96943888 Quick Guides for Policy Makers 1 URBANIZATION the Role the Poor Play in Urban Development

7/29/2019 96943888 Quick Guides for Policy Makers 1 URBANIZATION the Role the Poor Play in Urban Development

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Q U I C KG U I D ES F O RP O L I C

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U R B A N I ZATION:The ro l e thepoor play in urban development


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Copyright United Nations HumanSettlements Programme and

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asiaand the Pacific, 2008

ISBN: 978-92-113-1937-8HS/956/08E Housing the Poor in AsianCities, Quick Guide 1

DISCLAIMER

The designations employed and the presentation of material in thispublication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on thepart of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status ofany country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning thedelimitation of its frontiers or boundaries regarding its economic system ordegree of development. The analysis, conclusions and recommendations ofthis publication do not necessarily reflect the views of United Nations or itsmember States. Excerpts may be reproduced without authorization, oncondition that the source is indicated.

Cover design by Tom Kerr, ACHR and printed in Nairobi by the

United Nations Office at Nairobi

Cover photo by USAIDFire Project

The publication of the Housing the Poor in Asian Cities series was madepossible through the financial support of the Dutch Government and theDevelopment Account of the United Nations.

Published

by:United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia andthe Pacific (UNESCAP)Rajdamnern NokAvenue Bangkok


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10200, ThailandFax: (66-2) 2881056/1097E-mail: [email protected]:ww w .unescap.org

and

United Nations Human SettlementsProgrammeme (UN-HABITAT) P.O.Box 30030GPO 00100

Nairobi,KenyaFax: (254-20) 7623092(TCBB Office)E-mail: [email protected]: ww w .un-habitat.org
mailto:[email protected]://www.unescap.org/http://www.unescap.org/http://www.unescap.org/http://www.un-habitat.org/http://www.un-habitat.org/http://www.unescap.org/http://www.unescap.org/http://www.unescap.org/http://www.un-habitat.org/http://www.un-habitat.org/mailto:[email protected]


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QUICK GUIDES FOR POLICY MAKERS 1,T

Acknowledgements

This set of seven Quick Guides have been prepared as a resultof an expert group meeting on capacity-building for housing theurban poor, organized by UNESCAP inThailand in July2005. They were prepared jointly by the Poverty andDevelopment Division of UNESCAP and the Training andCapacity Building Branch (TCBB) of UN-HABITAT, with fundingfrom the Development Account of the United Nations and theDutch Government under the projects Housing the Poor inUrban Economies and Strengthening National TrainingCapabilities for Better Local Governance and UrbanDevelopment respectively. An accompanying set of postershighlighting the key messages from each of the Quick Guidesand a set of self- administered on-line training modules are alsobeing developed under this collaboration.

The Quick Guides were produced under the overall coordinationofMr.Adnan Aliani, Poverty and Development Division, UNESCAP

and Ms. sa Jonsson, Training and Capacity Building Branch, UN-HABITAT with vital support and inputs from Mr. Yap Kioe Sheng,Mr. Raf Tuts and Ms. Natalja Wehmer. Internal reviews andcontributions were also provided by Ms. Clarissa Augustinus,Mr.Jean-Yves Barcelo, Mr. Selman Erguden, Mr. Solomon Haile,Mr. Jan Meeuwissen, Mr. Rasmus Precht, Ms. Lowie Rosales, andMr. Xing Zhang.

The Guides were prepared by Mr. Thomas A. Kerr, Asian

Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) based on documentsprepared by Mr. Babar Mumtaz, Mr. Michael Mattingly and Mr.Patrick Wakely, formerly of the Development Planning Unit(DPU), University College of London; Mr. Yap Kioe Sheng,UNESCAP; Mr. Aman Mehta, Sinclair Knight Merz Consulting;Mr. Peter Swan, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights; and Mr.Koen Dewandeler, King Mongkut Institute of Technology,Thailand.

The original documents and other materials can be accessedat: www.housing-the-urban- poor.net.

The above contributions have all shaped the Quick Guide


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series, which we hope will contribute to the daily work of policymakers in Asia in their quest to improve housing for the urbanpoor.


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QUICK GUIDES FOR POLICY MAKERS 1,

Contents

U R B A N I Z A T I O N Q U I C K G U I D E 1

An urbanizing Asia....................................................................................................... 2

Urbanization and economic development go hand inhand.......................................... 3

Megacities .................................................................................................................... 4

Smaller cities andtowns............................................................................................... 5

What is urbanization?................................................................................................... 6

The pull ofcities............................................................................................................ 7

5 good reasons tomigrate............................................................................................ 8

Urban and ruralpoverty.............................................................................................. 10

Asias informal sector.................................................................................................11

The tide nobody can stop........................................................................................... 12

Informal settlements in cities...................................................................................... 14

What is a slum?.......................................................................................................... 15

Slums of despair and slums of hope.......................................................................... 16

Housing and

urbanization..........................................................................................18

4 policies which have not been able to solve housing problems................................ 20

Solving problems on many fronts............................................................................... 22

7 housing strategies which enable the poor.............................................................. 24

R E S O U R C E S

Books, articles, publications and websites................................................................. 28


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The global fight against

poverty is heavily

dependent on how cities

perform. Cities

are engines of economic

growth and social

development. They contribute

a majority of Asias GDP and

house its most dynamic,

innovative and productive

citizens.

Urban zat on:The role the poor playn urba n development

Q U I C K G U I D E F O R P O L I C Y M A K E R S N U M B E R1

Rapid urbanization is happening across Asia, withmore and more people in need of housing. Providingadequate housing to everyone in our cities is not animpossible goal. Its possible to solve the serious

housing problems, if we can begin to see urban poorsettlements not as problems, but as sources of energyand important contributions to the production ofhousing. And its possible if we can look at the poornot as beneficiaries of someone elses ideas, but asthe primary actors at the centre of their owndevelopment.

There are many factors that are responsible for the

shortage of adequate housing for many people inurban areas. This guide looks at some of the currenttrends in urbanization, including rural-urban migration,


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past efforts to contain rural-urban migration and thelinks between urbanization and poverty. The guidethen looks at the state of low-income housing bothformal and informal in this urbanizing context.Finally, some housing and land policies andprogrammes are examined both those which have

made problems worse, and those which show a newdirection and new opportunities to make them better.

This guide is not aimed at specialists, but instead aimsto help build the capacities of national and localgovernment officials and policy makers who need toquickly enhance their understanding of low-incomehousing issues.


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Urban growthrate

1950 1975 2000 2025 1950-1955 2000-

Asia (overall) 16.8 24.0 37.1 51.1 3.57 2.61

Japan 34.9 56.8 65.2 71.7 3.62 0.36Korea 21.4 48.0 79.6 85.2 1.79 1.03

Cambodia 10.2 10.3 16.9 33.2 2.24 5.06

LaoPDR 7.2 11.1 18.9 30.6 2.98 4.10

Nepal 2.7 4.8 13.4 27.2 4.12 5.29

PHOTO:

UNESCAP

Brightlights, big city:

Our world has become an urban

world, as the globes urban

population surpasses its

rural population. It will takeAsia until 2025 to catch up

with this global turning

point, but the trend is the

same, the issues are the

same and the lure of cities

is the same.

An urban z ng As aOver the last five decades, Asiahas seen some enormousdemographic changes. One ofthe most dramatic changes of allhas been the movement of people from villages to cities.The percentage of people livingin Asian cities and towns, ascompared to total countrypopulations, is increasing fast. In1950, about 232 million peoplelived in urban areas, whichrepresented about 17% of Asiastotal population. In 2005, Asias

urban population had risen to 1.6billion people, or about 40% ofthe regions total popu-

lation. Theres no doubt that asthe Asian region continues todevelop, the level of urbanizationwill increase. The United Nationsestimates that urbanization in

Asia between 2005 and 2010 willincrease at the rate of about2.5% each year. At this rate,more than half of Asias totalpopulation will live in urban areasby the year 2025, and by2030, it is expected that 54.5% ofAsias population will beurbanized. This means that by

2030, one out of every two urbanresidents in the world will be inAsia.

