Christian Obermayr Bücher

This book analyses the housing and governance policies of the city of Surakarta, in Indonesia. It addresses the question of whether Surakarta’s strategy for handling the city’s informal sector and marginal settlements shows evidence of sustainability and good governance. The book illustrates current trends in urban development and discussions on effective strategies for improving living conditions in slums on both a global and national scale. Using four main programs as examples, it presents a detailed overview of Surakarta’s housing policies regarding the poor. It critically evaluates the city’s relocation measures and shows that Surakarta’s city government has put into place an effective policy, reaching the poor by inclusive approaches. Influenced by global discussions and best practices, the programs examined are characterized by elements of good governance and Solo’s strategies have already been disseminated to other Indonesian cities. However, the book argues that deficits remain regarding participation and transparency. The work is based on Christian Obermayr's outstanding Master’s thesis, defended in 2013 at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

More than one billion people live in slums, and it remains a distant dream to achieve adequate housing for all, as articulated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 11). Sound housing policies for the poor do exist but require an appropriate governance framework and a normative orientation. This book analyses in detail half a century of international discussions on housing, slums, and informal settlements, identifies policy phases (self-help, enabling) and discusses pros and cons of applied measures globally and in the context of Indonesia. It contributes to a better understanding of interlinkages between urban governance and housing policies by employing the analytical framework of policy arrangements, and by developing a normative compass based on Henri Lefebvre's right to the city. Empirically, it examines and compares housing strategies (social housing, resettlements, slum upgrading) and modes of governance in two case studies, the Indonesian cities Surabaya and Surakarta. The findings show that specific policy arrangements oriented towards a normative goal are crucial for the emergence of sound housing policies and a societal transformation that benefits marginalised groups.