INTRODUCTION

A slum is a heavily populated urban informal settlement characterized by substandard housing and squalor.[1] While slums differ in size and other characteristics from country to country, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean ater, reliable electricity, timely la enforcement and other basic services. !lum residences vary from shanty to poorly built, deteriorated buildings.["] !lums ere common in 1#th and early "$th century urban history of the %nited !tates and &urope.['][(] )n the "1st century, slums are predominantly found in urban regions of developing and undeveloped parts of the orld, but also found in developed economies.[*]
[+]

According to %,-.A/)0A0, '".12 percent of the urban population in the developing orld in "$1" lived in slums. 3lobal slum prevalence as highest in !ub-!aharan Africa 4+1.125, follo ed by !outh Asia 4'*25, !outheast Asia 4'125, &ast Asia 4"6."25, West Asia 4"(.+25, 7ceania 4"(.125, 8atin America and the 9aribbean 4"'.*25, and ,orth Africa 41'.'25. Among individual countries, the proportion of urban residents living in slums in "$$# as highest in the 9entral African :epublic 4#*.#25, 9had 46#.'25, ,iger 461.125, and ;ozambique 46$.*25.[1] 0he orld<s largest contiguous slum is also in ;e=ico 9ity.[6][#][1$] !lums form and gro in different parts of the orld, for many different reasons. !ome causes include rapid rural-to-urban migration, economic stagnation and depression, high unemployment, poverty, informal economy, poor planning, politics, natural disasters and social conflicts.[1][11][1"] !trategies tried to reduce and transform slums in different countries, ith varying degrees of success, include a combination of slum removal, slum relocation, slum upgrading, urban planning ith city ide infrastructure development, and public housing pro>ects.[1'][1(] 0he origin of the ord slum is thought to be the )rish phrase <S lom 4pron. s<lum ae5 meaning ?it is a bleak or destitute place.?[1*] 7thers[1+] suggest slum is a slang ord meaning room, hich evolved to @@back slumAA around 16(* meaning @back alley, street of poor people.A ,umerous other terms are often used interchangeably ith slum. !ome alternate terms for slum includeB shanty to n, favela, rookery, gecekondu, skid ro , barrio, ghetto, bidonville, taudis, bandas de miseria, barrio marginal, morro, loteamento, barraca, musseque, tugurio, solares, mudun safi, karyan, medina achouaia, brarek, ishash, galoos, tanake, baladi, hrushebi, chalis, katras, zopadpattis, bustee, estero, looban, dagatan, um>ondolo, atta, udukku, and chereka bete.[11]

History
7ne of the many ,e Cork 9ity slum photographs of Dacob :iis 4ca 16#$5. !qualor can be seen in the streets, ash clothes hanging bet een buildings. )nside of a slum house, from Dacob :iis photo collection of ,e Cork 9ity 4ca 16#$5.

Eart of 9harles /ooth<s poverty map sho ing the 7ld ,ichol, a slum in the &ast &nd of 8ondon. Eublished 166# in 8ife and 8abour of the Eeople in 8ondon. 0he red areas are ?middle class, ell-to-do?, light blue areas are ?poor, 16s to "1s a eek for a moderate family?, dark blue areas are ?very poor, casual, chronic ant?, and black areas are the ?lo est class...occasional labourers, street sellers, loafers, criminals and semi-criminals?. !lums ere common in the %nited !tates and &urope before early "$th century. ,e Cork 9ity is believed to have created the orldAs first slum, named the Five Eoints in 16"*, as it evolved into a large urban settlement.[(][16] Five Eoints slum used to be a lake named 9ollect.[16][1#] /y late 11$$s, the lake as surrounded by slaughterhouses and tanneries, hich emptied their aste directly into this lake. 0rash piled, modern aste collection and sanitation system, electricity and other technologies had yet to be invented and adopted. 0he lake as a reeking cesspool. /y early 16$$s lake 9ollect of ,e Cork 9ity as filled up and dry, and on it as Five Eoints - %nited !tatesA first slum. Five Eoints as occupied by successive aves of freed slaves, )rish then )talian then 9hinese immigrants. )t housed the poor, rural people leaving farms for opportunity, and the persecuted people from &urope pouring into ,e Cork 9ity. /ars, bordellos, squalid and lightless tenements lined its streets. Giolence and crime ere commonplace. Eoliticians and social elite discussed it ith derision. !lums like Five Eoints triggered discussions of affordable housing and slum removal. 0oday, Five Eoints slum has transformed into the 8ittle )taly and 9hinato n neighborhood of ,e Cork 9ity.['][16] Five Eoints as not the only slum in America.["$]["1] Dacob :iis, Walker &vans, 8e is .ine and others photographed many before World War )). !lums ere found in every ma>or urban region of the %nited !tates in early "$th century, before and through the 3reat Hepression. !lums, sometimes called poorhouses, cro ded the /oston 9ommons, later at the fringes of the city.[""] A slum d elling in 0oronto, 9anada, about 1#'+.["']["(] )n &urope, slums ere common.["*]["+] /y 1#"$s it had become a common slang e=pression in &ngland, meaning either various taverns and eating houses, ?loose talk? or gypsy language, or a room ith ?lo going-ons?. )n Life in London Eierce &gan used the ord in the conte=t of the ?back slums? of .oly 8ane or !t 3iles. A footnote defined slum to mean ?lo , unfrequent parts of the to n?. 9harles Hickens used the ord slum in a similar ay in 16($, riting ?) mean to take a great, 8ondon, back-slum kind alk tonight?. !lum began to be used to describe bad housing soon after and as used as alternative e=pression for rookeries.["1] )n 16*$ the 9atholic 9ardinal Wiseman described the area kno n as Hevil<s Acre in Westminster, 8ondon as follo sB ?9lose under the Abbey of Westminster there lie concealed labyrinths of lanes and potty and alleys and slums, nests of ignorance, vice, depravity, and crime, as ell as of squalor, retchedness, and diseaseI hose atmosphere is typhus, hose ventilation is choleraI in hich s arms of huge and almost countless population, nominally at least, 9atholicI

