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“Migration, Remittances and Housing in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Study on Senegal, Kenya, and South Africa, with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), 2007-2008

Abstract

In 2007 and 2008, I2UD conducted a study on “Migration, Remittances and Housing in Sub-Saharan Africa” as part of a successful partnership with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The report defines recommendations for target funding for migrant populations in Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Africa.

The study sought to foster the ability of migrants to improve their incomes and their living environments through access to housing, infrastructure, and financial services. Documents include an interim report from 2007 and final report from 2008.

[Excerpt: Executive Summary p. 1. Final Report: Migration, Remittances and Housing in Sub-Saharan Africa, “Purpose of Study,”August 2008, Page 1]

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Project Year:2007-2008
Project Type:Research Paper
Geographic Regions:Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya; Senegal; Tanzania; Mozambique; South Africa)
Reports:
Authors:Erick Guerra; Mona Serageldin; Ian Chodikoff (Architect and Urban Planner, Toronto, Canada); Prof. Ababacar Dieng (University of Dakar, Senegal); Richard Kruger (Management Consultant, Pretoria South Africa); Prof. Winnie Mituallah (University of Nairobi, Kenya); Chelina Odbert (Urban Planner, Boston); Johann Watermeyer (Principal, Dynex Consulting, Pretoria, South Africa)

Research Assistants:
Oumar Ngalla Ndiour (Senegal); Mamadou Yaya Sabaly (Senegal); Gonde Fall (Senegal); Florence Mitullah (Kenya); Peter Oty (Kenya); Serame Phakedi (South Africa); George Lubidla (South Africa); Elizabeth Mpako (South Africa)
Sponsors:Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
Categories:Reconciliation and Development
  
ID:2007_07_001

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“Migration, Remittances and the Empowerment of Women in Central America and the Andean Region,” for PROMESHA, Lund University, 2007-2008

Abstract

In 2007 and 2008, I2UD conducted a study on “Migration, Remittances and the Empowerment of Women in Central America and the Andean Region,” commissioned by the PROMESHA program of the Housing Development and Management Program (HDM) at Lund University and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The study provided background research for programs specifically designed to assist women affected by migration in Latin American countries—Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Argentina.

Mona Serageldin’s focus in the reports centered empowering women’s experience of navigating migration and housing needs by examining remittance sending and receiving patterns and funding use priorities. Suggested strategies included investing remittance funds into key assets for Latin American communities, chiefly to meet housing needs. Documents include an interim report (January 2007) and final report (August 2008).

Project Year:2007-2008
Project Type:Research Paper
Geographic Regions:Honduras / El Salvador / Ecuador / Chile / Perú / Colombia / Argentina
Reports:
Authors:Mona Serageldin; Christa Lee-Chuvala; Carolina Morgan; Alejandra Mortarini
Sponsors:Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
Categories:Reconciliation and Development
  
ID:2007_07_002

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Gallery 4: Chile: Santiago, Concepción, and Talcahuano (1992-1993)

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“Municipal Finance of Urban Development,” Background Report for UN-Habitat Global Report on Human Settlements, 2005

Abstract

In 2005, staff at the Center for Urban Development Studies (CUDS) at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design prepared a research background paper, titled “Global Report on Human Settlements: Financing Shelter and Urban Development,” for the UN-Habitat Global Report on Human Settlements for 2005, Financing Urban Shelter.

The report emphasized new approaches developed by emerging economies and poorer countries, where challenges are the greatest and resource constraints are most acute. The chapter discussed the wide range of problems that faced municipal authorities in financing urban development—based on extensive research and a review of more than 40 case studies—as community leaders responded to the challenges of major shifts in their economic base resulting from falling trade barriers and a globalizing economy. Case studies document sources of municipal revenues, the evolution of spending patterns as result of decentralization, and the impact of privatization of public services.


[Excerpt]: INTRODUCTION: This report was prepared as a background paper for the UN-Habitat Global Report 2005: Financing Urban Shelter and a summary was included as Chapter 3 of the Global Report under the title: “Municipal Finance: Conditions and Trends.

