Illegal Settlements Research Articles

Communities of trees along a tropical forest restoration gradient

Increasing rates of deforestation in tropical forests have been linked to agriculturalists. A critical concern generating debate is how well communities of trees recover into a more species rich ecosystem after restoration planting. The aim of the study was to evaluate the pattern of recovery of communities of tree, assess the influence of Acanthus pubescens, Lantana camara and Pennisetum purpureum, on the recovery as well as how restoration planting facilitates recruitment of other native tree seedlings along a gradient of forest restoration in Kibale National Park, Uganda after evictions of illegal settlers. We studied six restoration forests ranging in age from 3 to 16 years, naturally regenerating and three primary forests. Our results showed that recovery with natural regeneration was more effective than restoration planting although the latter enhanced recruitment of other native tree seedling. Tree recovery was generally correlated with age so that species density and diversity increased although at different rates. A reverse pattern was found for dominance but no clear pattern was found for tree density (individual/ha). Communities of tree showed directional patterns of change however community composition were still distinct among the different forests. A. pubescens, L. camara and P. purpureum negatively correlated with species density, tree density and diversity but a positive correlation was found for dominance. Restoration planting can reestablish forests with high species density, tree density and diversity, but this is dependent on age and the extent of the herbs, grasses and shrubs cover in tropical forests.

Bauhaus Already Lives Here and Why the World Still Doesn't Know It

Letters & Opinions Mary Serumaga (bio) and Namata Serumaga-Musisi (bio) A Call for Reparations for Slavery and Colonisation by Mary Serumaga Any hopes the Caribbean community may have entertained of Britain acknowledging culpability for slavery were dispelled by Prime Minister David Cameron’s September 2015 address to the Jamaican Parliament during a recent trade visit. Cameron summarily ruled out Britain’s accepting responsibility to make reparations; it was possible, he said, for Jamaica to move on. The issue of reparations is often clouded by the argument that the individual perpetrators of the crime of slavery are long gone and that their descendants are entitled to their inherited wealth. Though Cameron proposed that Britain’s role in ending slavery exonerates his country from the responsibility of making reparations, the fact is that true credit belongs to ex-slaves like Olaudah Equiano, who bought himself out of slavery for £40, or the American Frederick Douglass, who escaped. Both wrote best-selling autobiographies describing the wretchedness of life as a slave and campaigned in England and Ireland for abolition until a critical mass of abolitionists was attained. Olaudah’s letters to British Members of Parliament—Lord Hawkesbury and William Pitt—survive him. Cameron’s blindness to these realities is similar to the denials made by many beneficiaries of the Nakba, apartheid, and the Holocaust: nothing to do with them. Britain was the legal administrator of Jamaica and other slave colonies whose very existence and prosperity depended on slavery. Any actions taken by the British government in relation to her slave and other colonies is the responsibility of the State. It is disingenuous to argue otherwise. The British East Africa Company, for example, ‘acquired’ East Africa and later sold the territory to the British government, a transaction which ended in an orgy of violent repression for which Britain has accepted responsibility. Foreign Secretary William Hague said after the settlement was reached in 2013: The British government recognises that Kenyans were subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration. … The British government sincerely regrets that these abuses took place and that they marred Kenya’s progress to independence. Torture and [End Page 1] ill-treatment are abhorrent violations of human dignity which we unreservedly condemn. The futility of denial on the basis of the time elapsed between Abolition and the present day is illustrated by the current situation of surviving victims of the 1948 Nakba. Many are able to point out their former homes now occupied by Israelis, and some still wear their keys around their necks. So, are we to say the current occupants and/or their heirs owe nothing to these refugees? Is this on the basis they did not personally drive out the Palestinians and may even have opposed Zionism? And have subsequently been hard-working taxpayers? The fact is that it is only because the events of 1948 were condoned that the illegal settlement movement can go ahead. With the passage of time, human and physical evidence will be diminished and the events of 1948 will pass into folklore and, like the descendants of slaves, heirs of the Nakba survivors will be advised to move on. A relevant precedent for reparations for slavery and colonialism is the compensation of Nazi Holocaust victims. Many categories of claims by Holocaust victims were rightly designated as being claimable by either the direct survivor victims or their heirs. These include the loss of parents and/or siblings; actual properties of which the victims were dispossessed (money, other valuables and household goods); and having been subjected to slave labor, denied entry to some countries (where refuge could have been sought, known as refoulement in international law), and expulsion from other countries. Any attempt to shield taxpayers of States with unresolved criminal issues by saying they are not individually responsible for slavery and colonialism collapses completely when it is noted that Holocaust survivors and their heirs were not compensated by individual perpetrators, nor by groups of Nazi tax-payers (most of whom were still alive when the claims began to be made), but by sovereign States that carried out or facilitated the atrocities; Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium...

