Housing for the Urban Poor: From Local Action to Global Networks

为城市贫民提供足够住房的挑战越来越多地被理解为结构和体制安排的障碍。这项研究将基于这种更激进的住房概念，与简单的效率和技术问题形成对比。这意味着住房政策和做法的转变正在地方范围之外进行，涉及多尺度战略。此外，这项研究的目的是从参与性治理和民间社会的相关融合的角度来分析和解释这些多层次的住房进程。根据申请人自己的研究，民间社会参与地方决策进程的新形式往往是国际联网的、基于问题的、基于权力的和基于知识的。然而，许多学者要么将他们的研究局限于某一特定地区的多方行为者安排，要么将他们的分析局限于跨国流动，而没有考虑到当地的相关性。第三条分析线在很大程度上仍未被触及：构建网络的本地行动的相关性(邻近性)，这些网络不仅限于城市，而且超越了本地关系建立到全球基层网络{连通性)。其假设是，住房改造过程不仅在不同层面上影响政策和行为者，而且带来了一种新的制度，即城市穷人的权力地位和相对于外部行为者的自信。这一点将通过分析各种城市协会的邻近性和连通性来明确。案例是由泰国社区组织发展研究所和附属于棚屋/贫民窟居民国际的联合会支持的协会。重点放在他们与印度之间不同程度的关系建设上。泰国和南非。这项研究并不打算就善政或社会资本的规范理解而言，回答这些网络是否民主、负责或透明。相反，我们寻求为更广泛的住房文学做出贡献。其目的是将变革性的住房进程理解为一个从地方行动向全球网络运作的系统。

The challenge to adequately house the urban poor Is Increasingly understood as a mafter of structural and institutional arrangements. The research will be based on this more radical notion of housing that is in contrast to simple efficiency and technical concerns. It implies that the transformation in housing policy and practice is taking place beyond the local arena and involves multi-scale strategies. Furthermore, the research aims at analyzing and interpreting these multi-level housing processes In terms of participatory governance and the related integration of civil society. According to the applicant's own studies the emerging new forms of civil society involvement in local decision making processes tend to be internationally networked, issue-based, power- and knowledge-based. Many scholars, however, either limit their research to multi-actor arrangements in a particular locality or confine their analysis to transnational movements without taking into account the relevance of locality. A third line of analysis remains largely untouched: The relevance of local action to construct networks {proximity) that are not restricted to the city but transcend local relationship-building to global grassroots networks {connectivity). The hypothesis is that the transformed housing process does not only influence policy and actors on various levels but brings about a new system of transformed power positions and assertiveness of the urban poor vis-ä-vis outside actors. This will be made explicit by analyzing proximity and Connectivity of various urban associations. Cases are associations supported by the Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) in Thailand and federations affiliated to the Shack/Slum Dwellers Intemational (SDI). The focus is on various levels of their relationship-building between India. Thailand and South Africa. This research does not intend to provide answers whether these networks are democratic, accountable or transparent in terms of a normative understanding of good governance or social capital. Instead, we seek to make a contribution to the wider literature on housing. The aim is to understand the transformative housing process as a system working from local action towards global networks.