An Overview of Informal Settlement Upgrading Strategies in Kabul City and the Need for an Integrated Multi-Sector Upgrading Model

Bashir Ahmad Amiri,Nsenda Lukumwena

doi:10.4236/cus.2018.63019

Abstract

The developing economies are experiencing an unprecedented rate of urbanization, mainly in the poor urban areas as shown through the sprawling of slums and informal settlements of several cities in the world. This is also the case of Kabul, the capital and primate city of Afghanistan where around 82% of the people live in what is considered to be informal. Various interventions, from physical upgrading to urban renewal have been undertaken by the government and international organizations but none of them has succeeded to solve the rapid growth of informal settlements. Given the above, the magnitude of the urbanization and the complexity of informal settlements, this paper suggests the use of an integrated multi-sector upgrading as a reactive and proactive upgrading strategy. The paper analyzes the informal settlements formation and the conventional upgrading strategies used in Kabul city. This will help to identify dominant practices and finally rationalize them. For this purpose, Hothkhel has been selected as the case study. As a result, it has been found that the areas occupied by informal settlements have not been built to their respective full capacity. This implies that there is still room for additional buildable volume likely to lead to the preservation of available agricultural land. The result also indicates that the integrated multi-sector upgrading has the scale-up potential to increase the reach of beneficiaries and to ensure an inclusive and efficient urbanization.

Highlights

The sprawling of informal settlements is one of the common issues across the globe from which developing economies suffer the most, and Afghanistan is no exception
From physical upgrading to urban renewal have been undertaken by the government and international organizations but none of them has succeeded to solve the rapid growth of informal settlements
The magnitude of the urbanization and the complexity of informal settlements, this paper suggests the use of an integrated multi-sector upgrading as a reactive and proactive upgrading strategy

Summary

Introduction

The sprawling of informal settlements is one of the common issues across the globe from which developing economies suffer the most, and Afghanistan is no exception. There are 55 informal settlements in Kabul city which accommodate a population of over 30,000 each (Samuel Hall Consulting, 2012) The expansion of these settlements is the direct result of governments’ slum ignorance policy and failure in providing affordable housing to the urban poor since formal housing supply only meets 5% - 10% of the total need, the informal settlements have been the only large-scale solution to the growing population. They should not be perceived as housing crisis but rather as a solution developed by the urban poor under the existing conditions of limited economic resources, and when neither the government nor the private sector could provide dwellers with adequate and affordable housing (Khalifa, 2015)

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion