ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the evolving resilience of self-built housing to natural hazards. As climate change impacts will affect the security and efficiency of housing, especially in particularly vulnerable areas such as coastal and steep slope areas, new shelter options become a successful adaptation strategy for climate change development programmes. The Solanda project in Quito, based on affordability, resulted in an array of incremental housing solutions; each required a family to upgrade and expand through self-help techniques. The Dutch NGO Cordaid recognized the importance of the Neighbourhood Return and Housing Reconstruction Framework, the approach promoted by the Government of Haiti and the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission. In the case of Timor L'Este, the shelter kit itself was an equitable, incremental housing solution as community involvement in the selection of partaking families ensured fair distribution, Moreover, the kit's components were used to build a shelter or repair a damaged shelter in a manner appropriate to culture and climate.
