HOUSING AND SPATIAL POLICIES IN THE SOCIALIST THIRD-WORLD

Author(s): Roy Darke

Source: The Netherlands Journal of Housing and Environmental Research , 1989, Vol. 4,
No. 1, Special Issue 'Housing in the Third-World: self-help and governmental
programmes' (1989), pp. 51-66
Published by: Springer

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43932850

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HOUSING AND SPATIAL POLICIES IN THE SOCIALIST THIRD-WORLD

Roy Darke

Introduction
The intention of this paper is to introduce a study of shelter and settlement
policies in the Socialist Third-World. In the main body of the article a de-
scriptive format is followed which owes a debt to previous comparative work
undertaken by the International Institute for Environment and Development
(Hardoy and Satterthwaite, 1981). The present paper extends the coverage of
their valuable study by consideration of housing and settlement policies in a
number of developing nations that have professed and pursued socialist aims
and principles. Of the seventeen countries covered in the IIED survey only
Tanzania might be considered to appropriately fall within the spectrum of
the present study. The current study of socialist Third World policies is at an
early stage and this paper should therefore be seen as a contribution to work
in progress. The familiar difficulty of obtaining accurate and up-to-date in-
formation from nations in the developing world is compounded by the sensi-
tivity that the leadership in such countries often have with respect to the
provision of statistical information. The contents of the paper are, there-
fore, eclectic in relying on previous studies and the help of others who have
had first-hand experience within the chosen countries. Any omissions and
misunderstandings must be the present author's responsibility. The intention
of the paper is to go beyond the descriptive and to raise a number of general
issues about the approach and policies towards housing and settlement in
socialist development.

Defining socialism
An immediate issue in setting out on this task is to define what is meant by
socialist and, therefore, to establish a rationale for the choice of case ex-
amples. Socialism and associated terms cover a broad spectrum of meaning
and some categorisations of socialist nations have included questionable and
marginal cases(l).
Wiles and Smith in their work on the New Communist Third- World in-
clude 'those developing countries that have recently proclaimed a Marxist-
Leninist form of government' (Wiles, 1981: 13). Yet, they recognise the
shades of difference by adopting a four-fold classification of communist
nations.
These range from:
Group 1: nations with full membership of the Council for Mutual Economic
Assistance (CMEA or COMECON).

Neth. J. of Housing and Environmental Res., Vol. 4 (1989) No. 1.

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Group 2s countries that are recognised as communist but who are not
members of CMEA.
Group 3s countries whose leadership has professed allegiance to Marxist-
Leninism.
Group 'Doubtful cases1.
They include within Group 1 the European 'core1 and non-European members
of CMEA such as Mongolia, Cuba, and Vietnam. In Group 2 are recognised
socialist/communist nations which remain outside the direct influence of the
Soviet Union (China, North Korea). Group 3 is considered to be the NCTW
proper: Angola, Mozambique, PDR, Yemen, and Ethiopia. The doubtful cases
include Madagascar, Benin, Congo, and Guyana.
Traditionally, communism has been seen as a stage beyond socialism
(Deacon, 1983) where the state has 'withered away', alienation has been
eliminated, where the means to life are distributed according to need, where
exchange value has given way to use value and where hierarchical divisions
of labour have given way to non-hierarchical relationships in work. Socialism
is therefore seen as a transitional stage. White has recognised the dynamics
of socialist development by considering the term socialist to be too diffuse
and bland for an accurate classification of nations (White et al., 1983: 2). He
decides on a distinction between 'proto-socialist', to indicate engagement in
the transition and 'state-socialist', to indicate a centralised form of ad-
ministration found in countries adopting Soviet-styled models of planning and
development. For White, full socialism is 'marked by an absence of classes
and the state, political democracy and conscious control of the social eco-
nomy by the associated producers' (ibid) which would appear to correspond to
the traditional definition of communism adopted by Deacon.
Slater outlines four perspectives on socialism which accept a broader
definition than one based on strict allegiance to Marxist-Leninism (Slater,
1986s 157-163). Firstly, socialism can be seen as a state-led development of
social welfare programmes, income redistribution, the promotion of social
justice, and limited nationalisation in key economic sectors. However, Slater
sees these as reformist measures, rather than evidence of transition, with a
more appropriate label of 'social democracy'.
A second definition (and grouping of nations) is where some elements
of social democratic reform are pursued, where imperialism is denounced
and radical nationalism is adopted (suggested examples are Algeria, Tanza-
nia, Zimbabwe). Slater believes that failure to sustain 'a revolutionary
mobilization of popular forces and the establishment of a genuinely indepen-
dent political base' (ibids 158) disqualifies this second set of nations from
strict categorisation as socialist.
The Leninist model underlies his third definition of socialism in giving
priority to 'production, party, and the dictatorship of the proletariat', usually
after the revolutionary seizure of power.
A common criticism of the authoritarianism of the Leninist model and
the recent growth of more libertarian, democratic forms of socialism sug-
gests a foirth grouping/definition which guarantees politiceli pluralism, pop-
ular control, arri the elimination of all forms of alienation (including presum-
ably alienation from the centralised state apparatus found in some Marxist-
Leninist (M-L) contexts).
The most recent contribution to the definitional debate is provided by
a collection of essays on urban development and the space economy in the
socialist third-world (Forbes and Thrift, 1987). They implicitly agree with
the broad approach taken by Slater in believing that membership of group-
ings such as COMECON is not a sufficient condition for labelling countries

