Sites, jobs and portfolios: economic development discourses in the planning system

This paper focuses on the development and dissemination of policy discourses in the context of the English planning system. The discursive subject is the identification and justification for the allocation of large sites for economic development purposes. The way this discourse has been developed in two case study areas (the West Midlands and Lancashire) is summarised, drawing out the institutional contexts of discourse development, the functions of the discourses (persuasive, co-ordinative and justificatory), the different discursive levels which are affected by changes in the discourses, the ways in which discourses are disseminated and translated from one institutional arena to another and the institutional work that discourses perform.

The closure of the Brazilian Housing Bank and beyond

This paper analyses the continuing crisis of the Brazilian housing finance system in the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s. The paper assesses the impact of the closure of the Brazilian National Housing Bank in 1986 on future developments within the circuit of housing finance and in relation to social housing production. The paper briefly analyses the SEAC scheme, set up during the Sarney government (1985-89) and the MAS/CEF housing programme, set up during the Collor government (1990-92). The paper adds to a previous Urban Studies paper which focuses on developments in the first half of the 1980s.

Commercial housing development in urban China

Housing privatisation has been one of key features of reform during the 1980s and the 1990s in many countries. Chinese housing reform has attracted attention because of its distinctive features and there have been a number of commentaries on the general progress of urban housing reform policies. However, there has been no systematic study of the development of commercial housing in Chinese cities. The aim of this paper is to provide an up-to-date account of commercial housing development. It examines the scale of investment during the early 1990s, the development process, quality and design standards, the commercial housing market and the management of residential estates. The conclusions draw attention to several important problems of commercial housing development including the lack of appropriate legislation and control, the mismatch of housing supply and affordability, and the underdeveloped nature of the urban housing market.

From rejection to resignation: beneficiaries' views on the South African government's new housing subsidy system

South Africa's housing policy arose from a multi-party negotiating body, the National Housing Forum, made up of representatives of the housing sector and key political constituencies. Negotiations carried out over a two-year period (1992-94) resulted in a housing delivery approach whereby government facilitates a framework in which the private sector carries out the delivery of 'incremental housing'. This paper briefly describes the process through which the policy was formulated and presents the policy framework and the key programme through which the housing options are to be delivered. It offers the first attempt to gauge beneficiaries' feelings about their experience in accessing a subsidy; their views about their levels of satisfaction with their new housing option; and tests whether policy options negotiated by the stakeholders at the NHF matched the preferences of beneficiaries.

[Beggars and tramps in 1596-97: Francisco Vallés's letter to Cristóbal Pérez de Herrera]

This work consists in two parts : a prologue (dedicated to Prior F. Valles and to the political context of the beggars « reform » between 1596 and 1600) and a critical édition of the extended Epistle that Francisco Valles sent Pérez de Herrera in 1597 to encourage him to proceed with his charity reform.