ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the current context of development as it affects domestic construction; the structure of the construction industry as the supplier of shelter and infrastructure in developing countries; the industry’s potential to contribute to development; and the factors that determine the demand for its products. Policy makers are beginning to recognize that even as they have debated the best way to provide shelter to the poor, the informal construction sector has been fulfilling a staggering percentage of the demand for urban housing. The contribution of construction to gross domestic product is typically 3 to 8 percent in developing countries. Forward linkages, the patterns of consumption encouraged by the production of intermediate goods, are more difficult to establish for construction than backward linkages. In rural areas, the informal sector supplies farmers with barns and silos and in other regions it contributes to the building of infrastructure.
