Muhammad Ali Awan

Assignment # 3

Q: Consider the reasons for the emergence of slums in the

developing world and what should be done about them.
The global human population is projected to grow from 6.9 billion in 2010 to 9.3
billion in 2050, an increase roughly equivalent to the combined populations of India
and China in 2010 and nearly the size of the whole world population as it was in
1950. However, population growth will differ deeply between different world
regions, the greatest growth being in the less developed regions of the world.
The continued movement of people from rural to urban areas (urbanization) means
that all the growth of the world population during the next few decades will take
place in urban areas.(CityAllience.org)
Globally about 330-500 million people in developing countries live in absolute
poverty representing about 40 per cent of all poor and 5 percent of the urban
population, but by 2025 the urbanization of poverty is expected to mean that one
half of the poor in Africa and two thirds in Latin America will be resident in urban
areas. (DFID,2000,p.3)
However, rapid urbanization, particularly the growth of large cities, and the
associated problems of unemployment, poverty, inadequate health, poor sanitation,
urban slums and environmental degradation pose a formidable challenge in many
developing countries. Available statistics show that more than half of the worlds 6.6
billion people live in urban areas, crowded into 3 percent of the earths land area
(Angotti, 1993; UNFPA, 1993).
One of the issue arises when we talk about urbanization is the formation of slums.
The word Slums is taken from a word Slime. Slums are an inherent feature of the
urban landscape in most of the Global World. They are an urban reality and
increasingly, are becoming a global symbol for urban poverty. A recent report by UN
Habitat indicates that there are currently over 800 million people living in slums
worldwide. In effect, this means that almost one out of every six people in the world
right now live in these temporary and socially embarrassing settlements defined
according to standards of overcrowding, unstable and inadequate housing
construction, minimal sanitation and access to clean water, and insecurity of tenure.
Most of them are engaged in eking out their daily lives, always below the poverty
line, by working as construction laborers, domestic helps and rag pickers. Though
their living conditions are utterly unhygienic, gloomy, dismal and dehumanized,
many of them still dream of improving the quality of their lives. The majority of slum
dwellers identify themselves with the city rather than with their native place and
plan to settle permanently in the city. In spite of poor conditions in slums, second
generation residents who are not regretful about their rural background, feel that
life in slum is reasonably tolerable and city life is probably better than rural life.
Slum Dwellers greatly value improving their working situation through getting a
better job, yet have low aspirations and have an optimistic view of their chances of
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improving their socio-economic status. Many of the younger generation, irrespective

of gender, income level and educational skill express their regard for education and
forecast upward social mobility for their children by educating their offspring as
much as possible.

Another stereo typical view comes from Oscar Lewis. In his book Culture of Poverty
says that by the time slum children are aged six or seven, they have usually
absorbed the basic values and attitudes of their subculture and are not
psychologically geared to take full advantage of changing conditions or increased
opportunities which may occur in their lifetime. However, Lewis regards the culture
of poverty as applicable to Third World countries, or countries in the early stages of
industrialization, and claims that it is not prevalent in advanced capitalist societies.
By looking at stereotypical view of Oscar Lewis we see the issue of inequality. It is
important to consider not only differences in people's income (i.e., income
inequality), but also differences in the goods and services they purchase with their
income, wealth, and money (i.e. consumption inequality). This issue of inequality
area focuses on class differences in the amount of consumption as well as class
differences in the type of consumption.
For example in Lima, Peru, 81 per cent of households have access to but only four
per cent appear to have access to treated water. Improved water is defined to
include at least 20 liters/person within one kilometer of the persons home, with no
reference to whether it is safe to drink, and improved sanitation can include shared
facilities, with no mention of cleanliness or cost. Adequate water means a regular
piped supply within the home or yard. Yet in the slums there is also a far lower
consumption of resources per capita than the city generally. In Mexico City, for
example, according to a planner elite households use four times more water per
person to wash their cars than do poor households for their entire domestic needs.
In the developing world, trends point toward an increasing informal sector of the
urban economy, as the formal sector fails to provide adequate employment
opportunities for the number of young people and adults seeking work. According
to the International Labour Organization, approximately 85 per cent of all new
employment opportunities around the world are created in the informal economy. In
some countries, employment in the urban informal sector has risen sharply over the
past decade. Lithuania, for example, experienced a 70 per cent increase in urban
informal employment as a percentage of total employment between 1997 and
2000. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean estimates
that urban informal employment in that region increased from 43 per cent in 1990
to 48.4 per cent in 1999. (The State of the Worlds Cities 2006-2007)
The informal economy gives youth opportunities to legitimate work by offering
experience and self-employment opportunities. But some trends are beginning to
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emerge. UN-HABITAT analyses that the majority of young people working in the
urban informal sector live in slum areas. For example, in Benin, slum dwellers
comprise 75 per cent of informal sector workers, while in Burkina Faso, the Central
African Republic, Chad and Ethiopia, they make up 90 per cent of the informal
labour force. (The State of the Worlds Cities 2006-2007)

