Growth Of Informal Settlements Research Articles

Investigating the impact of building facades and finishing materials on the sustainable architectural identity of housing: A case study of Kabul

The architectural identities of a city and its surroundings are crucial for maintaining its quality and preserving its unique features. The cities of Afghanistan have undergone significant changes in their identities due to various internal and external factors. These factors have altered or destroyed the identity of the city, leading to the loss of architectural identity and increased confusion in numerous cities in Afghanistan. Throughout history, the city of Kabul, the largest city, has struggled to maintain an identifiable architectural style due to the rapid growth of informal settlements. Recently, large glass and synthetic material facades have become prominent features of Kabul’s urban landscape. These structures represent a new era of modernity, in contrast to the traditional mud-colored buildings that have long dominated the city’s architecture style. The purpose of this research is to explore the influence of building façades and finishing materials on Kabul's sustainable architectural identity, with the goal of studying the relationship between residential building design features and the city's cultural, social, and historical environment. The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, which involves conducting a comprehensive literature analysis and a field study that involves collecting data through observations, interviews, and questionnaires to achieve its objectives. The findings indicate that the selection of building façades and finishing materials has a significant impact on the sustainable architectural identity of Kabul. This study offers valuable insights for policymakers, architects, urban planners, and other stakeholders involved in shaping a sustainable built environment for Kabul and other similar cities in Afghanistan.

Exploring the implementation of an SMS-based digital health tool on maternal and infant health in informal settlements

BackgroundThe rapid urbanization of Kenya has led to an increase in the growth of informal settlements. There are challenges with access to maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services and higher maternal mortality rates in settlements. The Kuboresha Afya Mitaani (KAM) study aimed to improve access to MNCH services. We evaluate one component of the KAM study, PROMPTS (Promoting Mothers through Pregnancy and Postpartum), an innovative digital health intervention aimed at improving MNCH outcomes. PROMPTS is a two-way AI-enabled SMS-based platform that sends messages to pregnant and postnatal mothers based on pregnancy stage, and connects mothers with a clinical help desk to respond and refer urgent cases in minutes.MethodsPROMPTS was rolled out in informal settlements in Mathare and Kawangware in Nairobi County. The study adopted a pre-post intervention design, comparing baseline and endline population outcomes (1,416 participants, Baseline = 678, Endline = 738). To further explore PROMPTS's effect, outcomes were compared between endline participants enrolled and not enrolled in PROMPTS (738 participants). Outcomes related to antenatal (ANC) and postnatal (PNC) service uptake and knowledge were assessed using univariate and multivariate linear and logistic regression.ResultsBetween baseline and enldine, mothers were 1.85 times more likely to report their babies and 1.88 times more likely to report themselves being checked by a provider post-delivery. There were improvements in moms and babies receiving care on time. 45% of the 738 endline participants were enrolled in the PROMPTS program, with 87% of these participants sending at least one message to the system. Enrolled mothers were 2.28 times more likely to report completing four or more ANC visits relative to unenrolled mothers. Similarly, enrolled mothers were 4.20 times more likely to report their babies and 1.52 times more likely to report themselves being checked by a provider post-delivery compared to unenrolled mothers.ConclusionsThis research demonstrates that a digital health tool can be used to improve care-seeking and knowledge levels among pregnant and postnatal women in informal settlements. Additional research is needed to refine and target solutions amongst those that were less likely to enroll in PROMPTS and to further drive improved MNCH outcomes amongst this population.

Overcoming systemic and institutional challenges in policy implementation in South Africa's water sector

