Somewhere to Live

Geoffrey Payne

Despite millions of people being lifted out of poverty during recent decades, finding somewhere decent and affordable to live is proving increasingly difficult in urban areas around the world. This is not by accident, but by design, since the forms of economic management that have held sway for f...

Cities for Human Development

Alexandre Apsan Frediani

For the last 30 years, the idea of ‘cities as engines of growth’ has played a key role in capturing the imagination of decision-makers and encouraging public and private investments into cities. However, at the same time, the world has experienced the urbanisation of poverty and inequality. Urban de...

Building with Lime Stabilized Soil

Stafford Holmes, Bee Rowan

How best can we stimulate lasting recovery from floods, earthquakes, and other climate disasters, with limited resources and funds? How can we deliver housing and adequate shelter that will protect as many people as possible across the world from anticipated future floods or extreme weather? Widely...

Interlocking Brick (CSEB) Production Manual

Interlocking Bricks (CSEB) are made by mixing Soil, Sand and Cement and compressing it in a machine. It is an Earthquake resistant technology recommended by the government of Nepal. It is fast to build with and on average 25% less cost compared to fired bricks.

Constructing Low-rise Confined Masonry Buildings

Tom Schacher, Tim Hart

The Construction Guide for Low-Rise Confined Masonry Buildings addresses the needs of small-scale contractors, technicians, government staff, architects as well as non-governmental organizations involved in post-disaster reconstruction. The guide has been written with users with various professional...

How to Build Safer Houses with Confined Masonry

Tom Schacher, Nadia Carlevaro, Guillaume Roux-Fouillet

Low-rise buildings in earthquake-prone areas in many parts of the world are often constructed by self-taught masons and contractors. How to build safer houses with confined masonry: a guide for masons is an essential ‘how to’ handbook bringing together a collected knowledge of earthquake-resistant c...

Compressed Stabilised Earth Block (CSEB) Construction Manual

This technical brief explains about the Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks structure.

Walls using the ‘rat-trap bond’ technology: technical brief

The rat-trap bond technology has been developed by Architect Laurie Baker with the HABITAT Resource Centre in India and is a result of its experimentations in cost-effective housing technologies conducted over 40 years.

Quality assurance checklist for house construction in disaster prone areas

This document is intended mostly to help building contractors and site supervisors to maintain reliable standards in order to ensure that the final product would be of durable quality. It is hoped that users of this information will contribute to the construction of houses that will successfully wit...

From Infrastructure to Services

Ton Schouten, Stef Smits

From Infrastructure to Services reveals important breakthroughs in country-led and country-wide monitoring of rural and small towns water supplies; ICT for monitoring sustainable service delivery; monitoring the finance needed for service delivery; monitoring for sanitation and hygiene; and building...