ABSTRACT

Architect impressed by urban squatter settlements in Peru who then set about persuading the wider world of their value.

In the 1950s and 60s John Turner, who has died aged 96, addressed the housing challenges faced by members of rural communities in Peru when they migrated to urban areas in search of a better life. Official planning and design approaches were neither appropriate nor affordable to such people, and Turner was immensely impressed by their resourcefulness in creating their own housing developments and even complete neighbourhoods. Turner’s writings, as John FC Turner, presented Peru’s urban squatter settlements – barriadas – to a global audience as not a problem but a resource.

Ronaldo, a Senior Lecturer in The DPU for 32 years (1974-2006), passed away peacefully on 17 December 2022 at the age of 88.

SUMMARY
In a podcast for In Pursuit of Development on 22nd March 2022, Professors Dan Banik (the Host) and Desmond McNeill discuss the role and influence of ideas and metaphors in development, the contradictions of foreign aid and the potential for financing global public goods.

NOTES

Spanish language edition of ‘Housing in Developing Cities: Experience and Lessons’ by Patrick Wakely is now available here:

‘Vivienda en el Desarrollo Urbano: Experiencia y Aprendizaje’

Reproduced from ‘Pakistan Institute of Development Economics: Cities and Urbanisation, P&R Issue, Interviews', Jan. 2021

Babar Khan Mumtaz

is an economist and architect, formerly Director of the DPU, University College London. He has worked for governments and international agencies in Africa, Middle East, South Asia and the South Pacific for over 45 years.

McNeill, D., 2020
"Fetishism and the Theory of Value; Reassessing Marx in the 21st Century”
Palgrave MacMillan History of Economic Thought Series, Palgrave/Macmillan, London, UK