The water sector in South Africa is faced with numerous challenges, among which include; increased flooding and prolonged droughts caused by increased climate variability, rapid population growth, unsustainable water demands and withdrawals by various water users, deficiencies in institutional management and infrastructural maintenance, lack of political will with accompanying high levels of corruption and steady deteriorations in all sub-sectors of the economy. Other significant challenges include provision of water in rural communities, water pollution especially from poorly operated wastewater treatments works, acid mine drainage, nutrients from agriculture, siltation of dams. A combination of these factors has led to high levels of water scarcity and an immense burden on the water supply. However, it must be noted that in 1994, South Africa (SA) embarked on developing numerous policies and strategies to address water challenges. While some levels of success have been achieved in terms of policy formulation, there is, however, a lack of comprehensive coordination and synergy that cut across the broad objectives of these policies in meeting environmental, social and economic targets and aspirations. Additionally, the implementation of the policies and programmes is stalled by structural, systemic and institutional factors, coupled with new challenges arising from climatic variabilities. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods together with rapid appraisal of existing literature, we explore systemic and institutional factors impeding the implementation of policies and strategies designed to drive South Africa's water sector as envisaged within the National Development Plan of 2012. We argue that the water sector is faced with multifarious and interweaving challenges such as inadequate human capital, changes in climatic conditions, limited financial resources, infrastructural deficiencies largely linked to poor urban planning and rapid growth of informal settlements, rampant corruption and mismanagement, lack of stakeholders' involvement and compartmentalisation of institutions. This paper, therefore, recommends a community-based approach that enforces transparency and the participation of civil society, cross-sectoral cooperation and a broad range of stakeholders and decentralisation of policy implementation strategies.

Spatial and temporal variations of microclimate and outdoor thermal comfort in informal settlements of warm humid Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

In developing countries, urbanization is dominated by the growth of informal settlements which represents 40–80% of major cities. The challenges brought up by the growth of informal settlements spans from social-economic to environmental. Previously, upgrading of the informal settlements focused on social-economic aspects such as provision of necessary services for the residents, whereas the quality of the outdoor thermal environment has not received much attention. This paper entails to investigate the potential of upgrading the outdoor thermal environment in informal settlements in the warm humid city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania through examining the influence of addition of trees with different Leaf Area Index (LAI) and incremental increase of buildings heights. The study uses simulation as a method for analysis of the warm season and calculates the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) as a thermal index. Results show substantial improvement of both microclimate and outdoor thermal comfort. Incremental increase of buildings heights in a street canyon to 12, 18, and 24 m leads to the reduction of PET by 2.5, 2.8, and 3.8 °C respectively at 2:00 p.m. Similarly, applying LAI's of 2, 4, and 6 m2/m2 leads to reduction of the mean radiant temperature by 7.9, 10.1, and 12.2 °C; while PET was reduced by 3.9, 4.7, and 5.6 °C respectively at 2:00 p.m. Nonetheless, upgrading of informal settlements shows marginal influence on the reduction of air temperature. Despite the noted thermal improvement in the studied area, the thermal comfort limits of the warm season were difficult to reach. The findings suggest that addition of vegetation is the economically most effective way for upgrading thermal conditions in informal urban fabric areas.

Cultural variables differ informal settlement interventions in Accra and Buenos Aires

ABSTRACT Informal settlement growth in various countries has led to distinctive actions that enhance low-income populations’ accessibility to proper housing and basic services. These actions differ with the diverse contexts of a given country or city. Nevertheless, scholars have underscored the importance of comparative studies to promote knowledge sharing. In response, this paper compares the experiences of Accra in Ghana and Buenos Aires in Argentina by engaging with cultural variables and community-level interventions. In Accra, the findings indicate that settlements have both positive and negative images. By contrast, in Buenos Aires, the public often sees villas as areas to be avoided, given their consistent image characterized by poverty, crime, and drugs since the 1980s. The paper suggests understanding the cultural variables as a crucial analytical component to explain better why the varying structural constraints (governance structures, funding mechanisms, and public policies) are present in shaping informal settlement interventions worldwide.

