European standards for housing and infrastructure are inappropriate and unaffordable for the majority of the urban poor in developing countries‎.‎ But what is the alternative‎?‎ This was the issue addressed by an international research project within ITDG‎'‎s Shelter Program‎,‎ of which this book is the major output‎.‎ Since the majority of urban residents in developing countries currently live in unplanned and illegal settlements‎,‎ there is obviously a need for a new paradigm‎,‎ abandoning the colonial inheritance and using a much more flexible approach‎.‎ Standards need to be revised continuously to accommodate changes in circumstances and technology developments‎.‎ The best source of inspiration for these changes is what is happening on the ground in low‎-income settlements‎.‎ A greater participation by the poor in regulating the quality of their built environment‎,‎ using methods such as community action planning‎,‎ is clearly required‎.‎ Regulation is not superfluous‎,‎ because it does provide the poor with the security needed to build a livelihood‎.‎‎.‎‎.‎