THE PROVISION OF LAND FOR SOCIAL HOUSING IN LARGE URBANIZED AREAS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF ISTANBUL

A large part of the population has no access to proper housing. This situation is most severe in large growing metropolises in the developing world, such as Istanbul, Turkey, where a third of the population is living in squatter housing. Typically there is a is a dual structure of both legal and illegal land development, where the legal sector is not able to provide land for housing development for the poor and middle-income population. A traditional role of government as regulator based on planning and building law does not change this. In Istanbul, the government has developed an investor role, next to the regulating role. National government has developed several institutions to provide affordable housing. The aim of the paper is to discuss the impact of planning and land policy and practices on land provision for social housing in Istanbul, and establishes whether the results may be of wider relevance for other large growing cities in developing countries