In this context, infrastructure provision involves constructions of roads, lined storm water drains and culverts in the informal settlements upgraded to formal status through land regularization.
Full Answer
Does Hong Kong have an infrastructure inadequacy and informal settlement?
Consequently, the research also agrees with the presence of infrastructure inadequacy and informal settlement in Hong Kong but from the few of planning approach and policies. By comparing the traditional area with modern area and using the rational planning and user-oriented planning.
How vulnerable are informal settlement residents to social and economic conditions?
The vulnerability of informal settlement residents combined with a wide range of social concerns around poverty and unemployment, high levels of crime and health conditions was aggravated by the lack of access to sanitation highlight the need for further in-depth research, particularly within the context of the FBSan.
Does informal settlement affect resilience in Hong Kong urban centres?
Data were analysed, interpreted, and results integrated to reflect the characteristics of informal settlement and infrastructure adequacy in Hong Kong urban centres for future resilience. Recommendations were made according to the research findings.
What are the consequences of poor access to sanitation in informal settlements?
Without considering user needs and behavior, informal settlement residents will continue to suffer the consequences of poor access to sanitation. The mismatch between supply and demand perpetuates vicious cycles where facilities are either not used at all, are vandalized or are used reluctantly.
What are the effects of informal settlements?
Informal settlements are characterized by a lack of basic services, pollution, overcrowding and poor waste management. These characteristics impact negatively on the environment posing risk and susceptibility to health problems associated with informal settlements.
How do informal settlements affect urban areas?
Moreover, informal settlements are space where the neighborhood effects related to poor sanitation, overcrowding, poor housing, physical hazard, pollution, and poverty exposed the dwellers to everyday health risks and keep them in a “risk trap”.
How do informal settlement contribute to urban sprawl?
First, establishing an informal settlement reduces the supply of land available for the formal sector in a manner similar to the removal of land for open space or other uses alternative to formal development.
Why do we need to integrate informal settlements in the urban planning?
Thus, it is important to create and improve access to public spaces for population living in informal settlements. Residents of informal settlements are often victims of socio-cultural segregation that could have come with historic context of migration, marginalization and discrimination.
How does informal settlements affect the economy?
Living in informal settlements leads to the exposure and vulnerability to environmental hazards to people and the land which they occupy. Informal settlements are characterized by a lack of basic services, pollution, overcrowding and poor waste management.
How does informal settlements affect the quality of water?
In addition, informal settlements, sometimes referred to as slums, may contribute to the pollution of surface water within urban areas (Abia et al. 2018; Bandyopadhyay and De 2017). The impact from these informal settlements adds to the pollution of urban surface water by wastewater treatment plant effluents.
What are the advantages of informal settlement?
It offers choice, it gives people what they want, it enables individual creativity and it is affordable. It is also simple to build and easy to use. So, a powerful brand — the informal settlement — is in town. And it's reshaping the city.
Are informal settlements a problem in society?
Informal Settlements have been associated with many social problems such as high levels of poverty, illiteracy and crime. Not forgetting the inadequate local services, especially healthcare, education and youth facilities.
What are the effects of settlement?
The impact of human settlements on the environment increases with population growth, settlement expansion, economic growth and increased consumption. All indications are that the impact of human settlements on environmental resources is increasing.
How can living conditions be improved in informal settlements?
Water and improved sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) are the biggest planning and design concerns of informal settlements and adjacent formal settlements as well. The prioritization of inclusive access to WaSH should be encouraged.
What are characteristics of informal settlement?
Characteristics include inadequate access to safe water and sanitation, poor quality of housing, overcrowding, and insecure residential status.
What is another word for informal settlement?
Shanty town Sometimes called a squatter, informal or spontaneous settlement, shanty towns often lack proper sanitation, safe water supply, electricity, hygienic streets, or other basic human necessities.
What causes informal settlement in urban areas?
A number of interrelated factors have driven the emergence of informal settlements: population growth; rural-urban migration; lack of affordable housing; weak governance (particularly in policy, planning and urban management); economic vulnerability and low-paid work; marginalisation; and displacement caused by ...
What is an informal urban settlement?
