Housing touches everyone’s heart. It has been the long-term focus of urban development, and social and economic policy. Since Habitat I in 1976, some countries have made tremendous progress in meeting the housing needs of their nations, while others still face great challenges of severe housing shortage, substandard housing, and slums. Today about one-third of the total urban population lives in slums. In some developing countries, the majority of the urban population lives in poor conditions. For a long period, the housing issues in many countries have only received marginal interest in the academic community and political arena. The political and public concern with housing conditions, particularly in the developing world, is a relatively recent phenomenon.

World leaders recognize that the social and economic problems of the developing world are among the great challenges facing human beings. These problems are high on the international and national agenda. Fighting poverty and slums is incorporated in one of the Millennium Development Goals declared by World Leaders. What accounts for this change in attitude and upsurge of interest in the social and economic issues of developing countries?