Built Environment
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The Construction of Timberless House Model
The conflict in Darfur, which most analysts judge to have started in 2003 has had a devastating effect on the region. Many of the internally displaced people (IDPs) who were forced to flee their homes have ended up living in make-shift camps around the major cities such as Alfashir, Algenenina and N...
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Flood Resistant Housing
Bangladesh has regular floods putting people at risk. This brief describes some flood resistant housing options.
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Mud as a Mortar
Clay is the inherent binder of soils which are used in building. Such mortars are generally used with adobe and compressed soil blocks.
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Uncharted Territory
Disputes over land often start conflicts; and land is often a key issue when refugees and internally displaced people attempt to return home when the conflict is over. Access to land affects people’s choice to return and their prospects of recovery. Yet humanitarian agencies largely neglect these wi...
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Aerial Ropeways of Nepal
An introduction to aerial tramway / ropeway transport in Nepal including tuins, a river crossing mechanism. .
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Dry Stone Causeway
Causeways are a strong, low-cost means of river crossing.
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Fuel for Free?
This book covers the use of wastes in firing clay bricks via case studies in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Sri Lanka, and Peru. With respect to both livelihoods and the environment, energy efficiency in brickmaking is critical. Not only does increasing energy efficiency serve to reduce brickmakers’ fuel costs an...
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Trail Bridge Building in the Himalayas
A co-publication with Helvetas in their Experience and Learning in International Cooperation series, this publication describes the rural infrastructure support work conducted by Swiss development agency Helvetas in Nepal and Bhutan where over 4000 trail bridges have been built in the last 40 years....
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Bridging the Finance Gap in Housing and Infrastructure
Bridging the Finance Gap in Housing and Infrastructure concentrates on how groups of poor people – coalitions of the poor around the world have been able and been enabled to lead the process of transforming slums into vibrant and stable neighbourhoods. It showcases the strategies and the dedication,...
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Contested Space
The importance of public space in supporting city economies and in contributing to poverty reduction is rarely recognized. Instead, public space is more often an arena for contest – between municipal governments or other vested interests, and street traders, whose activities are proscribed by restri...