In a state of slum: governance in an informal urban settlement in Ghana

ABSTRACTOld Fadama in Accra, Ghana, is a vast informal settlement. A legalistic approach by successive governments has meant a near-absence of statutory institutions and the emergence of alternative public authorities. These endeavour to provide the area with a range of basic public services to solve the area's serious developmental challenges. Through processes of informal negotiation residents establish rights and social contracts that underpin and define what will constitute ideas of state and law. At the same time, self-governance emerges while relations with statutory institutions shift back and forth between vilification, tacit acceptance, and productive cooperation. The article contributes to studies of governance in informal urban settlements on two fronts. First, it shows how informal arrangements lead to the provision of basic public services and influence the workings of formal institutions of government. Second, it challenges facile understandings of large-scale informal settlements as generally chaotic, lawless or subversive.

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Land Readjustment for Regularization of Informal Settlements

Journal of Science and Engineering ◽

10.3126/jsce.v6i0.23964 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 40-50

Author(s):

Robina Manandhar

Keyword(s):

Public Services ◽

Informal Settlement ◽

Land Development ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Tenure Security ◽

Case Study Methodology ◽

Land Registration ◽

The Social ◽

Land Readjustment

Regularization of informal settlements involves the process of legalization of tenure and upgrading of public services and infrastructures through land development. However, some settlement manages to get the services from formal authorities but lags legal tenure security. Legalization of tenure security is important so as to reduce their threat of eviction from formal authorities and improvement of their living standard. Various land development tools involves upgrading of public services and development of infrastructures but legalization of tenure security is left behind. Land development and legalization of tenure security both are the important components for regularization of informal settlements and recognize as formal settlements. Land readjustment is the tool or technique commonly used for the land development in Nepal. Thus this paper aims to indentify the applicability of land readjustment in regularization of informal settlement. In Nepal, there are prominent numbers of informal settlements along the river banks and also in urban core areas. Chadani tole along the Bagmati River is taken as a case study and analysis of applicability of land readjustment under the social and legal condition for regularization is carried out. This research has adopted both desk research and case study methodology. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis is adopted in this study. The results of research reveal that public participation and long term occupancy are the social positive aspects for the application of LR in informal settlements. Lack of land registration, legal recognition and development regulations are the legal hurdles for the application of LR in informal settlements. Land registration of informal settlement has not been done in Nepal which is important aspect for application of LR. Thus land registration of Nepal should include the components of STDM for the pro poor land registration and recognition of social tenure to informal settlements. Applicability of LR is difficult due to the lack of sufficient area. So to address the issue and ascertain the rights of dwellers to live in the same area, high rise apartments can be adopted.

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“If in doubt, count”: the role of community-driven enumerations in blocking eviction in Old Fadama, Accra

Environment and Urbanization ◽

10.1177/0956247811434478 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 47-57 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Braimah R Farouk ◽

Mensah Owusu

Keyword(s):

Urban Poor ◽

Large Scale ◽

Informal Settlement ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Population Data ◽

City Government ◽

Economic Activities ◽

City Governments ◽

New City

This paper describes the community-driven enumerations undertaken in Old Fadama, the largest informal settlement in Accra, which has long been threatened with eviction. After meeting with members of shack dweller federations from other nations, residents formed the Ghana Homeless People’s Federation in 2003 (now known as the Ghana Federation of the Urban Poor (GHAFUP). Together with the NGO People’s Dialogue on Human Settlements, they supported the first community-driven enumeration in Old Fadama in 2004 to counter the threat of eviction, by showing the large scale of economic activities in the community and the gap in accurate population data. This was followed by further enumerations, in 2006–2007 and in 2009, to counter new eviction threats from new city governments. These enumerations increased the residents’ confidence, empowering them in terms of engagement with city government. They also changed government’s perspective on informal settlements and helped shape policy away from forced evictions towards participatory relocations or rehabilitation.