Development issues regarding Bunot Lake: the Lesser Lake among the seven lakes of San Pablo City, Philippines

AbstractBunot Lake exhibits the worst conditions among the seven crater lakes of San Pablo City in the Philippines. It is the most polluted lake, being oversaturated with fish pens/cages. It also hosts the largest concentration of illegal settlements. These attributes strongly suggest that Bunot Lake merits much greater attention in the agenda of its two administrative agencies, the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) and the City Government. The reality, however, is that Bunot Lake is lacking key development initiatives and programmes and seems to occupy a low priority to the LLDA and the City Government. This reality is particularly perplexing as the lake is located very near the urban centre, is closest to the premier lake (Sampaloc Lake), and is the site of the first commercial production of tilapia in floating cages in the city. Against this background, the present study identifies and analyses the immediate development issues for Bunot Lake. It contends that Bunot Lake should be given preference by the LLDA and the City Government, specifically by: (i) modifying their model‐template approach; and (ii) taking steps to tackle a basic need of Bunot Lake, namely the formulation of a zoning‐development plan. The present study also was designed to directly address the lacuna in Philippine lake studies, namely the paucity of research under the social science perspective (which is currently dominated by the natural science perspective) and on small lakes (which is currently concentrated on the largest lakes in the country).

Achieving universal health coverage.

Achieving universal health coverage.

Gambling with the State: Land Titles and Personhood Rights among the Urban Poor in Indonesia

AbstractDue to the pressures of urbanization, the urban poor often find themselves trapped in illegal settlements and informal employment. As housing is not affordable and formal employment is inaccessible to them because of their lack of education and skills, they live a precarious existence with insecure land tenure and employment. Discriminated against by the state on the grounds of their illegal status, the urban poor are unable to establish their identity and personhood rights as urban citizens, and so cannot access basic rights such as health care and social security. This article is based on fieldwork in Surakarta in Indonesia which studied the impact of a land-titling programme in an area previously characterized by informal tenure. It finds that the legitimation provided by land titles had a significant impact upon the lives of the residents, enabling them to access other personhood rights.

Hilltop youth: political-anthropological research in the hills of Judea and Samaria

In the first decade of this century, a new social group, popularly called the ‘hilltop youth’, came to the attention of Israeli society. This group consisted of a small number of young people who took part in aggressive political actions including illegal settlement endeavours throughout Judea and Samaria. Before their arrival at the various wilderness outposts, these youth had not developed any political outlook in regard to Jewish settlement in these areas; it was only during their period of habitation did they tend to adopt and utilize views informed by ideological and cultural extremism. The manifestation of this socio-political phenomenon will be analysed from sociological and anthropological perspectives in order to shed light on social aspects of Israeli society, as well as to elucidate frequently unclear political and policy implications in the larger Middle Eastern context. In addition, this article describes the significance of a youth subculture that has emerged in this frontier political space, and which has often been cast in criminological terms. To buttress the claims advanced in this study, a psychological-sociological approach is also employed.

