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Mutual Aid Housing For San Juan, Philip Lawrence Manson Goldberg

Architecture Master Theses

A policy program for mutual aid construction is presented. In this approach, rural families organize teams to build their dwellings and buy construction materials through new savings organizations. The chief prerequisite for mutual aid in a specific situation is that the ratio of material to labor costs be high.

Pride in home ownership, training in construction skills, and natural evolved neighborhoods prove the thesis that mutual aid is the most promising solution for housing the poor in developing societies. Financial burden on the public is minimized, and the government can control municipal expansion by retaining land ownership.

In high density …