Drivers of urban livelihoods in informal settlements in Mysore and Pune

Hrsg.: Barbara Dippelhofer-Stiem, Heiko Schrader, Till Krenz

Territories of scarcity and creativity: a critical view of informal settlements and emerging tactics under conditions of scarcity in Nairobi, Kenya and Quito, Ecuador

This thesis explores the processes through which scarcity is constructed in informal settlements and how conditions emerging within its limits gives way to particular socio-spatial phenomena and influence the emergence of self-organisation and creative strategies from a non-expert perspective. At the same time, this thesis deconstructs these emerging tactics (reactive and transformative) in a diagrammatic way to generate a critical study of their potential for socio-spatial change that goes beyond the everyday survival. Most people associate scarcity with “not having enough” of something, most usually of a material nature. In contrast, this paper is based on the premise that scarcity is a constructed condition, therefore exploring it beyond its immediate manifestation and illustrating its discursive, distributive and socio-material components. In this line, the research uses Assemblage Theory as both an approach and a tool for analysis. This approach allows the research to depart from everyday narratives of the residents, and gradually evolve into a multi-scalar, non-linear reading of scarcity, by following leads into different realms and unpacking a series of routine events to uncover their connections to wider processes and particular elements affecting the settlement and the city as a whole. For this purpose, the research is based on a qualitative, flexible and multi-sited methodology, using different case studies as testing grounds. Collected data stems from a 11-months ethnographic fieldwork in informal settlements in Ecuador and Kenya, analysing the socio-spatial practices and strategies deployed by the different actors producing the built environment and arising from everyday and latent experiences of scarcity. The thesis examines the multi-scalar nature of these strategies, including self-building and management tactics, the mobilisation of grassroots organisations, the innovative ways of collaborating deployed by different coalitions and the reformulation of urban development policies. As outcomes of the research, the thesis will show illustrative diagrams that allow a better understanding of, firstly, the construction of scarcity in the built environment beyond its immediate manifestation and secondly, the way that emerging tactics a) improve existing conditions of scarcity, b) reinforce the status quo or c) contribute to the worsening of the original condition. Therefore, this thesis aims to offer lessons with both practical and theoretical considerations, by firstly, giving an insight into the complexity and transcalar nature of the construction of scarcity in informal settlements; secondly, by illustrating how acute conditions related to scarcity gives birth to a plethora of particular phenomena shaping the territory, social relationships and processes; and thirdly, by identifying specific characteristics within the informal that might allow for new readings of the city and possibilities for socio-spatial change under conditions of scarcity.

The re-urbanization of the city center of Manaus , Brazil - Facing the challenges of informal settlements

Illegal occupation of urban land in Brazil is a widespread phenomenon. Slum dwellers are excluded from the attributes of urban citizenship although they provide the labor force required by low productivity urban services needed by cities. Illegal settlements generate multiple problems for the rest of the city . Its solution is of key relevance to the city in general but also provide an opportunity for the social and economic advancement of slum dwellers. The programs required to attain these results are complex and difficult to implement underscoring the challenges countries will face to attain the Millennium Development Goals of reducing the population living in slums.

CHANGE FOR GOOD? AN ASSESSMENT OF THE DISCONNECT BETWEEN PERCEIVED BENEFITS BY ENGOS AND USER SATISFACTION OF SOLAR BOTTLE LIGHTS IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS OF DHAKA CITY, BANGLADESH

A major challenge for a developing country such as Bangladesh is to supply basic services to its most marginalized populations, which includes both rural and urban dwellers. The government struggles to provide basic necessities such as water and electricity. In marginalized urban communities in Bangladesh, in particular informal settlements, meeting basic needs is even direr. Most informal settlements are built to respond to a rapid immigration to urban centers, and are thought of as ‘temporary structures’, though many structures have been there for decades. In addition, as the settlements are often squatting on private land, access to formalized services such as electricity or water is largely absent. In some cases, electricity and water connections are brought in - but through informal and non-government sanctioned ways -- these hookups are deemed ‘illegal’ by the state. My research will focus on recent efforts to help ameliorate issues associated with lack of basic services in informal settlements in Bangladesh – in this case lack of light. When the government fails to meet the needs of the general population, different non-government organizations tend to step in to intervene. A new emphasis on solar bottle systems in informal urban settlement areas to help address some energy needs (specifically day-time lighting). One such example is the solar bottle light in Bangladesh, a project introduced by the organization ‘Change’. There has been mixed reactions on this technology among the users. This is where my research intervenes. I have used quantitative method to investigate user satisfactions for the solar bottle lights among the residents of the informal settlements to address the overarching question, is there a disconnect between the perceived benefits of the ENGO and the user satisfaction of the residents of the informal settlements of Dhaka City? This paper uses survey responses to investigate level of user satisfaction and the contributing factors.

Community-led upgrading for self-reliance in informal settlements in South Africa: a review

Around the world, informal and low-income settlements (so-called “slums”) have been a major issue in city management and environmental sustainability in developing countries. Overall, African cities have an agenda for slum management and response. For example, the South African government introduced the Upgrade of Informal Settlements Program (UISP), as a comprehensive plan for upgrading slum settlements. Nevertheless, upgrading informal settlements from the bottom-up is key to inform broad protocols and strategies for sustainable communities and `adaptive cities´. Community-scale schemes can drive sustainability from the bottom-up and offer opportunities to share lessons learnt at the local level. Key success factors in their roll-out are: systems thinking; empowered local authorities that support decentralised solutions and multidisciplinary collaboration between the involved actors, including the affected local population. This research lies under the umbrella of sustainable bottom-up urban regeneration. As part of a larger project of collaboration between UK and SA research institutions, this paper presents an overview of in-situ participatory upgrade as an incremental strategy for upgrading informal settlements in the context of sustainable and resilient city. The motivation for this research is rooted in identifying the underpinning barriers and enabling drivers for up-scaling community-led, participatory upgrading approaches in informal settlements in the metropolitan area. This review paper seeks to provide some preliminary guidelines and recommendations for an integrated collaborative environmental and construction management framework to enhance community self-reliance. A theoretical approach based on the review of previous studies was combined with a pilot study conducted in Durban (South Africa) to investigate the feasibility of community-led upgrading processes.

A gender-based approach to the urban informal sector: the case of Mexico

Includes bibliography

Impact of a value chain approach on the sustainability of solid waste management in Mukuru Kwa njenga informal settlements Nairobi, Kenya

En un mundo altamente urbanizado, la gestión de residuos sólidos es un problema primordial en toda ciudad. Las ciudades de paises en desarrollo deben además afrontar retos que no afectan a las ciudades de paises desarrollados. En los paises en desarrollo muchas municipalidades sufren un crecimiento descontrolado de los asentamientos informales sin planificación urbana que hace muy complicada una adecuada gestión de los residuos sólidos urbanos, situación que se agrava al no contar estas con suficientes recursos económicos para llevar a cabo su responsabilidad en cuanto a provisión del sevicio básico de recogida de residuos. La provisión de servicio de recogida de residuos por parte de SHGs (grupos de ayuda comunitarios) en estos asentamientos informales puede ayudar a resolver algunos de estos problemas. Para que esta oportunidad sea completamente explotada, los ingresos de estos grupos deben ser garantizados, teniendo en cuenta que la sostenibilidad de estos grupos depende enteramente de ello. Este estudio pretende averiguar cómo un enfoque de cadena de valor puede mejorar la sostenibilidad de la gestión de residuos sólidos, permitiendo asegurar los ingresos de los recolectores informales de residuos. El estudio propondrá después de analizado el actual sistema, mejoras que permitan desarrollar un medio ambiente saludable en los asentamientos informales donde se desarrolla el estudio. Para alcanzar este objetivo, se ha desarrollado una investigación específica en Nairobi (Kenia) en el asentamiento precario de Mukuru Kwa Njenga, analizando los distintos aspectos relevantes que tienen influencia en una gestión integrada de residuos sólidos y las relaciones entre los distintos actores que tienen influencia en la misma.

Engaging with a world outside of ourselves:vistas of flatness, children's work and the urban informal economy

This paper considers the work and labour of children living on the streets of Accra, Ghana. It does so in two distinctive ways. First, it considers how the children's photographs of a day or two in their working lives, and the dialogues that go on in, through and around them, may contribute to the making of strong sociological arguments about children's work. In so doing, this paper elaborates the connections between visual sociology and realist traditions of photography, and argues that photographs can contribute distinctive and novel sources of insight into working children's lives and a powerful, humanising media of dissemination. Second, these arguments are then deployed to examine street children's experiences of work. Conceptualised in terms of its 'flatness', the paper explores the informal means of regulation through which the children are locked into types of working that prove difficult to escape. © Sociological Research Online, 1996-2012.