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TABLE 1. Basic Data: Case Study Nations

Nicaragua Cuba
Official name: Republic of Republic of Cuba
Nicaragua
Established: 19 July 1979 1 January 1959
Population: 2.82 million 9.84 million (1982)
Land area: 128,875 sq km 114,524 sq km
Capital: Managua 1 million (1979) La Habana 2 million (1977)
Urban pop: 50.55% (est) 65% (1980)
GNP per capita: US$ 867 (1977) US$ 753 (1977)
Vietnam China
Official name: Socialist Republic of Peoples Republic of
Vietnam China
Established: 2 July 1976 (!) 1 October 1949
Population: 57.02 million (1983) 1032 million (1982)
Land area: 329,566 sq km 9.56 million sq km
Capital: Hanoi 2.6 million (1979) Beijing c.8 mill. (1977)
Largest city Ho Chi-
Minh-Ville, formerly
Saigon 3.4 million
Urban pop: 23% (1980) 25% (1980)
GNP per capita: US$ 160 (1977) US$ 413 (1977)

Mozambique Tanzania
Official name: Peoples Republic of United Republic of
Mozambique Tanzania
Established: 25 June 1975 26 April 1964
Population: 13.14 million (1983) 19.74 million (1983)
Land area: 799,380 (!) sq km 945,490 sq km
Capital: Maputo 755,000 (1980) Dar es Salaam 800,000
Urban pop: 9% ( 1 980) c. 1 0%
GNP per capita: US$ 136 (1977) GNP per capita: US$ 210

as socialist. Their main additional offering to the debate is to explicity

identify the structural features of, a) a break from the dominance of private
capital in the economy and an undermining of the hegemony of individualism
and market freedom and, b) concrete evidence of transition and transforma-
tion towards socialist ends (such as the nationalisation of economic sectors).
Thus, a kind of consensus emerges from this brief review about how it
is possible to classify socialist countries in the developing world. In addition
to the two structural features classified by Forbes and Thrift we could add
other factors such as some degree of centralised planning and control over
the economy, the strength of external links and relations with other commu-
nist/socialist nations as well as pursuit of social justice, greater equality and
the set of structural and ideological factors offered by Deacon.
Marginal cases (such as Tanzania) do create difficulties but the division
between M-L nations and those countries whose socialist aims include polit-
ical pluralism and popular power is the principal cleavage adopted in the
following review.
For reason of seeking as broad a coverage as possible we have chosen
to consider pairs of socialist developing countries from the major continents.

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Thus, Cuba and Nicaragua are included from Latin America/Central Ameri-
ca/Caribbean, Mozambique and Tanzania from Africa, and Vietnam and
China from Asia. In each case the first named from each continent is con-
sidered to be the tiarder' example with respect to Marxist-Leninist ideas and
the second-named country is considered to have a more pluralistic approach
to change. Further complications are encountered given that the dynamics of
economic change and world politics as well as internal developments in the
countries studied create shifts and variations in the key factors over time.
Lack of space limits the extent to which it has been possible to include
background information on each of the six nations. Where basic information
is available it is included Table 1.

The Americas
Cuba
Housing Policy. Housing policy in Cuba has passed through a number of
phases since the beginning of the revolution in 1959. Several phases of policy
have been identified (Hamberg, 1986).
In the earliest period, housing was identified as a social service. Early
reforms abolished private renting (with compensation for former landlords)
and established an ultimate objective of making housing available as part of
the 'social wage1 at no cost to residents. The 1960 Urban Reform Law turned
private tenants in the cities into owner occupiers (by using rent payments as
a contribution to amortization). Under this legislation individuals were not
permitted to own more than one permanent home. Rents were also controll-
ed by the State at levels which did not exceed 10% of household income. At
the same time government tenants were given long-term leases on the prin-
ciple of usufruct. Sales of residential property were possible but at govern-
ment set prices. The government indicated an intention to act as the main
agent for improving housing conditions and dealing with inherited housing
problems. A large state construction-sector was proposed and a self-help
programme for relocation and improvement of urban shantytown was iden-
tified. However, intentions did not match performance. The state construc-
tion sector was dogged by shortages of building materials caused by the US
economic blockade. From 1961 priority was given to the building of factories
and schools. However, even in this early period a start was made on the task
of narrowing the gap between town and country with respect to housing con-
ditions. This was to be achieved by means of the rural settlements pro-
gramme where the state began to build small 'new towns1 linked to agricul-
tural production, mining, and textiles.
The second phase of housing policy in Cuba (196*^-1970) saw the pro-
duction of homes even more heavily subordinated to the priority for in-
creased industrial production and to improvements in the national economic
position. Infrastructure and 'directly productive' investments were given
priority. On the state-housing front shortages of labour and materials gave
an impetus to the use of lightweight concrete prefabricated systems and
experimentation with large wall panel systems from Eastern Europe. The
average annual production of homes in the state sector over the period 1959-
1971 was 8,300 units.
Greater priority was given to housing again in national planning in the
period from 1971 to 1975. Microbrigades were introduced, being teams of
workers drawn from economic sectors and enterprises (on a 10% ratio) to
build housing for themselves and co-workers. Co-workers undertook to main-
tain manufacturing output and productivity as a commitment to the revolu-
tion with the incentive of future improvements in their housing circum-

