Slum Upgrading - History of Slum Upgrading

History of Slum Upgrading

Up until the 1970s, countries took a very hands off approach to the difficulties of third world housing. In essence, there were three solutions taken seriously by the international community: subsidized mortgages, prefabrication, and "organized self-help". However, people began to recognize housing as a basic need, requiring more invasive measures and thus giving rise to the idea of slum upgrading ).

In 1972, John F. C. Turner published his book, Freedom to Build, in which he argued for a theoretical strategy to solve the problem of slums. He argued that governments should not try to tackle the housing problem itself, but all of the components of the area. Thus, by implementing good sewage and clean water and good paths for people to walk on, people would gradually better their abodes on their own.

Many countries have shifted policies towards slum upgrading policies (where the inhabitants are not inherently evicted from their dwellings) and away from what was once the policy and practice of governments – eviction and bulldozing. Some countries, such as China, still hold the policy of bulldozing squatter settlements (which form the basis of many slums), but other countries, such as Brazil, have shifted away from this strategy and worked on urban renewal projects via slum upgrading policies. Slum upgrading proved easier and cheaper and without the public relations nightmare that comes with pictures of housing developments getting bulldozed.

Yet until recently, most countries had very little in terms of formal policy measures to undertake slum upgrading, and so the problem of slums has generally gotten a lot worse over the years. The World Bank has undertaken many major slum upgrading projects since the 1980s, but fundamentally, it does not solve the problem of slums – it simply helps fix the problems with current slums. Worldwide, there are approximately one billion people living in slums. However, that number is expected to rise to two billion by the year 2030, and the policy of slum upgrading will not affect the mass migration of the rural poor to the cities.

In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals were developed and agreed upon by all 192 UN member countries ("United Nations MDGs" 2010). Goal 7 was to ensure environmental sustainability, and one of the targets under this goal was "to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers". As the MDGs touched on the issue of slums, it has also refocused attention on how to alleviate the problem of slums. The UN-HABITAT officially supports the policy of slum upgrading, making it one of the foremost ways of urban renewal with respect to slums.

According to the 2006/2007 UN-HABITAT State of the World's Cities Report, the countries of Egypt, South Africa, Mexico, Tunisia, and Thailand stand out in their efforts towards slum upgrading. Indeed, their slum growth rates had fallen markedly in the various countries (though the fact that the growth rate is still positive speaks to the fact that slums are not going away or even shrinking). The report went on to say that in order to stem (or at least slow) the growth of slums in the world's cities, countries are going to have to make some hard choices and make major financial commitments (with the help of the World Bank, a major player in the worldwide effort to promote slum upgrading) in order to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals towards lifting significant amounts of slum dwellers out of poverty.

According to Habitat for Humanity International some common barriers to slum upgrades are:

• Insufficient legal and regulatory systems
• Excessive land regulation
• Gender discrimination
• Corrupt, inefficient, or inadequate land registration systems
• Disintegration of customary and traditional protections
• Lack of political will around the issue