Prone to natural and man-made hazards: As in slums, houses are crammed in a little space, they are often prone to dangerous hazards like floods, water logging, fire etc. Extent of hazard is increased because of high population density. Poor living conditions: Slums are not planned hence they lack basic amenities.
The World's Largest Slums:
- Khayelitsha in Cape Town (South Africa): 400,000.
- Kibera in Nairobi (Kenya): 700,000.
- Dharavi in Mumbai (India): 1,000,000.
- Neza (Mexico): 1,200,000.
- Orangi Town in Karachi (Pakistan): 2,400,000.
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.
Answer: A slum is a part of a city or a town where many poor people live. It consists of small huts of people made either of metal roofs or concrete slabs. It is a place where people may not have basic needs.
1 in 7 people on the planet currently lives in a slum. 1 in every 4 people will live in a slum by 2030, according to current estimates. 1 in 3 urban residents live in slums in developing countries. In some countries, as much as 90% of the urban population live in slums.
Population living in slums (% of urban population) - Country Ranking
| Rank | Country | Value |
|---|
| 1 | Central African Republic | 93.30 |
| 2 | Sudan | 91.60 |
| 3 | Chad | 88.20 |
| 4 | São Tomé and Principe | 86.60 |
Roy also proposed making a slum-free India as a policy objective by 2023. "It is obvious from the migrant labour problem, it is obvious from the COVID situation that a slum free India (by) 2023 should be our objective.
Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) envisages a “Slum Free India" with inclusive and equitable cities in which every citizen has access to basic civic and social services and decent shelter.
There are basic things a government can do to prevent new slums from developing. One is to recognise that urbanisation is going to happen. Sometimes governments believe that adopting alternative policies, such as focusing on rural development, will stop urbanisation. This approach is rarely effective.
Reducing the impact of poverty in Mumbai
- the aspects of building will make use of natural light and ventilation.
- solar panels on the roof will generate electricity.
- air source heat pumps will draw in natural heat in order to heat the tower.
- good street lighting and communal areas.
In the Mumbai slumsLiving conditions within the slums are overcrowded and lack basic facilities like water and sanitation. A lack of education facilities means that some children (more than 80 percent of under 18s) do not go to school - and can be forced into child labour.
Successful strategies:
- Slum upgrading.
- Organized urbanization – Planning & Modifying urban areas to accommodate newcomers.
- Legitimizing slums instead of driving them out of their homes.
- Improving job opportunities in rural as well as urban areas.
- Planning rural development along with urban development.
Problems Faced by the Slum Dwellers in India
- Lack of Basic Necessities.
- Overcrowding and High Density.
- Substandard Housing or Illegal and Inadequate Building Structures.
- Unhealthy Living Conditions and Hazardous Locations.
- Insecure Tenure, Irregular or Informal Settlements.
- Poverty and Social Exclusion.
5 ways to make Mumbai more environment friendly
- Micro wind turbines.
- Designated cycle lanes.
- Pneumatic Garbage Collection.
- Supertrees.
- Green Roofs.
In India, the causes of urban poverty can be linked to the lack of infrastructure in rural areas, forcing inhabitants of these regions to seek out work in India's mega-cities. However, as more and more people make this migration, the space left to accommodate them becomes less and less.
| Dharavi |
|---|
| Country | India |
| State | Maharashtra |
| District | Mumbai City |
| City | Mumbai |
Slum dwellers face major disparity gaps, 24 percentage points on average, across a myriad of living condition indicators. While formal rental contracts are rare, slum tenants do pay a rent premium of about 18% on average if they have one.
According to the 2011 census, the population of Mumbai was 12,478,447. In 2016, an estimated 55 percent of Mumbai's population lived in slums. A slum is an area of dense population typically characterized by poverty, deteriorated housing and buildings and poor living conditions.
Slum Population - Census 2011
| # | State | Slums |
|---|
| - | India | 5.41% |
| 1 | Maharashtra | 10.54% |
| 2 | Andhra Pradesh | 12.04% |
| 3 | Tamil Nadu | 8.04% |
Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2005. It is the largest slum in Africa and the third largest in the world.
Thus, there are two types of slums: Notified slums and non-notified slums. Notified slum dwellers can usually afford to invest in education and skill training, while residents in non-notified slums are mostly unconnected to basic services and formal livelihood opportunities [34] .
The plan to improve Dharavi is called Vision Mumbai. This involves replacing squatter settlement housing with high quality high-rise tower blocks of flats. The Indian government also wants to add basic services, more schools, health centres, shops, better roads and more jobs.
Total number of properties listed in Dharavi are 29. The price of properties in Dharavi starts from around ₹ 15.00 lacs. The average price of properties in Dharavi is ₹ 65.50 lacs while the average price of properties in Mumbai is ₹ 1.49 crore. The most expensive property listed in Dharavi is priced at ₹ 90.00 lacs.
I would NOT, however recommend going to Dharavi by yourself or with other operators. Dharavi is much better off than some other slums, so those living there are not those who are in desperate need or extremely poor, making them less vulnerable.
Alternatively, slums can be viewed as partial solutions to a bigger problem. They represent a survival strategy in the face of insufficient affordable housing and lack of tenure security, often blending production and distribution spaces along with living quarters.
Half a century after President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty, the number of Americans living in slums is rising at an extraordinary pace. That's the highest number of Americans living in high-poverty neighborhoods ever recorded.
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. Children with bloated bellies or famished skeletons, many suffering from polio, are common sight.
The houses are commonly made of tin or concrete, so residents can find them too hot in summer, freezing in winter, and open to the rain during monsoon season.
TABLE 2
| Characteristic | Census |
|---|
| Density | A compact area of at least 300 population or about 60–70 households |
| House | Poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure |
| Water | Lacking proper drinking water facilities |
| Sanitation | Lacking in proper sanitary facilities |
Slum-dwellers make up a large number of the service sector in urban areas. A lot of natural produce and local production of goods and services are provided in the slums, and these in turn affect the economy. An example of this is increasing medical and education facilities in slums and improving infrastructure.
Four problems faced by the residents of slums are as follows: Slums are the least choice residential areas that have broken down houses, bad hygienic conditions, poor ventilation and does not have basic facilities like drinking water, light and toilet, etc.
Today, the catchall term “slum†is loose and deprecatory. It has many connotations and meanings and is seldom used by the more sensitive, politically correct, and academically rigorous. A simple definition of a slum would be “a heavily populated urban area characterised by substandard housing and squalorâ€.
The main physical attributes of the slum areas are substandard, dingy houses of high density and congestion, overcrowding, insanitary conditions, absence of basic amenities like water supply, drainage and sewerage and disposal of garbage, etc.
