Slums Insight

Name: Carlos Eduardo Reyes González
Case study: Improving Slums conditions

Matrikelnum: 351114
16th December 2012
Lecturer: Dr. Detlev Kammeier

Introduction: Since the industrialrevolution, cities have become a magnet attracting people
wishing for development. From all around the world, especially when agricultural related
activities are no longer a source of wealth, farmers andrural inhabitants have moved into
the cities to achieve a sort of “standard of living”. In the last thirty years, developing
countries have had to face this situation which turned into a socialcatastrophe in terms of
human development. Due to the lack of opportunities for the urban immigrants ,
unemployment, poverty and informal economy are among the consequences. Housing is
one of the mostrelevant issues and it is normally solved by the affected dwellers
throughout the construction of informal [illegal] settlements on private land.
Slums: Nowadays, the informal urban clusters areinternationally known as “slums” and
refer to all human settlements with a lack of several basic services and secure tenure.
According to Professor Matthias Nohn [lecturer], there are five key-issueswhich normally
are not developed in the slum areas: safe water, secure tenure, sanitation, resistant houses
and sufficient space. Following those ideas, the first two issues to address, in asocially
inclusive plan, would be to guarantee safe water and sanitation, hence improving general
health conditions. It is hoped that accomplishing the first two steps, the local community
would achievea certain level of formality, but there are more issues they have to assess.
Land tenure: Before assuring the basic needs, it is necessary to develop some structured
communication from thecommunity and within them to evaluate their actual situation.
Normally, the slum dweller occupies private land and the owner claims it back.
Nevertheless, negotiation between the landholders, the local...