Ist es möglich, ein standardisiertes Modell für die Entwicklung informeller Slums zu erarbeiten?
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Is it possible to work out a standardized model for the development of informal slums areas?
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More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and this is set to increase, mostly driven by growth in developing countries. This is one of the greatest transformations of the 21st century. During the next two decades the urban population of the world’s two poorest regions – South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa – is expected to double (UN-Habitat, 2014). Urbanisation certainly brings opportunity. No country has achieved middle-income status without urbanising. But to make the most of this phenomenon, new infrastructure – housing, transport, hospitals, schools and public spaces – needs to be put in place. Without adequate services to match demand, the rapid increase of urban populations will pose new challenges, not least in terms of poor housing, insecure tenure, and inequalities in access to utilities. About 1 billion people currently live in slum settlements – almost a third of the world’s urban population – and this could increase to 3 billion by 2050 (UN DESA, 2013). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed earlier this year, acknowledge the urgency of the urbanisation challenge, most clearly reflected in the inclusion of an urban-specific goal. Goal 11 aims to ‘make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable’ with its first target seeking to ‘ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, and upgrade slums’ (UN, 2015). Projections access to adequate housing and services. It is, therefore, timely to review the existing evidence on what works in improving the living conditions in slum settlements, the main aim of this research.
Slums generally develop as a result of a combination of rapid urban population growth, lack of affordable housing and poor governance. In some cases the pace of urbanisation outstrips governments’ capacity to provide the framework for affordable housing (e.g. land, infrastructure, access to utilities) for an increasing population. Further, urban growth often occurs in periurban areas, which sometimes lie beyond administrative boundaries and are neglected by both urban and rural administrators. In other cases, governments are unwilling to act as they believe that providing services and better conditions to the poor will attract more people and cause slums to grow further. This means slums actually grow as they remain unserviced for long periods of time.