Improving the flow of serviced land in the formal housing markets of less developed countries

Abstract

Despite some progress since the 1980s, there is still a problem regarding access to serviced land in the formal residential land market in less developed countries. Urban land problems vary according to the size, topography and public policy of the particular town or city; there is a problem in cities such as Delhi and Karachi, where most land is privately owned, but also in Bangkok and Seoul, where most land is privately owned. Access to residential land is complicated by a number of factors, not just the limited supply of urban land. This paper describes a method we have developed for systematically determining alternative land delivery systems to improve the flow of serviced land in the formal residential market of large cities in developing countries. The method was developed using Delhi as a case study. The findings for Delhi were then evaluated to determine their applicability to other cities of developing countries. It was found that the method for determining the optimum system could be applied in...