haunts of filth, hich no se age committee can reach - dark corners, hich no lighting board can brighten.?["6] 0his passage as idely quoted in the national press,["#] leading to the popularisation of the ord slum to describe bad housing.["1]['$] A 1#1' slum d elling midst squalor in )vry-sur-!eine, a French commune about * kilometers from center of Earis. !lums ere scattered around Earis through the 1#*$s.['1] ['"] After Loi Vivien as passed in Duly 1#1$, France demolished some of its last ma>or bidonvilles 4slums5 and resettled resident Algerian, Eortuguese and other migrant orkers by mid 1#1$s.['']['(] !lums are often associated ith Gictorian /ritain, particularly in industrial, northern &nglish to ns, lo land !cottish to ns and Hublin 9ity in )reland. &ngels described these /ritish neighborhoods as ?cattle-sheds for human beings?.['*] 0hese ere generally still inhabited until the 1#($s, hen the government started slum clearance and built ne council houses.['+] 0here are still many e=amples left of former slum housing in the %J, but many have been removed by government initiative, redesigned and replaced ith better public housing. )n France, slums ere idespread in Earis and all urban areas in 1#th century, many of hich continued through first half of "$th century. 0he first cholera epidemic of 16'" triggered a political debate, and 8ouis :enK GillermK study['1] of various arrondissements of Earis demonstrated the differences and connection bet een slums, poverty and poor health.['6] ;elun 8a first passed in 16(# and revised in 16*1, follo ed by establishment of Earis 9ommission on %nhealthful H ellings in 16*" began the social process of identifying the orst housing inside slums, but did not remove or replace slums. After World War )), French people started mass migration from rural to urban areas of France. 0his demographic and economic trend rapidly raised rents of e=isting housing as ell as e=panded slums. French government passed la s to block increase in the rent of housing, hich inadvertently made many housing pro>ects unprofitable and increased slums. )n 1#*$, France launched its .abitation L 8oyer ;odKrK['#][($] initiative to finance and build public housing and remove slums, managed by techniciens - urban technocrats.,[(1] and financed by 8ivret A[("] - a ta= free savings account for French public. :io de Daneiro documented its first slum in 1#"$ census. /y 1#+$s, over ''2 of population of :io lived in slums, (*2 of ;e=ico 9ity and Ankara, +*2 of Algiers, '*2 of 9aracas, "*2 of 8ima and !antiago, 1*2 of !ingapore. /y 1#6$, in various cities and to ns of 8atin America alone, there ere about "*,$$$ slums.[(']

Causes that create and expand slums

!lums sprout and continue for a combination of demographic, social, economic, and political reasons. 9ommon causes include rapid rural-to-urban migration, poor planning of public housing, colonialism and segregation, poverty, urbanization, politics, natural disasters and social conflicts.

Rapid rural to urban migration

Jibera slum in ,airobi, Jenya, the second largest slum in Africa[((][(*][(+] and third largest in the orld.[((] :ural-urban migration is a common cause of slums. ;any people migrate from rural areas initially in order to earn higher ages in urban areas.[(1] !ince 1#*$, orld population has increased at far greater rate than the amount of arable land, even as agriculture contributes a much smaller percentage of the total economy. For e=ample, in )ndia, agriculture accounted for *"2 of its 3HE in 1#*( and only 1#2 in "$$(I[(6] in /razil, the "$$* 3HE contribution of agriculture is one-fifth of its contribution in 1#*1. [(#] Agriculture, mean hile, has also become higher yielding, less disease prone, less physically harsh and more efficient ith tractors and other equipment. 0he proportion of people orking in agriculture has declined by '$2 over the last *$ years, hile global population has increased by "*$2. [1] 0hose ho make their decisions to migrate to urban areas primarily because cities promise more >obs, better schools for poor<s children, and diverse informal income opportunities than subsistence farming in rural areas.[*$] .o ever, there is a possibility that they cannot find a >ob immediately because of lack of skills and increasingly competitive >ob markets.[*1] 0he cities, on the other hand, do not provide enough cheap housing for a large number of rural-urban migrant orkers in most cases. [(1] 0hese poor migrant orkers can only afford to live in slums. Another reason for migration is that people ant to live close to their relatives. A case study of .yderabad in )ndia done by Ali and 0oran demonstrates that in addition to migration for >obs, a large part of people migrated from rural areas to cities because of connection ith relatives or families. 7nce their support in urban areas is in slums, those migrant orkers intend to live ith them in the slums. [*"]

A slum in /razil. :ocinha favela is ne=t to skyscrapers and ealthier parts of the city, a location that provides >obs and easy commute to those ho live in the slums.

