Informal Settlement Communities Research Articles

Physical features of unplanned settlements in Herat City, Afghanistan

The increase in urban population growth has contributed to the expansion of unplanned settlements, especially in developing countries. Triggered by the lack of government oversight, the expansion of these settlements is characterized by unique economic, social, physical, and functional attributes. This study aims at exploring the physical features of unplanned settlements in District 4th of Herat city, western Afghanistan. Employing a mixed-research method, we integrated spatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into detailed field observations to get a better understanding of the characteristics of the formation of these informal settlements. Our findings shed light on a number of key physical features including irregular street layouts, inadequate drainage systems, and substandard construction materials, irregular buildings in term of layout, number of floors, and building density. The features of unplanned urban morphology contribute to socio-economic loss and environmental degradation due to the absence of critical infrastructures including water infrastructures and the presence of unplanned streets in under-resourced unplanned settlements. In fact, the absence of government’s efforts in monitoring the development of unplanned settlements hinders the provision of essential services and infrastructures in the informal settlement communities. Our assertion is that the findings of this research will help policy makers in Afghanistan to reconsider their policies and decisions on urban development and growth, particularly in the poorer and under-served unplanned settlements in major cities in Afghanistan.

Informal settlements and the continuity of Gujarati building traditions in Ahmedabad

Informal settlement is a widespread form of development in rapidly urbanising countries, yet the architectural form of dwellings and the design intention of the residents has received scant attention across the extensive literature on informality. Architectural scholars have drawn parallels between informal and vernacular environments, but the empirical evidence to support this assertion is limited. Comparing accurate and detailed architectural drawings, this article demonstrates how Gujarati building traditions influence the arrangement of dwellings and their plans in two informal settlements in Ahmedabad. Despite insecurity of land tenure and limited services, dwellings are built incrementally but planned with architectural intent informed by traditional rural housing types. The function and arrangement of traditional room types are consistent across dwellings in different contexts, from world heritage-listed havelis, rural Gujarati villages, to the incremental housing in two informal settlements in Ahmedabad. This evidence is at odds with popular and political views that informal settlements are unplanned accretions of ad hoc shelters. Such views, embedded in policy, can be part of the rationale for ‘slum’ clearance and relocation, which frequently disrupts social and economic networks. The findings and methods used in this study can inform architects or planners seeking to upgrade, redevelop, or relocate informal settlement communities.

Overestimation of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Household Transmission in Settings of High Community Transmission: Insights From an Informal Settlement Community in Salvador, Brazil.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant has spread globally. However, the contribution of community versus household transmission to the overall risk of infection remains unclear. Between November 2021 and March 2022, we conducted an active case-finding study in an urban informal settlement with biweekly visits across 1174 households with 3364 residents. Individuals displaying coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related symptoms were identified, interviewed along with household contacts, and defined as index and secondary cases based on reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and symptom onset. In 61 households, we detected a total of 94 RT-PCR-positive cases. Of 69 sequenced samples, 67 cases (97.1%) were attributed to the Omicron BA.1* variant. Among 35 of their households, the secondary attack rate was 50.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 37.0%-63.0%). Women (relative risk [RR], 1.6 [95% CI, .9-2.7]), older individuals (median difference, 15 [95% CI, 2-21] years), and those reporting symptoms (RR, 1.73 [95% CI, 1.0-3.0]) had a significantly increased risk for SARS-CoV-2 secondary infection. Genomic analysis revealed substantial acquisition of viruses from the community even among households with other SARS-CoV-2 infections. After excluding community acquisition, we estimated a household secondary attack rate of 24.2% (95% CI, 11.9%-40.9%). These findings underscore the ongoing risk of community acquisition of SARS-CoV-2 among households with current infections. The observed high attack rate necessitates swift booster vaccination, rapid testing availability, and therapeutic options to mitigate the severe outcomes of COVID-19.

