Abstract
The upgrade paradigm has been a widely accepted solution to informal settlements. However, implementing an effective upgrade program has been challenging for governments of most developing countries. This paper reports a study which examined informal settlement residents’ preferences for infrastructure provided by an upgrade project and factors influencing their decision to live in a makeshift house. It also examined how an informal settlement upgrade project can be implemented in an effective manner. The data originated from interviews with 231 residents of informal settlements in Port Moresby and was analyzed using mixed methods approach which includes descriptive statistics, qualitative content analysis and binary logistic regression model. The results show that all the residents would support the upgrade project and would pay for service charges associated with infrastructure and services provided by the project. Piped borne water and health care facility were the most preferred. In order for the upgrade project to be successful, residents should be fully involved in planning and implementing the project. Results from the logistic model revealed that decision to live in a makeshift house is influenced by factors such as house and land ownership, frequency of crime in the area, household size, occupation, access to toilet and number of years lived in informal settlement. There is a need to develop an effective mechanism for restricting the emergence of new informal settlements. The findings contribute to urban development planning by providing guidelines for upgrading informal settlements in an effective and efficient manner. The findings will be useful for policy makers, planners and urban development managers in the informal settlement upgrade process.
Highlights
The increase in residential areas that lack basic infrastructure and services, houses constructed on land without security of tenure and proper building plan have been a challenge for governments of most countries (UN-Habitat 2015b; Brown 2015).Some of the characteristics of informal settlements include the presence of mainly temporary houses such as makeshift houses which deviate from standard building regulations and presence of low-income earners or unemployed, which renders them incapable of been able to rent a house (Abunyewah et al 2018; Hofmann et al 2008)
The results revealed that almost all the interviewees (97.4%) reported that potablepiped water supplied by Eda Ranu ( Water PNG) is the most important infrastructure needed in the informal settlements where they lived (Figure 5)
We found that informal settlement residents who lived in houses built on State-owned land were less likely to live in a makeshift house
Summary
The increase in residential areas that lack basic infrastructure and services, houses constructed on land without security of tenure and proper building plan (informal settlements) have been a challenge for governments of most countries (UN-Habitat 2015b; Brown 2015).Some of the characteristics of informal settlements include the presence of mainly temporary houses such as makeshift houses which deviate from standard building regulations and presence of low-income earners or unemployed, which renders them incapable of been able to rent a house (Abunyewah et al 2018; Hofmann et al 2008). The increase in residential areas that lack basic infrastructure and services, houses constructed on land without security of tenure and proper building plan (informal settlements) have been a challenge for governments of most countries (UN-Habitat 2015b; Brown 2015). The upgrade of an informal settlement has been a widely accepted solution compared to eviction and relocation of residents of the settlement (Khalil et al 2016; Mardeusz 2014) This often involves land tenure regularization and provision of basic infrastructure (Devas et al 2004). The goal of the upgrade is often to achieve settlement security, basic sanitation and good road networks (Marais et al 2018) It is an intervention which is often used to rebuild collective socio-economic strength among informal settlement residents and long-term settlement security (Dhabhalabutr 2016). Upgrading an informal settlement involves the transformation of various dimensions of the settlement such as economic, social, organization and environment (Dhabhalabutr 2016)
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