Visitabilidade-vivenciabilidade em assentamentos informais : um estudo da acessibilidade de percursos urbanos no Conjunto Santa Terezinha em Fortaleza-CE

This research approaches the issue of accessibility in informal settlements, seeking for the challenges and limits defined by informal urban settings, about the application of accessibility parameters. Take the empirical universe as the Conjunto Santa Terezinha, located in Fortaleza- Ce. Initially, the study presents a reflection about the housing issue in Brazil and the informal settlementes in view of the Right to the City. In this sense, the main references are, the works of Suzanne Pasternak (2008), Nabil Bonduki (1998) and Erminia Maricato (1996-97), among others. Follows with the discussion of the concepts and classifications of this type of settlement, making a content analysis of legislation and regulations relating to accessibility and proposed the discussion of the accessible route as the right strategy for the city. In another step, the methodology of 'walking together' created by Dischinger (2000) was applied in a passage previously chosen, which the researcher follows the disabled person during the journey through city making records like photos and video. The comments and perceptions are compared to the spatial analysis of urban morphology, made from the method of Del Rio (1990) and Panerai (2006), and the parameters of NBR 9050. Knowledge of the area is enriched by the methodology of the production of space made by Henri Lefebvre in his book 'The production of space' (1974) with these categories: space conceived, perceived and lived. Another key reference of this author it s the book 'The Right to the City' (991), which allowed in-depth reflections on the social function of town. In conclusion, the study finds that to guarantee a minimum access conditions in informal sittlements it´s necessary to know the specifics of their morphology, their relations and urban practices in view of the visitability- experiencebility, describing it as complementary concepts

Visitabilidade-vivenciabilidade em assentamentos informais : um estudo da acessibilidade de percursos urbanos no Conjunto Santa Terezinha em Fortaleza-CE

This research approaches the issue of accessibility in informal settlements, seeking for the challenges and limits defined by informal urban settings, about the application of accessibility parameters. Take the empirical universe as the Conjunto Santa Terezinha, located in Fortaleza- Ce. Initially, the study presents a reflection about the housing issue in Brazil and the informal settlementes in view of the Right to the City. In this sense, the main references are, the works of Suzanne Pasternak (2008), Nabil Bonduki (1998) and Erminia Maricato (1996-97), among others. Follows with the discussion of the concepts and classifications of this type of settlement, making a content analysis of legislation and regulations relating to accessibility and proposed the discussion of the accessible route as the right strategy for the city. In another step, the methodology of 'walking together' created by Dischinger (2000) was applied in a passage previously chosen, which the researcher follows the disabled person during the journey through city making records like photos and video. The comments and perceptions are compared to the spatial analysis of urban morphology, made from the method of Del Rio (1990) and Panerai (2006), and the parameters of NBR 9050. Knowledge of the area is enriched by the methodology of the production of space made by Henri Lefebvre in his book 'The production of space' (1974) with these categories: space conceived, perceived and lived. Another key reference of this author it s the book 'The Right to the City' (991), which allowed in-depth reflections on the social function of town. In conclusion, the study finds that to guarantee a minimum access conditions in informal sittlements it´s necessary to know the specifics of their morphology, their relations and urban practices in view of the visitability- experiencebility, describing it as complementary concepts

Visitabilidade-vivenciabilidade em assentamentos informais : um estudo da acessibilidade de percursos urbanos no Conjunto Santa Terezinha em Fortaleza-CE

This research approaches the issue of accessibility in informal settlements, seeking for the challenges and limits defined by informal urban settings, about the application of accessibility parameters. Take the empirical universe as the Conjunto Santa Terezinha, located in Fortaleza- Ce. Initially, the study presents a reflection about the housing issue in Brazil and the informal settlementes in view of the Right to the City. In this sense, the main references are, the works of Suzanne Pasternak (2008), Nabil Bonduki (1998) and Erminia Maricato (1996-97), among others. Follows with the discussion of the concepts and classifications of this type of settlement, making a content analysis of legislation and regulations relating to accessibility and proposed the discussion of the accessible route as the right strategy for the city. In another step, the methodology of 'walking together' created by Dischinger (2000) was applied in a passage previously chosen, which the researcher follows the disabled person during the journey through city making records like photos and video. The comments and perceptions are compared to the spatial analysis of urban morphology, made from the method of Del Rio (1990) and Panerai (2006), and the parameters of NBR 9050. Knowledge of the area is enriched by the methodology of the production of space made by Henri Lefebvre in his book 'The production of space' (1974) with these categories: space conceived, perceived and lived. Another key reference of this author it s the book 'The Right to the City' (991), which allowed in-depth reflections on the social function of town. In conclusion, the study finds that to guarantee a minimum access conditions in informal sittlements it´s necessary to know the specifics of their morphology, their relations and urban practices in view of the visitability- experiencebility, describing it as complementary concepts