Urbanizationin Asia

(1950-2025) Level of urbanization(% population living in cities)


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Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects:The 2005 Revision


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Urban zaton and econom cdevelopmen t go han d n

handThe two most physically and economicallydeveloped countries in Asia arealso the most urbanized: Japanand Korea. In 2005, about66% of Japans population lived incities, while in Korea, about 81%of its population was living incities.

On the other hand, Asias least-developed countries havedramatically lower levels ofurbaniza- tion. In 2005, only15.8% of Nepals population livedin cities, while 19.7% of Cambodias population and20.6% of Lao PDRs population

lived in towns and cities.

These countries may have lowlevels of urbanization today, butthey are urbanizing very fast much faster than the overallAsian rate. While the overallurban population of Asia grew by2.6% per year between 2000 and

2005, the urban population inNepal, Cambodia and Lao grewtwice that fast (Nepal by 5.2%,Cambodia by 5% and Lao PDR by4.1% per year, during that samefive-year period).

Growingcities makefor

growingeconomies

In general, the more rapid acountrys economic growth,the faster is urbanizes. Urban

areas account for as much as70% of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) in East Asia. In thePhilippines, urban areas accountfor 75-80% of Gross NationalProduct (GNP) and 80% of itseconomic growth. Vietnamsurban areas contribute 70% ofthe countrys economic growth.In South Asia, Mumbai on itsown is estimated to generateone-sixth of Indias GDP.

The industrial and servicesectors are gener- ally locatedin urban areas, due to the easyaccess to a mixture of:

larger concentrations of inputssuch as materials, labour,infrastructure, transport andservices. larger concentrations of

consumers

(the market). greater opportunities fornetworkingand rapid knowledge sharing. proximity to administrative


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institutions

which regulate commercialactivities. access to other economies ofscale

andscope.

Globalization, urbanization andother socio- political factorshave also heightened thedynamic economic links betweencities and their surrounding peri-urban areas.

Source: Jack,2006


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Mega c tes:T he num berof very larg ecities in

Asia is growingfast

In 1950, the world counted justeight cities with 5 million or moreinhabitants.Two ofthose cities werein Asia: Tokyo (with 11.3 millioninhabitants) and Shanghai (with 6

million). In 2005, the world had 50cities with 5 million or moreinhabitants, and this time,28 of them were in Asia, includingthe largest city of all, Tokyo, with35.2 million inhabitants.The UnitedNations predicts that the world willhave 61 such big cities by 2015 andthat 32 of them will be in Asia. Bythen, Tokyo (with 36.2 millioninhabitants), Mumbai (with 22.6million) and Delhi (with 20.9million) are expected to be thethree largest cities in the world.

These cities require new forms ofurban planning and managementas city regions. Many large cities

are decentralizing governance,with more municipalities managingdifferent parts of the city. Thisrequires better inter-municipalcoordination, more intermediatelevels of governance, more civilsociety participation and moreautonomy for different parts of the

city.

Primatecities

A primate city is a singlecity usually a capital which is much morepopulous and much moreimportant politically,financially and economi-cally than all other cities inthat country. In mostcountries, the primate cityis at least twice aspopulous as its second-largest city. Examples ofprimate cities in Asiainclude Seoul, Bangkok,Ulanbataar, Phnom Penh andKabul. India, on the other

hand, is an example of acountry which has noprimate city, but containsseveral very large, populouscities, including Mumbai,Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.The problem with primatecities is that they contributeto uneven development andby doing so encouragerural-to-urban migration toonly one city.


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Asiancities withmore than

5 millionpeople

in 1950 (in millions)Tokyo 11.28Shanghai 6.07

in 1975Tokyo 26.62Osaka-Kobe 9.84Kolkota 7.89Shanghai 7.33Mumbai 7.08

Seoul 6.81Beijing 6.03

in 2005Tokyo 35.20Mumbai 18.20Delhi 15.05Shanghai 14.50Kolkota 14.28Jakarta 13.22Dhaka 12.43Karachi 11.61Osaka-Kobe 11.27Beijing 10.72Metro Manila 10.69Seoul 9.65Guangzhou 8.43Wuhan 7.09Hong Kong 7.04Tianjin 7.04Chennai 6.92Bangkok 6.59Bangalore 6.46Chongqing 6.36Lahore 6.29Hyderabad 6.11Ahmedabad 5.12Ho Chi Minh City 5.07

Source: United Nations, World Urbanization

Prospects:The 2005 Revision


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The lure ofsmaller cities:

Almost half of Asias

urban population (49.6%)

lives in towns of less than

500,000 inhabitants. By

2015, Asia will have

gained 37 cities of 15

million people.

Smalle r c t es and towns:In vestin gin seco ndary c itie s ca n m akethem at tract ivealtern ativ edestinationsfo r m ig ran tsand fo rinvestments

Megacities attract the largestshare of devel- opmentinvestment, energy and

creativity. But statistics tell usclearly that actually, many moreurban Asians live in smaller citiesand towns than in all themegacities in the region. In 2005,the total urban population of Asiawas 1.5 billion, but only10.8% of these people lived incities of 10 million inhabitants ormore, and just 7.6% lived in citiesof 5 to 10 million inhabitants.

This means that it is important togive planning attention not only tomegacities, but also to smallercities and towns, where morepeople actually live. One thinggovernments can do to divert

some of the migration away fromthe very large and primate citiesis to invest resources to develop

the capacity of secondary citiesand towns.Then, secondary citiesand towns can also offer employ-

ment, making them attractivealternative migration destinationsto the megacities.

Governments can also encourageprivate investment in secondarycities and towns by developingindustrial zones and granting taxconcessions. Its not easy to make

such economic decentralizingpolicies, though. A lot dependson the viability


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more than 10 167 10.5 - 10 118 7.1 - 5 356 22.0.5 - 1 160 10.

3

W holives wherein Asia?

U R B A NCity size Population(in millions) (in millions)

%

less than 0.5 751 48.4Total urban population 1,553

100

R U R A Lall rural areas 2,352

T OTA Lrural + urban 3,950

Source: United Nations, World

Urbanization Prospects: The 2005

Revision

of various economic sectors, theavailability of infrastructure andservices such as ports, airports,highways and railway lines. Also,investors have to have goodreasons to decide to locate theirfactories or businesses in thesesecondary cities, rather thancloser to the established urbancentres, where all theinfrastructure is already in place,along with the nationalgovernment decision-makingstructures.


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Wha t s urban zaton?Differentcou ntr iesha ve differen tdefin itio nsof w hatis urban

The definition can be based on

the number of inhabitants in agiven population centre, the typeof prevailing economic activity(agriculture or not), the level ofinfrastructure (roads, streetlights, water supply) or thefunction of the place(administrative centre). Becausedefinitions vary, its not always

easy to compare urbaniza- tionlevels in different countries.Governments also tendperiodically to reclassify ruralsettlements and peri-urbanareas as urban areas. This

Definingurban

The United Nations defines an

urban agglom- eration as the built-up or densely populated areacontaining the city proper,suburbs and continuouslysettled commuter areas. It maybe smaller or larger than ametropolitan area; it may also

comprise the city proper andits suburban fringe or thicklysettled adjoining territory. Ametropolitan area is the set offormal local government areasthat normally comprise theurban area as a whole and itsprimary commuter areas. A citypro p er is the single political

jurisdiction that contains thehistoricalcity centre.

However, an analysis ofcountries worldwide shows thatdifferent criteria and methodsare being used by governmentsto define urban:

105 countries base theirdata on ad- ministrativecriteria, limiting it to theboundaries of state orprovincial capitals,

municipalities or other localjurisdictions; 83 use this astheir sole method ofdistinguish- ing urban fromrural.