Maternal–child consumption of ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages in informal settlements in Mumbai, India

BackgroundThe global nutrition transition is associated with increased consumption of ultra-processed snack foods and sugar-sweetened beverages (UPF/SSB), contributing to the double burden of child obesity and undernutrition.MethodsThis cross-sectional study describes the prevalence of maternal and child UPF/SSB consumption and the factors associated with frequent consumption in a convenience sample of 749 children ages 6 months through 6 years and their mothers participating in a community-based child oral health program in five informal settlement communities in Mumbai, India. Mothers were interviewed regarding maternal and child oral health and nutrition characteristics, including consumption of beverages and foods associated with tooth decay—milk, soda, tea with sugar, sweets, and chips/biscuits—using standardized questionnaires. Spearman correlations were used to assess for associations between various social factors and the frequency of maternal and child consumption of the five food categories. Chi-square tests were used to assess differences in child consumption patterns by age groups.ResultsThough reported soda consumption was low among both mothers and children, nearly 60% of children consumed sweets and chips/biscuits daily, four to five times the rate of mothers. Factors associated with children’s frequent consumption of UPF/SSB included lower maternal education level, frequent maternal consumption of UPF/SSB, greater number of household members, greater amount of money given to the child, and closer proximity to a store.ConclusionOur findings demonstrate social factors that may promote UPF/SSB consumption. The nutritional dangers of sugary drinks and non-nutritious snacks for mothers and young children should be addressed across maternal–child health, education, and social service programs. Early childhood nutrition interventions should involve the entire family and community and emphasize the need to limit children’s consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages from an early age.

Pendampingan Masyarakat dalam Perencanaan Penataan Permukiman Kumuh di Kampung Pedak Baru, Bantul

Architectural works of poor communities in informal settlements are often recoqnized as Marginalized Architecture, because indeed the people who create the Architecture is in these settlements are people who are marginalized by the social strata of urban society. They develop the house according to their needs and abilities. Methods of development, planning and design as well as the use of building materials are often very suitable for the needs of the local community, the local climate and even according to their daily income. In SDGs 2030 it is hoped that the settlements of these marginal communities can be eliminated. One of the marginal settlements in Bantul Regency is located in Kampung Pedak Baru, Bangun Tapan Village. The situation of marginal settlements developed on the banks of the Gajahwong river needs to be developed. Through community assistance conducted by lecturers from Duta Wacana Christian University, community-based slum settlement planning was carried out. With a totally participatory planning model, this community service program can be implemented well together with the team KOTAKU program supported by the Bantul Regency regional government. As a result of the total participatory model in planning slum development, the people of Kampung Pedak Baru are satisfied because they were involved in the planning process. Apart from that, currently the Bantul Regency Government is still negotiating with the Central Government to finance the implementation of the slum area development plan in Kampung Pedak Baru. Architectural works of poor communities in informal settlements are often recoqnized as Marginalized Architecture, because indeed the people who create the Architecture is in these settlements are people who are marginalized by the social strata of urban society. They develop the house according to their needs and abilities. Methods of development, planning and design as well as the use of building materials are often very suitable for the needs of the local community, the local climate and even according to their daily income. In SDGs 2030 it is hoped that the settlements of these marginal communities can be eliminated. One of the marginal settlements in Bantul Regency is located in Kampung Pedak Baru, Bangun Tapan Village. The situation of marginal settlements developed on the banks of the Gajahwong river needs to be developed. Through community assistance conducted by lecturers from Duta Wacana Christian University, community-based slum settlement planning was carried out. With a totally participatory planning model, this community service program can be implemented well together with the team KOTAKU program supported by the Bantul Regency regional government. As a result of the total participatory model in planning slum development, the people of Kampung Pedak Baru are satisfied because they were involved in the planning process. Apart from that, currently the Bantul Regency Government is still negotiating with the Central Government to finance the implementation of the slum area development plan in Kampung Pedak Baru.

