A slum is a settlement of households with inferior condition of housing and other civic amenities. Additionally, the relationship of sustainability with urban slum is diverse and distinct in according to the economic condition of a county.
What are slums and slums?
Slums represent one of the main types of housing in many growing urban cities from Kibera in Nairobi, to New Delhi and Manila. The effects of poverty related to the growth of slums span everything from poor health to education. As informal (and often illegal) housing, slums are often defined by:
Why are slums and informal settlements attractive to developers?
The locations of slums and informal settlements are often very attractive to developers. Allowing large-scale redevelopment of these areas reduces public investment and the requirement for project management. Development must not be biased towards fi nancial returns at the expense of the current population.
What is the slum relocation strategy?
Slum relocation strategies rely on removing the slums and relocating the slum poor to free semi-rural peripheries of cities, sometimes in free housing. This strategy ignores several dimensions of a slum life. The strategy sees slum as merely a place where the poor lives.
How can we solve the slum problem?
Poor quality, unpaved streets encourage slums; a 1% increase in paved all-season roads, claims Arimah, reduces slum incidence rate by about 0.35%. Affordable public transport and economic infrastructure empowers poor people to move and consider housing options other than their current slums.
What are the characteristics of a slum settlement?
According to UN Expert Group, slum has been defined as an area that combines various features, including inadequate access to safe water, inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure, poor structural quality of housing; overcrowding and insecure residential status.
Are slums illegal settlements?
Life in informal settlements As informal (and often illegal) housing, slums are often defined by: Unsafe and/or unhealthy homes (e.g. lack of windows, dirt floor, leaky walls and roofs) Overcrowded homes. Limited or no access to basic services: water, toilets, electricity, transportation.
How slums are defined?
The UN operationally defines a slum as “one or a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area, lacking in one or more of the following five amenities”: 1) Durable housing (a permanent structure providing protection from extreme climatic conditions); 2) Sufficient living area (no more than three ...
What is slum and informal settlement?
Enrique Silva: Slums are urban areas characterized by poverty and substandard living conditions, and informal settlements are areas developed outside of planning regulations and legally sanctioned housing and land markets.
Why do people live in slums?
Slums form and grow in different parts of the world for many different reasons. Causes include rapid rural-to-urban migration, economic stagnation and depression, high unemployment, poverty, informal economy, forced or manipulated ghettoization, poor planning, politics, natural disasters, and social conflicts.
Why are slums a problem?
Slum dwellers in India regularly deals with problems such as lack of clean water, constant migration at slums, no sewage or waste disposal facilities, pollution, and unsanitary living conditions. High levels of pollution, lack of basic needs, and room-crowding are some of the basic characteristics of slum housing.
What are the types of slum?
For the purpose of Census, slums have been categorized and defined as of the following three types:Notified Slums.Recognized Slums.Identified Slums.
What is slum and example?
The definition of a slum is a house or a neighborhood that is in poor condition and that is generally considered unsafe and not nice to live or be in. A dangerous and dirty part of town is an example of a slum. A building that is falling down and in disrepair is an example of a slum.
What are slums made of?
Slum houses are typically made of waste materials such as cardboard, tin, and plastic, have dirt floors, and lack connections to basic services such as water and sewer systems.
What is the difference between slum and squatter settlement?
"Slums" are highly congested urban areas marked by deteriorated, unsanitary buildings, poverty, and social disorganization. "Squatters" settle on land, especially public or unoccupied land, without right or"Squatters" settle on land, especially public or unoccupied land, without right or title.
What are the effects of slums?
Slums have practically no drainage. Most of the slums are located near drains which contain filthy stagnant water. Health hazards: The poor living condition in slums affects the health of people mentally and physically. Water contamination cause disease like blood dysentery, diarrhoea, malaria, typhoid, jaundice etc.
Where are slums located?
The world's largest informal settlements are located on the outskirts of cities such as Cape Town, South Africa, and Karachi, Pakistan.
Are squatter settlements illegal?
In the United States, squatting is illegal and squatters can be evicted for trespassing.
Are slums and squatter settlements the same?
"Slums" are highly congested urban areas marked by deteriorated, unsanitary buildings, poverty, and social disorganization. "Squatters" settle on land, especially public or unoccupied land, without right or"Squatters" settle on land, especially public or unoccupied land, without right or title.
