Site and Services
Encyclopedia
Site and services is an approach to bringing shelter within the economic reach of the poor. Recognizing that the vast majority of low income families in the world build their own shelter, which lacks basic hygiene, access and electricity, the strategy was developed. The approach first appeared on a large scale in Madras (now Chennai
) in 1972 when the World Bank engaged Christopher Charles Benninger
to advise the Madras Metropolitan Development Authority (MMDA) on their housing sector investments. The approach links the user group's ability to pay with land prices and the costs of rudimentary and up-gradable infrastructure. The fundamental idea is to market plots with essential infrastructure at market prices, to avoid the resale of subsidized housing, directed at low income groups. The first major scheme planned by Benninger, at Arambakkum in Chennai, created about 7,000 shelter units, within the paying capacity of the urban poor. Within five years the MMDA created more than 20,000 units and the approach became a major strategy of the World Bank to tackle a variety of shelter problems globally.
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
) in 1972 when the World Bank engaged Christopher Charles Benninger
Christopher Charles Benninger
Christopher Charles Benninger is an American-Indian architect and planner born in the United States in 1942. He studied urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, where he later taught .Benninger studied under Josep Lluis...
to advise the Madras Metropolitan Development Authority (MMDA) on their housing sector investments. The approach links the user group's ability to pay with land prices and the costs of rudimentary and up-gradable infrastructure. The fundamental idea is to market plots with essential infrastructure at market prices, to avoid the resale of subsidized housing, directed at low income groups. The first major scheme planned by Benninger, at Arambakkum in Chennai, created about 7,000 shelter units, within the paying capacity of the urban poor. Within five years the MMDA created more than 20,000 units and the approach became a major strategy of the World Bank to tackle a variety of shelter problems globally.