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Alan Gilbert

Bio: Alan Gilbert is an academic researcher from University College London. The author has contributed to research in topics: Latin Americans & Renting. The author has an hindex of 40, co-authored 127 publications receiving 5945 citations. Previous affiliations of Alan Gilbert include Central University of Venezuela & United Nations Industrial Development Organization.


Papers
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Book
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: In this article, the changing nature of the Informal Sector in Karachi Due to Global Restructuring and Liberalization, and its Repercussions, and the role of urban informality as a "New" Way of Life.
Abstract: Chapter 1 Urban Informality: Crossing Borders Chapter 2 Urban Informality as a "New" Way of Life Part 3 Liberalization, Globalization, and Urban Informality Chapter 4 Love in the Time of Enhanced Capital Flows: Reflections on the Links Between Liberalization and Informality Chapter 5 The Changing Nature of the Informal Sector in Karachi Due to Global Restructuring and Liberalization, and Its Repercussions Chapter 6 Globalization and the Politics of the Informals in the Global South Chapter 7 The Politics of Urban Informalities Chapter 8 Marginality: From Myth to Reality in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, 1969-2002 Chapter 9 The Gentleman's City: Urban Informality in the Calcutta of New Communism Chapter 10 Tilting at Sphinxes: Locating Urban Informality in Egyptian Cities Chapter 11 Control, Resistance, and Informality: Urban Ethnocracy in Beer-Sheva, Israel Part 12 Transnational Interrogation Chapter 13 Informality of Housing Production at the Urban-Rural Interface: The "Not So Strange Case" of the Texas Colonias Chapter 14 Power, Property, and Poverty: Why De Soto's "Mystery of Capital" Cannot be Solved Chapter 15 Transnational Trespassings: The Geopolitics of Informality

470 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use data gathered in the now legalised self-help settlements of Bogota to question the benefits of legalisation and show that there is little sign of a secondary housing market, and if there is a little possibility of selling a house, home ownership in the selfhelp suburbs can offer little in the way of capital accumulation.
Abstract: Hernando de Soto's new bestseller, The Mystery of Capital, attributes the failure of capitalism in the Third World to the lack of property titles. Many governments around the world are following this advice and are busy distributing legal titles to self-help families. Using data gathered in the now legalised self-help settlements of Bogota , the paper questions a number of the alleged benefits of legalisation. It shows how sales are more common when people lack legal title, how informal finance is available at the commencement of an illegal settlement and how little formal finance is forthcoming after legalisation. Most importantly, it shows that there is little sign of a secondary housing market. And, if there is little possibility of selling a house, home ownership in the self-help suburbs can offer little in the way of capital accumulation. It is hard to make money from a house that cannot be sold. Perhaps, de Soto's argument is less a panacea than a populist dream.

381 citations

Book
01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: In this article, urban development in a world system urban agglomeration and regional disparities urban-rural interface and migration the urban labour market the housing of the urban poor social organization in the city patterns of political intergration and conflict urban and regional systems - a suitable case for treatment?
Abstract: Urban development in a world system urban agglomeration and regional disparities urban-rural interface and migration the urban labour market the housing of the urban poor social organization in the city patterns of political intergration and conflict urban and regional systems - a suitable case for treatment?

371 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The use of the word "slum" will recreate many of the myths about poor people that years of careful research have discredited as discussed by the authors. But in using such an emotive word the UN risks opening a Pandora's box, and it confuses the physical problem of poor quality housing with the characteristics of the people living there.
Abstract: The ‘cities without slums’ initiative has resuscitated an old and dangerous term from the habitat vocabulary. Use of the word ‘slum’ will recreate many of the myths about poor people that years of careful research have discredited. The UN has employed the word in order to publicize the seriousness of urban problems and to improve its ability to attract funding with which to tackle the issue. But in using such an emotive word the UN risks opening a Pandora’s box. The campaign implies that cities can actually rid themselves of slums, an idea that is wholly unachievable. The word is also dangerous because it confuses the physical problem of poor quality housing with the characteristics of the people living there. The UN knows that earlier research has rehabilitated most ‘slum dwellers’ but ignores the danger of conjuring up all of the old images. In the process, the campaign also offers an oblique invitation to governments to look for instant solutions to insoluble problems. Demagogic governments have always shown a willingness to demolish slums despite the fact that experience has shown that policy to be ineffective. I fear that the new campaign will encourage more to employ this foolish policy. Words need to be employed carefully.

368 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
Caroline Moser1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors defined the assets of the urban poor in terms of an "asset vulnerability framework" and showed that the poor are managers of complex asset portfolios, and illustrate how asset management affects household poverty and vulnerability.

1,742 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work aims to demonstrate the efforts towards in-situ applicability of EMMARM, which aims to provide real-time information about concrete mechanical properties such as E-modulus and compressive strength.

1,480 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on urban informality to highlight the challenges of dealing with the "unplannable" exceptions to the order of formal urbanization and argue that planners must learn to work with this state of exception.
Abstract: Many of the significant urban transformations of the new century are taking place in the developing world. In particular, informality, once associated with poor squatter settlements, is now seen as a generalized mode of metropolitan urbanization. This article focuses on urban informality to highlight the challenges of dealing with the “unplannable” exceptions to the order of formal urbanization. It argues that planners must learn to work with this state of exception. Such policy epistemologies are useful not only for “Third World” cities but also more generally for urban planning concerned with distributive justice.

1,404 citations