Poor housing planning

8ack of affordable lo cost housing encourages the supply side of slums. )nsufficient financial resources may e=plain the lack of enough affordable public housing for the poor. 8ocal administrations do not improve the situation because any improvement of the tenant in slums and e=pansion of public housing programs involves a large sum of money.[*'] 0he problem is also due to the failure in coordination among different departments in charge of Meconomic development, urban planning, and land allocationN. )n addition, the housing market is partly responsible for this problem. Hriven by more profits, the housing developers are more illing to build home for the middle-income market. 0he urban poor gradually become marginalized in the housing market here fe houses are built to sell to them. [*(] )n .o 9hi ;inh 9ity in Gietnam, for e=ample, there is

an annual need of the housing for *$,$$$ migrants, but only "$,$$$ urban households are provided each year, hich cannot meet the need of the lo -income families.[**] Although numerous studies have pointed out that slums are insecure habitats, the government rarely considers this group of people in their plan of public housing and often ignores them.[*'] 0he poor urban housing planning drives many rural migrant orkers into slums. Whenever there is a significant gap in gro ing demand for housing and insufficient supply of affordable housing, this gap is typically met in part by slums.[*+] 3ood housing is obviously better than a slum, but a slum is better than none.[*1]

Poor infrastructure, social exclusion and economic stagnation

!ocial e=clusion and poor infrastructure forces the poor to adapt to conditions beyond his or her control. Eoor families that cannot afford transportation, or those ho simply lack any form of affordable public transportation, generally end up in squat settlements ithin alking distance or close enough to the place of their formal or informal employment.[*+] /en Arimah cites this social e=clusion and poor infrastructure as a cause for numerous slums in African cities.[*6] Eoor quality, unpaved streets encourage slumsI a 12 increase in paved all-season roads, claims Arimah, reduces slum incidence rate by about $.'*2. Affordable public transport and economic infrastructure empo ers poor people to move and consider housing options other than their current slums.[*#][+$] A gro ing economy that creates >obs at rate faster than population gro th, offers people opportunities and incentive to relocate from poor slum to more developed neighborhoods. &conomic stagnation, in contrast, creates uncertainties and risks for the poor, encouraging people to stay in the slums. &conomic stagnation in a nation ith a gro ing population reduces per capita disposal income in urban and rural areas, increasing urban and rural poverty. :ising rural poverty also encourages migration to urban areas. A poorly performing economy, in other ords, increases poverty and rural-to-urban migration, thereby increasing slums.[+1][+"]

Colonialism and segregation

An integrated slum d elling and informal economy inside Hharavi of ;umbai. Hharavi slum started in 1661 ith industrial and segregationist policies of the /ritish colonial era. 0he slum housing, tanneries, pottery and other economy established inside and around Hharavi during the /ritish rule of )ndia.[+'][+(][+*] !ome of the ma>or slums in todayAs orld started in the colonial era. For e=ample, Hharavi slum of ;umbai - no one of the largest slums in )ndia, used to be a village referred to as Joli adas, and ;umbai used to be referred as /ombay. )n 1661, the /ritish colonial government e=pelled all tanneries, other no=ious industry and poor natives ho orked in the peninsular part of the city and colonial housing area, to hat as back then the northern fringe of the city - a settlement no called Hharavi.[+'] 0his settlement attracted no colonial supervision or investment in terms of road infrastructure, sanitation, public services or housing. 0he poor moved into Hharavi, found ork as

servants in colonial offices and homes and in the foreign o ned tanneries and other polluting industries near Hharavi. 0o live, the poor built shanty to ns ithin easy commute to ork. /y 1#(1, the year )ndia became an independent nation of the common ealth, Hharavi had blossomed into /ombayAs largest slum. !imilarly, some of the slums of 8agos, ,igeria sprouted because of neglect and policies of the colonial era.[++] Huring apartheid era of !outh Africa, under the prete=t of sanitation and plague epidemic prevention, racial and ethnic group segregation as pursued, people of color ere moved to the fringes of the city, policies that created !o eto and other slums - officially called to nships.[+1] 8arge slums started at the fringes of segregationconscious colonial city centers of 8atin America.[+6] ;arcuse suggests ghettoes in the %nited !tates, and else here, have been created and maintained by the segregationist policies of the state and regionally dominant group.[+#][1$]

;akoko - 7ne of the oldest slums of Africa built on stilts on a lagoon, home to about quarter of million people of 8agos, ,igeria. !tarting "$1", it is being dismantled by the city government, amidst controversy, to accommodate infrastructure for "$O million poor ,igerians in urban 8agos area.[11]