100 countries define citiesby population size or p opu la tiondensity, with


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increases the urban population ofa country with the stroke of apen. This happens when ruralsettlements take on urbancharacteristics due to changes in

the economic activities of peoplewho live there or the increasingconstruction of more urban-styleinfrastructure and basic services.It also happens after farm landgets converted into industrial andresidential uses and becomesessentially urban land, butoutside the existing municipal

boundaries.

minimum concentrationsranging broadly, from 200 to50,000 inhabitants; 57 use

this as their sole urbancriterion. 25 countries specifyeconomic char- acteristics assignificant, though notexclusive, in defining cities typically, the proportion ofthe labour force employed innon-agriculturalactivities. 18 countries count theavailabilityofurbaninfrastructure

in their definitions, includingthe presenceof paved streets,water supply and seweragesystemsor electricity.

Source: UN-HABITAT, State of theWorlds Cities

2006/2007,2006


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PHO

TO:SINGAPORETOURISM

BUR

EAU

No matter how you

define areas or how

you decide how

urban they are, onething is clear: cities

are where the

growth is happening,

and cities are where

the future looks to

be going.

The pul l of c t

esUrbanization can happen inthree ways: by naturalpopulationgrowth by rural-to-urbanmigration by reclassifying ruralareas

into urban areas

During the period of 1950-1955,the rate of population growth inAsia as a whole was 1.95% peryear. This growth rate declinedsteadily over the years to 1.25%per year by the period2000-2005. But during thosesame two periods, the rate of

population growth in urban areaswas 3.74% (1950-55) and 2.67%(2000-05). This means thatabout half of the urban growthrate was caused by naturalpopulation growth. The rest ofthe urban population growth wasthe result of rural-to-urbanmigration and reclas- sification ofpreviously rural areas into urbanareas. In other words, rural-to-urban migration is not the only

cause of urbanization, although


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it plays an important role. Inmany cities in the Asia region,the creation of new slums and

squatter settlements is more dueto formation of new urbanhouseholds rather than rural-to-urban migration.

There are many different typesof migration:

People dont only migrate fromrural to urban areas they also

migrate from one rural area toanother, and from one city toanother.

Some migrants movepermanently, while others gotemporarily, for a season or fora few years, and then return totheir villages.

Some migrants are unmarriedand move alone, some leavehouseholds behind, while otherscome to the cities with spouses,children and parents.

In some countries, it is mostlymen who migrate, while inother places, women are themain migrants.

It is important to pay attention tothese different types of migrants,because they will likely have verydifferent housing needs.


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They knowtheir cities:

Migration to the city is

no longer the

frightening odyssey it

might have been forvillagers a generation

or two ago. People in

even the remotest

Asian villages all see

re-runs of American TV

shows, they all have at

least

one friend or relative working

in the city, and the

benefits and drawbacks

of going to the city are

now pretty well known. goo d reason s to m grate:W h enp eop lem ak eth e dec isionto m igrateto th e city, th eir

decisionis almostalwaysa well- informedone

Thepushing and pulling forcesof migration. People migrate eitherbecause they are beingpushed out of their place of origin, orbecause they arepulled to their new migration destination. Ormore often, people move because of a combination ofoverlapping pushing and pulling forces. Some are pushed outoftheir native places because they cant earn sufficient income

to sustain themselves or their households. Others may bepushed out of their place, either temporarily or permanently,by natural disasters such as floods, droughts or earthquakes orbecause of sustained ecological changes, such as desertificationor soil erosion. At the same time, people are pulled to theirmigration destination by betterjob prospects, better educationand health facilities, or more freedom from restrictive socialand cultural realities,for themselvesand for their children.

Most have little chance of making a decent living in

agriculture. Most people in the rural areas work in the


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agricultural sector, but agriculture is highly dependent onweather conditions, rural land is limited and its fertility issometimes low or declining, land holdings are small, farm debtsare high, and many households have always been or havebecome landless. As a result, overall rural incomes tend to bepretty low. In order to increase income, small farmers need to

increase their productivity, but they are often too poor to payfor the necessary technology, whether it is equipment, high-yield seeds or expensive chemical fertilizers. Increasingly,farmers and others in rural areas supplement their incomefrom agriculture with non-farm income, in the rural areas ifpossible, or in urban areas through temporary migration towork on construction sites, in domestic work, as self-employed street vendors or in other kinds of urban jobs.


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Migrationto cities improvesthe prospect offinding betterjobs.Even when a rural household can live off its land, the future forrural children is in non-farm and more often in non-ruralemployment. For these children, migration to urban areasimproves their prospects offinding such employment. Besides

dramatically increased job opportunities, urban areas offerthem better education and health care opportunities andsometimes greater social freedom. Because urban culturestend to be less constrained than village cultures bytraditional customs and hierarchical structures, cities alsooffer young migrants and their children greater prospects ofupward social mobility.

People know what cities have to offer them. Although somerural households have no choice but to leave the rural areasin order to survive, most migrants make a deliberate choiceto stay or to leave. Improvements in transport, theavailability of mobile phones, improved communications andincreasing links with earlier genera- tions of urban migrantsin the city have all made the rural population much moreaware of both the advantages and the drawbacks urbanareas offer, in particular what kind of employment

opportunities are available and what kind of housingconditions exist.

U rb an m ig ra tio n is often a survival strategy for rural

households. In order to spread economic risks, householdsmay split into several groups that locate themselves indifferent places: rural areas, small towns, and big cities, whilesome household members may even move abroad. In this way,the households sources of income are diversi- fied and are notvulnerable to economic downturns in a particular place. Thisarrangement also allows children and the elderly to remain inthe villages where living costs are low, while income-earnersand school-aged childrenmove to the most suitable places.

RuraltourbanmigrationinMongolia

In Mongolia, when state factoryclosures and cutbacks in socialservices left many with no other


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sources of livelihood, manyreturned to herding cattle farmore than the countrysenvironment could sustain.Overgrazing and deforestationquickly created an ecologicaldisaster, which has in turndevastated livestock, increasedrural poverty and causedsweeping migrations into urbancentres. As a result, cities likeUlanbataar, are increasinglysurrounded by vast ger areas(informal settlements, named forthe felt-lined tents which are thetraditional shelter of Mongolian

herdspeople). In these ger areas,poverty, unemployment, lack ofsanitation and basic services allmake living conditions far worsethan before the transition.


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Urba n and rura l

povertyMost definitions of poverty are based on how much a person earns.

The problem with measuring poverty this way is that it dividespopulations into poor and non-poor, with little recognition of thediversity of deprivations, vulnerabilities and needs which are part ofbeing poor. This measure- ment also ignores the variety of assetspeople have, which may or may not translate into income or cash,but which plays an important role in determining levels of poverty assets like housing, job skills, good health, land, access to services,access to savings and credit groups and social support systems. As aresult, the scale and depth of urban poverty is not properlyestimated, which can have serious policy implications. Amartya Sen,Indias Nobel-prize winning economist, defines poverty as a lack offreedom to lead the kind of life a person values. Poverty cannot beseen only in financial terms, he argues, but as having manydimensions: poverty of sufficient and stable income andproductive assets poverty of access to safe,secure housing poverty of access to essential infrastructureand public services poverty of safety nets and poverty of theprotection of legal rights poverty of power, participationand respect

If people are deprived of these essential things, they will have

difficulty realizing their full poten- tial as human beings and asmembers of society. As such, they will not be able to benefit from,contribute to or have much influence on their societysdevelopment. As urbanization increases around the region, it wontbe long before most of Asias poor will live in cities. Thisphenomenon is what many are now calling the urbanization ofpoverty.

Ruralpoverty

In rural areas, people are oftenpoor because their land isntproductive, or is inadequate tomeet their needs. Small farmersoften face enormous difficulties

in taking on new technologies to

increase productivity and markettheir products, or find themselvescaught in spiraling debts becauseof rising costs of fertilizers andfalling market prices for theircrops. Others are poor because


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they dont have any land at all,and survive as agriculturallaborers, renting or living onsomeone elses land. The lack ofjob opportunities makes itdifficult for the rural poor to climbout of poverty by staying there.But most importantly, the ruralpoor are almost never linkedtogether into organized networksof mutual support, with enoughstrength to resolve theirproblems collectively and tomake their voices heard.

