Will the City Rise Again? The Contested Geography of Housing Reconstruction in Post-Disaster Haiti

Michael Hooper

Housing Studies, 2015, vol. 30, issue 7, 1016-1035

Abstract: This paper examines the contested geography of post-disaster housing reconstruction in Haiti. Drawing on interviews with representatives of 48 organizations, it identifies three spatial preferences regarding reconstruction: urban, non-urban, and mixed. Organizations favoring urban versus non-urban rebuilding differed markedly in their financial resources and voice. Many intergovernmental organizations and large international non-governmental organizations (NGOs)--the organizations that most favored non-urban rebuilding--held relatively anti-urban perspectives. Small international and Haitian NGOs were more likely to see Port-au-Prince as a suitable site for reconstruction and express positive opinions about urban conditions more generally. The findings indicate that much of the formal housing reconstruction effort, particularly as led by large, well-funded and politically powerful organizations, will be directed to the urban periphery and countryside. This suggests Port-au-Prince may continue to face the same challenges of unplanned growth that have led some organizations to find it an undesirable setting for reconstruction in the first place.

Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02673037.2015.1006184 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:chosxx:v:30:y:2015:i:7:p:1016-1035

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/chos20

DOI: 10.1080/02673037.2015.1006184

Access Statistics for this article

Housing Studies is currently edited by Chris Leishman, Moira Munro, Ray Forrest, Alex Schwartz, Hal Pawson and John Flint

More articles in Housing Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().