Technological change and informal housebuilding in Brazil

This work analyses the role and effects of building material industries over the development of housebuilding activities, with special reference to the informal sector in Brazil. The central argument is that the processes of informal housebuilding have progressed following the general trend of housebuilding industrialization. Informal housebuilding has remained irregular as far as official regulations are concerned, nevertheless increasing its linkages with formal activities. This link has become a substantial share in the demand of certain building materials and components, which are produced by formal industries. The ways by which progress in housebuilding is undertaken are analysed, namely, managerial innovations, labour training, mechanization and substitution of materials and components. The work shows why these substitutions became the effective alternative for technical and technological changes for the informal housebuilding activity, outlining its major importance as a means of housing provision for the poor. It also explores the links between the informal and formal agents that are performing such changes, identifying their causes and dynamics, positive and negative effects, and prospects for development. Moreover, the work findings support the argument that an effective industrialization of housebuilding is on course. This is depicted as an open industrialization taking place in the construction industrial network, engendering several building processes and involving both formal and informal housebuilding activities. The originality of this work appears: firstly, when reexamining the debate about low-income housebuilding. It identifies and tests the key arguments for technological change within housing policies. Secondly, it details the changes in the processes used in the informal sector for the production of low-income housing and defines the interplay of these processes. Thirdly, it defines the evolution of the relationship of formal activities and informal housebuilding.