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stances. Many large scale urban and rural housing-projects were completed
during this period. The average annual construction of housing by the state,
including the use of microbrigades, was 16,200 units for this period.
Output of housing by the State began to improve considerably after
1975. The main urban centres saw much of this increased production. The
question of a policy for urban slums and shantytown began to be seriously
addressed as more modern housing units became available. State construc-
tion rose to close on an average of 5 0,000 units p.a. in the period 1976-1980.
Whilst industrialised methods of building were still favoured, appreciation of
some of the problems deriving from the use of unskilled microbrigades led
back towards trained/skilled state construction-teams. The particular prob-
lems of poor workmanship, and future maintenance caused concern. Greater
emphasis on rural housing programmes was given in the late 1970s by pro-
motion of agricultural and rural co-operatives which took on responsibility
for housing as well as production.
The early 1980s saw further increases in housing production and the
provision of basic services. The 1981 census showed that self-build continued
to represent a high proportion of output. Official recognition of self-build
followed despite government disquiet (particularly because self-build con-
tributes to further low density urban sprawl and cuts across rural settlement
policies by completion of isolated buildings in the countryside). Legislation in
late- 1984 authorised low interest loans for self-build housing. In addition,
this decree extended home ownership by allowing tenants in state housing to
use their rent payments to amortise the cost of the dwelling. Sales, ex-
changes, and the inheritance of property were opened up to a broader form
of distribution.

Land. Urban land and property have not been nationalised in Cuba but capi-
talist ownership has been eliminated through the State exercising control
over prices at exchange. The State also has first option to buy and
'redistribute1 land and property when transactions occur. Castro has said that
individual home ownership is not incompatible with socialism, in stating that
a socialist state 'can give homes for free' (Jenness, 1985: 297).

Settlement Policy. Much has been written about Cuba's efforts to break the
urban dominance of Havana with respect to resource use. In the mid- to late-
1960s the productive emphasis on agriculture, and particularly the produc-
tion target of 1 million tons of sugar for 1970, gave added point to the
revolutionary committment to break the 'exploitative' hold of the capital.
Havana had become associated with corruption and tourism. Rural develop-
ment on the other hand was seen as a powerful element in national develop-
ment and fostering redistribution. Decentralisation from the cities and the
urbanisation of the countryside (via the new- towns programme) were follow-
ed as means to social and economic ends compatible with socialismi). With
the failure to meet the 10 million ton sugar target and the massive disrup-
tion caused to other sectors of the economy by attempting this level of out-
put it was recognised that the cities had a significant part to play in the
economy. In particular, the cities were seen as sites for essential skilled
labour, industrial production, and exchange.
The aim to break down the separation of town and country (encapsu-
lated in Castro's proposal for 'a minimum of urbanism and a maximum of
ruralism') and concern at the deformities of urban concentration have more
recently been tempered by the promotion of a more rational use of resour-
ces. This aim recognises the various contributions that agricultural pro-

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duction and urban-based enterprises can make to economic development.
Current policy includes the green-belt programme (bringing agricul-
tural production closer to the capital), the new-towns programme in the
countryside, the promotion of an urban settlement network and hierarchy
and the widespread transformation of education, welfare and political or-
ganisation (particularly in the rural areas).

Nicaragua
Housing policy. Housing was identified as a third welfare priority (after
health and education) in the programme for social reconstruction begun by
the Sandinistas after 1979. The Ministry of Housing and Human Settlement
(MINVAH) has worked within a broad set of objectives which have been
summarised as:
1. Giving priority to housing provision on the basis of need.
2. Redressing inequalities between regions and between urban and rural
areas.

3. Expanding the role of the State in housing (by both

indirect support).
4. The promotion of popular participation in the proce
vision.
5. Reduction of technological dependence on imports of building materials,
machinery, etc.
6. Changing the institutional and financial context within which housing is
provided.
A series of home building measures has been pursued ranging from complete
housing-units built by the government (housing complexes), through provision
of basic resources - land, services, technical advice, prefabricated building
elements or, building materials - to self-builders (materials bank scheme)
and plot allocation (progressive urbanisation). As the war situation (including
trade embargoes) has deepened the economic pressures on Nicaragua so the
emphasis in housing policy has been moved increasingly to schemes of pro-
gressive urbanisation, leaving state built housing to be targeted on priority
economic projects (housing for industrial workers) and the resettlement of
vulnerable campesinos into hamlets in the war zones. Self-build activity is
well organised through the Sandinista Defence Committees (CDS) which
operate at neighbourhood level to provide a range of self-help and co-
operative services (health, education, distribution of goods, etc.).