Testing the Informal Development Stages Framework Globally: Exploring Self-Build Densification and Growth in Informal Settlements

This article challenges the narrow definition of informal settlements as solely lacking a formal framework, which overlooks the dynamic city-making and urban design processes within these areas. Communities’ self-building processes and areas’ constant growth are indeed informal settlements’ most salient morphological features. The study builds upon the informal development stages (IDS) framework and explores how it applies globally. The research follows a sample of fifty informal settlements with a high change coefficient from the Atlas of Informality (AoI) across five world regions to explore how change and urban densification across IDS can be mapped in such areas using human visual interpretation of Earth observation (EO). The research finds evidence of IDS framework fitment across regions, with critical morphological differences. Additionally, the study finds that settlements can pass through all IDS phases faster than anticipated. The study identifies IDS as a guiding principle for urban design, presenting opportunities for policy and action. The study suggests that integrating IDS with predictive morphological tools can create valuable data to refine identification models further. Finally, the article concludes that an IDS approach can anticipate development and integrate into an urban design evolutionary process that adapts to the deprived areas’ current and future needs.

Analysis of Quality of Life of Residents of Informal Settlements of Target Neighborhoods in Urmiah

Introduction: The rapid growth of informal settlements has many negative consequences for cities and urban management and has caused a decline in the quality of life of the residents of those areas and the residents of Urmia. The purpose of this study is to analyze the quality of life of residents of informal settlements in target areas in the city of Urmia. Method: Using cluster sampling method, four settlements of Islamabad1, HajiPirloo, Islamabad2, and Tarzilo were selected as the target areas. Data analysis was performed using Excel, Spss software and T-test. Findings: The average general quality of life of informal settlements of Islamabad2 and HajiPirloo, based on the Likert scale, at an average level of 1<3.06 ,2.92<5, and Islamabad1settlement with an average level of 2.77 below the average level and Tarzilo settlement has been evaluated with an average of 3.22 in the average range with moderate theory 3 and urban regeneration policies have had a moderate and favorable effect on the quality of life of the target areas except Islamabad1 settlement. Discussion: One of the important tasks of urban planners and city managers is to identify inequalities in quality of life indicators at the level of disordered neighborhoods. Because urban planners believe that planning should be in line with improving the quality of life as one of the most important goals of public policy. In fact, the results of the work help to improve the organization of deprived areas of the city and create equal opportunities for citizens and improve the level of factors that affect residents' satisfaction with the quality of life.

Administrative failures contributing to the proliferation and growth of informal settlements in Ethiopia: The case of Woldia Township

Informal settlements continue to grow steadily in the urban and peri-urban areas of Ethiopia. So, studying the main triggering factors for the emergence of such settlements is timely and could support decision-makers in making an informed decision. Indeed, this study aims to identify the main administrative deficiencies that contribute to the growth of informal settlements. This informal settlement is reflected in the illegal land use, small-scale constructions, and individual housing in the rural interface areas of Woldia (in Ethiopia) where there is an authority vacuum and planning policies are unclear. The paper is based mainly on the original research, including findings from interviews, FGDS, and observations. Diagrams, tables, and photos added extra information to the discussion. The findings of the study revealed that there is laxity from the local administration in controlling the emergence and expansion of informal settlements. To this end, the findings of the work suggest that despite the public authorities being responsible for enforcing laws in controlling the development of informal settlements, for the most part, they do it incompetently due to inadequate management capacity, lack of urban land information systems, and authority vacuum among land administration institutions. Other reasons include widespread corruption, backdoor deals, and a lack of accountability. The paper concludes that the growth of such settlements is unlikely to be reversed in the future unless a viable and appropriate policy measure is in place.

Characterizing Informal Settlement Dynamics Using Google Earth Engine and Intensity Analysis in Durban Metropolitan Area, South Africa: Linking Pattern to Process

The growing population in informal settlements expedites alterations in land use and land cover (LULC) over time. Understanding the patterns and processes of landscape transitions associated with informal settlement dynamics in rapidly urbanizing cities is critical for better understanding of consequences, especially in environmentally vulnerable areas. The study sought to map and systematically analyze informal settlement growth patterns, dynamics and processes, as well as associated LULC transitions in Durban Metropolitan area, from 2015 to 2021. The study applied an object-based image classification on PlanetScope imagery within the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Further, intensity analysis approach was utilized to quantitatively investigate inter-category transitions at category and transition levels. Thus far, no study of land conversion to and from informal settlement areas in South Africa has exploited both GEE and intensity analysis approaches. The results suggest spatial growth of informal settlements with a total net gain of 3%. Intensity analysis results at category level revealed that informal settlements were actively losing and gaining land area within the period, with yearly gain and loss intensity of 72% and 54%, correspondingly, compared to the uniform intensity of 26%. While the growth of informal settlements avoided water bodies over the studied period, there was an observed systematic process of transition between informal settlements and other urban land. Government policy initiatives toward upgrading informal housing could be attributed to the transitions between informal and other urban settlements. This study illustrates the efficacy of intensity analysis in enhancing comprehension of the patterns and processes in land changes, which aids decision making for suitable urban land upgrading plans in the Durban Metropolitan area.

