Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest and least developed region in the world today. It is also the most rapidly urbanizing, with the greatest need for investment in new infrastructure and buildings. In Kenya, as well as in a number of other countries, the adoption of economic adjustment programmes...

Studies dating from the mid 1990s describe a rapid expansion of 'informal' construction activity in many parts of the developing world. This has been accompanied by increasing diversity in the interpretation of the concept, leading to considerable confusion. Through a wide review of the...