This is an in-person event for DPU staff, students and invitees only

Organisers: Julio Davila and Rita Lambert

This workshop draws on case studies on land and housing processes in three large cities in Latin America to foster an internal debate on private sector interventions and investment in urban social housing projects. The withdrawal of the state from the direct supply of social housing, de-regulation, and the development of a broad range of market-based instruments to finance and build housing for lower-income urban groups since the 1980s opened up opportunities for private sector actors to meet a growing demand for housing arising from diverse factors including higher average incomes, national housing subsidies, import liberalisation (e.g. of cars and construction inputs) and laxer regulations by local authorities keen to attract private investment and tax-payers. The three case studies presented examine different market and planning responses to significant and sustained demand from lower- and lower-middle income households. In Santiago (Chile) and Bogota-Soacha (Colombia), the presentations will document large-scale programmes in planned developments involving large-scale private and public investments. In Lima (Peru), the focus will be on large scale developers and the extra-legal processes through which the majority of the urban poor access land.

This workshop, sponsored by DPU’s Research Clusters, seeks to offer new empirical insights and foster a space for reflection and exchange of ideas among DPU researchers and close associates on a series of topics that have been germane to DPU’s history and contribution to development thinking. With the aim of reconnecting after two years of partial isolation the workshop will be held face-to-face and limited to 25 participants. A selected number of non-DPU colleagues who have an interest in the topic have also been invited. A limited number of places will be made available to DPU students on a first-come-first-served basis. The programme is as follows:

Chair: Julio D Dávila

1.30-1.45 pm: Welcome and introductions

1.45-2.25 pm: Camilo Santamaría: the case of Ciudad Verde, Soacha

2.25-3.05 pm: Isabel Brain: the case of Santiago

3.05-3.45 pm: Rita Lambert: the case of Lima

3.45-4.00 Tea break

Chair: Adriana Allen

4.00-4.20 pm: Jorge Fiori: Drawing on the case studies, reflections on financial and regulatory mechanisms and future urban trends

4.20-5.30 pm: Open discussion: how do these cases speak to your research, teaching and advisory work and future collaborations?

5.30-5.45 pm: Colin Marx: Are processes comparable across countries and world regions? Where do we go from here (e.g. research, policy advice)?

Note: if you are feeling unwell on the day of the workshop, please consider staying at home or taking a Covid-19 lateral flow test before travelling into town