Informal settlements are: 1. areas where groups of housing units have been constructed on land that the occupants have no legal claim to, or occupy illegally; 2. unplanned settlements and areas where housing is not in compliance with current planning and building regulations (unauthorized housing).
What are the problems of urban settlement?
Some of the major health problems resulting from urbanization include poor nutrition, pollution-related health conditions and communicable diseases, poor sanitation and housing conditions, and related health conditions.
What are the effects of settlement?
The impact of human settlements on the environment increases with population growth, settlement expansion, economic growth and increased consumption. All indications are that the impact of human settlements on environmental resources is increasing.
What is infrastructure provision?
In this context, infrastructure provision involves constructions of roads, lined storm water drains and culverts in the informal settlements upgraded to formal status through land regularization. In developing countries like Tanzania where the economic situation is not stable and budget deficit is common, it has been very expensive to provide infrastructure in settlements upgraded or regularized [ 1] [ 2] . This has been exacerbated by the fact that infrastructure provision in urban areas competes strongly for funding with other sectors, such as water, health, education, housing, etc. and thus government’s budget allocation in developing countries has been found inadequate year after year, and thus implementation of different programmes has become futile [ 2] . Given the limitations associated with the funding sources, most governments are pursuing the public private partnership strategy consisting of involving the private sector in different modalities. Different forms of public-private partnerships (PPPs) approach used also involve local community, donor, and government. Therefore, adopting labor based approach in infrastructure provision especially in informal settlements is a rational decision [ 2] [ 3] [ 4] .
What is the Miembeni settlement?
It was found that Miembeni settlement was dominated by local tribe “Chagga” whose land was traditionally allocated by their Chief Mangi, or his subordinate to heads of households. The chief in Chagga had a right to apportion land to male children only. This shows that a social segregation existed for decades in Chagga tribe in Tanzania. Increased housing densities and population have impacted on decreased land per household and land subdivision feature using “Vihamba System” which is common characteristics of the Chagga tribe. “Vihamba” is a traditional name of the Chagga tribe referring to small land plots subdivided and allocated to family members for meeting any economic activity within their traditional circles. The entrenched customary land tenure system which governs traditionally owned land, although recognised in a policy document of the country, still the context of such land subdivision is important to ensure planned urban development.
What is labour based approach?
Labour based approach as a participatory approach in infrastructure provision has become a topical global agenda to ensure success of urban planning practice in informal settlements. This paper contributes to the emerging debate on the roles and critiques of the use of labour based approach in infrastructure provision as one step in the implementation of land regularization taking Miembeni settlement in Moshi Tanzania as a case. The study highlights motives and needs for infrastructure provisioning as an important step for local communities’ engagement in land regularization towards improving infrastructure facilities and utilities in the settlement. It provides explanation on technology in which labour adopted, supported by light equipment, which was used as a cost-effective method of constructing and maintaining infrastructure at a required standard. Likely provides donor community contributions and settlement characteristics. The analysis is grounded in understanding labour based approach as a theoretical base in using local community and simple technology in improving infrastructure in informal settlements, implementation process, the role of planning institutions, planning standards and written and unwritten norms. The paper ends by providing reflections and concluding remarks which provide lessons and sharing knowledge for replication in informal settlements of the same context in Tanzania and elsewhere.
Where are informal settlements in South Africa?
This study was conducted from October 2017 to June 2018 in five informal settlements in three municipal jurisdictional areas in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, where there are high levels of unemployment, poor levels of education and income, and lack of, or poor, sanitation facilities. These settlements have high population densities and a mixed population of various racial and ethnic groups ( Table 1 ). Dwellings are located either on private or state-owned land. The municipalities have provided different sanitation technologies in each area.
What are the factors that influence sanitation practices?
Respondents concurred that their sanitation practices have been informed by a range of context-dependent factors ( Figure 2 ). Safety concerns (fear of being robbed, raped or killed) emerge in all study settlements as a prime factor for the adoption of particular sanitation practices. The lack of lighting in and outside the facility and night walking to the facility is a safety concern:
What is the sanitation problem in South Africa?