Upgrading of illegal settlements in Turkey; the case of North Ankara Entrance Urban Regeneration Project

Rapid population increase, inadequate supply of affordable land for residential purposes, and economic reality of low-income residents have been the most important reasons behind the squatter settlements all over the world. As a developing country, since 1950, Turkey has been trying to deal with illegal settlement and construction issues and by the year 2000, it took yet another turn with the concept of “urban regeneration” in the urban areas. Based on this concept, this article has introduced general characteristics of slum regeneration and implementation stages of a regeneration project have been compiled with current data. One of the different implementations has been selected between many other projects and analyzed from a legal and technical perspective. How the region that was in the world megaslum list in 2005 had been transformed into the habitable places was explained. Thanks to this implementation project that contains a special regeneration law for the first time in Turkey, a new lifestyle has been provided for the gecekondu owners, landownerhip problems have been resolved, and squatter settlements have been legalized. The project shows that if they are well planned and developed, including through integrated planning and management approaches, cities can promote economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable societies.

Israel Continues to Expand Its Settlements

This article provides a detailed analysis of the new trends of development of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. Since 1967, Israel has established about 150 settlements in the West Bank in addition to some 100 «outposts» or illegal settlements without Israeli official authorization. Now the settler population has estimated at over 520,000; the annual average rate of growth during the past decade was 5.3%, compared to 1.8% for the Israeli population as whole. As is known, after the Annapolis Conference held on 27 November 2007 Israel under the pressure from the international community announced officially not to create new settlements. But the Israeli authorities are now actively expanding in the occupied Palestinian territory, «border zones» or «buffer zones» in order to confiscate Palestinian land between the separation fence and the Palestinian communities located at a sufficient distance away from the wall.This study reveals the new forms and methods, aims and objectives of the Israeli official settlement policy and indicates a negative influence of the settlement factor on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating process, political and socio-economic situation in the Middle East. The author do not exclude the possibility that if the political decision based on the principle of coexistence of two States not be achieved in the nearest future we may see soon on the map of the West Bank some Palestinian enclaves completely isolated like the Gaza Strip now. It is obvious that in the Jordan Valley and another parts of «zone C» Israel aims to do that it did in the area, where the block of settlements Maale Adumim is located, which Israeli politicians now consider an integral part of the territory of the State of Israel.

Istanbul: the challenges of integrated water resources management in Europa’s megacity

Effective integrated water resources management (IWRM) and developments impacting on water resources are recognized as key components of environmentally sustainable development. Istanbul (Turkey) is a very large metropolitan city with a population of approximately 14 million. Istanbul is one of the 23 megacities (metropolitan areas with a population of more than 10 million) in the world and one of the most rapidly growing cities in Europe. The annual population growth is 2.8 %. The population growth in the city is almost twice the overall rate of the whole of Turkey, because of a large in-migration. The present study is a baseline assessment of IWRM of Istanbul and also provides a critical review of Istanbul’s future challenges. The assessment is part of an action on water governance (City Blueprints) in the context of the European Innovation Partnership on Water of the European Commission. The City Blueprint indicator approach and process have been applied as first step of gaining a better understanding of IWRM and the challenges ahead. This is done by using well-established and high-quality data sets, a relatively cost-effective online survey and a relatively simple questionnaire. Istanbul has set a good example to the challenges faced in water supply in megacities, where illegal settlements on watershed zones posed a threat to scarce water resources. Despite these enormous efforts, the projected future population growth and climate change in Istanbul will necessitate further major transitions towards sustainable IWRM. This holds for all aspects of the water cycle: water quality, water quantity, water supply and sanitation, coping with extreme weather events (floods and droughts), as well as for the protection of the sources of water, i.e. ecosystem conservation. Istanbul is a place where problems emerge and solutions need to be found. The time window available to do this is rapidly closing. As such, this review of IWRM of Istanbul confirms the conclusions of the World Economic Forum that water supply is one of the top three global risks for both the impact and likelihood. Our framework has been applied for nearly 40 cities, and the results for Istanbul are discussed in the broader context of recent initiatives on water governance and smart cities by the European Commission.