People in PowerPoint Pixels: Competing justice claims and scalar politics in water development planning

Coastal megacities all over the world face challenges related to climate adaptation, ecosystem protection and inclusive development. In response, governments develop high-level and long-term climate adaptation plans to guide coastal development. In Metro Manila, a consortium of Dutch and Philippine consultants developed the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan (MBSDMP). The planning team stressed the importance of inclusive and participatory planning, yet, the pre-set premises of the masterplan, such as the high-level and long-term planning scale and corresponding problem formulation, determined which justice claims were foregrounded in the project, disadvantaging small-scale fishing and informal settlement communities. ‘Justice’ is a contested concept. Hence, we deploy a critical theory and politics of expert knowledge lens to investigate how struggles over competing justice claims unfold in water development planning. The scalar politics as manifested in the MBSDMP planning process hides particular conceptions of justice while privileging others in congruence with the larger scale uneven political-economic development dynamics. We provide three examples of scale framing in the planning process that functioned to legitimize the contested displacement of informal settlements by pointing to economic development, disaster risk reduction, or environmental protection. Planning design choices involving scalar out-zooming enabled the uptake of these justice claims, while backgrounding the justice claims of negatively affected groups: namely, the urban poor and small-scale fishing communities. The case analysis provides conceptual-empirical insights relevant for coastal cities' grassroots and policy action platforms anticipating climate change impacts and strategizing their stance in the politics of climate adaptation planning.

Social perception and risk assessment of domestic uses of solar pasteurized rainwater in an informal settlement community

Solar pasteurization systems (SOPAS) were analysed on-site in a South African informal settlement, for the treatment of rainwater. This was achieved by (1) gauging community members’ perception of rainwater harvesting (RWH) and envisioned uses, (2) monitoring the removal of opportunistic pathogens in the rainwater [qPCR assays in combination with viability pre-treatment], and (3) applying quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to assess the risk of using the untreated and SOPAS treated rainwater for domestic activities identified by community members. Overall, 61% of respondents were familiar with the concept of RWH and 67% were favorably inclined towards using rainwater for daily household needs. Respondents also indicated that access to warm water, from the SOPAS system, may decrease household reliance on fossil fuels to heat water for various activities. Viability qPCR analysis showed that the SOPAS system reduced Legionella spp., Pseudomonas spp., and Salmonella spp. cells by a mean of 94.4%, 98.6%, and 88.3%. Additionally, Pseudomonas spp. and Salmonella spp. were reduced to below the detection limit at > 73 °C and > 75 °C, respectively. Subsequently, QMRA for all three target pathogens showed that SOPAS treatment primarily reduced the health risk associated with using the treated water for washing/bathing, cleaning, and washing laundry, amongst others, to below the 1 × 10−4 annual infection benchmark limit. The study highlights the importance of community engagement, through social perception studies and community workshops, prior to the implementation of water treatment interventions, as well as the value of combining molecular-based assays with QMRA to inform safe water uses.

Ebola and slum dwellers: Community engagement and epidemic response strategies in urban Sierra Leone

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa (2013–2016) was a learning process for all – the population, health experts and practitioners, as well as government structures. Learning occurred in all stages of the response, from the initial lack of clarity and denial of Ebola's existence that contributed to public confusion; to the eventual acceptance of the existence of the Ebola threat whereupon fear and stigmatization reigned; to the later stages in which community engagement and ownership of the response arose. In this paper we describe how two urban poor communities in informal settlements in the Western Area of Sierra Leone responded to Ebola Virus Disease and how they deployed efficient strategies like the development and implementation of by-laws for monitoring and surveillance, thus helping to curb the epidemic. For future public health emergencies, we recommend that community engagement be pursued earlier and that efforts are made to ensure two-way knowledge exchange between responders and community stakeholders.