Access to safe sanitation is a growing challenge in informal settlements where over 65.0% of the residents have inadequate sanitation ( UN-Habitat 2014 ), and this has been identified as one of the biggest social issues of post-apartheid South Africa ( DWS 2016 ). Since access to sanitation (understood in this paper as the ability – and the right – to enter and to use the toilets at the time of need) is recognized as a human right in South Africa, all informal settlements are to be provided with basic infrastructure including water and sanitation facilities free of charge. Municipalities are responsible for the operation and maintenance of the facilities. Available sanitation facilities include communal flush toilets, MobiSan (a mobile communal urine diversion toilet), Kayaloo (a mobile communal full flush toilet) and porta-potties (individual portable toilet). However, most of these facilities are not fully accessible due to various operational issues (e.g. blockage and lack of water for flushing). Recognizing that sanitation is dignity, the Free Basic Sanitation (FBSan) policy that provides the right to limited water and sanitation services at no cost to low-income households ( Mosdell 2006) was introduced in 2001. The FBSan policy is a supply-driven approach with the focus on infrastructure delivery ( Tissington 2011 ), especially in rural and informal settlements. Although being acclaimed worldwide as one of the most progressive policies, the FBSan did not provide specifications regarding the nature of the services to be provided ( Mjoli et al. 2009 ). Municipalities (as service providers) were mandated to decide on the level of service and related allocations based upon their available resources and local circumstances ( DWAF 2008; Mjoli 2010 ). Municipalities focused on the supply of facilities based on either the availability of funds or the availability of the technology without considering site conditions, residents' socio-cultural preferences or sanitation practices and needs ( Lagardien & Muanda 2014 ). Through the FBSan policy, municipalities supplied sanitation facilities to various areas with the greatest need including informal settlements across South Africa. As a result, sanitation backlogs were reduced from 52% in 1994 to 21% in 2010 ( Mjoli et al. 2009; Mjoli 2010; DPME DWA & DHS 2012 ). To date, 76% of South African population living in urban and peri-urban areas has access to basic sanitation ( WHO & UNICEF 2019 ).
What are the two sections of the sanitation report?
Results are presented in two sections: (i) sanitation practices and their extent and (ii) factors informing sanitation practices and impact of residents' practices on the sanitation facilities and sustainability of the service.
What are the safety concerns of sanitation facilities?
Safety concerns (fear of being robbed, raped or even killed) emerge as the most common factor associated with the adoption of alternative and often undesirable, sanitation practices. The poor condition of the facility is being associated with users' fear of contamination. Taing (2015) and Garn et al. (2015) have found that the sustainable use of a sanitation facility is determined by its cleanliness. In our own study, the filthy conditions of many facilities deterred residents from using the facilities. As the WHO (2009) shows, unhygienic sanitation practices lead to disease. There is a vicious cycle as not using the facilities results in unhygienic practices which are being triggered by perceptions of users, in particular by the fear of contamination when accessing a filthy toilet. Safety and health concerns inform user practice most specifically in South Africa where there are high levels of poverty, unemployment and crime ( Stats SA 2019 ). While there were a large number of facilities in each of the settlements, many of these were dysfunctional and unusable. Where facilities are being used, there are particular problems that lead to the damaging of these facilities such as misuse, vandalism, lack of understanding, compliance, or disregard of use patterns or requirements.
How many incidents of robbery occurred during the transect walk?
It is noteworthy that during the transect walks two incidences of robbery, two assaults, one harassment and one verbal abuse were witnessed during off-peak and evening time. During our research two deaths, both related to the night access to sanitation were reported. These incidences sparked a wave of panic that deterred many users from using these facilities at night.
What are the most used sanitation facilities in the world?
The most used facility was the communal flush toilet (37.9% n = 145), Kayaloo (20.0% n = 77), MobiSan (12.0% n = 46), porta-potties (3.4% n = 13) and other facilities including those within or outside the settlements (14.4% n = 55). Some respondents (12.3% n = 47) reported not using any of the facilities. In all these settlements, the use of existing facilities (either to dispose the bucket content or defecate) is combined with a variety of alternative practices including open defecation, use of plastic bags (commonly known as flying toilet), night pails, porta-potties ( Figure 1) and use of own self-made facilities such as pit latrines and flush toilets illegally connected to stormwater drains.