Hydrological evaluation of a peri-urban stream and its impact on ecosystem services potential

Rivers are aquatic systems with a unidirectional flow. These systems are highly diverse habitats that support a great variety of organisms, which vary in shape and function, and sustain a diverse range of hydrological ecosystem services (HESs). The HESs provided by rivers varies based on complex hydro-geomorphological dynamics and their relationship with the functional processes of the basin. Land use changes in transition zones, where ecosystem functions are compromised, affect the basin, especially basins close to or on the periphery of urban areas. Such is the case for Mexico City, where 60 m3 of water is consumed per second, 30% of which is imported from outside sources.The rivers of the Magdalena–Eslava sub-basin are among the few remaining surficial water sources in Mexico City. These rivers are located in an area classified as a Soil Conservation Zone, which has been intensely managed for decades. The aims of this paper are (1) to perform a hydrological evaluation of two urban streams and identify their relationship with the provision of hydrological ecosystem services via (i) a hydraulic balance analysis, (ii) a hydro-geomorphological characterization of each stream, (iii) an estimate of present and potential hydraulic erosion, (iv) the determination of physicochemical and bacteriological parameters and (v) a description of macroinvertebrates, macroalgae and their habitats in order to (2) identify the impacts of socio-economic dynamics on the responses of this rural-urban lotic system. Our results show that water flow, forest cover and hydro-geomorphologic heterogeneity are key to sustaining ecosystem functioning, especially in the high and middle sections of the basin. The highest potential provision of water for direct use was recorded in the sub-basin’s middle section; however, the stream channels in that section have lost their natural water flow due to a water management infrastructure built to regulate flow during the rainy season. This intervention can be viewed as a regulation of HESs as water management infrastructure alters the transport of sediment and reduces available natural habitat. The provision of quality water in the lower area of the sub-basin has been seriously compromised by the establishment of illegal urban settlements. A relationship between biologically diverse ecological traits and their response capabilities was established and can be considered an indicator of current HES potential. Therefore, this sub-basin may constitute an example of good management and maximizing potential HESs in an urban-rural setting based on improved management strategies that could be applied in other developing nations.

Report: West Bank: Police Question Union Leader over Labourstart Campaign

A trade unionist was summoned for police questioning after a campaign he was involved with was taken up internationally by the Labourstart website INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 25 Volume 22 Issue 2 2015 Two days later, Adiv’s lawyer, Michal Pomerantz, sent a letter to both the legal advisor of the Government and the police demanding they close the investigation against him.The letter explained the background to the case and the need of the Police to stay clear from labour disputes like the one at the Zarfaty Garage. Less than a week later, they had an answer from the police. Shaul Gordon, the legal advisor to the Israeli police, explained that while the complaint by Zarfaty was treated as an ordinary complaint, the police did not pay proper attention to the fact that this was part of an industrial dispute. He admitted that it was wrong of the police to have summoned Adiv for investigation.And he added: ‘I made it clear to the responsible people in the police region of the West Bank that the policy of the police in such circumstances when you have a labour dispute is to deal with it with the utmost carefulness, especially as in some cases one side in such disputes tries to mobilise the police to its side in order to put pressure on the other side’. He indicated that the police would be making no further enquiries. ‘It was simply a false complaint by the Garage managers as a tactic in a long running industrial dispute’, Adiv said. ‘The police investigation of WAC MAAN’s leader should be seen as a very dangerous precedent for freedom of association in Israel. ‘WAC-MAAN made it clear that it is not going to retreat or give up the right to organise ALL workers, including Palestinian workers who are employed in the Settlements. ‘We plan to continue with our mission to defend all workers regardless of their national or religious affiliation or the colour of their skin’. Adiv concluded: ‘WAC MAAN drew encouragement from its ability first to force upon the police to cancel the case against the leader of the workers Hatem Abu Ziadeh, and then to cancel the complaint against Adiv as a reflection of its growing influence and the possibility to push forward our drive to organise workers for their rights including Palestinian workers in the settlements’. I n early August 2014, the Workers Advice Center (WAC MAAN) asked LabourStart, the news and campaigning website of the international trade union movement, to launch an online campaign to protest union-busting at a garage in the illegal Jewish settlement of Mishor Adumim in the occupied West Bank. WAC MAAN is a relatively small union based in Israel which organises workers in both Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Palestinian workers at the Zarfaty Garage in Mishur Adumim had recently joined WAC and gone on strike to defend their rights.Their employer, Moshe (Moris) Zarfaty, had retaliated by raising ‘security’ charges against local union leader Hatem Abu Ziadeh, using the war in Gaza as a cover.As a result of those false charges, the Israeli police revoked Abu Ziadeh’s work permit, which was in effect a dismissal, after working in the garage faithfully for 17 years.Eventually the criminal case against Abu Ziadeh collapsed, and the union continues to fight for his reinstatement. Meanwhile, the LabourStart campaign resulted in 8,500 email messages being sent in 17 languages from around the world to two Israeli government officials and to Moshe Zarfaty, the owner of the garage. Though the online campaign was closed after a few months, and despite the decision by an Israeli labour court in April that WAC is in fact the legal union representing the workers in the garage, Zarfaty remained furious that he had been the target of a large global online campaign. Zarfaty contacted the Israeli police and demanded that they investigate WAC, declaring that the LabourStart campaign ‘was an offence committed according to Communication Law 621 – an attempt to harass a person using phone company equipment’, according to WAC’s leader Assaf Adiv. Adiv was summoned to report to the Israeli police station in...