What is the biggest difference between slums and squatter settlements?
While the two terms tend to be used interchangeably, simply put, the definition of slums focus on their environmental and quality of life (QoL) aspects , while that of squatter settlements focus on the legality of the land ownership and other infrastructure provisions.
What are the 3 biggest problems of informal settlements?
Informal settlements are characterized by a lack of basic services, pollution, overcrowding and poor waste management.
Where are slums found?
Slums are still predominantly found in urban regions of developing countries, but are also still found in developed economies. The world's largest slum city is found in Karachi, Pakistan.
Why are slums so common?
Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings which, because of poor-quality construction and/or lack of basic maintenance, have deteriorated. Due to increasing urbanization of the general populace, slums became common in the 19th to late 20th centuries in the United States and Europe.
Why did the French government subvert efforts to remove, reduce or upgrade slums into better housing options for the?
Many local and national governments have, for political interests, subverted efforts to remove, reduce or upgrade slums into better housing options for the poor. Throughout the second half of the 19th century, for example, French political parties relied on votes from slum population and had vested interests in maintaining that voting block. Removal and replacement of slum created a conflict of interest, and politics prevented efforts to remove, relocate or upgrade the slums into housing projects that are better than the slums. Similar dynamics are cited in favelas of Brazil, slums of India, and shanty towns of Kenya.
Why is it important to recognize slums?
Recognizing and notifying slums often triggers a creation of property rights, and requires that the government provide public services and infrastructure to the slum residents. With poverty and informal economy, slums do not generate tax revenues for the government and therefore tend to get minimal or slow attention.
How does social exclusion affect poor people?
Social exclusion and poor infrastructure forces the poor to adapt to conditions beyond his or her control. Poor families that cannot afford transportation, or those who simply lack any form of affordable public transportation, generally end up in squat settlements within walking distance or close enough to the place of their formal or informal employment. Ben Arimah cites this social exclusion and poor infrastructure as a cause for numerous slums in African cities. Poor quality, unpaved streets encourage slums; a 1% increase in paved all-season roads, claims Arimah, reduces slum incidence rate by about 0.35%. Affordable public transport and economic infrastructure empowers poor people to move and consider housing options other than their current slums.
What is the name of the slum in Nigeria?
Marcuse suggests ghettoes in the United States, and elsewhere, have been created and maintained by the segregationist policies of the state and regionally dominant group. Makoko – One of the oldest slums in Nigeria, was originally a fishing village settlement, built on stilts on a lagoon.
How many slum dwellers will be there by 2020?
The Millennium Development Goals proposes that member nations should make a "significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers" by 2020. If member nations succeed in achieving this goal, 90% of the world total slum dwellers may remain in the poorly housed settlements by 2020.
What Does Slum Mean?
A slum is defined as a heavily populated urban area that is characterized by poor quality housing, poverty and the poor living conditions that result. Most slums are lacking an adequate supply of clean water, proper sanitation services, reliable electricity, law enforcement and other basic necessities, although the size and other characteristics in slums differ from country to country.
Why are slums growing?
One reason could be rapid rural to urban migration, which often results in poverty through lack of opportunities and the government's ability to manage the overwhelming urban population. Other reasons include natural disasters, poor housing planning, poor infrastructure, politics, social conflicts, or the development of an informal economy, which is unregistered or unlicensed.
Definition
Squatter settlement is defined as a low residential area, which has developed without legal right to the land or permission from the concerned authorities to build, and as a result, of their illegal status, infrastructure and services are usually inadequate (UN-Habitat 2003 ).
Introduction
In this entry, the squatter settlements and slums are discussed critically. At the outset, the concepts of squatter settlement and slum are defined, and the meaning, processes, causes, consequences, and challenges of squatter settlements and slums are discussed. There have been rapid urbanization and unbalanced...
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Why are slums attractive to developers?
Allowing large-scale redevelopment of these areas reduces public investment and the requirement for project management. Development must not be biased towards fi nancial returns at the expense of the current population. The sale of illegally occupied land also offers potential public revenue which can be reinvested in other areas. The full value of this land must be understood to generate the maximum public benefi t. Further issues for consideration are how changes in economic, political or social conditions will affect the delivery of development.
What is the role of the public sector in settlements?