Environmental justice in South Africa: the dilemma of informal settlement residents

The concept of environmental justice is well established in the literature; however, scholars still battle to agree on what it really means. This concept has become more relevant to the studies of informal settlements amongst others. The location and environmental variables in informal settlements suggests a variety of injustices that comes with location, limited access to water, poor or lack of sanitation, challenges with transport availability, accessibility, affordability, and lack of other social amenities. These and many other socio-economic needs forms part of the value chain of environmental justice debates across the world. This paper deals with environmental justice in the informal settlements of Kosmos, in the Madibeng Local Municipality, Bojanala Region in the North-West Province of South Africa. The paper highlights some of the environmental challenges faced by the informal settlement residents such as pollution, waste management (landfill sites, waste collection) sanitation and water provision. The paper explores how the Kosmos informal settlement community has been excluded from decision making processes regarding their own environment and considers the levels of environmental injustices commonly associated with this kind of practice.

Is local wisdom able to build sustainable communities in informal flood-prone settlements? Evidence from Glintung Kampong, Malang City, Indonesia

This study aims to highlight innovative and sustainable measures in adaptation to climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic through integration into flood control efforts based on empirical data in Glintung Kampong, an informal flood-prone settlement in Indonesia and to explore what local wisdom values influence the success of the measures undertaken. This study was designed to use a mixed method combining qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data consists of in-depth interviews, observations, and desk studies. Quantitative data is used for the generalization of some qualitative data across a wider field. The study results show that the existence of drainage channel facilities from the government can trigger creative ideas and innovative measures in the community. Community involvement with their “guyub rukun” and “gotong royong” values is the most influential factor in determining the success of the program, followed by community leaders, the ability to adapt to flood risk, and the ability to establish good interactions with external parties.

Community participation for inclusive land administration: A case study of the Odisha urban slum formalization project

Participation in land administration projects in the Global South is increasingly normalized, especially in processes like land formalization to ensure implementation is inclusive and responsible. This paper aims to extend land administration scholarship on participation with a focus on modalities of participation increasingly common in projects in the Global South: the central role of technology, decentralized implementation models, and local governance. The analysis draws on a case study of the experiences of eight urban informal settlement communities in Odisha, India, who are beneficiaries of a large-scale urban slum formalization project that has adopted these modalities to achieve an implementation process that aspires to institutionalize a strong participatory emphasis. The research findings reinforce longstanding issues identified in the broader participation literature that draws attention to how power, control, interests, motivations, and institutions condition community participation. In Odisha, these issues have clear intersections with caste, gender, and class – all of which have been found to further erode individual and community agency. Specifically for land administration, the results show that though technology aspired to facilitate inclusion, without the necessary checks and balances and the reframing of communities’ role as equal co-producers of knowledge, participation was often reduced to superficial transactions of information configured by technical workflows rather than mediated discussions for inclusive outcomes that have integrity. Similarly, despite a decentralized model, a normative approach to participation leaves it subject to interpretation and the skills and resources of local municipalities and NGOs, with little clarity or consistency for communities. This undermines deliberative participation and true agency. Finally, the assumption that newly formed Slum Dwellers Associations (SDAs) would provide effective local governance needs revisiting as the findings show low levels of participation in SDAs and that its functioning appears correlated with local capacity and extant community dynamics and politics. These have all inadvertently structured participation in a way that compromises aspirations of inclusive and equitable outcomes.

Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout: Challenges and Insights from Informal Settlements

The Covid-19 pandemic’s health impacts on low-income urban communities have not been insignificant, but the results of state responses and shutdowns implemented without adequate consideration of poverty consequences have been very serious. In this context, vaccination is one way – among many and varied actions needed – in which people can reduce risk of further exclusion. This article summarises early findings from a study focusing on the experiences of communities in informal settlements in four major cities in the global South – Harare, Kampala, Lilongwe, and Mumbai – which was conducted in partnership with national affiliates of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI). By providing a snapshot of how global vaccine inequalities play out at the local level, we aim to contribute to understanding the challenges faced by low-income residents in informal settlements in accessing Covid-19 vaccines and their perceptions of those challenges, and to generate insights about good practices to help ensure more equitable vaccine distribution.