Sustentabilidad y calidad de vida urbana

En México el crecimiento urbano descontrolado aunado a la falta de planificación, ha generado, sin duda importantes desequilibrios territoriales, desigualdades sociales, exclusión, además del incremento de los problemas de habitabilidad de las áreas urbanas; problemas tales como: pobreza, inseguridad, congestión vial, vivienda, desempleo, desigualdad ante el acceso a los servicios públicos, contaminación atmosférica, acústica, paisajística y por residuos sólidos urbanos e industriales, ocupación irregular del suelo, vulnerabilidad ante desastres, entre otros. El tratamiento de la problemática del territorio, en el contexto de la planeación urbana en pro de la mejora de la calidad de vida, demanda incluir los elementos del desarrollo sostenible. Este artículo aborda los problemas urbanos de la pobreza, falta de vivienda, asentamientos ilegales, y residuos sólidos urbanos, ya que al conjugarlos en el territorio se tiene como resultado una amenaza a la sustentabilidad del área urbana donde se desarrolla.

Opportunities, incentives and challenges to risk sensitive land use planning: Lessons from Nepal, Spain and Vietnam

This paper addresses one of the most pressing drivers of risk: land use planning and pressures placed on land use by private and public investors. Three case studies are developed, analyzing both private and public investment decisions and the interplay between regulations, acting as various incentives or disincentives. In Vietnam, dynamic urbanization is linked to political liberalization in terms of migration, private industries, land markets and urban planning. This has resulted in rapid urban growth, thereby increasing risk through urban sprawl into hazard prone areas that had previously been kept clear of urban development. In northwestern Spain, the “A Frouxeira” seashore lagoon and wetland are severely threatened by agriculture expansion, dune mining, tree plantations, tourism and the Prestige oil spill in 2002, which placed significant pressures on this fragile ecosystem, leading to social and environmental conflicts. Finally in Nepal, poor food security, landslides and changing climate conditions are pushing people out of mountainous areas to the plains and abroad, leading to illegal settlements springing up in flood-prone riverbanks. Governance is inadequate to prevent these illegal settlements but the city has now become liable for the safety of persons residing in these dangerous areas.These cases highlight how private and public investments at various levels are increasing risks and what public solutions are envisaged, if at all, to address these risks, while highlighting the difficult trade-offs between development, risk and governance. Perhaps one of the strongest arguments in favor of risk sensitive land use planning is its cost-effectiveness, considering the high costs of structural measures to reducing risk. This can include ecosystem-based approaches as part of integrated planning, an often overlooked element of DRR for mitigating hazards, reducing vulnerabilities by providing livelihood resources and even exposure when dangerous areas are converted to green belts. Finally, we conclude that more effective risk reduction is possible through improved spatial planning.