In settlements without a high level of developer interest, responsibility for design development and delivery rests with the public sector. By defi ning a more detailed level of resolution, improvements can be delivered as a set of urban blocks by the private sector. Alternatively, public sector seed projects can be used to stimulate resident-lead regeneration. A detailed understanding of the implementation process shapes the design at this stage. Strategies need to be developed to mitigate resident displacement, disruption to business, cost, and the impact of construction phasing. The design must also respond to potential changes in development conditions.
What is spatial analysis of informal settlements?
Detailed spatial analysis of informal settlements reveals a common spatial condition at the heart of the slum condition. Without addressing this spatial condition, the areas will remain isolated and the chances of sustained improvement are reduced. By their nature slums are overcrowded. Any spatial intervention will create disruption through the acquisition of occupied land, resettlement of current residents and businesses, and the construction process. Cities with multiple slums and informal settlements often have to balance public spending between a number of concerns.
What is the purpose of combining a proposed spatial structure with outline development allowances?
Combines a proposed spatial structure with outline development allowances to coordinate and inform mid-term private development at the scale of the urban block.
What color are settlement specific improvement strategies?
Existing conditions recorded in dark blue, target conditions shown in light blue. Settlement-specific improvement strategy is indicated by red arrows as the work required to move from existing profile to target conditions.
How long does it take to settle a case?
Two months per settlement although multiple settlements can be programmed to overlap
How are cities being forced to accommodate rapid urban growth?
Worldwide, cities are being forced to accommodate rapid urban growth. In many instances this takes the form of slums or informal settlements , which bring with them multiple complications: - the physicalfabric is often of low quality, with inadequate provision of infrastructure, services, utilities or sanitation - well established socialnetwork s coexist alongside problems, which include (the perception of) high crime levels - land is typically illegallyoccupied by residents who are unprotected by the law - politicalpressure to address these areas is high and can result in the implementation of under-developed solutions - major private economicinvestment is required to help fund improvement If left unaddressed, these areas become an increasing cost to the city.
Overview
Slums in developing countries
Slums typically begin at the outskirts of a city. Over time, the city may expand past the original slums, enclosing the slums inside the urban perimeter. New slums sprout at the new boundaries of the expanding city, usually on publicly owned lands, thereby creating an urban sprawl mix of formal settlements, industry, retail zones and slums. This makes the original slums valuable prope…
Etymology and nomenclature
It is thought that slum is a British slang word from the East End of London meaning "room", which evolved to "back slum" around 1845 meaning 'back alley, street of poor people.'
Numerous other non English terms are often used interchangeably with slum: shanty town, favela, rookery, gecekondu, skid row, barrio, ghetto, banlieue, bidonville, taudis, bandas de miseria, barrio marginal, morro, paragkoupoli, loteamento, barraca, musseque, iskuwater, Inner city, tugurio, sola…
History
Before the 19th century, rich and poor people lived in the same districts, with the wealthy living on the high streets, and the poor in the service streets behind them. But in the 19th century, wealthy and upper-middle-class people began to move out of the central part of rapidly growing cities, leaving poorer residents behind.
Causes that create and expand slums
Slums sprout and continue for a combination of demographic, social, economic, and political reasons. Common causes include rapid rural-to-urban migration, poor planning, economic stagnation and depression, poverty, high unemployment, informal economy, colonialism and segregation, politics, natural disasters and social conflicts.
Problems
Slums are often placed among the places vulnerable to natural disasters such as landslides and floods. In cities located over mountainous terrain, slums begin on slopes difficult to reach or start at the bottom of flood-prone valleys, often hidden from plain view of city center but close to some natural water source. In cities located near lagoons, marshlands and rivers, they start at banks or on stilts above water or the dry river bed; in flat terrain, slums begin on lands unsuitable for agric…
Countermeasures
Recent years have seen a dramatic growth in the number of slums as urban populations have increased in developing countries. Nearly a billion people worldwide live in slums, and some project the figure may grow to 2 billion by 2030 if governments and the global community ignore slums and continue current urban policies. United Nations Habitat group believes change is possib…
Prevalence
Slums exist in many countries and have become a global phenomenon. A UN-Habitat report states that in 2006 there were nearly 1 billion people settling in slum settlements in most cities of Central America, Asia, South America and Africa, and a smaller number in the cities of Europe and North America.
In 2012, according to UN-Habitat, about 863 million people in the developing w…