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

为城市贫民提供适当住房的挑战日益被理解为结构和体制安排问题。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实践的转变正在超越地方范围，涉及多尺度战略。此外，本研究旨在从参与式治理和公民社会的相关整合的角度分析和解释这些多层次住房过程。根据申请人自己的研究，民间社会参与地方决策过程的新形式往往是国际网络化的、基于问题的、基于权力和知识的。然而，许多学者要么将他们的研究局限于特定地区的多参与者安排，要么将他们的分析局限于跨国运动，而不考虑地区的相关性。第三条分析线基本上未被触及：地方行动与构建网络（邻近性）的相关性，不限于城市，但超越了地方关系建设到全球基层网络（连接性）。其假设是，改造后的住房过程不仅在各个层面上影响政策和行为者，而且还带来了一个新的系统，改变了城市穷人对-ä-vis外部行为者的权力地位和自信。这将通过分析各种城市关联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（CODI）和棚屋/贫民窟居民国际（SDI）附属联合会支持的协会。重点是他们与印度建立关系的各个层面。泰国和南非。本研究并不打算就对善治或社会资本的规范理解提供这些网络是否民主、问责或透明的答案。相反，我们寻求对更广泛的住房文献做出贡献。其目的是将住房转型过程理解为一个从地方行动到全球网络的系统。

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.