Informal settlements arise from poverty and urban migration, creating environmental damage, social issues, and economic strain. By 2050, they may house half the global urban population, making them a critical urban challenge. The article proposes phased renewal strategies — including commercial development, housing, sports, and cultural facilities — requiring coordinated government and community action. Also, gives Informal settlement renewal solutions.
Table of content
What is urban renewal of informal settlement?
Socio- economic and political solutions.
Commercial development construction.
What is urban renewal of informal settlement?
Many governments in the world face the problem of the existence of informal settlement. It appears mostly in third world countries such as Asia and Africa. The poverty and economic decline cause this urban problem. In addition of the concentration of almost the country economic activities in centre of cities. Thus, this drives the population shift of low-income people to cities and create these slums on open land. These include state land and on certain cases private land. So, in this situation many businesses thrive and grow. For example, informal land developers, property developers and management, and property brokers. The absence of laws these informal settlements create many problems. These include:
- Building on state owned land halts its development plans.
- Creates derelict areas and buildings damaging environment.
- Informal water and sewage systems spoils soil and decrease its good quality physical properties for construction, as well as creates dirty water beds.
- Low-quality soil becomes unsuitable for agriculture and needs large amount of funds for repair activity.
- Created social problems such as crime and drugs dealing also, creating an obstacle to develop public policy for local development plan.
- Informal settlement increases state funding for low-income people.
- Creates financial damage of low-income people resources because of building on state owned land.
The info graph below (see figure 1) shows the informal settlement worldwide as per UN survey. While only three percent of the global urban population in 1950, informal settlements will make up half urban populations in 2050. The urban
Figure 1, Urban settlement 1950-2050
Here I introduce 8 Informal settlement renewal solutions that needs political and economic intervention and development.
Socio- economic and political solutions
- First, preparing a development plan for the area should focus on several phases that align with a specific time limit and the available funds. In addition, it is essential to consider all available resources, such as skilled labor, natural resources, and labor income. Consequently, the plan aims to rebuild the regional development framework based on what the informal settlement can offer in terms of developing other areas. Furthermore, the prepared plan should include various components, such as agricultural, sports, commercial, public facilities, and infrastructure. Ultimately, local residents should primarily fund the construction of these components, with the authorities providing management, monitoring, and supervision.
- A detailed assessment of the possibility of labor force contribution to other sectors of the city commercial and industrial zones. Based on that to develop a transport construction plan of cheap means of transit to those areas or at least to transport connections to them.
Commercial development construction
- Developing the industrial parts of the plan in the first phase to attract all workers, skilled labor, professionals in the settlement. Revenue and profit coming from the production cycle of this phase is a good source of funding for other infrastructure development aligned with the development plan of this settlement.
- Encouraging building small commercial buildings within the development plan on lands already developed by the informal settlement inhabitants. Inhabitants to build these building specific state-owned plots and funded by them. The commercial units of these buildings to be rented to the participants in the construction and funding for free for a time frame equivalent to the money spent on construction by individuals.
- The state to include in the development plan for the informal settlement building low-cost sports centers for popular sports. In this way, the state will attract talented people of this sport within the same area. Also, they should assign proper management, and they plan to arrange visits from relevant clubs in the region. They arrange to sign agreements with the clubs to provide talented players to develop them financially and socially. Surely, encouraging youth to practice sports reduces crime and bad social behavior as sports lifts spirits and develops social character. The state taking in account this task to keep some amount of the contract to develop and fund other relevant facilities.
- The state to include within the development plan renovation of some buildings inside the settlement. These buildings to include venues for talented singers and musicians. In addition to giving allowance to painters and sculptors to use some spaces. In these spaces to keep the created paintings and sculptures. Also, to use these venues to develop art talented people in the settlement and to increase social cohesion. To display in occasional local and regional exhibitions these products and music activities. In addition, the relevant spaces used by artists to be rented to them after specific time limit.
- The state to announce the need for labor in construction project within the informal settlement. Also, encourage them to work on charity campaign to build on the same land a housing 2-3 story buildings. These building part of a development plan for the same land. The state to take the responsibility to construct the structure of the building and the envelops of them. Creating an outline of walls of the flats with services connection as phase one. The phase two includes completing the construction of the unite by the household volunteer to complete from his funds. The state to rent or sell the unit to the household on an agreement equivalent to his funding of phase two. After this time frame the units to be rented on low rents to households.
- The development plan of this settlement to include designated areas for planting nurseries (check my book review of a book centralized on urban space development). Related plots to be vacated or demolished and cleaned up for this purpose. Products of these nurseries to be sold for developing the landscape areas in the development and for city inhabitants or municipalities. These nurseries to be managed and run by inhabitants of the settlement to develop people skills and to rehabilitate derelict settlement lands.
In this article I have provided 8 Informal settlement renewal solutions. For further details on what is an informal settlement read my book review on the same subject Here.