Informal settlement and urban development discourse in the Global South: Evidence from Ghana

ABSTRACT The growth of informal settlements across the Global South has generated concomitant empirical research, and research attention has focused on a different aspect of informal settlements. However, despite the plethora of literature in the growing field of informal settlements research, there is a paucity of research concerning the contribution of informal settlement dwellers to the economic development of the urban economy, and the perception of informal settlement dwellers and their challenges, particularly in the context of many countries in Africa. The article contributes to fill this gap by examining the contribution of informal dwellers to urban economic development and the challenges they encounter in the process. Based on a case study involving in-depth interviews and focus group discussions in Accra, Ghana, the authors found that despite the challenges confronting informal dwellers and their characteristics, they contributed to urban development through revenue generation, labour provision, and the creation of employment. Furthermore, the findings uncovered context-specific contributions of informal settlements to urban development that helped both policy actors and practitioners. The authors conclude that the findings imply that urban managers should focus on the settlers and recognize the contributions of informal settlements to urban development.

Towards understanding informal settlement growth patterns: Contribution to SDG reporting and spatial planning

The study proposes a ratio of informal settlement land consumption rate to imperviousness growth rate to understand informal settlement growth patterns. To compute this ratio, information on the informal extent and impervious surface within an informal settlement over at least two time periods is required. This ratio can be used to understand the density of building structures within an informal settlement. We investigated this ratio in a densely populated township in Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality over a five-year interval between 2005 and 2020. Informal settlement extent was generated using the object-based image analysis technique which uses asymmetry of image objects to classify informal settlements. The impervious surface was mapped using a ruleset that uses soil adjusted vegetation index, border index and radiometric values of the blue band. The results show that the ratio of land consumption rate of informal settlement to the impervious surface growth rate was 0.70 during the 2005–2010 interval, decreased substantially to −11.25 during the 2010–2015 interval and increased to 0.85 during the 2015–2020 interval. The results can be used to support the management and planning of informal settlement upgrade projects and to monitor progress made towards achieving sustainable development goals.

Weathering the Storm: Community Socio-Economic and Physical Vulnerability Assessment of Informal Settlements to Disasters in Arusha City, Tanzania

Urban population growth has demonstrated a synergetic relationship with the growth of informal settlements and vulnerability to disasters in urban areas. This study employed Community Participatory Vulnerability Assessment (CPVA) to analyse vulnerability in informal settlements in Arusha City, Tanzania. The results show that a plethora of factors, including socio-economic and physical realities interact in complex non-linear ways to shape vulnerability to disasters in informal settlements in the city. The study shows that coping strategies of some individuals in informal settlements reinforce their risks to disasters. This is particularly demonstrated by the stones that are positioned on weak roof structures for protection, and which may potentially serve as projectiles in the event of storm. This quick-fix coping strategy, which results from short-sighted narrow conception of human relationship to the natural environment, may appear sustainable in the short-term. However, given the rising uncertainties of the future, it is unlikely to be sustainable. The study concludes that indigenous knowledge holds great potential in community responses to long term considerations regarding environmental hazards. The study also recommends that measures and strategies aimed at reducing disasters should address the whole set of issues leading to poverty and exposure disparities within the community.
 Keywords: Assessment; vulnerability, disaster, informal settlements, Tanzania.