High levels of poor mental health among young men in urban informal settlements in South Africa: a community-based study of social determinants

ABSTRACT Informal settlements (high population density areas at the outskirts of urban areas characterized by lack basic amenities) in South Africa are consequences of apartheid regime’s discriminatory migrant labour and spatial policy and continue to grow. Living in informal settlements accompanies a mire of social/health challenges that threatens upward mobility, but few studies exist that document drivers of mental health challenges in these settings. We investigated the prevalence and social determinants of poor mental health for young men in informal settlements adjacent to one of the largest cities that is at the heart of HIV endemic in South Africa. This study involved a cross-sectional study with cluster sampling design of 674 young men aged 18–30 years residing in eThekwini informal settlement communities. We assessed the prevalence, and social determinants, of significant depressive (i.e., depression) and post-traumatic stress (i.e., PTS) symptoms using logistic regression. Given the complex survey design of the study, all analyses were adjusted for clustering. The prevalence of depression and PTS in the sample was 46.8% and 14.4% respectively. Results of the multivariable analyses indicated that severe food insecurity (aOR = 2.98, 95% CI:1.70–5.22), crime perpetration (aOR = 1.51, 95% CI:1.05–3.80), severe adverse childhood event (aOR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.05–3.80), traumatic event exposures (aOR = 2.43, 95% CI:1.56–3.80) and problematic alcohol use (aOR = 1.73, 95% CI:1.20–2.49) were significantly associated with depression. While incomplete secondary education (aOR = 0.45, 95% CI:0.22–0.92), moderate food insecurity (aOR = 2.51, 95% CI:1.04–6.06), traumatic event exposures (aOR = 2.19, 95% CI:1.32–3.64) and problematic alcohol use (aOR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.24–3.73) were significantly associated with PTS. Our study highlights the exceedingly high levels of poor mental health among young men in informal settlements, with depression and PTS being driven by economic/social conditions. Multilevel interventions that address the individual, interpersonal, and social variables that contribute to poor mental health are needed.

Opportunities and challenges for service-learning experiences in informal urban settlements

PurposeThe purpose of this article is the discussion of a service-learning experience in architecture pedagogy, based on two core courses at a private university in Mexico. The aim is to identify learning opportunities, challenges and implications arising from engaging with inhabitants of an informal urban settlement with limited digital resources in La Campana-Altamira in Monterrey, Mexico.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology selected is a case study approach, chosen for its effectiveness in architectural pedagogy to create knowledge through exposure to a particular phenomenon, as well as highlight positive teaching practices to facilitate replicability. Case-study methodology was also beneficial in this case because its openness and flexibility allowed for research of a variety of phenomena simultaneously, in this case, both the effects in the informal settlement community and in the academic one.FindingsFindings revealed that opportunities outweigh challenges, and meaningful service and learning are possible in an online context, even when the service aspects take longer than the course length if there are long-term relationships between communities and institutions.Originality/valueThe value of the article lies in the need for flexible and sensitive approaches that put communities in the center, a critical path to identifying and understanding their needs and improving their contexts. This holds especially true given the rapid pace of worldwide urbanization and the ubiquity of informal urban settlements. Implementing service-learning approaches in informal settings using online tools, while sanitary restrictions are in place shows that meaningful experiences can be achieved, even when courses are short and resources are limited.