As we see the figures mentioned above there is an optimistic view connected to

slums, because slums also have positive effects examples include Mumbai. Mumbai
has one of the largest slum populations in the world. It is often viewed as the
nation's most modern city, and is thus, a primary destination in the quest for better
jobs, higher incomes, western-influenced lifestyles, and above all, a gateway to the
land of opportunity America.
There is, however, another more positive side to the issue of Mumbais slums. With
the city thriving, surprisingly so are some of its slums. Dharavi is often referred to as
the largest slum in Asia. Millions of Mumbais residents not only live in Dharavi, but
work and own businesses in the bustling settlement. In fact, in recent report
claiming that the slum produces goods worth over two billion dollars each year,
greater than the GDP of most countries in the Global World some of the products
made in slums include; Hand embroidery on garments for export, leather products.
In Pune, a major satellite city of Mumbai, an entire slum and its people are
dedicated to sorting and processing recyclable material from garbage collected
across the city. The settlement, which has been involved in recycling for over a
decade, is a prime example of the type of innovation that has emerged from
informal settlements and their residents throughout India.
In order to help slums and its population a process of slum upgrading can be applied
to help them with better living standards, education and help in developing skills.
Slum upgrading is a process through which informal areas are gradually improved,
formalized and incorporated into the city itself, through extending land, services
and citizenship to slum dwellers. It involves providing slum dwellers with the
economic, social, institutional and community services available to other citizens.
These services include, land providing, physical infrastructure, education. Slum
upgrading is not simply about water or drainage or housing. These activities should
be started cooperatively among all parties involved residents, community groups,
businesses as well as local and national authorities if applicable. The activities tend
to include the provision of basic services such as housing, streets, footpaths,
drainage, clean water, sanitation, and sewage disposal. Often, access to education
and health care are also part of upgrading. Another way to help slums and its
population is by promoting and improving the rural areas so the people coming from
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rural areas can stay in rural areas and can be given the same opportunities even
though not same as city to find work and to better their life styles. The bottom line
is that with a growing economy, government commitment to slum upgrading, and
community dedication, the slum will gradually transform into a suburb.
Slums and their residents cannot be ignored. They cannot simply be demolished, as
so many public and private sector institutions have attempted to do. Slums are too
complex, there are too many lives at risk and too many interests involved. They
have become an important component of urban landscapes and urban livelihoods in
a Globalized world. They are spaces of complex political, economic, and social
processes, and in some cases even contribute to the economic and social
development of entire cities. They are, nonetheless, shocking spaces of deep-rooted
poverty, class and gender inequality, crime, and disease. Residents of informal
settlements around the world face daily barriers to the most basic human rights
shelter, water and food. Their lives are in a constant state of instability, for they are
essentially illegal, encroachers, and unwanted. They have little access to structures
of protection and few options for escape from their hardships.

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