How can squatter settlements be reduced

Accessed 9 May Cockburn JC Lessons from the ground up: approaches to squatter settlements. Working paper. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Accessed 28 Aug Davis M Planet of slums. Taurus, London Google Scholar.

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Earthscan, London Google Scholar. Hermanson JA Achieving inclusiveness: the challenge and potential of informal settlements. Habitat III. The successful interventions, in some way, worked to reduce exclusion and enhance capabilities or resources. The DSK, UPHC, and Shakti Foundation projects have shown that people who live in slum settlements are willing and able to organize and pay for services if the opportunity is given. Clearly, projects that take advantage of local social, political and cultural capabilities are more likely to be sustainable and develop networks that reduce exclusion 5.

The Coalition for the Urban Poor is an association of organizations working to improve the situation of people living in the slum settlements. It has 44 member organizations, and these organizations help people organize in small groups samitees to engage in collective activities e. The total numbers of samitees , formed by different NGOs, and their members are not known.

Funding for these organizations comes as grants from overseas donor agencies. Many organizations also now earn a significant part of their operational costs from fees for services they offer Its impact remains to be seen. This committee is expected to recommend a more balanced pattern of urban development and better governance of individual cities. More specific recommendations from donors, NGOs, and the Government include an explicit policy on reduction of urban poverty and mandating prioritization of delivering services to slum settlements in Dhaka and other cities in the country Other suggestions include strengthening of local municipalities as currently many basic services are run by central ministries which are unable to respond to needs at the local level and improving the accountability of agencies for delivering quality services, enforcing law and order through a regulatory framework, ensuring coordination between service providers NGOs, donors, international organizations, government by holding workshops of stakeholders, and building capacity 4.

The National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction gives little attention to urban issues itself but envisions a national policy on urban development. The National Housing Policy is not being implemented.

There needs to be a recognition that the slum people contribute positively to the economic dynamism of cities, and if enabled, communities themselves will be able to develop solutions to address their needs. To improve the lives of slum people and meet overall MDGs require community empowerment, good local governance, dialogue among all stakeholders 2 , and most critical strong political commitment from the state.

In supporting the MDGs, governments globally have recognized the importance of addressing the rights of people who live in slum settlements.

However, in Bangladesh and in many countries around the world, while the people who live in slum settlements are an integral part of the city, their right to live safely in the city is not recognized or protected.

The lack of a comprehensive policy on urbanization and urban poor has resulted in social and structural inequalities, resulting in poor living and environmental conditions in slum settlements, weak access to basic services, and vulnerability to extortion and exploitation. Lack of job and residential security, together with the lack of a comprehensive state policy to address their needs, leaves slum people bearing the brunt of structural and social inequalities on their lives, bodies, and health.

The absence of clear and forward-looking policies on urbanization and urban slum settlements discourages interventions to improve the long-term prospects of slum people—not only for the slum people who may want to upgrade their settlements, i. Eviction and the threat of eviction have a many-layered effect on people who live in slum settlements. The Phulbari slum settlement case studies highlight the severing of social and economic networks but there are also severe psychological effects, all of which reinforce poverty and social exclusion and its impact on the lives of the urban poor.

Dhaka is the world's fastest-growing megacity, and Bangladesh is predicted to be a megalopolis in 3—4 decades. In time, this rapid increase in the density of population will be exacerbated by global warming. A sea-level rise of 1. This future scenario emphasizes the urgency of developing strategies now to facilitate the management of the extreme density of population that is predicted to characterize Bangladesh in 50— years. The views presented in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy, or views of WHO or Commissioners.

The author thanks Dr. Heidi Johnston for her valuable inputs which greatly improved the paper. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U.

J Health Popul Nutr. Sabina Faiz Rashid. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. James P. Corresponding author. Correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed to: Dr.

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract The health and rights of populations living in informal or slum settlements are key development issues of the twenty-first century. Table 1. City No. Open in a separate window. RESULTS Policies and policy constraints on urban slum settlements The lack of an appropriate country-wide policy dealing specifically with the urban poor was cited by non-governmental organizations NGOs , donor agencies, and even some government officials as the major constraint to working in urban slum settlements.

