Editorial: The social and political basis for citizen action on urban poverty reduction

The diverse papers in this issue share one concern – the means by which low-income urban dwellers can get their needs addressed. But for most authors, the focus is not on the role of governments or aid agencies and development banks or international NGOs but on the role of the urban poor groups themselves. The main reason for this is that conventional approaches to poverty reduction – state-managed, professionally directed and sometimes funded by international donors – have not met the needs of large sections of the urban population. This can be seen in the very large number of urban dwellers who live in poverty. For instance, there are few cities in lowand middle-income nations that do not have large sections of their population living in informal settlements lacking good quality infrastructure and services. It is also evident in the very large defi cit in provision for, for instance, water and sanitation(1) and in the high levels of infant and child mortality among urban populations in many nations.(2) More than a third of the urban population in lowand middle-income nations live in poor quality, overcrowded and usually insecure housing,(3) lacking adequate provision for basic services. Most of this housing is built by urban poor households, outside formal rules and regulations, usually without legal tenure and without fi nancial support from formal organizations. In effect, in most lowand middle-income nations, state policies – whether or not supported by aid agencies and development banks – have had little or no success in addressing this. This is the case even in well-established democracies, where democratic pressures might have been expected to address these issues. It is also the case in cities and nations with rapidly growing economies.(4) While the proportion of the urban population living in poverty and lacking basic services varies considerably from nation to nation, as does the extent of the defi cit in services, even in successful middle-income nations, urban poverty is still a serious problem affecting large numbers of individuals and households.(5) Thus, most of these papers are interested in direct attempts by the urban poor to address their needs through collective processes and activities. For some papers, the focus is on citizen