slums areas of urban

Slum of Urban areas

• A Slum is a part of city where the housing quality is low quality & living conditions are poor.
•  A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting mostly of closely packed, incomplete infrastructure, inhabited primarily by impoverished persons.
• Due to increasing urbanization of the general populace, slums became common in the 18th to late 20th centuries in the United States and Europe. Slums are still predominantly found in urban regions of developing countries, but are also still found in developed economies. 
• According to UN-Habitat, around 33% of the urban population in the developing world in 2012, or about 863 million people, lived in slums. 
• The proportion of urban population living in slums in 2012 was highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (62%), followed by Southern Asia (35%), Southeastern Asia (31%), Eastern Asia (28%), Western Asia (25%), Oceania (24%), Latin America and the Caribbean (24%), and North Africa (13%).
•  Among individual countries, the proportion of urban residents living in slum areas in 2009 was highest in the Central African Republic (95.9%).
• Between 1990 and 2010 the percentage of people living in slums dropped, even as the total urban population increased.
•  The world's largest slum city is found in the Neza-Chalco-Ixtapaluca area, located in the State of Mexico. 

Causes of Slum Form & Grow:

Slums form and grow in different parts of the world for many different reasons. Causes include:

              ^i.                  Rapid Rural-Urban Migration: Rural–urban migration is one of the causes attributed to the formation and expansion of slums. Many people move to urban areas primarily because cities promise more jobs, better schools for poor's children, and diverse income opportunities than subsistence farming in rural areas. However, some rural migrants may not find jobs immediately because of their lack of skills and the increasingly competitive job markets, which leads to their financial shortage. Many cities, on the other hand, do not provide enough low-cost housing for a large number of rural-urban migrant workers. Some rural–urban migrant workerscannot afford housing in cities and eventually settle down in only affordable slums. Further, rural migrants, mainly lured by higher incomes, continue to flood into cities. They thus expand the existing urban slums.

     ii.         Urbanization: urbanization creates slums because local governments are unable to manage urbanization, and migrant workers without an affordable place to live in, dwell in slums.

   iii.         Poor House Planning: Lack of affordable low cost housing and poor planning encourages the supply side of slums

   iv.         Poor Infrastructure, Social Exclusive & Economic Growth: 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.

     v.         Informal Economy: Many slums grow because of growing informal economy which creates demand for workers.

   vi.         Poverty: Urban poverty encourages the formation and demand for slums. With rapid shift from rural to urban life, poverty migrates to urban areas. He or she typically has no access to shelter, basic urban services and social amenities. Slums are often the only option for the urban poor.

  vii.         Politics: Many local and national governments have, for political interests, subverted efforts to remove, reduce or upgrade slums into better housing options for the poor.

viii.         Social Conflicts: Millions of Lebanese people formed slums during the civil war from 1975 to 1990. Similarly, in recent years, numerous slums have sprung around Kabul to accommodate rural Afghans escaping Taliban violence.

   ix.         Natural Disaster: Major natural disasters in poor nations often lead to migration of disaster-affected families from areas crippled by the disaster to unaffected areas, the creation of temporary tent city and slums, or expansion of existing slums. These slums tend to become permanent because the residents do not want to leave, as in the case of slums near Port-au-Prince after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and slums near Dhaka after 2007 Bangladesh Cyclone Sidr.

Characteristics:

The following criteria characteristics an area as slum – 

      i.         All areas notified “Slum” by State Government under any act.

     ii.         All areas recognized as slum by State Government which have not been formally notified as slum under any act.

   iii.         A compact area of allow 300 population or about 60-70 households of poorly built congisted tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure & lacking in proper sanitary & drinking water facilities.

Data:

Proportion of slum population in different state & cities in India – 

Sl. No.	Name of the State	Proportion of Slum (%)
1.	Andhra Pradesh & Telangana	35.2
2.	Chattisgarh	31.9
3.	Madhya Pradesh	28.3
4.	Maharashtra	22.7
5.	Sikkim	24
6.	Kolkata	12.4

Source: Census of India, 2011

 

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