Community profiling to support inclusive urban community-based climate adaptation: experiences of a survey-based approach in urban informal settlements in Honiara, Solomon Islands

ABSTRACT Urban centres in the Pacific region are fast growing, with cities presenting as complex sites of risk and vulnerability. Within these cities, urban informal settlement communities are often some of the most vulnerable to climate change and impacts and urban climate planning needs to explicitly consider the priority needs of these often-marginalized communities if strategies are to be equitable. Hence, inclusive urban community-based adaptation is now a critical component of overall adaptation. In support of this important urban agenda, this paper describes a community profiling method that was developed to elicit key contextual data in support of locally appropriate climate action planning for informal settlements in Honiara, the capital city of Solomon Islands. The paper details the methodology that was developed, and uses a sample dataset to demonstrate the breadth and richness of the constructed community profile and the insights it reveals about community vulnerabilities. The paper argues that the proposed community profiling method offers organizations and practitioners invested in local engagement a practical tool to inform locally driven, climate resilient urban planning and development and can be translated for use in other Global South contexts.

Spatiotemporal urban water profiling for the assessment of environmental and public exposure to antimicrobials (antibiotics, antifungals, and antivirals) in the Eerste River Catchment, South Africa.

Antimicrobial agent (AA) usage, excretion, and persistence are all important factors in association with the occurrence and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. Urban water profiling was utilised in the Eerste River catchment (South Africa) to establish AA usage in a region where comprehensive prescription records were not readily available and where portions of the community did not have sufficient access to sanitation. This technique enabled the environmental exposure to be quantified throughout the catchment area and the identification of contamination hotspots. Monitoring occurred over a 11-month period. 812 samples were processed using UPLC-MS/MS for the quantitation of 56 antimicrobials and 26 of their metabolites. Spatiotemporal trends were established, with consideration to community behaviour, seasonal changes, and physiochemical properties of the analytes. The Eerste River samples collected upstream from the town of Stellenbosch had the lowest AA loads (<4 g/day), unafflicted by industrial presence and with only small impact from farming activities. This was followed by sites downstream from a wastewater treatment plant (serving 178K people). The measurement of low AA loads (influent: 500-800g/day and effluent 50-100g/day), indicates a high efficiency of wastewater treatment, allowing for an effective reduction of AA and a lower environmental burden. This is compared to river sites that receive untreated waste from communities in informal settlements (6-12K people) that are not connected to the sewer infrastructure (with AA levels accounting for 100-600g/day). Temporal trends exhibited reduced daily loads during the summer to early autumn (Nov-May). This is likely due to seasonal patterns in community health and/or notable changes in rainfall and temperatures at the sampling locations throughout the year. However, weather patterns are also important to consider - particularly for the river sites. South Africa has notable rainfall and temperature seasonality. Antiretrovirals (ARV), emtricitabine and lamivudine, were the most prevalent drugs throughout the monitoring campaign, followed by tuberculosis drugs and sulfonamides. ARVs were, however, effectively reduced via wastewater treatment processes (>97%). This was also the case for beta-lactams, nitrofurantoin, and trimethoprim. The treatment efficacy for other drugs was more variable, that did not appear to have temporal significance.

Collective Action Towards Risk Management in Informal Urban Areas in Medellín: COVID-19 Lessons for Reducing Vulnerability and Inequality

Recent experiences of socio-environmental disasters in Latin America have demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the state as a social actor in the organisation, coordination and implementation of adequate public policies to face these emergencies. This affects the most vulnerable urban areas, leading to unequal levels of impact from crises and disasters within cities. As a response, local collective actions, led by citizens, have emerged to manage risks. In Medellín, Colombia, in the context of the current COVID-19 crisis, our research identified a diverse repertoire of collective actions within informal, vulnerable communities, including collaboration towards improving food security, sanitation, pedagogy for self-care and prevention, and financial aid. Although these actions have had limited scope within the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they demonstrate the need to promote a more proactive interaction between society and the state, based on a series of agreed interventions, promoting the exchange of knowledge and articulation of actions in the production and improvement of informal urban areas. This research explores how these collective actions have developed through a set of semi-structured interviews with community leaders and key actors in Medellín, with a view to identifying lessons for state-community dynamics in relation to disaster risk management and achieving a more integrated approach to improving habitat conditions within vulnerable urban areas. This work demonstrates that vulnerable communities in informal urban settlements can actively address their exposure to risk through locally-oriented, bottom-up collective actions. However, key linkages with institutional frameworks are needed to strengthen state-community dynamics and facilitate sustainable, inclusive and equitable development in cities.