From slum to suburbia : examining a spectrum of planned and unplanned urban morphology in humid sub-tropical regions of the world

The current rapid urban growth throughout the world manifests in various ways and historically cities have grown, similarly, alternately or simultaneously between planned extensions and organic informal settlements (Mumford, 1989). Within cities different urban morphological regions can reveal different contexts of economic growth and/or periods of dramatic social/technological change (Whitehand, 2001, 105). Morpho-typological study of alternate contexts can present alternative models and contribute to the present discourse which questions traditional paradigms of urban planning and design (Todes et al, 2010). In this study a series of cities are examined as a preliminary exploration into the urban morphology of cities in ‘humid subtropical’ climates. From an initial set of twenty, six cities were selected: Sao Paulo, Brazil; Jacksonville, USA; Maputo, Mozambique; Kanpur, India; Hong Kong, China; and Brisbane, Australia. The urban form was analysed from satellite imagery at a constant scale. Urban morphological regions (types) were identified as those demonstrating particular consistant characteristics of form (density, typology and pattern) different to their surroundings when examined at a constant scale. This analysis was correlated against existing data and literature discussing the proliferation of two types of urban development, ‘informal settlement’ (defined here as self-organised communities identifiable but not always synonymous with ‘slums’) and ‘suburbia’ (defined here as master planned communities of generally detached houses prevalent in western society) - the extreme ends of a hypothetical spectrum from ‘planned’ to ‘spontaneous’ urban development. Preliminary results show some cities contain a wide variety of urban form ranging from the highly organic ‘self-organised’ type to the highly planned ‘master planned community’ (in the case of Sao Paulo) while others tend to fall at one end of the planning spectrum or the other (more planned in the cases of Brisbane and Jacksonville; and both highly planned and highly organic in the case of Maputo). Further research will examine the social, economical and political drivers and controls which lead to this diversity or homogeneity of urban form and speculates on the role of self-organisation as a process for the adaptation of urban form.

Re-framing infrastructure investment decision-making processes : a preliminary scoping study for urban flood risk management in Jakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia’s chronic housing shortage poses multiple challenges for contemporary policy-makers. While it may be in the city’s interest to increase the availability of housing, there is limited land to do so. Market pressures, in tandem with government’s desire for housing availability, demand consideration of even marginal lands, such as those within floodplains, for development. Increasingly, planning for a flood resilient Jakarta is complicated by a number of factors, including: the city is highly urbanized and land use data is limited; flood management is technically complex, creating potential barriers to engagement for both decision-makers and the public; inherent uncertainty exists throughout modelling efforts, central to management; and risk and liability for infrastructure investments is unclear. These obstacles require localized watershed-level participatory planning to address risks of flooding where possible and reduce the likelihood that informal settlements occur in areas of extreme risk. This paper presents a preliminary scoping study for determination of an effective participatory planning method to encourage more resilient development. First, the scoping study provides background relevant to the challenges faced in planning for contemporary Jakarta. Second, the study examines the current use of decision-support tools, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), in planning for Jakarta. Existing capacity in the use of GIS allows for consideration of the use of an emerging method of community consultation - Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) support systems infused with geospatial information - to aid in engagement with the public and improve decision-making outcomes. While these methods have been used in Australia to promote stakeholder engagement in urban intensification, the planned research will be an early introduction of the method to Indonesia. As a consequence of this intervention, it is expected that planning activities will result in a more resilient city, capable of engaging with disaster risk management in a more effective manner.

Ensuring the right to the city: pro-poor housing, urban development and tenure legalization in São Paulo, Brazil

São Paulo is one of Latin America’s most modern and developed cities, yet around one-third of its 10 million inhabitants live in poor-quality housing in sub-standard settlements. This paper describes the response of the São Paulo municipal government that took office in 2001. Through its Secretariat of Housing and Urban Development, it designed a new policy framework with a strong emphasis on improving the quantity and quality of housing for low-income groups. Supported by new legislation, financial instruments and partnerships with the private sector, the mainstays of the new policy are integrated housing and urban development, modernization of the administrative system, and public participation in all decision-making and implementation processes. The programmes centre on upgrading and legalizing land tenure in informal settlements, and regeneration of the city centre. The new focus on valuing the investments that low-income groups have already made in their housing and settlements has proved to be more cost-effective than previous interventions, leading to improvements on an impressive scale.