Topic:           Housing Policies & Practices (lecture series in English language)
Lecturer:       Prof. Dr. Peter Brand (Universidad Nacional de Colombia
                    in Medellin
Time             Tuesdays , 11:40 - 13:10
Room:           lecture theatre 91
Credits:         2 CPs are awarded for participation in the lectures alone,
                    or 3 CP in connection with an exercise (that will be handed out in
                    the last week of the semester or 4CP in together with a seminar
                    organized by PAR
Require-        attemdance of 80 % lectures given
emts:
Start:            April 21, 2009

Semester Focus:
It is somewhat ironic that the housing finance system (of the formal sector in the developed world) produced, in 2008, what many observers believe will turn out to be the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the ‘30s. What was apparently a booming sector was revealed as a speculative financial bubble, whose explosion is leading to global economic recession and, probably, urban social and political unrest. Land and housing markets have been thrown into turmoil, many urban development projects frozen and orthodox housing policy put into serious question. This has all happened at a time of growing housing shortages for the low-income and informal sectors.
This series of lectures takes a critical look at the current urban housing situation and the policies, institutions and instruments employed to address it. It examines the economic conditions within which the ‘housing problem’ is produced and the urban policies developed around it, especially in cities of the South. It addresses the role of housing within urban development strategies (competitiveness, deregulation, privatization), housing policy and markets, and the association of housing with other development goals such as poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. It also analyses the socio-spatial consequences of existing housing policy and the planning strategies available to deal with them.
Topics to be covered during the semester include:
• A global perspective and place-specificity; housing and urban development in the South
• International housing policy and the global financial crisis
• Neoliberalism, the state and housing policy;
• Housing finance models and their limitations
• Governance and housing provision
• Land use planning and housing:
• Sustainable social housing for cities of the South?
• Urban regeneration, gentrification and the city centre.
• The informal sector and the urban periphery.
• New spatial forms, segregation, fragmentation.
• Present crises and future challenges