“It addresses the wide range of problems that face municipal authorities in financing urban development as they respond to the challenges of major shifts in their economic base resulting from falling trade barriers and a globalizing economy. Concurrently in, the devolution of administrative and financial responsibility from central governments has forced them to finance a growing proportion of their recurring and capital expenditures at a time when, in most countries, migrants constitute a growing proportion of their population. Local authorities have had to: (1) enhance their economic competitiveness; (2) meet the demands for public services; (3) expand and diversify the local tax base; and (4) generate funding for capital investments.

“Municipalities are but one actor in the financing of urban development, but in many ways they are the pivotal one because of their statutory powers and their ability to act on all sectors in a defined geographic space. Households and private enterprises are the developers and builders of urban communities and the owners and operators of economic activities. But unless the municipality can deliver to them the support infrastructure and services they need, orderly development will be impaired.

“In emerging economies, the rapid pace of urbanization and large migratory flows have increased the pressure on local government spending for urban development. In most of these countries decentralization laws were enacted in the decade of the 80’s and 90’s amid fiscal deficits, financial crisis and political unrest, eroding local revenue and disrupting access to funds for capital investment. In this report, the emphasis is placed on emerging economies and poor countries where the challenges are the greatest and the resource constraints the most acute. They are the areas targeted by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and associated 2015 targets adopted in 2001 (The Millennium Project, 2003). Reaffirming the world commitment to address the growing disparities in income and wealth among countries and within countries, multilateral and bilateral development organizations are placing a priority on poverty reduction.

The success of these efforts hinges on democratic local governance, partnerships involving communities and stakeholders in urban development initiatives, and strengthening the capabilities and resources of local governments as the pivotal partners in the development process.” [End Excerpt]

Project Year:2004
Project Type:Research Paper
Geographic Regions:Global / None Specified
Reports:
Authors:David C. Jones; Mona Serageldin; Elda Solloso; François Vigier
Sponsors:UN-Habitat
Categories:Urban Finance
  
ID:2004_07_001
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Design Studio 1996: “Strategic Urban Redevelopment in a Transitional Economy in Gdansk, Poland,” Seminar Curriculum

Abstract

The Design Studio from Spring 1996, “Strategic Urban Redevelopment in Gdansk, Poland,” was led by Professors Mona Serageldin and David Neilson. The Studio examined urban planning, housing, and development in Poland, economic policies and conditions in the Gdańsk Province, and basic construction costs and building typologies in Gdańsk.

Documents include a detailed Studio overview with course schedule and full report, the full report “Urban Regeneration and Housing in a Transitional Economy: Gdansk, Poland,” and a case study summary, “A Foreign Investor’s Perspective on Strategic Planning and Urban Development in Poland.”

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Project Year:1996
Project Type:Urban Design Studio
Geographic Regions:Gdańsk, Poland
Reports:
Authors:Mona Serageldin; Boguslaw Rutecki; David Neilson; Dariusz Knowski; Janne Corneil; Robert Lach; Boguslaw Trondowski; Anna Zietek
Sponsors:Unit for Housing and Urbanization, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Categories:Design Studios; Education
  
ID:1996_01_001

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I2UD Digital Library Study Guide: The Role of Urban Planning and Management in Post-Crisis Reconciliation and Recovery, October 2025

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“Financing Infrastructure Upgrading Programs,” Two Urban Development Research Papers, Mona Serageldin, 1989-1991

Abstract

In 1989 and 1991, Mona Serageldin authored two related papers on financing urban development for the Unit for Housing and Urbanization at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design: “Financing Upgrading Programs” and “Financing Infrastructure Upgrading Programs.”

The papers assessed the exchange components of local and foreign currency as cost factors in urban development upgrading projects, using municipalities in Jordan and Tunisia as examples. Serageldin focused on three main needs to establish effectively-financed upgrading programs:

  1. Construction of new infrastructure networks,
  2. Building and improvement of community facilities like schools and health centers, and
  3. Creation of homeowner credit mechanisms to improve residential properties.



[Excerpt: “Financing Upgrading Programs, November 1989”]

“…Upgrading is widely held to be the most effective mechanism to expand the supply of housing for limited income groups and improve living conditions for the urban poor. By providing the support infrastructure, it opens up opportunities for new economic activity.”