Land. Abandoned and underused agricultural land was expropriated by the

TABLE 2. Annual Housing Output, Nicaragua, 1980-1984.

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984

Housing
complexes 1146 2006 3215 3128 1017

Materials
Bank - 202 349 1322 2382

Progressive
Urbanisation - 854 8810 5814 4281

Total 1146 3062 12374 10264 7680

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State in the early days of the revolution although a mixed tenure system has
been maintained (in line with the national objectives of a mixed economy and
political pluralism). In Managua waste land and urban subdivisions where
private owners had exploited tenants in the past were also expropriated by
the State. Land title has been given extensively to agricultural and urban
households in these circumstances with inheritance being passed on within
families but legal restrictions being exercised over market exchange.

Settlement policy. The intention to create a national urban system, to

extend town planning and controls over spatial development, and the decen-
tralisation of the control and administration of urban services represent
elements of a spatial policy which is concerned to achieve greater territorial
justice between parts of the country and to ensure universal access to basic
needs. Urban dominance and the low density of population in rural areas pose
a considerable task in achieving these aims. In 1982 the country was divided
into regions and special zones. A national strategy pointed out the dangers of
the continued 'force for urbanisation1, leading to a proposal for a national
urban system (SUN). The system proposes an urban hierarchy within regions
as a step to 'ordered, systematic growth1 within a strategy of fwell balanced,
fully co-ordinated ... national development1. The linking of economic and
physical development is to be achieved through regional plans, sustained
through the preparation of urban plans (a number of which have been com-
pleted, including a plan for the capital). In addition, a basic system of
development control and regulation of building standards was introduced in
1979. A third means to attempt to break the domirance of Managua is the
decentralisation of State administration and policy making. Under the 1986
constitution a system of elected local government is to be introduced and
Ministries have already begun decentralising some activities to the regions.

Asia
Vietnam
Housing policy. Housing conditions are particularly acute in the urban
centres of Vietnam. For example, it has been estimated that 17,000 housing
units were destroyed by the bombing of Hanoi, and after the withdrawal of
US troops the re-entry of people into the cities exacerbated problems of
overcrowding and poor living-conditions. An average living space of 1.5 m 2
per person has been identified in central Hanoi (Nguyan due Nhuan, 1984:
83). Housing (including low-rise flats) has gone up on the outskirts of Hanoi
which provides an average of 3m2 per person in the outer suburbs but the
comparison with conditions in the large southern city of Ho Chi -Minh- Ville
(where average housing floor space is 14 m2 per person) shows the wide re-
gional disparity that has developed over time. Urban housing is not a national
priority; is the greatest policy emphasis is being given to agricultural
production and rural development.
Reliance on self-sufficiency, and lack of resources, have meant that
housing provision in the countryside has principally been vested in local com-
mittees who take responsibility for home building and improvement. This
responsibility extends into the indigenous production of building materials.
Appleton records the local manufacture of baked-earth bricks and tiles on a
collective basis as improvements over wattle and daub walling for rural
housing (Appleton, 1983s 273).
State involvement in housinģ principally relates to the de-urbanisation
policies intended to relocate peasants out of the cities (particularly southern
cities) and into rural areas in order to boost agricultural production. Housing

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loans have been granted to peasants moving back onto the plains around Ho
Chi -Mi nh- Ville and efforts to develop new agricultural production (e.g. on
tea and cotton plantations in the Central Highlands) are being pursued by
means of provision of temporary housing and basic services (such as clean
water and access roads).

Land* Land reform in Vietnam commenced in the North in the early 1950s. A
five-fold classification of tenure was used in the process of redistribution.
The classes ranged from large non- working landlords to landless peasants.
Local land reform committees controlled redistribution giving no household
more land than they could individually work. The resulting distribution gave
only sufficient cultivable land for a meagre subsistence so that collectivisa-
tion was taken as the appropriate next step to greater equalisation. From
mid 1958 to the 1960s the transfer of land ownership from individual owner
to group ownership represented the first major step to decentralised and col-
lective management of the national economy. Co-operatives were formed
(based on the Chinese model).
Co-operative development has taken a relatively long time to com-
plete. Initially peasants who pooled their land for collective cultivation were
paid a total dividend based on the size of their contributed land, other
capital inputs and their labour power. By 1967 in the North 25% of peasants
were in 'high level1 co-operatives (where all the means of production are
collectively owned) and 10% were in 'low level1 co-operatives (where there is
some shared used of land and tools but the land remains in individual owner-
ship) (Forbes and Thrift, 1987: 105).

