The question of deciding on 'appropriate standards' for housing, building, and planning - of 'norms and forms' to use Rabinow's wellchosen expression - in the' developing' , ex-colonial countries of the periphery is a topic of fundamental importance to planners, architects, and administrators, and it has been frequently discussed (e.g. Hardoy and Satterthwaite, 1981; Mabogunje, Hardoy, and Misra, 1978; Payne, 1984; United Nations, 1971).