Invisible informality and the contribution of information modeling to data-based urban regulation

Recent studies have established the role of urban planning policies in feeding the growth of informal settlements in Brazilian cities, through the socio-spatial exclusion of low-income residents. The difficulties of reversing this exclusionary logic are due to several complex factors. A factor less discussed in Brazilian literature, which has began to draw the attention of scholars, is the invisibility of the informal city. This research assumes that it is necessary to regulate the urban form of precarious informal settlements, in order to prevent the deterioration of urban environmental quality. We highlight the importance of compiling data about their urban form and their built environment, in order to contribute to a reality-based regulatory policy for these settlements. After discussing the phenomenon of urban informality in Fortaleza, we applied a methodology that combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and City Information Modeling (CIM), to support the redefinition of urban rules for precarious settlements of informal origin. This procedure will reveal not only the extent of the inadequacies of the (past and current) land use and occupation codes, but will also present some potentialities of GIS and CIM to inform its redefinition.

Providing Suitable Formal & Economic Shelter Opportunities to Curb the Growth of Informal Settlements

Providing Suitable Formal & Economic Shelter Opportunities to Curb the Growth of Informal Settlements

Beyond accuracy: evaluating alternative measurement methods in context of Flexible Land Tenure System in Namibia

Namibia currently undergoes a rapid process of urbanisation of 4% annually, visible through an exponential informal settlement growth. Alternative measurement methods in cadastral mapping could secure land tenure in these settlements and fasten land registration. This article investigates the performance of five alternative measurement methods within the Flexible Land Tenure System (FLTS): orthophoto-based boundary demarcation, mapping applications on mobile devices, hand-held GPS, low-cost GNSS with u-blox receiver and GNSS RTK based on the Namibian CORS. The article evaluates all five methods on technical performance, affordability, time efficiency, feasibility, and simplicity. Based on the evaluation, all methods are appropriate for Namibia except for the hand-held GPS method. Low-cost approaches are appropriate for starter titles, whereas high-technology methods are better when requiring higher positioning accuracy (land hold title). Orthophoto-based boundary demarcation is surprisingly less suitable for the Namibian case. Overall, the results support a fit-for-purpose land administration in Namibia.

Modeling and prediction of expected informal growth in the Greater Cairo Region, Egypt

Informal settlement growth is a vital challenge for developing countries, which requires monitoring and assessment by urban planners and city managers. Rural migration to urban areas leads to the unplanned expansion that grows within and beyond the city’s official boundaries. Although informal housing (IH) is growing fast, very little attention is oriented toward exploring tools and procedures for predicting its future expansion. Many studies have shown that informal housing is widespread and represents one of the most dominant features of urbanization in Egypt. Modern simulation and modeling technologies provide new methodologies to explore the complexity of urban growth. As a result, many planning models were developed and successfully used to simulate the spread of planned settlements in developed nations. However, the implementation of these models rarely achieves realistic simulation in the case of unplanned growth due to the developer’s field of study and the available resources. The main objective is to simulate the expected informal housing by modeling its causative land use factors in the Greater Cairo Region. This paper develops a predictive model that anticipates the spatial distribution of unplanned growth and where informal housing is likely to occur over a period based on known growth factors. The proposed Informal Housing Growth Model derives its principles from cellular automata and geographic information system technologies. This model uses a multi-criteria concept, including parameters and conditions related to informal growth, and can be adapted to other growth factors.

Lessons Learned from Applying an Integrated Land Use Transport Planning Model to Address Issues of Social and Economic Exclusion of Marginalised Groups: The Case of Cape Town, South Africa