Settlement Policy. The decentralisation of agricultural production with the

aim of self-sufficiency in food (as a contribution to the war effort) was cen-
tral to the military victory. The importance of this strategy has been follow-
ed through by post-war policies of social equality and a spatially even
approach to rural development. This policy has been applied in South Viet-
nam since 1975.
Socialist Vietnam aims to eliminate economic exploitation and raise
standards of living particularly in the countryside, in order to achieve
equality. Industrialisation associated with agricultural production has been
pursued to avoid 'urban-rural dualism'. The means adopted is the consolida-
tion of agro-industrial units in the countryside with linked strategies and
products.
The strategy of integrated rural development has been accompanied by
'de-urbanisation' particularly in the South. State support has been given (in
the form of transport and subsistence, housing loans, etc.) to persuade
refugees to return to their former villages and return to agricultural or
industrial production in the rural areas. Large numbers have been relocated.
Despite Western concern about this programme (by criticism of 'forced re-
location') 30% of households relocated into the countryside of the Mekong
Delta between 1976 and 1980 had formed co-operatives and were integrated
into national development policies (Murray and Picha, 1982: 262).
A major element of the de-urbanisation policy has been the creation of
new villages and the upgrading of existing regional and district centres.
Vietnam has been structured administratively into 500 districts below 35
provinces. Districts vary in size with a population of 100,000 - 150,000 as a
norm. District centres are the central elements in the process of integrated
rural development and are prioritized in the distribution of commodities arid
services (such as reading materials, films, touring theatre companies, etc.)

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to increase their attractiveness and redress urban-rural imbalances (Apple-
ton, 1983).

China
Housing Policy. Housing provision was considered to be chiefly the responsi-
bility of the state from the early years of the revolution. In this 'low wage1
economy housing was identified as an element of the social wage. Provision
was either through municipal authorities (in urban areas) or through the
employing institution/organisation (in urban and rural areas) at a nominal
cost to the tenant. (Initially rents were set at 6-10% of household income;
this percentage has dropped further as labour participation rates increased
and some municipal authorities implemented rent reductions.)
Housing output, and attitudes by the government towards housing pro-
vision, can be seen to have gone through a number of stages. During the 1st
Five-Year Plan (FYP) China pursued extensive industrialisation of the
economy paying particular attention to housing for key workers. The level of
output was relatively high, with housing investment running at about 10% of
state construction investments in the period up to 1957. From 1958-1962 (the
2nd FYP period) this went down to 4%, rising slightly in the inter phase
adjustment period, to stabilise again at 4% over the 3rd FYP period (1966-
1970). From the early 1970s housing investment began to rise (as a propor-
tion of overall state construction investment) reaching 20% in 1980 and
representing one-quarter of all state construction spending by 1982 (Kirkby,
1985: 171). After the 3rd FYP period (when state construction investment
was at a low point) absolute resources put into construction have risen
steadily to the highest recorded level (since 19^9) in 1982. The target set for
urban housing construction at a government conference in 1978 was 500
million m2 of housing floor-space completed in the period 1979-1985. This
represented more housing floor-space than was actually constructed over the
previous 20 years. Against expectations this target was achieved. To reach
this level of output new forms of construction and building technology were
employed. The common form of k or 5 storey walk-up apartment blocks was
abandoned, to be replaced by high rise housing blocks using mechanised
building methods.
Behind these figures lie dramatic ideological shifts as the principles
established by Mao for dealing with the economy as a first priority (with
concern for the social well-being of the population deferred into the future)
have recently been questioned and overturned. Housing has come to be seen
as an integral sector in national development.
In an associated shift in principles there has been an attack on low rent
levels for housing. Within the ideological embrace of market guidance and
market regulation inside the planned economy (which has been a hallmark of
changes in China over the past few years) experiments with the use of
private capital investment in housing have been developed. State housing can
now be bought by tenants (outright or on a mortgage).
In rural areas the state has built housing (often in small townships) but
the tradition of private ownership and house-building has never been fully
lost. 'Liberalisation1 of the economy and the possibility of sade of produce in
a more 'open' market system has increased the potential for savings and their
investment through self-help in private house-building.

Land. A mix of land ownership still applies. Expropriation of the land and
property of the larger owners brought most holdings into state ownership. In
urban areas the state is still the largest land owner (either directly or

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through state enterprises). Yet in 1980, 25% of the urban housing stock re-
mained in private hands (including owner occupation and privately rented
property). A relationship has been shown indicating that the larger the city
the smaller the proportion of private property holding. Private ownership is
greatest in the countryside.
Yet rural land reform in China has been described as the most 'sweep-
ing rural transformation in history1 (Blecher, 1986: 43). Land was expro-
priated and redistributed more equitably. Collectivisation was the main
plank of agrarian reform. Full nationalisation of land and equalisation of
holdings was not pursued (principally in the interests of maintaining political
unity and maintaining production levels in agriculture by minimising disrup-
tion).

