slum

What is a slum?

Slums are neglected parts of cities where housing and living conditions are appallingly lacking. Slums range from high density, squalid central city tenements to spontaneous squatter settlements without legal recognition or rights, sprawling at the edge of cities. Some are more than fifty years old, some are land invasions just underway. Slums may be called by various names, Favelas, Kampungs, Tugurios, yet share the same miserable living conditions.

Lack of basic services are
often the key problem.
Slums do not have:

• basic municipal services - water, sanitation, waste collection, storm drainage, street lighting, paved footpaths, roads for emergency access.
• schools and clinics within reach, safe areas for children to play.
• places for the community to meet and socialize.
Slums are worsening:
• as the average age of people in cities is increasing, the average age of slum dwellers is decreasing, so the youth suffer most from unhealthful conditions.
• visible disparities between slums and better-off neighborhoods increase the social tensions in poorer areas.
• unplanned growth of settlements makes conventional service provision complicated.