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Participatory Research Methods and the Capability Approach: Researching the Housing Dimensions of Squatter Upgrading Initiatives in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil

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The Capability Approach, Empowerment and Participation

Part of the book series: Rethinking International Development series ((RID))

Abstract

In this chapter, Alexandre Apsan Frediani considers the participatory process used to investigate one particular dimension of well-being—namely, housing in Salvador, Brazil. His work focuses on the methodology applied to investigate a comparative study of the outcomes of two squatter settlement upgrading initiatives. Building on Frediani’s previous work on applying the capability approach, this chapter firstly explains how participation can be used to investigate the meaning and processes of housing. The concept of ‘housing freedom’ is proposed and explored in relation to the findings from the research conducted in the two case-study areas in Salvador. A series of contextualized housing dimensions are revealed as well as aspects constituting each of them, which enables the comparative analysis to be carried out. The chapter then reviews the participatory methodology applied to the study. The methods and research process are described, and Frediani reflects on the challenges and opportunities surrounding the implementation of participatory research methods from a capability perspective. The contribution of this chapter is its innovative and participatory examination of one particular dimension of human development by applying the capability approach to the analysis of ‘housing freedoms’.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Frediani (2010) elaborates further on the conversion factors that operate at the personal, local and structural levels.

  2. 2.

    According to Sen (2005: 157), ‘the richness of the capability perspective broadly interpreted, thus, includes its insistence on the need for open valuational scrutiny for making social judgements, and in this sense it fits in well with the importance of public reasoning’.

  3. 3.

    Social innovations take the shape of actions, models, systems, processes, services, rules, regulations and organizational forms (Nicholls & Ziegler, 2015: 2).

  4. 4.

    This is an abbreviation for the Associação das Comunidades Paroquiais de Mata Escura e Calabetão (Association of the Parish Communities of Mata Escura and Calabetão).

  5. 5.

    The five open-ended questions used to facilitate the interviews were as follows: (1) What did you like when living in the stilt/shack? (2) What do you like where you live now following the intervention? (3) What don’t you like here? (4) Did the programme improve the life of you and your family? How? (5) How has your life improved compared to before the intervention?

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Development Planning Unit, University College London, London, UK

    Alexandre Apsan Frediani

Authors
  1. Alexandre Apsan Frediani
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Correspondence to Alexandre Apsan Frediani .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    David Alexander Clark

  2. Action Research for CO-Development (ARCO), PIN-Educational and Scientific Services for the University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    David Alexander Clark  & Mario Biggeri  & 

  3. Department of Economics and Management, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Mario Biggeri

  4. Development Planning Unit, University College London, London, UK

    Alexandre Apsan Frediani

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Frediani, A.A. (2019). Participatory Research Methods and the Capability Approach: Researching the Housing Dimensions of Squatter Upgrading Initiatives in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. In: Clark, D.A., Biggeri, M., Frediani, A.A. (eds) The Capability Approach, Empowerment and Participation. Rethinking International Development series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-35230-9_10

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