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GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN RELATION TO INFORMAL URBAN SETTLEMENTS

Journal of Architecture and Urbanism ◽

10.3846/20297955.2017.1296791 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 22-33 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Olumuyiwa Bayode ADEGUN

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Critical Role ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Urban Green ◽

Urban Settlements ◽

Urban Green Infrastructure ◽

Informal Urban Settlements

Green infrastructure plays a critical role in environmentally sustainable urbanization in developing countries. Based on a review of academic outputs, this paper explores green infrastructure in the context of informal urban settlements. It identifies three ways informal settlements are connected to green spaces and natural ecosystems functioning as urban green infrastructure and then shows examples of benefits derived (ecosystem services) by the urban poor from these connections. Undesirable aspects and negative outcomes, regarded as ecosystem disservices, from the connection to natural ecosystems are also pointed out. The potentials of enhancing ecosystem services in terms of improving quality of life and the environment in informal settlements came to the fore. This work contributes to the growing body of knowledge on urban green infrastructure from the perspective of informal settlements in developing countries.

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Informal urbanism and the Internet of Things: Reliability, trust and the reconfiguration of infrastructure

Urban Studies ◽

10.1177/0042098019890798 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 57 (14) ◽

pp. 2918-2935 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Joseph Chambers ◽

James Evans

Keyword(s):

Internet Of Things ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Substantial Portion ◽

Poor Access ◽

Urban Settlements ◽

Informal Urbanism ◽

Research Gap ◽

Informal Urban Settlements ◽

The Internet Of Things ◽

Smart Urbanism

Of the build out of humanity predicted up to the end of the century, a substantial portion will occur within informal urban settlements – areas characterised by poor access to infrastructure and services. There is a pressing need to better understand how and with what implications the growing proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, as a component of smart urbanism, are being applied to address the challenges of these areas. The following paper addresses this research gap, showing how IoT technology is reconfiguring trust within water and energy infrastructures in Nairobi. We apply work on informal urban infrastructures and smart urbanism to three case studies, producing novel insights into how IoT technologies reconfigure connections between users, providers and infrastructures. This reconfiguration of trust smooths chronic infrastructural uncertainties and generates reliability within informal settlements and, in doing so, leads to increased personal economies. We conclude by considering how these examples provide insights into the implications of IoT for everyday urbanisms in informal settlements and how these insights relate to global smart city debates more widely.

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Beyond the informal settlement: the land tenure situation of urban kampungs in Surabaya, Indonesia

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1315/916/1/012010 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 916 (1) ◽

pp. 012010

Author(s):

T Tauran

Keyword(s):

Land Tenure ◽

Informal Settlement ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

The State ◽

City Government ◽

Critical Feature ◽

Government Services ◽

State And Society ◽

Urban Settlements ◽

The City

Abstract Kampung occupies a significant role in urban settlements in Indonesia. The existing studies categorise urban kampung as informal settlements. However, using evidence from urban kampungs in Surabaya, this study rejects the perspectives that simplify urban kampungs as informal settlements. This study proposes a critical feature of informal settlement as a gauge: land tenure. The findings show that urban kampungs are too complex to be represented in the informal category. Urban kampung can be inhabited by residents with various land tenure beyond formal and informal dichotomy. Most urban kampung residents occupy land with the state (national) or customary tenure, which the state and society recognised. Administratively, they are also integrated into the city government services. Based on the findings, this study argues that simplifying urban kampungs into the informal settlement category is imprecise and potentially misleading.

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The Spatial Pattern of Urban Settlement in China from the 1980s to 2010

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11236704 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (23) ◽

pp. 6704 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lifeng Shi ◽

Taiyang Zhong

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Settlement Pattern ◽

Urban Settlement ◽

Topographic Complexity ◽

Massive Growth ◽

Sensing Technology ◽

Urban Settlements ◽

Long Time ◽

Dynamic Population ◽

Economic Capacity

The dynamic urbanization process of China has stimulated a massive growth of urban settlements in the past few decades. With the development of remote sensing technology and the release of the long-time Landsat archive, spatial characteristics of urban settlement are gradually analyzed on a large scale, and various patterns are developed for describing and analyzing it. However, the urban settlement patterns were mainly quantified by the landscape metrics in existing studies, the underlying features shaping urban settlement pattern were always neglected. In this study, we establish a systematic and comprehensive ‘urban development index system’ for describing China’s urban settlement pattern and its evolutions during the end of the 1980s through to 2010 by using a series of statistical methods. Results show that (1) urban settlement pattern in 2010 is quantified comparatively simpler and more completely than in the end of the 1980s; (2) urban settlements in western and eastern regions present integrated pattern and homogeneous attributes, while urban settlements in central and northeastern regions present relatively complex pattern and various attributes; (3) urban settlements with the most variable pattern are accompanied by the most dynamic population and economic capacity, followed by landscape dispersion. Topographic complexity of urban settlements generally remained unchanged or with slight fluctuations, therefore, it has limited influence on settlement pattern evolution.