Urbanpoverty

In urban areas, an importantaspect of poverty is often the lackof adequate housing and infra-structure. Poor people in citiesmay have greater cash incomes,but these may be unstable andinadequate, especially whenconsidering the higher costs ofliving in cities, such as transportand housing. With a lack of formalhousing op- tions, many areforced to settle in slums andinformal settlements, often onunsuitable land, or live invisibly

in overcrowded buildings, and farfrom employment opportunities.As they often do not own the landthey occupy, or possess hous- ingregistrations and buildingpermits, they lack a stable assetbase, access to credit and basicservices. Environmental healthcan be a large concern, especiallyfor children. Limited or weaksafety nets can make urbanpoverty particularly difficult,especially in times of crisis.

0 QUICK GUIDES FOR POLICY MAKERS 1,URBANIZ ATION


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PHOTO:ACHR

A large employer:

In Asia, 65% of all non-

agricultural employment

is in the informal sector.And increasingly, the

tendency is for the

formal sector

to subcontract services

out to secondary labour

markets, most of which

operate in the informal

sector.

As as nforma l sectorReaso na bleincom esfor the poorand ch eapg oo dsandservices for th e city . . .

Most of Asias urban poor work

in the informal sector, one wayor another. Good jobs in gov-ernment offices, factories andprivate sector businesses maybe desirable, but are usually inshort supply. Such jobs requireeducation and skills, as well asthe right contacts, or enoughcash to pay to brokers.

Instead, most urban poor usetheir own creativity andentrepreneurial spirit to starttheir own small businesses,selling goods, prepared foodsor fresh produce from carts orin the neighbourhoods andoffering all kinds of services.

These informal businesses areoften the main supply systemfor the citys poor. The goods

and services they offer arecheap, flexible and available

where and when you needthem: just about anything canbe sold from a cart. But theinformal sector is also animportant supply system foreveryone else in the city notjust the poor with freshvegetables and fruits, tasty

snacks and meals, cheapclothing and just about anythinga person needs at prices farlower than any store can offer.


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The hours may be long and theworking conditions may notalways be ideal, but earningsfrom self-employed informalbusinesses (or wages workingfor other informal sector em-ployers) are often higher thanlow-level daily wage labour orfactory work in the formal sec-tor. And for poor womenespecially, who often havehouseholds to look after andmanage, self-employmentthrough small informal-sector

enterprises provide a flexibleoption for bring- ing in extraincome while staying at homeor nearby home. For manywomen, it is also the onlyoption due to disciriminationand lack of education. It is nosurprise, then, that womencomprise the greater majority of

workers in the informal sectorlabour market.

In addition to its contributiontoAsias employment theinformal sector alsocontributes a large part tonational economies by generat-ing both production and

income, which in turn generatespin-off economic activities.Statistics show that the informalsectors share of Asias overallgross domestic product (GDP) isa as high as 31%.


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PHOTO:ACHR

The t de nobod y can stop:Governmentsall ove rA siak ee p tryin gto sto p or reve rsethem igra tio ninto ci tie s, butso far, theirefforts ha venotsucceeded

Rapid urbanization puts heavypressure on urban resources. Inmany Asian cities, it is com- monto find that more than half thepopulation lives in slums orsquatter settlements, withoutadequate shelter, urbaninfrastructure and services,because the development ofinfrastructure in these cities andtowns has not kept pace with theincrease in demand. Workingconditions in the urban informalsector are often far from perfectand working children arecommon. City managers havefurthermore been largely unable

to enforce urban plans andbuilding regulations. Many well-intended urban improvement

programmes such as slumclearance have been ill-designedand only cause further problems.

Faced with the growth of slumsand squatter settlements andthe increase in urban informalactivities, which continue to beseen as problems, some policy

makers continue to imagine thatthe poor would be better off inthe


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rural areas and conclude thatthey only cause problems likesquatting, hawking, crime anddisorder in cities.

Over the past decades,various governments havetried to restrict rural-urbanmigration by puttingrestrictions on entry intothe city. For instance, theurban population in someplaces require identificationcards for urban residence,

without which they cannotaccess free or subsidizedpublic services such ashealth care and education.However, such actions tendto create shortages ofurban labour and to drive upprices of goods and services,while increasing the povertyof rural-urban migrants, whoend up paying for servicesthat other people are gettingfor free.


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W hycanturbanmigrationbestopped?

People are coming to cities in order to survive. The will tosurvive is a tough force tocounteract, even by governments determined to slow down theflow of people into cities.

Its not easy for governments to control where, how andwhen their citizens move around the country. Restrictingpeoples freedom of movement is also widely regarded as aviolation of their basic human rights.

The cities and towns these migrants are moving into needtheir cheap labour and need the cheap goods and servicesthey provide as workers, hawkers, laborers, artisans, waiters, taxi

drivers, maids and cleaners.When people move to cities, they are moving to placeswhere they will earn more, become more productive, anddevelop themselves economically.

When governments force migrants out of the city intorelocation areas, the poor job opportunities and livingconditions in these peripheral areas often mean people cantsurvive.

When governments force slum-dwellers out of the city intorural resettlement programmes, many of these people areactually city-born urbanites who have no experience as farmersand no desire to start a new life in a village.

H owcanwemakeurbanmigrationwork better?

Instead oftrying to stop migration, the best thing to do is tointroduce realistic policies and programmes which help make

urbanization work better for the poor and for the city as a whole. Poverty reduction and human developmentare incrementalprocesses they dont happen over night, especially with somany poor people moving into cities. Policies to achieve adequatehousing for all the urban newcomers can only be realizedprogressively. The urban poor themselves are the major resource inpoverty reduction and urban development. If governments

can find creative ways to enable and support this process, insteadof undermining it, the poor themselves can drive the process ofincrementaldevelopmentof housing and settlement upgrading,and


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become the citys chief partner in solving the serious problemsofhousingand basic services.

Goodurbangovernance

Urban development is the result ofdecisionsand actions made by

a wide range of public and private actors. The best solutions tourban poverty and housing problems are those in which a varietyof actors work in partnership,with the poor being the key actors.When governments acknowledge that they cant solve the problemalone, but only in partnership, thats when the really effective workbegins. The most important thing governments can do to helpresolve problems of urban migrationand housing is to ensure thatno group is excluded from participation in the process ofdecidinghow to solve those problems, and to ensure nobody is excluded

from the benefits of urban development and public resourcesinvested in solving these problems.


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PHOTO:PA

CSI

PHILIPPINE

S

PHOTO:INTERNATIONALTIBETHERITAGE

FUND

Informa l settlement s n c t esOne of the most visiblemanifestations of urban- izationis the growth of different kinds of

informal settlements. (See QuickGuide 2 on Low-income housing).Some informal settlements arehighly visible in a city, whileothers may be more hid- den anddurable from the outside, forexample in overcrowdedtenements, rental housing and

some public housing projects. Inpractice,

definitions of these settlementscan get fuzzy, especially whenlandowners or authorities either

partly recognize the settlementsor accept some of the settlersrights.

But whether accepted or not,there are plenty of commonmisconceptions about both slumsand informal settlements andthe people who live in them.

N ot a ll squatters and slum-dwellers are migrantsand not allmigrants liv e i n sq u atte rsettlements.

Not all people liv ing in informal

settlementsare poor, and not all

poo rlive in info rm alsettlements.

Migrants come to cities for abetter future for themselvesand their children. While theyreal- ize the importance ofshelter and infrastructure,these are not necessarilya first

priority. Earning is a priorityand since transport costs canbe high, proximity toemployment opportunities isoften more important thanhousing quality. Manymigrants also expect to returnsome day to their village and somay not want to buy a house

even a house in a squattersettlement. They are moreinclined to rent a room

somewhere close to jobopportunities. But many city-born households face similarhousing problems and areforced to live in slums andsquattersettlements.


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The housing shortage in manyAsian cities and towns is soacute that its not only thepoor who cant afford formalhousing. In many cities, evenmiddle-income households are

being forced to live in slumsand squatter settlements,which increasingly include amix ofdifferent income groups.People may end up living in aslum or squatter settlementbecause its affordable, becausethe location is convenient, orbecause they were poor whenthey moved in but are nowbetter off. As such, largeinformal settlements arebecom- ing growing marketsfor goods and services, at thesame time they continue toprovide a source of cheaplabour.