Settlement Policy. The view that China has pursued policies specifically
intended to minimise regional disparities and inequalities and to control
urbanisation is, in general, correct. However, a number of recent writers
have questioned how strongly these principles and policies have been carried
through or how deeply held they are in present day China. An anti-urban ele-
ment in Chinese spatial policy is predictable to the extent that Mao built the
revolution in the countryside and the corruption and vice of the cities was
associated with the Kuomintang.
Self-reliance in agriculture was accompanied by efforts to promote a
dispersed pattern of development and settlement. Yet the pursuit of econo-
mic development, which requires the maintenance of production in the
coastal industrial cities, has not markedly changed the balance of spatial and
regional inequalities (Chung-Tong, 1987). The dispersal of industry, by
strengthening manufacturing in the interior and the decentralisation of
enterprises from larger to smaller cities, was the centrepiece of past
regional policy. A core city policy has been adopted since 1978 indicating
continued efforts to secure less uneven spatial development in the future.

Africa
Mozambique
Housing Policy. The nationalisation of land and urban rented property soon
after liberation included not only the large flat-blocks (the colonial 'cement
city') in Maputo, Beira, and Nampula but also the timber and reed shacks
(canico) in the shanty towns, the latter representing about 2/3 of urban hous-
ing in 1975.
The 3rd congress of FRELIMO (1977) decided that housing was princi-
pally an individual concern. State priorities were to enhance manufacturing
and production. Within social services, education and health were tackled
along with provision for basic needs such as clean water. Nationalisation of
land and property offered the prospect of overcoming obstacles to housing
improvements due to private ownership and exploitation.
Given these national priorities and the lack of resources (further ex-
acerbated by the counter revolution led by RENAMO) there are two main
elements to state support for housing in Mozambique. Firstly, reliance on
popular mobilisation for housing provision and improvement, with the State
taking on a guiding and developmental role. Popular initiatives in housing are
channelled by the planned use of land, infrastructural improvements (parti-
cularly to improve hygiene through latrine slab programmes, etc.), and tech-
nical support to develope and improve traditional building material pro-
duction and construction methods. Housing production in the communal vil-
lages has been supported mainly by the transport of building materials and of

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household effects for relocated families.
Secondly, the government has undertaken to adapt the construction in-
dustry (previously oriented to modern methods of building production in the
urban centres) to the broader needs of the country by the use of less m
chanised methods. Provincial state building companies have been set up an
appropriate housing forms developed for regional needs and settings. Thes
state construction companies have shown increasing productivity. Shortag
of materials have led to simple housing units being favoured with basic
facilities and finishes. Between 1977-83 4,300 units were built by the state
for key projects and for housing priority- workers. Recently the need for co-
ordination of resources and state efforts has integrated the National Housing
Directorate within the State physical planning system.
The 4th FRELIMO Congress in 1983 took account of the deepening ex-
ternal pressure on the country and the lack of resources by reaffirming in-
dividual, family and small co-operative effort. Local organisation and man-
agement of housing production was further encouraged by support for key
production sectors and enterprises. FRELIMO Neighbourhood Committees
play a key role in leading popular mobilisation by organising collective
programmes of self-help and by support with technical aid and building
materials.
In the urban shantytowns a programme of resettlement has developed
offering secure land-tenure on planned subdivisions, but aid for self-help
housing has been hampered by shortages of building materials.

Land. Nationalisation of land was carried through in 1975. All rented housing
was taken into state ownership in 1976. A considerable housing gain in the
urban centres followed from the take-over of the 'cement cities1.
Collectivisation of agriculture in rural areas has followed the pattern
of organisation in the former liberated zones before the Portuguese with-
drawal.

Settlement Policy. State support for further collectivisation was seen to be a

major means of providing basic needs in health and education as well as
aiding agricultural productivity. The policy of communal villages, ("aldeias
communais") which brought together the rural population into clusters of (a
minimum of) 200 families with collectivisation of work, has been set back by
lack of resources. The communal villages have been evaluated as a social
success but they still face economic difficulties. Among the problems have
been poor location, bad technical advice which has failed to take account of
local traditions in agriculture, and over-rapid implementation. The pro-
gramme has also been relatively limited in relation to need. By the early
1980s 1,300 settlements had received state support but even so the pro-
gramme had only reached 14% of the peasants living at marginal subsistence
levels at the time of liberation.
Urban resettlement policy consists of a programme of communal
neighbourhoods ("bairros communais") with the intention of improving the
overcrowding and congestion of the shantytown.

Tanzania
Housing Policy (3). A number of institutions were set up after liberation
the task of securing home-building and improvements in housing conditio
The National Housing Corporation was given the task of providing ho
for low-income households and carrying out urban-renewal projects. Early
emphasis was given to work in Dar es Salaam with 4,700 units being built

