ABSTRACT
Efficiency, equity, and compatibility rank as the overriding criteria for evaluating shelter and settlement policies, or for that matter, most social and economic programs and policies. The scheme described links shelter and settlement policy with social and economic development and exploits opportunities for learning by doing. The macro, meso, and micro criteria are best applied as a continual process where constant evaluation of past experience feeds into the design of new shelter and settlement programs. Criteria used for micro choices are the standards applied in project appraisal, either for determining the feasibility of a planned project or for assessing postoccupancy outcomes. If shelter and infrastructure were built or improved at high cost, the efficiency criterion was violated, for the funds could have been better managed. Recognition accorded the second-best solutions to meeting shelter needs ranks among the most significant events advancing progress in the struggle to improve the quality of the Third World’s settlements.