Editorial: Improved Understanding of Firebrand Processes During Large Scale Fire Disasters

In addition, the rise of informal settlement communities in Southeast Asia and Africa continues to result in large outdoor fires capable of great destruction.A common feature in the rapid spread of large outdoor fires are the generation of smaller combustible fragments from the original fire source, referred to as firebrands. In the case of WUI fires, the production of firebrands occurs from the combustion dynamics of vegetative, such as trees and shrubs, and human-made fuel elements, such as homes and other structures. For urban fires and informal settlement fires, firebrands are produced primarily from human-made fuel elements.Firebrand combustion has a series of important aspects: initial generation or formation from the combustion of both vegetative and structural fuel types, transport, deposition, and ignition of fuel sources generally far removed the original fire source. Post-fire investigations, for WUI fires, have reported that firebrand processes are responsible for a majority of structure losses in these fires [https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_46-1].

On Unraveling Community Ignition Processes: Joint Influences of Firebrand Showers and Radiant Heat Applied to Fuel Beds

ABSTRACT Devastating large outdoor fires have been responsible for the destruction of vast amounts of infrastructure and the loss of human life. Wildland fires that spread into urban areas, known as wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires, are capable of enormous destruction. WUI fires are distinct from wildland fires; WUI fires include the combustion of both vegetative and human-made fuels and occur where population centers exist, whereas wildland fires include the combustion of vegetative fuels and occur in uninhabited areas. The rise of densely populated urban areas has also seen the development of large urban fires. In addition, the rise of informal settlement communities in Southeast Asia and Africa continues to result in large outdoor fires capable of great destruction. As a wildland fire reaches an urban area, structure-to-structure fire spread processes will occur via the same mechanisms as those in informal settlement fires and urban fires: radiant heat, direct flame contact, and firebrands. Firebrands are in fact the main culprit to destroy structures in large outdoor fires. An additional complication is related to the showers of firebrands produced in large outdoor fires from vegetative and structural fuel combustion, and in the presence of the combustion of these fuel types, there is also radiant heat produced that may only enhance ignition processes. These combined ignition processes have been overlooked and are the subject of this experimental investigation. To this end, a custom experimental apparatus that produces firebrand showers, in the presence of applied radiant heat, was installed inside a wind facility. The firebrand generator was tuned to produce firebrands typical of those quantified from the combustion of structures and the coupled influences of firebrand showers and radiant heat, under various wind speeds was determined. The total firebrand mass for smoldering ignition (SI) decreased as the wind speed and preheating time increased. In all experiments, SI was observed to transition to flaming ignition (FI). To better understand the experimental observations, a simple model was developed and is presented.

Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence: Findings from Slums of Four Major Metro Cities of India.

There are limited studies on COVID vaccine confidence at the household level in urban slums, which are at high risk of COVID-19 transmission due to overcrowding and poor living conditions. The objective was to understand the reasons influencing COVID-19 vaccine confidence, in terms of barriers and enablers faced by communities in urban slums and informal settlements in four major metro cities in India. A mixed method approach was adopted, where in field studies were conducted during April–May 2021. First, a survey of at least 50 subjects was conducted among residents of informal urban settlements who had not taken any dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Delhi; second, a short interview with five subjects who had taken at least one dose of the vaccine in each of the four cities to understand the factors that contributed to positive behaviour and, finally, an in-depth interview of at least 3 key informants in each city to ascertain the vaccination pattern in the communities. The reasons were grouped under contextual, individual/group and vaccine/vaccination specific issues. The most frequent reason (27.7%) was the uncertainty of getting the vaccine. The findings show the need for increasing effectiveness of awareness campaigns, accessibility and the convenience of vaccination, especially among vulnerable groups, to increase the uptake.