Affordable Housing, Squatter Empowerment, International Development, Slum Clearance, Leapfrogging
While studying Urban Planning in New York this summer, I saw first hand the project housing and learned about it was mostly unsuccessful in providing desirable affordable housing for the urban poor. I also learned much about Robert Moses, Title 1 of the 1949 Housing Act, Jane Jacobs, and the roles they each played in the clearance of slums and construction of these projects. Since then, I have been interested in the effect of architecture and design on the successfulness of the communities and alternative ways to approach slums development. As our world becomes increasingly urbanized each day, how can we make positive changes and avoid the mistakes seen in the United States fifty years ago? This subject is important for planners everywhere because it is relatable to most cities in one way or another. With over 70 million people moving to cities every year, an unprecedented opportunity exists to develop sustainable housing for the urban poor. By conducting this research, I hope to discover the best ways to go about this development.
It is estimated that close to 200,000 people migrate to urban areas every day. This proposal outlines a research study to examine architecture of affordable housing in the United States as well as slums development in Brazil. Currently, scholars research consequences of the past, but I have yet to find that they relate them to future international development. This study has three parts. (1) To the successes and failures of past affordable housing in New York City and St Louis, (2) primarily through field research, report on the current affordable housing practices in San Diego and (3) explore possible solutions for the extreme global housing demand, using the Brazilian favelas as the case studies. This research will contribute to the literature on affordable housing and international development. It will be shared with the hope that future cities will consider past mistakes and create housing that is both environmentally and socially sustainable.
A great deal of evidence used for this study will be literature written about New York and St. Louis. Unfortunately this will be unoriginal to this study, but it will be an excellent resource for identifying past problems in the United States. Interviews and and Observations will be conducted, but will for the most part be limited to the San Diego focus of the study. Archival evidence will be available for all areas as an valuable quantitative resource, although difficult to use for causation conclusions.
There are four main geographical focuses to in this research: New York City, St. Louis, San Diego, and Rio de Janeiro. Key spatial factors include location of affordable housing communities, sprawl outside city limits, and historical maps documenting changes in New York and St Louis.u
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