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42% of all urban Asians live in

slums. That means that 533

million people are living

in squalor and insecurity in

the regions poor and informal

urban slums. The

overwhelming majority are

not layabouts or criminals, but

ordinary, hard-working people

who cannot afford decent

housing.

Wha t s a slum?Urban poor settlements come ina variety of sizes, shapes,histories and political cultures,and they are called by a varietyof names. UN- HABITAT defines aslum household as a group of

people living under the same roofin an urban area who lack one ormore of the following fiveconditions: Durable housing built of

permanent materials in asafe, non hazardous site. Sufficient living area, so that notmore than three people share

the same room. Access to clean waterthat issufficient totheir needs, easyto access

and affordable. Access to propersanitation. Secure tenure and the legalstatus to protect a householdagainst forced eviction.

Slums in Asia


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PHOTO:ACHR

In many places, a cleardistinction is drawn betweenslums and squatter settlements: SLU M :Usually the term slum is

used to cover a wide range ofareas with poor quality hous-ing, insufficient infrastructureand deteriorated livingenvironments, but in which theoccupants have some kind ofsecure land tenure: as owners,legal occupants or formal

tenants of the land. S QUATT ER S ETT L E M E NT: The termsquatter settlement is usuallyused to describe areas wherepeople have built their ownhouses on land that doesnt

belong to them and for whichthey have no legal permission orlease or building permit, andusually built without followingbuilding and planningregulations.

(Figuresas of 2001)

Region Totalpopulati

on (in

Total urban %of populationtotal

Total slum % oftotal population

urban

Eastern AsiaSouth-Central AsiaSouth-East

1,364

1,499

533 39.1429 29.6203 38.3115 65.7

193.8 36.4253.1 59.056.8 28.029.7 25.7

TOTAL Asia 3,519 1,280 36.4 533.4 41.7

Source: UN-HABITAT, State of the Worlds Cities 2006/2007, 2006


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PHOTO:UN--

HABITAT

PHOTO:ACHR

Slum s of

despa r andslum s ofhope

In developed countries, the term slum has more of a negativeconnotation than in developing countries. In developed countries, aslum is an area of town that is deteriorating, probably occupied by amarginalized group of people, and is therefore ripe for demolition orurban renewal. Peter Lloyd used the term slums of despair todescribe such neighbourhoods. In cities of developing countries, thepeople who live in slum and squatter settlements are usually too

busy getting on with their lives to despair. For them, the hope for abetter living environment and a better future for themselves andtheir children is very much alive. And they are ready to invest theirresources no matter how small in improving their houses andcommunities, if the conditions are favor- able. Lloyd calls these kindsof settlements slums of hope.

Signs of hop e:W he npeo plefee l they canstay a while,they w ill alm ostalw aysinvestin im pro vingtheirhousing

Slums tend to deteriorate overtime because the land andbuilding owners are waiting forthe right opportunity toredevelop the land or sell it to adeveloper. In the mean time,

they may opt to rent out spaceto poor households who have nostake in the property and

therefore have little incentive toimprove it. Housing in squattersettlements, on the other hand,is often owner- occupied, and ifthey believe they can staythere for a while without beingevicted, residents will ofteninvest their savings inimproving the dwelling and the


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community environment. Soeven though the tenure is muchmore uncertain, housing insquatter settlements tends toimprove more over time. In somecountries likeThailand

and Pakistan, the governmentshave launched innovativeprogrammes to improve housingand living conditions bysupporting this process ofcommunity-drivenimprovement.


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PHOTO:UDRCMO

NGOLIA

Signs of hop e:Poo r hou sehold sin inform alsettlementsusuallydeveloptheirhousingincrementally, at theirow npace

Many squatter settlements

begin life as en- croachmentsby a small group or even asingle household on a pieceof vacant land. Ifthe authoritiesdont come to demolish the firstsimple huts put up on that land,these pioneers will graduallystart improving their dwellingsand other poor households willcome to join them. Once thereis a sizable settlement withsome solid housing on thatland, the residents may contactthe authorities and requestinfrastructure services such aswater supply and electricity,and may negotiate with local

politicians to support theserequests. Houses in squatter

settlements are usually built

over time by the residents whooccupy them, or by small localcontractors, or somecombinationof the two.

But the urban poor continue to face many tough realities:

A s cities grow, vacant land in

suitable locations becomes more

and morescarce

As cities grow and densify, poorpeople in search of housing willfind it more and more difficult tosimply squat on a piece ofvacant land. They may find thatmost good pieces of vacant landare already occupied by earlier

squatters, and what is notoccupied is well-guarded againsten- croachment by the

authoritiesor land owners.

As a result, informal land

markets develop, in whichpoliticians, governmentofficials, thugs and slum leaderscollude to sell house plots inestablished squatter settlements,with protection, in exchange forcash and political support. Whilethese informal land markets canbe highly effective mechanismsfor providing land and housingto poor households, they oftenexclude the very poorest from


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established informalsettlements.

Some urban poor opt for the

freedom of renting instead of

b u y ing or buildinga house in a

slum

Because even illegal land insquatter settlements has itscost, many of the pooresthouseholds may be forced torent rooms in a slum orsquatter settlement. Thenumber of room-renters usuallyincreases as available land forsquatting diminishes and

housing costs in informalsettlements rise. And for someurban poor households, rentedrooms offer certain advantages,giving them the flexibility tomove on if they have to findwork elsewhere or if someemergency makes it necessaryto sud- denly leave.

Many rural-urban migrants maynot even expect to stay long inthe city, and for them, renting aroom allows them to save asmuch money as possible andinvest their savings in building ahouse back home in theirvillage.


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PHOTO:ACHR

PHOTO:AC

HR

Hous ng and urban zaton

FA CT: Everyone needs housing

Housing provides us all withprivacy and security, as well asprotection against the physicalelements. By keeping us healthyand productive, good housingcontributes to the well-being ofboth households and to acountrys broader economic and

social development. Housing isalso a good investment, andhouse owners often use theirhouses and land as a kind ofsavings account. Housing is animportant asset for its owner itcan be used as a place togenerate income through home-based economic activities and it

can serve as collateral for loans.

FA CT: Housingis a humanright

The right to housing has been enshrined in several importantinternational declarations, which almost all Asian governments havesigned:

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights states thatEveryone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the

health and well-being, of himself and of his household, includingfood, clothing and shelter.

The 1976 Vancouver Declaration on HumanSettlements states thatAdequate shelter and services are a basic human right, whichplaces an obligation on governments to ensure their attainmentby all people,beginning with direct

assistance to the leastadvantaged, through guidedprogrammes of self-help and


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community action.

The Habitat Agenda, adopted

in Istanbul in 1996, reaffirmedthe commitment to the fulland progressive realization ofthe right to adequate housing,as provided for ininternational instruments. Inthis context, we recognize anobligation by Governments toenable people to obtainshelter and to protect andimprove dwell- ings andneighbourhoods.


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PHOTO:

UNESCAP

Everyoneneeds housing:

Housing is probably the single-

most important economic and

survival asset most households

invest in. And yet increasingnumbers of urban households

cannot afford even the most

minimal dwelling that the

formal sector or the state has

to offer. When half the urban

population cant afford decent

housing, it means theres a

serious problem with how the

city works.

FA CT: Housingis a key part of the urbaneconomy

Housing production is a major economic activity in most cities.Building housing not only produces the economic asset of the housingunit itself, but it creates all sorts of secondary economic activities:laborers get employment and then spend their earnings locally,

materials purchased in the city support industries and supplybusinesses, and new housing attracts further investment in the areaswhere it is built, and tends also to increase nearby land values.Investment in housing accounts for between2% and 8% of GNP and up to 30% of gross capital formation indeveloping countries. As an asset, housing is even more important, asit accounts for between 20% and 50% of the private asset wealth inmost countries. House-ownership is a major motivation for householdsaving and significantly

influ-ences household consumption.

