Squatter settlements are areas where residents have no legal rights to the land. A squatter area is composed of numerous buildings that are occupied by people with no legal claim to the land. These residential areas are found in urban localities, and they provide housing to the poorest people in the world.
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What is a squatter settlement?
A squatter settlement is a place where the residents don’t have legal rights over the land. A squatter area is composed of numerous buildings that are occupied by people with no legal claim to the land. These residential areas are found in urban localities, and they provide housing to the poorest people in the world.
What is a squatter camp?
A squatter camp in South Africa. A squatter settlement is a place where the residents don’t have legal rights over the land. A squatter area is composed of numerous buildings that are occupied by people with no legal claim to the land.
What is happening to the squatter settlements in Greece?
In recent years the authorities have demolished areas of squatter settlements, like the one in 2012. Badia, a swampland settlement on the edge of the city’s Apapa Port, was one of the worst-hit targets. More than 15,000 people have lost their homes.
What is a squatter community?
An area within a city in a less developed country in which people illegally establish residences on land they do not own or rent and erect homemade structures. Squatter someone who settles on land without right or title
What are squatter settlements GCSE?
GCSE Urban environments. Squatter settlements. Squatter settlements are any collection of buildings where the people have no legal rights to the land they are built upon. The people are living there illegally and do not own the land. They provide housing for many of the world's poorest people and offer basic shelter.
What are squatter settlement?
The term squatter settlement is often used as a general term to encompass low-quality housing, occupied by the poor, usually on the periphery of cities in the Global South.
What does squatter mean in geography?
A "squatter" (in The Concise Oxford Dictionary) is a person who settles on new especially public land without title; a person who takes unauthorized possession of unoccupied premises. Therefore, a residential area occupied by squatters becomes a squatter settlement.
What is an example of squatter settlement?
In Bhopal, India , and Mexico City, for example, squatter settlements were built next to deadly industrial sites. In such cities as Rio de Janiero, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia; Guatemala City, Guatemala; and Caracas, Venezuela, they are perched on landslide-prone hills.
Where are squatter settlements?
Squatter settlements, widespread in urban Africa, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia, are a characteristic feature of contemporary urbanization.
Why are squatter settlements formed?
Squatter settlements are most often formed by rises in the numbers of homeless people. The homeless people then seek shelter off the street in abandoned buildings. Some of the buildings may still have power and water, which causes the homeless to flock to the "free" resources.
What are three characteristics of a squatter settlement?
Characteristics of squatter settlementshouses built from dried mud as the walls and corrugated iron for the roof.no toilets.no electricity between phone lines.no running water, sewage or electricity in homes.no paved roads or sewers.little space between houses.no infrastructure.extremely high density's.More items...•
What are the effects of squatter settlements?
In terms of environmental challenges in the squatter settlements and slums, air and water pollution, lack of personal hygiene and poor environmental sanitation, and health, noise, and cultural pollution are among the most visible ones. Sprawling, litter, and polluted waterways are most prevalent in most urban slums.
What is the 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.
When did squatter settlements start?
Under the California Land Act of 1851, squatters made 813 claims as the population in California increased from 15,000 in 1848 to 265,000 in 1852. The Squatters' riot of 1850 was a conflict between squatters and the government of Sacramento, California.
What does it mean to be called a squatter?
a : one that settles on property without right or title or payment of rent. b : one that settles on public land under government regulation with the purpose of acquiring title.
What are slums and squatter settlements?
It means slums are areas where people with land ownership live in poor environmental and socioeconomic conditions and are different from squatter settlements, which are the settlements where people build houses without any legal title to land (UN-Habitat 2003).
Are squatter settlements illegal?
In the United States, squatting is illegal and squatters can be evicted for trespassing.
What are the characteristics of squatter settlements?
Characteristics of squatter settlementshouses built from dried mud as the walls and corrugated iron for the roof.no toilets.no electricity between phone lines.no running water, sewage or electricity in homes.no paved roads or sewers.little space between houses.no infrastructure.extremely high density's.More items...•
What is a squatter settlement?
Definition of a Squatter Settlement: A squatter settlement therefore, can be defined as a residential area which has developed without legal claims to the land and/or permission from the concerned authorities to build; as a result of their illegal or semi-legal status, infrastructure and services are usually inadequate .
What are the characteristics of a squatter settlement?
Legal Characteristics: The key characteristic that delineates a squatter settlement is its lack of ownership of the land parcel on which they have built their house. These could be vacant government or public land, or marginal land parcels like railway setbacks or "undesirable" marshy land.
Why are squatters in cities?
There is no universal "quick-fix" solution that can solve all the problems of squatting in all parts of the developing world. Considering the inevitability of squatting, the need is primarily for a change in attitude towards squatting, squatters and squatter settlements. One such approach that has been receiving considerable attention from various government and public authorities has been the "enabling" approach, where instead of taking a confrontationist attitude, governments have strived to create an enabling environment, under which people, using and generating their own resources, could find unique local solutions for their housing and shelter problems.
What is settlement upgradation?
Settlement upgradation has been an option where a compromise has been reached by the land owner and on a sharing basis, the squatter has been allowed to continue on the land parcel, but with a significant upgradation of the settlement's infrastructure and services , including, in some cases, land leases or ownerships.
