37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 629HOUSING: ITS POTENTIALS AND LIMITATIONSEVIDENCE FROM KHARTOUM STATEGamal M. Hamid i , Ahmed A. Mohamed Elhassan iii Dean Faculty of Architectureii Head Department of Housing and Development Studiesi,ii University of the Khartoum, Sudani gmhamid@uofk.edu, ii aamohamed@uofk.eduKey words: Incremental housing, core housing, site-and services, Khartoum, SudanAbstractWith about 80% of households in Greater Khartoum classified as being of low-income, thedemand for housing far exceeds the ability of the vast majority of households. This results ina wide gap between demand and supply manifested in over-crowding, doubling-up, as well asin massive growth of informal housing settlements. The predominant housing supplymechanism adopted in most of urban Sudan is site-and-services. Households are often left ontheir own to manage the construction of their dwellings. The cost of building a minimumhouse, however, is virtually beyond the ability of the vast majority of households. Thus, about56% of site-and-services plots allocated in Khartoum State have remained undeveloped.Because of its flexibility, initial low cost and economies of scale, incremental housing isviewed as a better alternative to site-and-services. However, there are several criticisms leviedon incremental housing projects. So far, they have contributed very little to the housingsupply in the State.The objectives of this paper are to assess the potentials and limitations of incremental housingin housing low-income groups; assess the strengths and weaknesses of the past examples ofagency-built incremental housing in Khartoum State with a view to drawing lessons fromthem that could inform future attempts at the same. The methodology applied in this paperincludes: desk review of the previous studies on housing in general and on incrementalhousing in particular; field survey of a sample of 230 households in site-and-services areas,squatter areas that have undergone re-planning and upgrading and in incremental housingprojects. Graphic and photographic documentation of the changes that took place in each ofthe selected case studies has been undertaken.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 251