Inaddition, housing affects inflation, labour mobility and the balance ofpayments, as well as government budgets through taxes andsubsidies.

FA CT: Housing is expensive for almost everybody

Millions of new households are added every year to the urbanpopulation. Most of these households need a place of their own to

live. But urban land is in limited supply and needs to be developedwith urban infrastructure (including roads, water supply, drainage,


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sanitation and electricity) before formal housing can be developedon it. Residents also need access to other urban services such ashealth care, education, transport, and civil protection. All of whichmakes housing costly.

FA CT:The formalhousingbeingbuiltis

notenough

The public sector, the private sector and civil society are alreadyproducing housing, but the production falls far short of providingdecent, affordable shelter for all urban households. Many people whocannot afford housing in the formal market are forced to shareaccommodation with family or friends, or to rent. And a large portionof the urban population the poor can only build, buy or rent inthe urban informal housing market. In fact, the urban informal sector

and the urban poor themselves are the largest producers of housingin the worlds cities.


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PHOTO:

UNESCAP

Structuralissues:

Problems of housing

and poverty in Asian

cities are not isolated

issues, but symptomsof much deeper,

structural problems

of land access, social

equity and national

development. More

and more

governments are

realizing that solving

these deeper, more

structural problems is

possible, and that

sweeping away their

symptoms is not the

answer. pol c es wh ch hav e notbee n abl e to solv e hous ngproblem s n As an c t esOver the years, central and local government authorities in citiesacross Asia have tried implement- ing all kinds of policies andprogrammes to resolve the serious problems of housing the urbanpoor. Most of these policies and programmes have failed miserably,

but that hasnt stopped them from being resurrected later on, bysubsequent administrations, or in other places, to be tried again.Here we take a look at four of the most often repeated but least effectivepolicies and programmes that aim to ensure that the urban poorhave a decent place to live. PushthepooroutofthecityMany governments have dealt with problems of housing and urbanpoverty by taking steps to remove the poor from the city, throughanti-urbanization policies and eviction drives which push the urbanpoor out of their informal settlements, demolish their houses andsend them back to rural areas or at least out of the city into


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poorly-planned relocation colonies. These sometimes brutal policieshave almost never been effective in halting rural-urban migration orcurtailing the spread of informal settlements. They may have beenable to destroy the settlements the urban poor had developed forthemselves and eliminated the capital they had invested in theirhousing, but even so, the slums always came back: people had no

choice but to come back to survive. The only tangible effect of thesepolicies has been deepening poverty, greater hardship andprolonged suffering for the urban poor, whose subsequent livingconditions are even more substandard and hazardous. (See QuickGuide 2 on Low-income Housing)0 QUICK GUIDES FOR POLICY MAKERS 1,URBANIZ ATION


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Letthestateprovidehousingforthepoor

Many governments build subsidized public-sector housing for theurban poor. These programmes, in which the state acts as bothdeveloper and landlord, have been highly successful in places like

Hong Kong and Singapore, where slum-dwellers and squatters wereresettled in state-built high-rise apartment blocks. But suchprogrammes are not easy to replicate elsewhere, since both HongKong and Singapore are wealthy city-states, with relatively small urbanpopulations and no rural hinterland at all and therefore no rural-urban migration to deal with. In other countries, subsidized public-sectorhousing has almost always run into serious financial problems aftersome years, because the low- income housing needs are so much

greater than what the governments could afford, and the supplyquickly lags far behind demand. Because most cities also face ashortage of affordable housing to all income groups, market forceshave enabled middle-income groups to gradually invade subsidizedlow-income housing units on a large scale. So the urban poor targetgroup remain homeless, while the government ends up subsidizinghousing for the middle class. LettheprivatesectorprovidehousingforthepoorSome government policies give incentives to the private sector todevelop housing for the urban poor. These private sector incentiveschemes work in several ways. In some countries, authorities willonly allow private developers to build middle and high-incomehousing if the developer agrees to build a certain percentage of theunits for low-income groups, at certain low rents or sale prices. Inpractice, however, the developers have found loopholes and ways of

getting around the rule, so in the end, very little affordable housinggets built. Other governments have created an environment in whichthe private sector is encouraged to move down-market, with fasterapproval procedures, lower interest rates for housing loans andsmaller minimum plot sizes, which are supposed to enable privatesector developers to build lower-cost housing and still make a profit.While such housing may not target the poorest of the urban poor, itcan sometimes reduce the invasion of subsidized public-sector low-income housing by lower-middle income groups. Turnablindeye totheproblem


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Faced with a lack of other alternatives or new ideas, manygovernments have adopted a blind-eye policy towards their urbanhousing problems. In these cases, neither resettlement into the ruralareas nor resettlement into subsidized public sector housingschemes have been feasible, and the private sector has developed

little more than some limited housing for lower-middle-income groupswith regular incomes. So with no other ideas on their tables, manygovernments have by default adopted policies which more or lessleave most of the slums and squatter settlements alone, onlycarrying out evictions where there is an immediate alternative needfor the land. Some governments are also providing some minimalbasic services in the older and more organized of these settlements.Although these infrastructure provisions may increase peoplesperceptions of their land security and encourage investment in their

houses, they are not able to stop evictions.


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Solv ng problem s on man y

fronts:In stea dof dep en din gon a singlesolution, its betterto thinkcomprehensively

I t is im porta n tto aimto solve all the cityshousingproblems,notjusta few projects.

Rem em b erto planforth e urb anpoorho use ho ldsw hohave

ju starrivedin th e city.

Housing policies should benefit the

larger population living in slums

and squatter settlements in a city,

not just a few here and there.

The blind-eye policy may allowmany to stay where they are, butit cant ensure that the right todecent, secure housing is withinreach of everyone in the city.There is a need for policies andprogrammesthat aim to solve theurban housing problem frommany angles at the same time.No single solution can solve allthe problems. That meansregularizing the tenure andupgrading existing settlementswherever possible, and or-ganizing voluntary andparticipatory resettlement tosuitable new locations only whereregulariza- tion and upgradingare absolutely not possible.

Housing policies should alsopromote partnership betweengovernment, low-income

communities, NGOs, civil societyorganizations and the privatesector, with each doing what itcan do best.


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PHOTO:

UNESCAP

PHOTO:

UNESCAP


In addition to improvingexisting set-

tlements, there is a need to develop

programmes for housing newly formed

urban poor households.

The urban poor population is not

something static, but is growingand fluctuating every day. And allthese new-comers need housingtoo. The people in existinginformal communities, as well assmall informal-sector contractors,are by far the most efficientproducers of affordable housing.

They can play a key role asproduc- ers of housing for thesenew households. But this kind ofself-help housing cannot occurjust anywhere. Nobody wantsinformal settlements to keep

growing and duplicatingthemselves. It is possible thatthis kind of low-income self-helphousing by the poor and theinformal sector can happen in aplanned manner, as in sites andservices schemes (see QuickGuide 2 on Low-income Housing).


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PHOTO

25 - A

PHOTO:ACHR

Rememberthat rental

housingis a viable

op tionfor m an ypoorhouseholds.

Policy makerstend to pay little atten-

tion to rental housingas an im portant

part of the housing stock that is afford-able to the poor.

Some argue that the rental roomsand houses that are available tothe poor in informal settlementsare very bad, overly expensiveand exploitative. But despite thedrawbacks, many poor householdsprefer to rent rather than own theirhouse in a slum. They may not beable to borrow enough or gatherthe resources necessary toinformally buy a plot or house inan existing slum, or to pay for thecost of building a house of theirown. Some may prefer to remainmobile and be able to move awaywhen employment opportunitieschange, especially when the

households main income earnerswork as casual laborers ortemporary employees. Oth- ers

may stay in the city only alimited time and may wish tosave as much money as possiblefor meeting other needs, or togradually build a house back inthe village. Government policies

should ensure that there is anadequate supply of low-costrental housing. (See Quick Guide7 on Rental Housing)


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M ake hous ing for thepoora key part of thelarger urban planning

process.

If there can be close links betweenlow- income housing and urban

planning, it will be good news for the

poor and good news for the whole

city.