The impoverishment of poverty: reflections on urban citizenship and inequality in contemporary Delhi

This paper explores the mechanisms through which democratic urban polities produce, maintain and reproduce inequality. It does so by looking at case law from 1990–2007 in New Delhi, where a seemingly relentless series of evictions of poor illegal settlements (colloquially known as bastis) were ordered by the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India in Public Interest Litigations (PILs). While the power of the claims of the “middle class” and the emergence of a new urban political economy are well documented in the analysis of evictions, the specificity of how subaltern urban residents have been displaced from a development imagination remains relatively understudied. Put simply: how have the claims, presence and resistance of a significant proportion of urban residents been managed and even evaded within urban politics? This paper argues that case law on evictions makes visible not only the claims to the city of an insurgent urban elite but also the simultaneous “impoverishment of poverty”, which together create a new calculus for the contestations of urban citizenship in contemporary Delhi. This impoverishment is marked by a reduction in the efficacy of poverty and vulnerability as the basis of claims made by subaltern citizens to the elements of citizenship, i.e. the determination and distribution of rights and needs, access to resources and entitlements as well as a place within narratives of belonging and personhood. Making visible the multiple and particular processes of impoverishment is a critical part of a praxis that seeks to formulate effective resistance and imagine different urban futures.

Ecosystem evaluation (1989-2012) of Ramsar wetland Deepor Beel using satellite-derived indices.

The unprecedented urban growth especially in developing countries has laid immense pressure on wetlands, finally threatening their existence altogether. A long-term monitoring of wetland ecosystems is the basis of planning conservation measures for a sustainable development. Deepor Beel, a Ramsar wetland and major storm water basin of the River Brahmaputra in the northeastern region of India, needs particular attention due to its constant degradation over the past decades. A rule-based classification algorithm was developed using Landsat (2011)-derived indices, namely Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI), Modified Normalised Difference Water Index (MNDWI), Normalised Difference Pond Index (NDPI), Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and field data as ancillary information. Field data, ALOS AVNIR and Google Earth images were used for accuracy assessment. A fuzzy accuracy assessment of the classified data sets showed an overall accuracy of 82% for MAX criteria and 90% for RIGHT criteria. The rules were used to classify major wetland cover types during low water season (January) in 1989, 2001 and 2012. The statistical analysis of the classified wetland showed heavy manifestation in aquatic vegetation and other features indicating severe eutrophication over the past 23years. This degradation was closely related to major contributing anthropogenic factors, such as a railway line construction, growing croplands, waste disposal and illegal human settlements in the wetland catchment. In addition, the landscape development index (LDI) indicated a rapid increase in the impact of the surrounding land use on the wetland from 1989 to 2012. The techniques and results from this study may prove useful for top-down landscape analyses of this and other freshwater wetlands.

Dehomed: The impacts of house demolitions on the well-being of women from the unrecognized Bedouin-Arab villages in the Negev/Israel

Thirty-five Bedouin-Arab villages in South Israel are regarded illegal settlements by the state. Consequently, the residents׳ homes are subject to demolition. Based on 12 semi-structured multiple-participant interviews, this paper examines the house demolitions׳ impacts on women, in the context of gendered constructions of social roles and space. It highlights that the marginalized position of Arab-Bedouin women – as women in a patriarchal community, as members of a minority within Israeli society, and as residents of an “invisible” settlement – contributes to the devastating effects of the house demolitions. In particular, the study׳s results show that the house demolitions inflict severe personal and collective trauma, amplified by women׳s primary role as mothers. Paradoxically, the very same role also becomes a source of resilience and political resistance, as women act to defend a sense of home and restore family life in the face of state violence.

The Political Economy of Public Goods Provision in Slums

For the first time in human history the urban population outnumbers the rural one. This is both due to villages growing to become towns and cities, and migration of the rural population to urban cities. These urban migrants typically have low economic status due to which most are found residing in illegal settlements such as slums, shantytowns or squatter colonies. The perceived transitory nature of slums has traditionally resulted in most governments adopting a policy of benign neglect which has meant ignoring these migrants’ illegal land grabbing activities, but at the same time not providing them with any public goods, thereby resulting in these settlements having unsanitary living conditions. Notwithstanding the health implications for the poor, public goods provision to these settlements presents policy makers with an interesting conundrum - these settlements comprise of poor citizens who are particularly disadvantaged by the absence of public goods, and yet since most of these residents are illegal squatters, providing them with public goods would involve implicitly legitimizing their land-grabbing activities. This paper explores the political economy of clientelism that incentivizes public investment in slums. Our results show that slums situated in the periphery of the city are significantly less likely to enjoy public investment.