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with NHC help between 1964 and 1969. An associated programme of slum
clearance meant little net gain in housing units. The aim of 25,000 homes
(mainly in the cities) included in the targets of the 1st FYP (1964-1969) was
badly undershot, with only 6,000 units being built. The gap between intention
and output was equally severe in the 2nd FYP period (1969-1974). Twenty-
five thousand homes and 2,100 serviced plots were the target but the com-
bined output of state supported units was only 2,000 p.a. over the period. Use
of imported building materials also pushed up costs so that rent levels were
beyond the pockets of the poorest households.
For these reasons emphasis shifted in the early 1970s to squatter up-
grading schemes and serviced site projects. In the latter, security of tenure
was assured for participants, and basic provision included water supply, elec-
tricity, and drainage. Where possible schools, communal buildings, and health
centres were also provided. In the first serviced-sites projects in the prin-
cipal cities 9,000 plots were included, bringing benefit to an estimated
160,000 people. A second scheme begun in 1978 supported improvements in
living conditions for over 300,000. However, in the second phase only lots
were provided with no other basic provision.
The Tanzania Housing Bank (THB), set up in 1972 provides housing
loans to individuals, housing co-operative and institutions for urban and rural
projects. Loans help pay for materials, labour and other inputs. The pro-
motion of locally produced materials (e.g. burnt bricks) has saved on import
costs. By 1970 the THB was supporting the production of approximately
2,000 units p.a. A special housing fund, with levies on small enterprises and
organisations, also channels loans to rural areas, with priority to ujamaa
villages and housing co-operatives. By 1981 this fund had supported 32,000
village homes with a rising trend of annual loans.
Other institutions which provide help with housing output include state
owned and state-controlled enterprises which (with NHC and THB support)
were providing 3,000 units p.a. by the late 1970s.
The informal, or self -build sector remains the principal means of hous-
ing provision with up to 90% of urban shelter needs being met through un-
aided individual household efforts.
Improvements to infrastructure and basic services in rural settlements
have been dramatic. The 3rd FYP (1976-81) stressed improvements to living
conditions in the countryside and mobile state construction teams were
founded to give technical assistance, training and to organise self help for
village communities.

Land. Land is in public ownership in Tanzania. In 1963 freeholds were con-

verted into state leasehold and in 1968 land was fully nationalised. Rights to
occupation are granted for long terms with associated conditions of use. Re-
vocation of these rights can be decreed if in the public interest (with com-
pensation if necessary) or if tenure conditions are breached. Customary land
tenure can still apply in the rural areas if traditional land holders so wish but
over time this form of tenure is reducing. Subtenancies on land are allow-
able.
An official planning-system controls urban development but urban
squatting makes enforcement difficult and sustains heavy demands for ser-
vices and improved infrastructure. Levies on urban land-holdings capture
some of the enhancement of land values due to urban development.

Settlement Policy. An explicit rural development policy has been followed

since the late 1960s. The 'vUlagisation1 scheme aimed to bring a scattered

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population into key settlements where basic services can be provided more
efficiently and small scale industrial activity promoted. Initially, the ujamaa
principle of collective work and social provision dominated the policy aims
but lack of success in collective farming has led to the promotion of a
broader, more inclusive development for the rural economy.
The pattern of urban development has been set out in the various na-
tional plans. A primary goal has been to slow down the growth of Dar es
Salaam. The creation of a new capital at Dodoma is part of that aim and
development of smaller centres has been promoted by fiscal incentives to
industry as well as infrastructural improvements. Industrial estates have
been built. Advice and training programmes have been offered to businesses.
National long-term economic strategy aims at the development of a heavy
industrial sector and greater production of necessities and consumer goods
(import substitution).
Evaluations of settlement policy have produced mixed conclusions but
almost all studies indicate potential for consolidation and success. Urban
development policy seems to be showing some effect with growth in the
regional centres, although Dar es Salaam also continues to grow. In the rural
areas, although the villagisation policy has not shown any improvements in
agricultural productivity, the programme of meeting basic needs for all
people (such as piped water within a reasonable distance) is well advanced.
General issues
A number of common trends emerge from this preliminary survey. All the
countries discussed here have nationalised land, or have radically reformed
the pre-existing system of land and property holdings in order to give stron-
ger state control over the use of land, the amount of property held by indiv-
iduals, the form of exchange and the costs of property. The rationale for this
common measure has been the desire to limit speculation and individual
profit and to seek greater equality with respect to land and housing con-
ditions.
Most of the six nations have pursued an explicit rural settlement pol-
icy^). This is usually followed in the belief that such action will help to
redress regional inequalities and to loosen the grip that large urban-centres
can exert over resources, which is seen to heighten regional imbalances in
the economy and in living conditions.
Housing is frequently given a lower priority in national plans and ob-
jectives than olther social-services, particularly health and education. Many
of these nations have followed strategies of popular mobilisation and decen-
tralisation of decision-making within a framework of national planning. It is
noticeable that this movement towards decentralisation and popular control
comes about as the revolutionary leaderships learn from experience and the
economies develop. In some cases, self-build as an element of housing pro-
duction has become more significant than direct provision of housing by the
state.