The Group Areas Act of 1950 has resulted in post-apartheid South African cities being characterised by spatial patterns with limited access to social and economic opportunities for the black and coloured population. Typically, high-density low-income housing is located peripherally, while low density high-income housing is located in accessible central areas. With increased rural-to-urban migration, the demand for formal housing has historically surpassed supply, which has increased the growth of informal settlements. Current discourse within South African land use policy suggests that in-situ upgrading of informal housing is a viable response to integrate informal settlements into the formal city. In parallel, it is proposed that new low-income residential areas and employment-generating land uses should be located along transport corridors to improve access to transport, its infrastructure and the opportunities it provides for previously marginalised groups. This study uses Cape Town as a case city to explore two land-use driven development strategies directed at informal settlements and low-income housing. A dynamic land use transport model based on a cellular automata land use model and a four-stage transport model was used to simulate land use and transport changes. Specifically, in-situ upgrading of informal settlements and strategically locating new low-income residential and employment generating land uses along transport corridors were considered. The results from the analysis suggest that in-situ upgrading is a viable option only if new informal settlements are in areas with easy access to economic centres. With regards to low-income housing, targeted interventions aimed at ‘unlocking’ low-income housing activities along transport corridors were found to be useful. However, it was also observed that middle-income residential development and employment generating activities were also attracted to the same corridors, thus, resulting in mixed land uses, which is beneficial but can potentially result in rental bids between low and middle-income earners thus displacing low-income earners away from these areas.

Sustainable housing development: the legitimacy-seeking perspective

PurposeRapid urbanization and the influx of rural residents to urban cities has led to the growth of informal settlements globally. Drawing on institutional theory, this paper aims to examine institutional actors’ legitimacy seeking behaviour to housing issues and their responses to regulative, normative and cultural pressures.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative case-study research approach is adopted by conducting 25 in-depth interviews that involved purposefully chosen institutional actors in the housing sector. Online observations and documents are used to support the interview data.FindingsThematic analysis of data gathered suggests that these actors, guided by sensemaking, invest in relationship-building to attain market, social, relational and political legitimacy. The relationship-building also leads to the legitimation of institutional actors’ existence via an eclectic mix of economic, social and political actions.Originality/valueThe results not only guide policymakers faced with potentially conflicting demands to legitimize sustainable housing developments policy that could benefit the urban poor’s shelter needs but also to consider the interactive and dynamic processes of stakeholders’ pressures, in a highly regulated housing environment.

The Paradox of Informal Settlements Revealed in an ATLAS of Informality: Findings from Mapping Growth in the Most Common Yet Unmapped Forms of Urbanization

Informal settlements are the most common form of urbanization on the planet, accounting for one-third of the total urban form. It is expected that by the mid twenty-first century, up to three billion people will live in informal urban environments. However, we lack a consistent mapping method to pinpoint where that informality is located or how it expands. This paper presents the findings from a collection of standardized measurements of 260 informal settlements across the world. The main research goal is to identify a standard global sample of informal neighborhoods. It then focuses on mapping urban growth with remote sensing and direct mapping tools. The third stage classifies settlements based on how adjacency features such as development, topography, or bodies of water relate to their growth. The survey of growth corroborates the idea of informality as expanding geography, although at different rates than previously cited in the literature. We found peri-urban location to be a suitable estimator of informal settlement growth. This finding validates the comparison of multiple settlements to understand rates of change of urban informality worldwide. The findings here are vital to resolve important questions about the role of informal urban development in the context of accelerated global population growth.

Analysing the Sustainability Challenges of Informal Urban Settlements: The Case of Chibolya in Lusaka Zambia

Presently, informal settlements exist as part of the urban fabric and a major constituent of the residential geographies of most Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The growth of informal settlements in cities of the global south has been widely discussed in existing literature as a critical concern. Urban development literature in Zambia in particular has focused on the rapid urbanization and poverty growth, but barely explains how this affects settlement sustainability. Studies have focused on measures put in place by government and supporting organisations to help find solutions to the problem. But this has been done without providing specifics as relates to interventions for settlement sustainability and user perceptions of their living environments. The article provides a conceptual analysis of the local dynamics influencing informal settlement development and sustainability. The historical perspective and modern day realities of informal urban settlement settings in Lusaka in Zambia are also reviewed. The case study findings indicate a need to refocus development interventions in informal settlements by considering informal dwellers concerns and requirements when formulating settlements development strategies. The article offers an insight into sustainability challenges that the settlement population faces despite a variety of development interventions by the State and private agencies. The article shows the potential success and sustainability of interventions when informal settlement residents are empowered and take responsibility of their own development agenda. The paper points out the need for collaborative approach to informal settlement improvement where all stakeholders including the local residents, participate in all stages of settlement development.