“Existing informal sector housing, often termed slums, represents a solution rather than a problem.” This is a radical concept to many theoretical low-income housing planners, but not to its author, Witold Rybczynski; he’s well-known for puncturing the ineffectual arguments of self-righteous do-gooders. The basic premise is simple: In order to determine what to plan as housing for the poor, find out what they need; to find out what they need, go see what they’ve done without the aid of planners. You’d think this would go without saying, but planners often are blinded by class differences and elitist educations. This paper should help,
and not just in less-developed areas of the world. The idea that the people can handle a lot of their own needs should be a major premise of any democratic society. — J. Baldwin