Many despair that urbanplanning in Asian cities has beenreplaced by ad-hoc projectsdetermined by money politics anddonor fund- ing agendas ratherthan any real local planningprocess. And it is certainly truethat the authorities in manyAsian cities lack the capacity or

the political power to enforceurban plans, whether those plansare good or bad.

As a result, market forces drivethe development of cities andtowns. The urban poor, who arealways the weakest players in theland and housing markets, areleft out, or forced onto marginalland that is unsuitable forhabitation, or else pushed to theremote urban periphery, far fromemployment opportunities.

It is important that local

governments and urban

planners dont give up on

the planning process, and

keep working to adopt

inclusive policies which

leave space for the urban

poor to realize their right to

adequate housing and

access to basic urban

infrastructure and services.

One good way to do this is

to allocate land for housing

in general and for housing

the urban poor in particular.


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PHOTO:

UNESCAP

housng strateg es

wh ch enabl ethe poor

S T RAT EGY1:Investinginbuildingpartnerships

Partnershipsare essential to ensure a good supply ofurban low-incomehousing, in the quantity and the variety that is needed.This task isway too big for any single group to handle alone neither the urbanpoor themselves,nor the governmentnor the private sectorcan do it.But if such partnerships are to be effective, the organizationsof theurban poor must be central partners. And as in all partnerships, it isimportant to work out who does what according to what each groupdoes best:

T H E G O V E R N M E N Tcan help poor communities (who remain theweakest players in the urban land market) access much-neededland in several ways. They can set aside land for low-incomehousing within their urban plans, and they can help mediatebetween land-own- ing agencies and individuals and poorsquatters, to develop compromise solutions such as land sharing,land pooling and land readjustment (see Quick Guide 3 on Land).Governments should regulate the poors own housing processwith as little intervention as possible, without hinderingcommunity initiatives. In order to prevent the urban middle classfrom gaining control of such land, the government can alsodevelop innovative forms of urban land tenure, such as collectiveland title or collective land leases. P O OR C O M M U N I T IES can save collectively, can develop their ownplans for housing and settlement improvement, and canimplement those plans, maintaining control over the constructionand upgrading process. They can also develop strong community

organizations capable of managing the future needs of theirmembers, in a longer-term poverty alleviation process. (SeeQuick Guide 6 on Community-based Organizations)


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NGOs can assist poor communities to organize themselves intostrong, collective organizations, and to develop the kind ofleadership and collective decision-making and financial-manage-ment skills they will need to undertake significant housing andsettlement improvements as a group work that cannot be doneby individual households.

T HE P R IVATE SECTOR can negotiate on-site land-sharing agreementsor subsidize peoples relocation, as compromise solutions, insteadof evicting squatters occupying their land. There are many casesin Asian cities where in order to clear a piece of privately-ownedland for commercial development, land owners have negotiatedthese kinds of compromise solutions and still turned a very goodprofit on the redevelopment, while helping to provide those poorsquatters with decent, secure housing. (See Quick Guide 4 onEviction)


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PHOTO:AC

HR

PHOTO:ACHR

S T RAT EGY2:Basicservices throughpartnership

The responsibility for developing basic infrastructure in poorcommunities can be shared by the government, community andindividual households, while external trunk infrastructure has to bedeveloped by local governments. Poor community members, if wellorganized and supported with some simple technical help, can bevery efficient and effective designers, builders and maintain- ers oftheir settlements internal roads, sewers,drains, water supply andelectricity networks. Thedevelopment of houses andinfrastructure within house plots

can be managed separately byindividual households, orcollectively, as a community-wideprocess. Formal building regula-tions and the choice ofconstruction technologies shouldenable the housing andinfrastructure developmentprocess to happen incrementally,

as and when peoples resourcesare available. (See Quick Guide 2on Low-income Housing)

S T RAT EGY3:Communitysavingsandcredit

Because housing is expensive for everyone and often unaffordable tothe poor, it usually involves saving and borrowing. Most urban poor

cannot dream of getting formal housing loans from a bank.And somany community federations and NGOs promote the organization ofcommunity saving and credit groups. The discipline of saving and

loaning collectively is important both for individual households andfor the community as a whole, which through savings develops

collective financial management capacities theyll need for largercommunity development projects. Savings and credit groups also

give the urban poor accessto small loans for

incremental housingimprovement, fromtheir collective


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savings pool orfrom external fundsthe savings grouplinks with. In theseways, savingsgroups can form the

core for furthercommunitydevelopment. (Formore detailed

discus- sions of

community-based

savings and credit

strategies, see

Quick Guide 5 on

Housing Finance,and Quick Guide 6on Community-

based

Organizations)


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S T RAT EGY4:Communitiesleadtheprocess

People who are poor have no power as individuals. Only when theylink together into community organizations, and into larger city-wide

and country-wide networks and federations of poor com- munitiescan they develop the collective experience, the power and thecritical mass to negotiate for resources they need. Without this kindof community organization, the poor will continue to be at themercy of somebody elses idea of what they need. When organizedtogether into strong community-based organizations, the urban poorcan very efficiently and effectively improve their housing andsettlements, in ways that ensure the betterment ofall households inthat settlement. (See Quick Guide 6 on Community-based

Organizations)

S T RAT EGY5:Softeningtherulesandregulations

Building rules and procedures should not hinder but support theefforts of the poor to solve their own housing problems. Very oftenlocal planning bylaws, building regulations and procedures forobtaining permissions have been designed to suit the housing beingproduced by formal private sector contractors for urban middle classhouseholds, rather than the informal house productions systems ofthe urban poor. If governments are serious about creating anenabling environment for the poor to solve their own problems, it isimportant that these rules and regulations be adjusted and softened,to make them more flexible and more friendly for the poor. (SeeQuick Guide 2 on Low-income Housing)

S T RAT EGY6:Workingfromlocally-rootedinformation

One of the greatest problems of centralized governance structures isthat decisions about what happens in cities and towns are not madeby the people who live and work there, but by central governmentministries or departments in administrative capitals far away, whichhave development agendas which often clash with the local needsand aspirations of the those cities and towns. For this reason,

decentralization of decision-making and control over land andbudgets has been at the top of many Asian countries


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decentralization programmes in the past decade. An importantingredient in decentralization is the development of local informationabout a citys problems, populations, needs and aspirations. Nationalgovernments need to work more closely with local authorities andlocal stakeholders in a city to ensure that this kind of local, city-based information is developed and fed into to development process.

That means generating better, more comprehensive and morelocally-rooted information for planning, negotiating and monitoringhow development happens in a city and particularly howdevelopment affects a citys inhabitants. This is especially importantfor the poor, whos housing problems and housing needs are oftenabsent from the planning and from the information that guides thatplanning.


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The enormous changes happeningin most Asian cities today are nolonger governedby any formal, agreed-upon development plans, butby an ad-hoc interplay of land politics, private sector investment and

foreign-fundedmega-projects. In this context, forums and approacheswhich promote dialogue and build consensus among the variousstakeholders have become crucial. Such approaches include citydevelopment strategies, urban forums and city consultations.The keycommon features of these approaches are that they are based on anextensive and multi-stakeholder process of research, discussion,planning and implementation. Such dialogues can be initiated bynational or local governments, as is often the case with citydevelopment strategies and city consultations, or by civil societyorganizationssuch as the urban resource centres,as is the case withurban forums.

U rba nResourc e Centrein Karachi, PA K I STA N

Urban development plans inmost Asian cities are made by

a powerful nexus betweenpoliticians, bureaucrats,developers and internationalagencies and consultants. Com-munities, citizen groups andinterest groups who are oftenthe victims of these plans, arealmost never consulted aboutthem. In the absence of

transparency or participation,corruption becomes anessential part of the planningprocess.

But where plans come out ofconsultation between variousinterest groups, who alsosupervise their

implementation, they arealmost always better: moresensitive, more appropriate and

more in keeping with groundrealities. And wherever protests

or proposals from communitiesor interest groups comebacked up by a solidawareness about governmentplans, professional advice andviable alternatives, they aretaken seriously and theirrecommendations are morelikely to be accommodated. The

big question is how to makethis kind of dialogue andparticipa- tion happen?