“Despite highly publicized haranguing by U.N. Habitat, housing is no longer viewed as a priority for public expenditure by international funding organizations and bilateral aid agencies. The debt situation in developing countries implies a widening gap between urgent needs and potential resources. Demographic pressure and the economic crisis have concentrated efforts on economic development and employment generation rather than social infrastructure.”

Project Year:1989-1991
Project Type:Research Paper
Geographic Regions:Global / None Specified
Reports:
Authors:Mona Serageldin
Sponsors:Unit for Housing and Urbanization, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; USAID
Categories:Reconciliation and Development
  
ID:1989_11_001

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I2UD Digital Library Study Guide: Understanding Informal Settlements and Slum Upgrading, October 2024

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“The Development and Morphology of Informal Housing,” Research Paper, Aga Khan Award for Architecture Seminar Proceedings, Mona Serageldin, 1988

Abstract

Mona Serageldin authored the research paper “The Development and Morphology of Informal Housing” in 1988 under the Unit for Housing and Urbanization at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, published as part of the proceedings for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture seminar, Architecture of Housing, held in Zanzibar, Tanzania in October 1988.

The paper relates the history of housing development processes from the 1950s through the 1980s in the Middle East, North Africa, and East Africa regions, in cities including Tunis, Tunisia; Damascus, Syria; Cairo, Egypt; Zanzibar, Tanzania; and Sana’a, Yemen. It compares the makeup of circumstances and populations, and describes housing units in each location, covering design and construction, with requirements for designing suitable housing units.


[Excerpt: I. Background: Mona Serageldin]

“The involvement of architects and planners with housing for lower income groups began in the 50’s and 60’s when national governments in the post colonial era embarked on slum eradication programs. Slum dwellers were to be rehoused in public housing estates. To the designers of these first projects, the overriding concern was decent shelter and sanitary conditions and not affordability. That their vision was influenced by prevailing international norms was the natural outcome of their professional training. Their failure to foresee the implications of demographic and economic trends over the next 2 decades invalidated their approach. Their efforts were overwhelmed by population growth, surplus labor, and an influx of rural migrants which could not be checked.

“Throughout the 60’s housing shortages increased and slums proliferated. Frustrated authorities turned to legislative controls, a politically expedient short-term remedy. The longer term impacts were devastating. Stringent controls accelerated the deterioration of the regulated stock, distorted private production, undermined the tax base, hampered residential mobility and warped occupancy patterns.

“The low cost shelter solutions advocated in the 60’s and 70’s produced a variety of expandable core housing prototypes to meet the needs of the urban poor. They were valid models in parts of Africa and Asia where the process happened to coincide with local practices as in Khartoum and Dakar. Elsewhere, the lack of enthusiasm among housing authorities for these approaches stemmed from an accurate perception of their unsuitability as a housing solution for the middle classes, the only client group of political consequence. Leverage and funding from international agencies launched projects in many countries which otherwise might have never experimented with minimal shelter programs. The improvements provided were on a scale too small to be meaningful in relation to the magnitude of the problem or noticeable in the midst of sprawling chaotic cities. By the mid 70’s their demonstration effect had lost its significance.”

“The shock waves in world economics and the resultant movements of labor and capital transformed the character of urban growth throughout the third world. By 1981, 15 million expatriate workers funneled between 25 and 35 billion dollars of foreign exchange back to their home countries. As the bulk of these remittances found their way into real estate, the urbanized area of cities doubled or tripled in extent shaped by uncontrolled housing construction on an unprecedented scale. Functionally defective and aesthetically chaotic environments became the dominant feature of cities, those annual rate of expansion of 4% to 7% outstripped the capacities of municipalities to provide urban services. As a result, their efficiency was impaired and there has been a sharp deterioration in the quality of life.”

Project Year:1988
Project Type:Research Paper
Geographic Regions:Cairo, Egypt / Damascus, Syria / Tunis, Tunisia / Sana’a, Yemen / Zanzibar, Tanzania
Reports:The Development and Morphology of Informal Housing (Mona Serageldin, September 1988)
Authors:Mona Serageldin; Samir Abdulac; Oussama Kabbani; Richard Khan
Sponsors:Aga Khan Award for Architecture
Categories:Urban Planning
  
ID:1988_09_001

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