Squatter settlement or slum upgrading is a process through which informal areas are gradually improved, formalized, and incorporated into the city itself, through extension of land and services to the dwellers. It provides squatter dwellers with the social, economic, institutional, and community services in the cities.
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 the main cause of squatting?
Economics are the biggest cause, but some squatters are anarchists who see squatting as a form of protesting. Squatter settlements are most often formed by rises in the numbers of homeless people.
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.
Why do homeless people live in squatter settlements?
Some of the buildings may still have power and water, which causes the homeless to flock to the "free" resources. Additionally, squatters congregate in settlements to protect each other from those who prey on the homeless. Criminals will target homeless because they only carry cash and are reluctant to contact the police.
What is a squatter settlement APHG?
Squatter. Settlement. 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.
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.
Why do squatter settlements exist in poorly developed nations?
Why do squatter settlements exist in poorly developed nations? Possible Answers: New migrants prefer to live in squatter settlements with other new migrants. The government sets aside areas for new migrants to live.
What are the causes of squatter settlements AP Human Geography?
What are the causes of squatter settlement? Population increase and migration from rural areas for jobs; housing shortage for large number of urban immigrants. Area in a city in an LDC where people illegally establish residences on land they don't own or rent.
Where are squatter settlements?
Squatter settlements, widespread in urban Africa, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia, are a characteristic feature of contemporary urbanization.
What is squatter settlement PDF?
A squatter settlement: 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.
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.
How squatter settlements can be improved?
Squatter settlements can be improved through urban planning . The plan to improve Dharavi is called Vision Mumbai. This involves replacing squatter settlement housing with high-quality high-rise tower blocks of flats.
Why are squatter settlements growing?
The growing number of slum dwellers is the result of both urbanization and population growth that are outpacing the construction of new affordable homes. Adequate housing is a human right, and the absence of it negatively affects urban equity and inclusion, health and safety, and livelihood opportunities.
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 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...•
Which of the following factors best explains the development and expansion of squatter settlements?
Which of the following factors best explains the development and expansion of squatter settlements? Gentrification of megacities in more developed countries displacing large numbers of urban dwellers.
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...•
Why are squatters important?
Squatter settlements or informal settlements have been a very important part of many cities in the Global South. Shifting government and international agency attitudes toward them since the 1960s have reflected a growing recognition of the capacity of the urban poor to adapt and sometimes to thrive in very difficult circumstances. As the world’s urban population grows , there will be increasing pressure on both land and housing. The shift toward market mechanisms for both land and housing delivery has been beneficial in some cases, but without forms of support and protection, millions of poor households will be excluded and left to fend for themselves in the diminishing number of available spaces in the world’s cities.
What are informal settlements?
Informal settlements, as prevalent neighbourhood types in rapidly transforming cities, possess high-density and heterogeneous morphological patterns. They provide affordable housing and employment opportunities for low-income populations while also supporting cities' operation and development.
What percentage of the population lives in informal settlements in Ahmedabad?
In Ahmedabad, about 40% of the population resides in informal settlements. A substantial number of the urban poor reside in these locations. The two dominant types of informal settlements are slums that have developed out of the illegal occupation of the marginal areas of the city by migrants and squatters, and chawls, which are residential units originally built for workers in the mills and factories. Most slum dwellers tend to settle along the waterways in the city, like Sabarmati River, on vacant land or in low-lying areas ( Bhatt, 2003 ).
What are the challenges of WSUD?
The (re)development and upgrading of informal settlement areas in a water-sensitive manner pose several challenges, such as limited budgets, increasing population, and a National Housing Policy advocating for only basic water supply and sanitation services for these areas. WSUD should no longer be the domain of the upper socioeconomic class as it is equally important to the poor communities in need of quantity and quality water. WSUD not only entails far more than retrofit of urban systems to be more water sensitive but also includes a social dimension to environmentally educate communities. As such, informal settlement development should attempt to “leapfrog” the stages through which the formal settlement areas have developed, thereby avoiding the need to retrofit these areas at some time in the future. Using water-sensitive technologies should also result in a range of secondary benefits for these communities, helping to address some of the misperceptions of authorities regarding the social advantages of WSUD. WSUD approaches should form part of national priorities, recognizing that advocating WSUD principles in policies will be confronted by challenges of density, scale of demand, and political sensitivities concerning the perceived quality of the engineering options it represents. The focus of providing WSUD in South Africa should be framed as a social component and justified in terms of equity and provision of services to all people ( Fisher-Jeffes et al., 2012 ).