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Factors Influencing Choices for Early Marriage in Urban Informal Settlements of Bangladesh

Progress in Development Studies ◽

10.1177/14649934211023003 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 298-320

Author(s):

Raia Azmi ◽

Md Uzzal Chowdhury ◽

Hasna Hena Sara ◽

Subas Chandra Biswas ◽

Sairana Ahsan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Exchange ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Early Marriage ◽

Dropping Out ◽

School Crime ◽

Girl Child ◽

Urban Settlements ◽

Urban Informal Settlements ◽

Community Pressure ◽

Informal Urban Settlements

This study explores factors that shape parents’ decisions as to whether or not to arrange an early marriage of a girl child in the context of urban informal settlements in Bangladesh. The article draws on data from a larger mixed methods study conducted in two informal urban settlements of Bangladesh, and the analysis was guided by the theory of social exchange. The study found the following factors leading to early marriage: endemic poverty, high dowry costs for older girls, parents’ lack of wider social networks, adolescents dropping out of school, crime and insecurity, love affairs between adolescents and community pressure. Collaboration between government and non-government programmes to improve education, implementation of supportive laws, and greater formal economic opportunities for residents, including adolescents, in urban informal settlements, are critical to prevent early marriage in these environments.

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Local response in health emergencies: key considerations for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in informal urban settlements

Environment and Urbanization ◽

10.1177/0956247820922843 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 503-522 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Annie Wilkinson ◽

Harris Ali ◽

Juliet Bedford ◽

Somsook Boonyabancha ◽

Creighton Connolly ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Informal Economy ◽

Local Governments ◽

Protective Action ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Control Measures ◽

Effective Control ◽

Potential Health ◽

Urban Settlements ◽

Local Residents ◽

Informal Urban Settlements

This paper highlights the major challenges and considerations for addressing COVID-19 in informal settlements. It discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local protective action. There is heightened concern about informal urban settlements because of the combination of population density and inadequate access to water and sanitation, which makes standard advice about social distancing and washing hands implausible. There are further challenges to do with the lack of reliable data and the social, political and economic contexts in each setting that will influence vulnerability and possibilities for action. The potential health impacts of COVID-19 are immense in informal settlements, but if control measures are poorly executed these could also have severe negative impacts. Public health interventions must be balanced with social and economic interventions, especially in relation to the informal economy upon which many poor urban residents depend. Local residents, leaders and community-based groups must be engaged and resourced to develop locally appropriate control strategies, in partnership with local governments and authorities. Historically, informal settlements and their residents have been stigmatized, blamed, and subjected to rules and regulations that are unaffordable or unfeasible to adhere to. Responses to COVID-19 should not repeat these mistakes. Priorities for enabling effective control measures include: collaborating with local residents who have unsurpassed knowledge of relevant spatial and social infrastructures, strengthening coordination with local governments, and investing in improved data for monitoring the response in informal settlements.

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Potential impacts of slum urbanisation on channel bank storage in the Bang Pakong River, Thailand

Water Practice & Technology ◽

10.2166/wpt.2012.071 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

K. Harriden

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Balance Equations ◽

Physical Processes ◽

Social Phenomena ◽

Urban Settlements ◽

Recharge Rates ◽

Water Quality Deterioration ◽

Informal Urban Settlements ◽

Storage Processes

Generally regarded as social phenomena, this paper regards slum urbanisation as an environmental actor. Specifically, how slum developments modify hydrogeomorphological processes motivates this research. Using the Bang Pakong River, eastern Thailand, as a case study, a literature review was conducted. The literature reviewed indicated changes in physical processes such as channel bank stability, water quality, flow regimes and the hydrological balance equations can occur with slum development. Given the importance of channel banks as the physical basis of many slum sites, this paper focuses on the possible changes to channel bank storage in the Bang Pakong River following slum urbanisation. The research highlights possible changes to channel bank storage processes, notably decreased storage recharge rates; increased anthropogenic extraction; and probable water quality deterioration. Deeper scientific understanding of how river processes are affected by specific forms of urban development can contribute to better management of both informal urban settlements and rivers.

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