Urban Risk Assessment of Lahar Flows in Merapi Volcano (Study Case: Muntilan Urban Area, Central Java)

The objective of the research was to analyse probability of lahar flows occurrence in Muntilan urban area,Central Java. By using integrated methods, which involve the numerical simulation program, Geographic InformationSystem (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS) and field verification to produce lahar flows Hazard Map and Risk Map. Muntilanurban area located at western flank of Merapi volcano, and in down stream of Lamat river. The river is Lahar River thatis endangering from Merapi volcano, which flowing down to cuts a cross of that area. Therefore, Muntilan urban areais vulnerable area from lahar flows disaster. Lahar flows, generally occur during intense rainfall on saturated volcanicdeposit in upper stream of river or wall of volcano. Lahar flows are extremely dangerous especially to those living invalley areas near a volcano, which can undercut banks and cause houses destruction situated on the banks, and canbury and destroy resident, structures, infrastructure facilities including roads and bridges. Meanwhile, development ofMuntilan urban area that caused many illegal settlements appears surrounding that area. Occasionally, un-benefit peopleconstructing house in disaster prone area, such as down stream of river side that have lahar flows risk. The research wasconcluded that lahar flow occurrence in 100 years return period will be buried the Muntilan urban area. With the methodsintegrating of GIS, RS, field verification can be done analysing of lahar flows hazard map, and risks map to producerisk assessment in Muntilan urban area.

Análisis y caracterización sociodemográfica de asentamientos en la segunda franja residencial de la ciudad de Río Gallegos. El caso particular del asentamiento “Madres a la Lucha”

Los asentamientos ilegales constituyen una problemática que se ha suscitado en los últimos años en la ciudad de Río Gallegos. Los flujos migratorios, sumados a la merma en la disponibilidad de fuentes laborales y al auge desmedido de los precios de los alquiles, entre otros factores, llevó a que un pequeño número de familias (en un principio) optase, a fines del año 2007, por la usurpación de terrenos de propiedad privada, municipal o provincial como única posibilidad para poder solucionar su emergencia habitacional. La falta de un accionar rápido y eficaz por parte de las autoridades competentes posibilitó que en poco tiempo el número de familias del asentamiento se multiplique y que con el correr de los años el asentamiento fuera adquiriendo configuraciones propias, reflejadas en el paisaje urbano. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo caracterizar y/o categorizar al asentamiento “Madres a la Lucha”, a partir de los conceptos de villa miseria y barrio. La metodología empleada se basa en lectura de bibliografía sobre villas miseria, asentamientos, barrios y su correlación sobre los datos obtenidos a través de observación directa y entrevistas a informantes claves.

Transfer of Development Rights as Incentives for Regeneration of Illegal Settlements

In Italy, southern cities are often characterized by widespread phenomena of illegal settlements, that have resulted among other things in a worsening of the quality of life of the urban-rural interface, and the decline of the considerable architectural interest of the entire city. .The goal of this paper is to propose an approach that would help requalify what is already built, to make the best of what has been realized by focusing on the quality and liveability of the city. This approach is based on a particular methodology based on the promotion of Urban Complex Programs (PUC), which provide a system of development rights resulting from the demolition of unfinished illegal settlements . The benefits of this approach are many, including improvements in efficiencies and safety, meeting demands of environmental protection and reducing consumption of energy, responding to the highest standards of protection and seismic risk prevention. They can be obtained only on one condition: that they are based on a system of collective and public conveniences in accordance with the principle of sustainability in multiple dimensions (environmental, cultural, technological, political, institutional, social and economic). But for this approach to be viable it needs also to be convenient for the private actors as well. With this paper we hope to provide first an original approach that can improve the conditions of cities burdened with the problems of illegal settlements that is both sustainable and convenient and, second, an instrument that can provide information for both the public and private sectors on the fairness of the procedure and their mutual interest in pursuing this approach.