Urban Sanitation : A Guide to Strategic Planning

Urban Sanitation covers all stages of the planning process and shows how unified urban sanitation planning is a vital weapon in the war against disease. This book is for all decision makers and their advisers with a direct or indirect interest in urban sanitation. It can be used at international, national, state or provincial, municipal and local levels. It is also suitable as a text for infrastructure planning courses. The first five chapters outline the nature of urban sanitation problems, identify effective strategic responses to them and set out practical ways in which these strategic principles can be applied. Four chapters cover critical aspects of the strategic planning process: sanitation and hygiene promotion; information collection and analysis; technology choice; and participatory workshops. The final chapter provides guidance on putting the plan into action. The book goes beyond simplistic formulae to suggest ways in which formal plans, market forces and actions at the local level can be brought together to provide a viable response to sanitation problems. The approach is simple but has potential to bring about significant impacts if regularly applied by all stakeholders, from local groups through to international agencies. It draws on a wealth of field experience and in doing so provides tried and tested findings and recommendations in 32 case studies. Supplementary sections set out the links between sanitation and health, review sanitation technologies, provide information on participatory methods and detail sources of further information.

Kevin Tayler is a civil engineer who has been involved with the service needs of low-income urban settlements in Southern cities for over 20 years. He is the author of a number of books and articles on various aspects of service provision for low-income communities.

Jonathan Parkinson is a civil and environmental engineer, specializing in the provision of infrastructure and services related to urban sanitation and wastewater management for low-income communities. Jonathan is also an experienced researcher and is actively involved with networking and dissemination activities in the sector.

Jeremy Colin worked as an environmental health officer in the UK before managing an NGO program dealing with sanitation, health education and water supply in Pakistan. He is now working as an independent consultant in water and environmental health for low-income communities.