Cultural values and housing behavior in spontaneous settlements

Although many early interpretations of spontaneous settlements were influen ced by cultural considerations, later studies have tended to overlook cultu ral variables in accounting for variations in housing behavior. This paper will attempt to demonstrate that cultural factors condition the way that gr oups and individuals respond to economic changes and opportunities when mak ing decisions about housing, and will explore some variations in squatter h ousing processes and environments by using empirical data from the Colombia n city of Santa Marta. The dwelling consolidation patterns of two contrasti ng cultural groups are analyzed and it is found that core cultural concepts (status of the dwelling, attitudes to work and privacy) can provide convin cing explanations for many of the differences observed.