| Summary: | The failure of the conventional top-down approaches in human settlement development in Third World has resulted in the increased numbers, sizes and densities of informal settlements. This has resulted from the increasing majority of Third World populations finding shelter in informal housing. Being informal, these settlements are not provided with urban services and infrastructual facilities by the Central and local Governments. This results in the urban low income groups having no option but to cater for their own needs. Therefore, the urban poor have come up with viable solutions, outside the formal or legal ways of acquiring land, developing houses and providing urban services and infrastructural facilities. It is this dynamism shown by the urban poor in organising the construction of their own housing and providing related urban services and infrastructure which, in the 1970s, resulted in the recognition and appreciation that informal housing was less of a problem and more of a solution. These solutions take the form of participatory initiatives which involves the undertaking of the development process by the low income groups themselves. The above recognition and appreciation, resulted from the realisation that, when solutions to shelter for low income groups in Third World countries take into consideration the involvement of the community, be they top-down or bottom-up, and where the community are fully involved in decision-making in the various stages of the projects, there are significant impacts on the improvements of shelter. For purposes of this study community participation results when the community mobilises itself to solve common problems or undertake certain activities spontaneously with or without external assistance. They do so by being involved in the decision-making, implementation and the continued management of the projects.
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