What is the purpose of squatting?
Abrams (1964) illustrates the process of squatting as a "conquest" of city areas for the purpose of shelter , defined both by the law of force and the force of law. Turner (1969) takes a positive outlook and portrays squatter settlements as highly successful solutions to housing problems in urban areas of developing countries. Payne (1977) similarly puts the development of squatter settlements in the overall perspective of urban growth in the third world and its inevitability. A vast number of case studies at the Habitat Conference at Vancouver in 1976 highlighted the conditions in squatter settlements, calling for a concerted and committed approach towards solving the problems.
What is a core group squatter?
The core group squatters are a small number of families who, almost overnight, occupy a piece of land and build a rudimentary and temporary shelter. Later, depending on the degree of threat of eviction, this may be upgraded to a permanent and more families may join this group.
Why do people squat?
The key question to be asked here is why do people squat? There are two reasons for this: one is internal to the squatter, and the other is external. Internal reasons include, lack of collateral assets; lack of savings and other financial assets; daily wage/low-income jobs ( which in many cases are semi-permanent or temporary). External reasons include, high cost of land and other housing services; apathy and anti-pathy on the part of the government to assist them; high "acceptable" building standards and rules and regulations; loopsided planning and zoning legislation.
What is a squatter settlement?
Squatter settlements are any collection of buildings where the people have no legal rights to the land they are built upon. The people are living there illegally and do not own the land. They provide housing for many of the world’s poorest people and offer basic shelter.
What are the problems of living in a squatter settlement?
Population density is very high in squatter settlements in Lagos. This is because of the lack of available land to build on. The area known to outsiders as Makoko is actually six distinct “villages” spread across land and water: Oko Agbon, Adogbo, Migbewhe, Yanshiwhe, Sogunro and Apollo. The first four are the floating communities, known as “Makoko on water”; the rest are based on land. In these floating communities, homes are built on stilts on the edge of the Lagos Lagoon. It is estimated that a quarter of a million people live in Makoko.
How many squatter settlements are there in Lagos?
There are 13 squatter settlements in Lagos, These are: The map below shows the location of a number of squatter settlements in Lagos. Squatter settlements are found all over Lagos. They are typically found in areas where more wealthy people do not want to live. This includes marshland and land close to industry.
Where are squatters located?
Squatter settlements are not only found in Lagos. They are located in all cities in low-income countries and newly emerging countries all around the world . They can also be called informal settlements, shantytowns, favelas, barrios or slums.
Where are floating communities built?
In these floating communities, homes are built on stilts on the edge of the Lagos Lagoon. It is estimated that a quarter of a million people live in Makoko. The homes are built from materials such as wood and metal sheets. They do not have basic facilities or sanitation.
Squatter Settlements in Developed Countries
- Even though squatter settlements are not common in developed states, there are numerous European cities with shanty towns. The high number of immigrants has resulted in the growth of shanty towns in the cities situated on the entry points of the EU like Patras and Athens. Canada …
Squatter Settlements in Developing Nations
- The largest Asian slum is Orangi in Pakistan. Orangi became quite famous during the 1980s when the locals initiated the Orangi-Pilot Project after being frustrated by lack of development from the government. Slums are known as ‘’bidonvilles’’ in francophone nations like Haiti and Tunisia. Some of the biggest slums in the world are located in Kenya (Mathare and Kibera), South Africa…
Disadvantages of Squatter Settlement
- Fire is one of the main dangers in these settlements not only because of no fire station, but the lack of a formal street grid makes it hard for the fire trucks to access the squatter settlements. They are fire hazards primarily due to the flammable materials used to build some of these homes and the high density of buildings. These settlements have high rates of diseases, drug use, suici…
Characteristics of A Squatter Settlement
- Due to its illegal status, squatter settlements lack an adequate supply of various infrastructures. These settlements have poor drainage and roads, sanitation, water supply, market places, and health centers among others. Even though these resources are in some settlements, they are poorly maintained, disorganized, and unreliable. They also lack va...
Squatter Settlements in Developed Countries
- Even though squatter settlements are not common in developed states, there are numerous European cities with shanty towns. The high number of immigrants has resulted in the growth of shanty towns in the cities situated on the entry points of the EU like Patras and Athens. Canada Real, a low-class settlement in Madrid, is considered to be the largest slum in Europe. Squatter …
Squatter Settlements in Developing Nations
- The largest Asian slum is Orangi in Pakistan. Orangi became quite famous during the 1980s when the locals initiated the Orangi-Pilot Project after being frustrated by lack of development from the government. Slums are known as ‘’bidonvilles’’ in francophone nations like Haiti and Tunisia. Some of the biggest slums in the world are located in Kenya (Mathare and Kibera), South Africa…
Disadvantages of Squatter Settlement
- Fire is one of the main dangers in these settlements not only because of no fire station, but the lack of a formal street grid makes it hard for the fire trucks to access the squatter settlements. They are fire hazards primarily due to the flammable materials used to build some of these homes and the high density of buildings. These settlements have high rates of diseases, drug use, suici…