What is the clash of rationalities in dealing with informal settlements in the global South?
Our study illustrates a clash of rationalities in dealing with informal settlements in the global South: the neoliberal visioning of a modern, globally competitive, and orderly city, and the right of city authorities and the private sector to “upgrade” the city and the rights of ordinary citizens for access to services, housing, space, and a decent life. Both positions offer promises of a better future but cannot guarantee that experience will be improved for all, particularly the poor. Neither approach provides much clarity about the social and spatial outcomes and the effects of (re)making place on broader political, economic, and social processes of the city.
What are the tenure problems in informal unplanned settlements and shacks?
More important, the tenure problems in informal unplanned settlements and shacks play a direct role in purchasing electrical appliances or other expensive investments in efficiency. Migrant workers continue to play a large role in many countries' urban communities.
How does remote sensing help in slums?
The application of remote sensing technique provides ways to map slums/informal settlements through using satellite imagery ( Kohli et al., 2012) ( Fig. 8 ). Remote sensing technology provides spatially rich data with high spatiotemporal consistency for monitoring the slum/informal settlements and effective intervention by local authorities. A substantial literature has emerged that covers topics related to application of remote sensing and image processing for characterizing informal settlements and estimates population distribution patterns ( Aminipouri et al., 2009; Kohli et al., 2012; Owen and Wong, 2013; Sietchiping, 2004 ), assessing the socioeconomic status by area ( Niebergall et al., 2007) and object-oriented classification of informal settlements within urban area ( Niebergall et al., 2008) and extraction of informal enclaves within the concentration of large settlements ( Hofmann et al., 2008; Mayunga et al., 2010 ). Informal settlement classification takes advantage of object-based image analysis (OBIA) methods for examining dwelling patterns and to estimate based on shape, size, and spacing ( Blaschke and Lang, 2006; Hay and Castilla, 2006; Hurskainen and Pellikka, 2004 ). Indicators to measure informal settlements encompass vegetation, road type, materials, accessibility, terrain geomorphology, texture, spacing of housing structures, proximity to hazards, consistency of housing orientation, proximity to city center and social services, dwelling size, dwelling set back, building density, and roofing materials ( Kohli et al., 2012 ). Research by Angeles et al., 2009, used VHR satellite imagery to extract concentration of urban poverty. Jain, 2007, demonstrated that remote sensing application could explain the patterns of informal development over time.
What are squatter settlements?
Squatter settlements, widespread in urban Africa, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia, are a characteristic feature of contemporary urbanization. Also known as shantytowns, slums, favelas in Brazil, and bustees in South Asia, they involve the extralegal occupation and settlement of public or private land, often by migrants from rural areas. Unplanned and typically located on peripheral or marginal land, squatter settlements have poor infrastructure and inadequate public services, including water, health, and sanitation. Houses tend to be auto-constructed and built incrementally. Residents of squatter settlements generally lack legally recognized rights to the land they occupy, and may lead precarious lives. The majority work in the informal economy, in insecure, low-wage jobs or are self-employed. State policies in many countries, seeking to curb a migrant influx to big cities, criminalize land encroachment but fail to address the housing needs of the urban poor. Squatter settlements may be demolished in slum clearance programs. Nonetheless, many such settlements endure and grow, over time acquiring public services and rights. Well-known slums like Mumbai’s Dharavi, Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, and Nairobi’s Kibera are populous, established, and diverse cities within cities. They are both celebrated and deplored in popular and academic accounts, as symbols of human resilience and entrepreneurship, or products of uneven development and global and national inequities. Early literature on squatter settlements located their growth in the distorted urbanization of what was known as the Third World, divorced from industrial modernization. Squatters were considered economically marginal, akin to peasants rather than “modern” urban citizens. Ethnographic and empirical research complicated these perspectives, providing insight into the lived experience and social, economic, and political organization of squatter settlements. Slums began to be viewed as solutions to challenges of housing, livelihoods, and economic growth. “Self-build” housing was celebrated, as was small-scale entrepreneurship. In-situ improvement and tenure legalization became preferred policy approaches. Later, critical urban theorists rejected notions of “underdevelopment” and development and argued that informal processes such as squatting were integral to urbanization in the Global South. As the world urbanizes, with population growth concentrated in developing world cities, slums have reemerged as sites for social-scientific inquiry. Debates about their relationship to growth and development, their viability as communities and living environments, and about policy approaches and outcomes continue to animate the literature. These debates reflect the fact that squatter settlements across the world, and even within cities, are heterogeneous and dynamic, within varied histories and trajectories.
