-income settlements. This settlements were formed during the first wave of self-built housing associated with the rapid urbanization of Latin American cities, mostly from the 1960s onwards. It is important to begin this overview by documenting some of the overarching structural background variables that are most important in shaping the differences observed between the Latin American Housing Network (LAHN) cities. Other exceptions are those who bought-out an original owner, but even here they find that many came to the settlement fairly early on, and were themselves long-term residents. From the LAHN perspective, the promises to offer a fortuitous intersection between new and emerging policy interests and the research about owner occupancy that they has conducted and presented here.