Source:ww w .ach r .net
http://www.achr.net/http://www.achr.net/http://www.achr.net/http://www.achr.net/


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S T RAT EGY7:Creatingspace fordialogueThe Urban Resource Centre(URC) in Karachi has workedover the past two decades tocreate a space where all the

players can come together for adialogue about planningdecisions which affect everyonein the city.

This is a way of democratizing thecitys development and breakingthe monopoly on big decisionstraditionally held by politicians,

developers and internationalagencies,to make Karachia moresensibly, transparently andequitably planned city.

The URC compiles detailedinformation about most majorurban projects, analyses themwith the help of variousstakeholders, then presents this

analysis to communities, interestgroups and government agenciesin public forums, which areattended by large numbers ofpeople and groups. Forums arealso held on issues of concern toKarachis poor, where communitymemberscan meet and form linkswith NGOs and profession- alswho can assist their initiatives.Allforums are documented andsummaries are made available tothe press. In these ways, the URChas played an increasinglyimportant role in the way the cityofKarachidevelops.


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ReferencesP U B L I C A T I O N S

Anzorena, Eduardo Jorge S.J., 1996 (2nd edition), Housing the Poor:

The Asian Experience, Pagtambayayong Foundation, Cebu,Philippines.

Anzorena, Eduardo Jorge S.J., with Fernandez, Francisco L., 2004,Housing the Poor in the NewMillennium, Pagtambayayong Foundation, Cebu, Philippines.

Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, 2005, Understanding AsianCities, A Synthesis of the Find- ings from Eight Case Study Cities.

Bombay First, 2003, The City: Land use and Housing in Mumbai,

Volume 1, Series 4.Breman, J., 1996, Footloose Labour: Working in Indias InformalEconomy, Cambridge UniversityPress, Cambridge.

Hardoy, Jorge E., Cairncross, Sandy and Satterthwaite, David (eds.),1990, The Poor Die Young: Housing and Health in Third World Cities,Earthscan Publications, London.

Hardoy, Jorge E., Mitlin, Diana & Satterthwaite, David, 2001,Environmental Problems in anUrbanizing World, Earthscan Publications, London.

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED),April 2003, Rural-UrbanTransformations, Environment and Urbanization, London, UK. Vol. 15,No. 1.

International Labour Organization (ILO), Regional Offioce for Asia andthe Pacific, The informalsector,

http://ww w .ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/feature/inf_sect.htm

Jack, Malcolm, 2006, Urbanization, Sustainable Growth and PovertyReduction in Asia, IDS Bulletin, Volume 37, Number 3, May.

Lloyd, Peter, 1979, Slums of Hope? Shanty Towns of the ThirdWorld, Manchester UniversityPress.

Mehta, Dinesh, 2000, The Urbanization of Poverty, HabitatDebate, Volume 6, Number 4, Nairobi.

Payne, Geofferey, 1977, Urban Housing in the Third World,

Leonard Hill, London. Satterthwaite, D., September 2007, The
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/feature/inf_sect.htmhttp://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/feature/inf_sect.htmhttp://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/feature/inf_sect.htmhttp://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/feature/inf_sect.htmhttp://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/feature/inf_sect.htmhttp://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/feature/inf_sect.htmhttp://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/feature/inf_sect.htm


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Transition to a Predominantly Urban World and its

Underpinnings, Human Settlements Discussion Paper Series

Urban Change-4, IIED.

Sen, Amartya, 2000, Development as Freedom, Oxford University

Press, Oxford and New York. Sharma, Kalpana, 2000, Rediscovering

Dharavi: Stories from Asias Largest Slum, Penguin, London andNew York.

UK Department for International Development (DFID), April 2001,Meeting the Challenge ofPoverty in Urban Areas.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs,Population Division, 2004, WorldUrbanization Prospects, United Nations, 2003 Revision, New York.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs,

Population Division, 2006, WorldUrbanization Prospects, United Nations, 2005 Revision, New York.

UNESCAP, 1996, Living in Asian Cities: The impending crisis,causes, consequences and


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alternatives for the future, Report of the Second Asia-Pacific UrbanForum, United Nations, NewYork.

UNESCAP, 2001, Reducing disparities, Balanced development ofurban and rural areas and regional within the countries of Asia and

the Pacific, United Nations.UN-HABITAT, 2003, Slums of the World: The face of urban poverty inthe new millennium? WorkingPaper, Nairobi.

UN-HABITAT, 2003, The Challenge of Slums: Global Report onHuman Settlements 2003, Earthscan, London and Sterling, VA.

UN-HABITAT, 2001, Tools to Support Participatory Urban DecisionMaking, Urban GovernanceToolkit Series, Nairobi.

UN-HABITAT, 2006, State of the Worlds Cities Report: 20062007.Earthscan, London andSterling, VA.

UN-HABITAT, 2004, Relationship between Sustainable Development,Urbanization and Slums, Think Piece, unpublished.

Vliet, W. V. (ed.), 1998, Encyclopedia of Housing, Sage Publications,Inc.

World Bank, 1993, Housing enabling markets to work, A World Bank

Policy Paper.

W E B S I T E S

Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR).ww w.achr.net

Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE.ww w.cohre.org

Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI),

Thailand. ww w.codi.or.th

Environment and Urbanization, the journal of the InternationalInstitute for Environment and Development (IIED), London, U.K. Allissues of this journal can be downloaded from the Sage Publicationswebsite. http://sagepub.com

Orangi Pilot Project, Karachi, Pakistan.ww w.oppinstitutions.org

Slum-dwellers International (SDI).ww w.sdinet.org

Urban Resource Centre (URC), Karachi, Pakistan.
http://www.achr.net/http://www.achr.net/http://www.achr.net/http://www.achr.net/http://www.achr.net/http://www.achr.net/http://www.achr.net/http://www.cohre.org/http://www.cohre.org/http://www.codi.or.th/http://www.codi.or.th/http://www.codi.or.th/http://www.codi.or.th/http://www.codi.or.th/http://www.codi.or.th/http://www.codi.or.th/http://sagepub.com/http://www.oppinstitutions.org/http://www.oppinstitutions.org/http://www.sdinet.org/http://www.sdinet.org/http://www.achr.net/http://www.cohre.org/http://www.codi.or.th/http://sagepub.com/http://www.oppinstitutions.org/http://www.sdinet.org/


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ww w.urckarachi.org

United Nations Economicand Social Commissionfor Asia and thePacific (UNESCAP)http://w ww. unescap.org

Housing the Urban Poor: A project of the United Nations Economicand Social Commission forAsia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).ww w .housing-the-urban-poo r .net

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT).www.un-habitat.org

A n annotated list of key websites: For an annotated list of websiteswhich offer more information about the key issues discussed inthis Quick Guide series, please visit the Hous- ing the UrbanPoor website, and follow the links to Organizations database.

ww w.housing-the-urban-poo r.net
http://www.urckarachi.org/http://www.urckarachi.org/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.un-habitat.org/http://www.un-habitat.org/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.urckarachi.org/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/http://www.un-habitat.org/http://www.housing-the-urban-poor.net/


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The pressures of rapid urbanization and economic growth inAsia and thePacific have resulted in growing numbers of evictions of urban poor

from their neighbourhoods. In most cases they are relocated toperipheral areas far from centres of employment and economicopportunities.At the same time over500 million people now live in slums and squatter settlements in Asiaand the Pacific region and this figure is rising.

Local governmentsneed policy instrumentsto protect the housing rightsof the urban poor as a critical first step towards attaining the MillenniumDevelopment Goal on significant improvement in the lives of slum-dwellersby 2020. The objective ofthese Quick Guides is to improve the

understandingby policy makersat nationaland local levels on pro-poorhousing and urban developmentwithin t

96943888 Quick Guides for Policy Makers 1 URBANIZATION the Role the Poor Play in Urban Development

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Transcript of 96943888 Quick Guides for Policy Makers 1 URBANIZATION the Role the Poor Play in Urban Development