What is squatters considered?
Squatters were considered economically marginal, akin to peasants rather than “modern” urban citizens. Ethnographic and empirical research complicated these perspectives, providing insight into the lived experience and social, economic, and political organization of squatter settlements.
What did Mangin argue about the Latin American squatter settlements?
Mangin 1967 challenges these perspectives arguing that Latin American squatter settlements were unique sociopolitical formations that contribute to urbanization and development. Gilbert and Crankshaw 1999 suggests that Latin American urbanization offers lessons for South Africa.
What did Roberts 1978 and Gilbert and Gugler 1982 explain?
Roberts 1978 and Gilbert and Gugler 1982 explain squatter settlements as an outgrowth of “dependent” patterns of development in peripheral regions. Unequally incorporated into the world capitalist system, their cities were extractive rather than industrial centers.
What is the Third World Urbanization?
Wide-ranging account of Third World urbanization in the context of a “world” system of uneven capitalist development, with a wealthy First World core and “dependent” peripheries. Squatter settlements emerge in this context, in countries where industrial growth is retarded, and jobs limited. Chapters discuss regional disparities, rural-urban migration, labor markets and informal employment, squatting as a popular housing strategy, planning, and policy solutions.
What were informal workers and squatters?
Unlike the industrial working class in Western cities, squatters and informal workers were assumed to be economically and politically marginal. Their settlements, unsanctioned, self-developed, and makeshift, were distinct from industrial-era slums and poor urban neighborhoods in Western cities.
What are the problems of squatters?
Unplanned and typically located on peripheral or marginal land, squatter settlements have poor infrastructure and inadequate public services, including water, health, and sanitation. Houses tend to be auto-constructed and built incrementally.
How are squatter settlements formed?
1 Economics. 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.
Why do squatters congregate in settlements?
Additionally, squatters congregate in settlements to protect each other from those who prey on the homeless. Criminals will target homeless because they only carry cash and are reluctant to contact the police. Additionally, many homeless are also weak from poor diets and disease, so they are easier targets for criminals.
What is a squatter?
Squatters are homeless people who illegally occupy buildings to use as permanent shelter. Squatter settlements are formed when large numbers of squatters occupy a building or group of buildings. These settlements occur around the world for a variety of reasons.
Why do artists squat in abandoned factories?
Some artists will squat in abandoned factories for the working room the buildings provide . Some real estate developers will actually encourage the formation of these artist squatters to gentrify an area and attract young urban professionals. When the real estate then becomes more valuable, the artists are forcibly evicted and trendy lofts are installed. Most artist colonies are in Europe where they are semi-tolerated in some municipalities. East Berlin became noted for its artist colonies after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Where do anarchist squatters live?
It is notable that anarchistic squatter settlements only occur in Europe, where anarchism is taken semi-seriously as a political ideology.
Why do untouchables squat?
The untouchables will squat in abandoned buildings for shelter and to protect themselves from attacks. Often the squatter settlements are located near trash dumps, where the untouchables can make money by sifting through the trash for recyclables.
What are the causes of squatter settlements?
If not evacuated, squatters use these properties as their permanent shelter. Technically, squatters are trespassers and trespassing is a civil matter and not criminal. Hence, squatting is a breach of civil law but not illegal. Squatting is relatively a modern problem due to various factors that contribute to lack of housing facilities, such as apathy of the ruling government, population boom, lack of land, lack of jobs and others. So what prompts people to occupy a property that is not their own? Following are the causes of squatter settlements: • The chief reason for squatter settlements occurs due to economic reasons . The homeless are naturally inclined to search for shelter and they do so in abandoned properties, even if the property is in a dire state, unsuitable for occupation. • People squat in properties to evade criminal acts performed on homeless people such as theft. Thieves target homeless people on the streets as their only possession is money and if victimized, they are less likely to contact the police as the authorities won’t heed their problems. • At times, squatters are people who have relocated from rural areas to the urban areas in search for better economic opportunities. • High cost of living and lack of proper housing force them to squat. They either relocate to the peripheries of the cities where quality of
What are the factors that lead to squatters?
Feb. 26, 2020. Factors like ambivalence of the ruling government, population explosion, dearth of housing and land has lead to squatter settlements. The reasons for these settlements are manifold.
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…