Land tenure and national housing policy Land tenure is a growing problem in large cities in Bangladesh. Action for safe and affordable housing There have been some attempts to rehabilitate the poor and to build housing for them but many of these remain problematic and lack political will from the Government and other parties. Case Study 1.

NGO programmes targeted to single poor females in urban areas 4 , Lack of permanence: barriers to service-delivery Insecurity of land tenure and the threat of eviction lead to major barriers to effective service-delivery for the Government, implementing NGOs, and donors.

Case Study 2. Slum settlement eviction in Agargaon Excluded from basic rights by virtue of residence The Article 15 of the Bangladesh Constitution of talks about the fundamental responsibility of the state to provide basic necessities which include the provision of food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care.

Box 1. Observations on sanitation in a slum settlement in Dhaka city 9. Action for safe affordable water There have been attempts to ensure access to safe water for slum settlements. Case Study 3. Action for accessible healthcare services Only 7. Case Study 4. The only clinic inside Phulbari slum settlement 9.

Case Study 5. Contracting for health services in slum settlements: public-private partnerships The right and responsibility to work: jobs for people who live in slum settlements The urban poor are mostly engaged in low-paid, labour-intensive work in the informal sector as they lack specific skills necessary to gain entry into the more competitive formal sectors of urban employment.

Box 2. Living in slum settlements: shame, stigma, and spatial exclusion 9. Case Study 6. Eviction and its human impact on the lives of Phulbari residents 9. Conclusion In supporting the MDGs, governments globally have recognized the importance of addressing the rights of people who live in slum settlements. Moreno EL. Warah R. UN Chronicle online edition. Barrett A. Dunn K. Reaching the MDGs in urban Bangladesh.

Session 5: Challenges facing the urban poor, Dhaka. Centre for Urban Studies. Editor: N. Islam Dhaka: Centre for Urban Studies; The urban poor in Bangladesh; p. World Bank.

Bangladesh, Dhaka: improving living conditions for the urban poor; p. World Bank report no. Islam N. In: Brian R, Kanaley T, editors. Urbanization and sustainability in Asia. Manila: Asian Development Bank; Bangladesh; pp.

Mahbub AQM. Nazem NI. Lance P. Angeles G. Dhaka: Centre for Urban Studies; Slums of urban Bangladesh: mapping and census ; p. Thorbek S. London: Zed Books Ltd. Gender and slum culture in urban Asia; p. Rita A. Dhaka: University Press Limited; Rural-urban migration in Bangladesh: causes, consequences and challenges; p. Rashid SF. Canberra: Australian National University; Worried lives: reproductive health needs of married adolescent women living in urban slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh; p.

Doctoral dissertation. Baer HA. Singer M. Susser I. Opportunities to Engage. For Faculty: Join our listserv Attend a global health dialogue or special event Join a project team For Students: Join our listserv Attend a global health dialogue or special event Enroll in a global health course at UB.

Issue 2. Issue 2: Strategies for Improving Informal Settlements. Plan and perspectival sketch of urban informal commerce. Planners and architects should adopt an ethnographic approach to their work. Start with the granular elements of an informal settlement before attempting its overall redesign. One should also learn place and space names in the local vernacular, and translate these terms to understand the values, needs, and practices associated with public and private spaces.

See how the social order is scaled up to form larger and larger spatial patterns. Look for the underlying order, logic, and creativity in informal settlements. Attend to diversity of use and activity.

When assessing what needs to be improved in an informal settlement, assume that there is wisdom—rather than happenstance and chaos—to its form.

Demographics matter. Improvements to both informal and formal settlements should anticipate the specific needs of its residents. For example, in Kigali, some Slum dwellers have lots of issues to deal with;. Buildings have been known to collapse or catch fire. However, squatter settlements often have a strong sense of community and offer rural migrants a foothold in a city.

They can be the springboard to success and a chance to escape rural poverty, despite all of the associated problems. There are solutions including:. Do it yourself! Many slum dwellers slowly improve the stability, durability and quality of their homes by buying better quality materials and doing the work themselves. This has been the case in Rochinia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Whole sale clearance and redevelopment of squatter areas is a more drastic approach. This involves simply evicting the squatters and rebuilding on the site in a more formal and organised way.

This is proposed for Dharavi and is the approach we took in the UK for many of our old Industrial slum housing areas.