Slums and their characteristics
The UN-Habitat defined slums as “a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the following:
- Permanent, long-term housing that protects against adverse climate conditions,
- Adequate habitual area for multiple people in the same house,
- Unchallenging and safe access to water
- Slum dwellers in India are characterised by acute over-crowding, unsanitary, unhealthy and dehumanising living conditions.
- They are subject to insecure land tenure, lack of access to basic minimum civic services such as safe drinking water, sanitation, storm drainage, solid waste management, internal and approach roads, street lighting, education and health care, and poor quality of shelter.
- The word “slum” is used to describe informal settlements within cities with inadequate housing and miserable living conditions.
- They are often overcrowded, with many people crammed into very small living spaces.
- A significant proportion of the slum dwellers also face social burdens and health problems worse than their non-slum and rural counterparts.
- Civic bodies do not provide municipal services in slums on the plea that these are located in ‘illegal’ spaces.
- Moreover, the problem’s scale is so colossal that it is beyond the means of Municipalities that lack a buoyant fiscal base.
- Slums are generally the only type of settlement affordable and accessible to the poor in cities, where competition for land and profits is intense.
- The main reason for slum proliferation is rapid and non-inclusive patterns of urbanisation catalysed by increasing rural migration to urban areas. Many of these habitations are located in environmentally fragile and dangerous zones prone to landslides, floods and other disasters that make the poor residents highly vulnerable.
- It must be taken into consideration that slums are a product of multiple and complicated psychological, economic and social factors; all of which contribute to behavioural traits exhibited by people.
- The slum dwellers are exploited and are forced to engage in “menial and less paid occupations” for basic survival which again displays the extent of its inhumanness.
Types of slums
The first type is the original slum and this consists of an area, which from the very beginning has unsuitable living conditions beyond recovery and are needed to be razed. An example of this would be the Wichita slum in Mexico
The second type consists of the departure of middle-class families from one area to another and the subsequent deterioration of the area. An example of this would be the South End slum in Boston.
The third type occurs when a main business district becomes blighted; social and physical deterioration follows rapidly. This type of slum results in accommodation for the destitute, homes of prostitution, beggars, homeless men, habitual criminals, chronic alcoholics etc. An example of this would be the Harlem slums in New York.
Slums in inda
Problems faced by Slum Dwellers
Lack of Basic Necessities
Lack of basic necessities is one of the most frequently mentioned characteristics of slum definitions worldwide. Lack of access to improved sanitation facilities and water sources is the most important feature, sometimes supplemented by the absence of waste collection systems, electricity supply, surfaced roads and footpaths, street lighting and rainwater drainage.
Overcrowding and High Density
Overcrowding has been associated with a low space per person living in an area, high occupancy rates, cohabitation by different families and a high number of single-room units. Mostly slum-dwelling units are overcrowded, with five to six more persons sharing a one-room unit used for cooking, sleeping and living.
Substandard Housing or Illegal and Inadequate Building Structures
Many cities have building standards that set minimum requirements for residential buildings. Slum areas have been associated with many substandard housing structures, often built with non-permanent materials unsuitable for housing given local conditions of climate and location.
Factors contributing to the structure being considered substandard are, for example, earthen floors, mud-and-wattle walls or straw roofs. Various space and dwelling placement bylaws may also be extensively violated.
Unhealthy Living Conditions and Hazardous Locations
Unhealthy living conditions result from a lack of basic services, with visible, open sewers, lack of pathways, uncontrolled dumping of waste, polluted environments, etc. their houses can be built on hazardous locations or land unsuitable for settlement, such as floodplains, in proximity to industrial plants with toxic emissions or waste disposal sites, and on the areas subject to a landslip. The settlement layout may be hazardous because of a lack of accessways and high densities of dilapidated structures.
Insecure Tenure, Irregular or Informal Settlements
A number of slums have considered lack of security of tenure as a central characteristic of slums and regard the lack of formal documents entitling the occupant to occupy the land or structure as prima facie evidence of illegality and slum occupation. Informal or unplanned settlements are often regarded as synonymous with slums. Mostly emphasise both informality of occupation and the non-compliance of settlements with land-use plans. The factors contributing to non-compliance are settlements built on land reserved for non-residential purposes or invasions of non-urban land.
Poverty and Social Exclusion
Income or capability poverty is considered, with some exceptions, as a central characteristic of slum areas. It is not seen as an inherent characteristic of slums but as a cause (and, to a large extent, a consequence) of slum conditions. Slum conditions are physical and statutory manifestations that create barriers to human and social development. Furthermore, slums are social exclusion areas that are often perceived to have high levels of crime and other social dislocation measures. In some definitions, such regions are associated with certain vulnerable groups of the population, such as recent immigrants, internally displaced persons or ethnic minorities.
Minimum Settlement Size
Many slums also require some minimum settlement size for an area to be considered a slum so that the slum constitutes a distinct precinct and is not a single dwelling. Examples are the municipal slum definition of Delhi which requires a minimum of 700 square meters to be occupied by huts, or the Indian census definition, which requires at least 300 population or 60 households living in a settlement cluster.
Recommendations for Improving Conditions of Slum Dwellers in India
- Developing Countries like India need to recognise that the slum dwellers and not just beneficiaries of development. Developing cities requires local solutions. Local authorities need to be empowered with financial and human resources to deliver services and infrastructure to the slum dwellers in India. Cities must draw up local long-term strategies for improving the lives of slum dwellers in India.
- State governments have to develop strategies to prevent the formation of new slums. These should include access to affordable land, reasonably priced materials, employment opportunities, and basic infrastructure and social services.
- Public investments must focus on providing access to basic services and infrastructure. The cities need to invest in housing, water, sanitation, energy, and urban services, such as garbage disposal. These services and infrastructure must reach the poor living in informal settlements.
- The transportation needs and safety concerns of a city’s poorest residents should be a high priority in planning urban transportation systems, which can expand the choices people have regarding where to live and work.
- Building codes and regulations should be realistic and enforceable and reflect the local community’s lifestyle and needs. For example, this means that they may have to be flexible enough to allow housing that is built incrementally, out of low-cost materials and on small plots of land.