FIG/UN-HABITAT Seminar
Stockholm, Sweden, 16–17 June 2008
This publication is a summary report of the seminar “Improving Slum Conditions through Innovative Financing”, which was jointly organized by the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) and took place in Stockholm, Sweden on 16–17 June 2008. This two-day seminar, which was dedicated to adequate and affordable housing for all, was an integrated part of the FIG Working Week. The seminar focused on the essential elements of a just and sustainable provision of adequate shelter, from the twin perspectives of land and finance. It brought together leading actors from the public, private and non-governmental sectors working on land and housing finance issues. Within this framework, the seminar focused on the main issues of access to land, security of tenure and access to finance. Without security of tenure, the poor are at daily risk of eviction and, in the longer term, are reluctant to invest in long-term shelter improvements. Without access to affordable finance, poor people are caught in a vicious cycle in which affordable housing is inadequate, but adequate housing is unaffordable. This report provides a summary of the presentations that were given to catalyse the Dialogues, the key issues that emerged in the Dialogues themselves, and the conclusions reached and directions for the way forward that were put forth
at the seminar’s closing.
Editors: Brett Shapiro, Szilard Fricska and Stig Enemark
