The informal housing production: the Maracaibo case, Venezuela

Abstract

In housing production in Venezuela and particularly in Maracaibo, we can recognize two main sectors: the "formal" sector production carried out by private and national enterprises, and the "informal" sector, which produces houses in marginal areas and uncontrolled suburbs in town. The production in this sector has become larger than the formal one. In act, in Maracaibo more than 60% of population is living in these types of suburbs. These people have resolved their housing need accordingly to their low income and outside of offer sector of formal production. This paper analyses the house from a physical point of view by studying the constructives components in relation to the socioeconomical aspects of the families and their direct participation in building and financing their house. Four stages of the physical consolidation of housing in suburbs were distinguish. This contribution as an analytic description of the physical situation of housing in studied areas, concluded giving some recommendations for the improvement of the informal process of housing production in Maracaibo.