A noticeable difference between self-help housing in the capi

Third-World and in socialist developing-countries is that in the lat
build is frequently organised on a collective basis.
The debate about whether housing is productive or unproductive i
ment continues. Clearly the demand for a healthy, locally concentrate
relatively contented workforce was an element in the development of
involvement in housing during the industrialisation of the capitalist W
the 18th and 19th centuries. However, shortage of labour power i
crucial a factor for the developing world, so the imperative of housing

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provision by the state is less essential for economic development. On the
other hand, housing is considered a social service by socialist countries and
recognition is given to the right to a decent home and a collective respons-
ibility is accepted to work to that end. Difficulties arise where housing
provision is seen to compete with other elements of development, particu-
larly where finance, materials, tools, and specialised labour are in short
supply.
What appears to occur (on the basis of this brief study) is that re-
cognition of housing need and the lack of investment (for maintenance and
repair) becomes a more pressing demand as revolutions develop. The ex-
amples of the longer established revolutions in China and Cuba show that the
resources put into housing programmes begin to be increased some decades
after the overthrow of previous political regimes.
One solution to the productive/ un productive debate and the lack of
national resources is to promote self-help in housing. Costs of housing can be
reduced by popular initiatives(5). However, there are a number of theoretical
issues which need to be considered. We have found no extended discussion of
self-help housing in the context of socialist development. Western Marxist
discussions of self-help in the capitalist developing world are unhelpful
(Burgess, 1978) by pursuing issues of 'double exploitation' and 'commodifi-
cation of housing'.
Double exploitation refers to the process by which workers in capitalist
economies are subject to exploitation in the workplace (where the owner
takes a surplus from their labour) and then may have to labour out of work-
time to provide shelter for self and dependents. The argument fails to re-
cognise that housing is more than a utilitarian artifact and that self-builders
may gain considerable psychic satisfaction from their building work and from
the end product.
The issue of com modification is not absent in a socialist context.
Strictly, where elements of housing (materials, land, houses) can be
exchanged then housing itself can be considered a commodity. That
values can be supplemented by exchange values, so commodity relations are
established. However, we should recognise that there is a difference between
the law of value and the role of commodities in a planned economy and a
market economy. In the former, legal exchange is not based on the principle
of extracting maximum profits or an exploitation of recipients of the com-
modities. 'Liberalisation' within socialist revolutions (such as the estab-
lishment of farmers' markets, which allow an element of market pricing and
can create savings for individuals and the possible injection of private
capital into housing, e.g. China) makes the distinction between socialist and
capitalist economies more indistinct over the issue of com modification.
However, as Castro has said 'a socialist state can, if it so desires, build
homes, rent them, receive income and even profits, since these profits can
be destined for other things which benefit the people and would be in keeping
with the ethic or principles of socialism' (Jenness, 1985: 297).
A further issue which differentiates self-help housing in the socialist
Third-World from elsewhere is the organisation of building on a collective
basis. Co-operative house building is often one aspect of popular mobilisation
in socialist contexts (which includes local involvement in health care,
education, food distribution etc.). In reviewing the factors which make for
success in self-help housing projects in the capitalist Third-World, Skinner
identifies collective effort and state support as necessary conditions for
viable self -building (Skinner, 1982). It is characteristic of the socialist Third-
World that these elements are present in self-build efforts.

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With respect to settlement policy and regional inequalities the policies of
development, which are becoming more insistent in the face of massive ur-
ban growth in the capitalist Third-World are, increasingly focused on limita-
tion of urban size or securing more attractive intermediate urban centres for
potential migrants to primate cities. Growth poles, integrated rural devel-
opment and the promotion of small and mid-sized cities have been suggested
as possible models for dealing with the primate city problem (Mohit, 1988).
However, policies which follow these models have had limited success in the
capitalist context and although the de-urbanisation policies adopted by some
socialist Third-World countries (e.g. Vietnam) have been criticised for their
taint of coercion, the promotion of greater equality and balanced develop-
ment may offset this criticism.

References
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Blecher, M. (1986)
China: Politicsy Economics and Society, London: Pinter.
Burgess, R. (1978)
'Petty commodity housing or dweller control?', World Development, 6,
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Footnotes
(1) The useful series of 36 volumes (already published or planned) on 'M
ist Regimes') under the general editorship of Bogdan Szajkowski (pu
lisher F. Pinter, London) contains some definitional anomalies. In p
ticular, Ghana under Rawlings is not an obvious candidate for inclusion.
Whilst Rawlings associated with Marxists during the seizure of pow
and Marxist influences continue within the government, socialism w
openly rejected as a potential goal by the leader (Turok, 1987: 74 9).
(2) By 1975, 335 new settlements had been created in the Cuban countr
side since 1959, with housing for 140,000 persons (Angotti, 1983: 14).
(3) The section on Tanzania rests heavily on the work of Hardoy and
ter thwaite to whom full recognition must be given (Hardoy and S
ter thwaite, 1981).
(4) Hardoy and Satter thwaite note that (with the exception of Tanzania
none of the seventeen nations in their study had an explicit rural housi
policy.
(5) There are other pressires, such as the external aggression facing coun-
tries such as Nicaragua and Mozambique, which force economies in so-
cial programmes. In Nicaragua, government officials are not unanimous
in support of self-help, believing it to lead to poor work and loss of
materials. Cuban officials have also acted to adapt the microbrigade
programme for similar reasons. Whether this implies that direct state-
housing provision by construction teams will be reintroduced as these
economies strengthen is an open question.

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