Enabling participatory planning with GIS: a case study of settlement mapping in Cuttack, India

This paper describes the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to map informal settlements in Cuttack, India in ways that enhance and support residents’ participation in the data collection and planning process. Rather than relying on remote sensing to identify informal settlement locations, each settlement is visited individually by a mapping team comprised of community leaders and NGO staff. The mapping team meets with settlement residents to develop a detailed settlement profile and map the settlement boundary using a GPS device. This process has helped to open and sustain a dialogue between the residents of informal settlements and city government around “slum” upgrading, and has influenced the use of a central government fund to support local upgrading plans.

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The challenges of livelihoods reconstruction in the context of informal settlement upgrading

Environment and Planning A Economy and Space ◽

10.1177/0308518x20926514 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 0308518X2092651

Author(s):

Pauline C Cherunya ◽

Bernhard Truffer ◽

Edinah Moraa Samuel ◽

Christoph Lüthi

Keyword(s):

Community Involvement ◽

Informal Settlement ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Daily Activities ◽

Domestic Spaces ◽

Rapid Deterioration ◽

Time Space ◽

Slum Upgrading ◽

Implementation Stages ◽

Core Condition

Community involvement is recognized as a core condition for success in informal settlements upgrading. However, the wider ramifications of this requirement are not well understood. Mostly, community involvement has been equated with a narrow interpretation of participation, largely focusing on the elicitation of dwellers’ preferences at the planning stages. We argue that this approach overlooks the actual needs for livelihoods reconstruction in the course of upgrading. To better conceptualize these requirements, we propose to analyse the time–space configuration of practices, which we frame as constituting Oscillating Domestic Spaces. The concept illustrates the contingent nature of daily activities to meet livelihoods needs and how people navigate these conditions. Challenges associated with reconstructing new domestic spaces are illustrated using the Kenyan Slum Upgrading (Kensup) initiative in Nairobi, Kenya. The findings suggest that an inadequate understanding and consideration of livelihoods reconstruction reduced legitimacy of the initiative, resulted in rapid deterioration of physical amenities and relegated most of the alleged ‘beneficiaries’ deeper into poverty. We suggest that, for successful settlements upgrading, livelihoods reconstruction should be a core process in the planning, implementation and post-implementation stages.

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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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Participatory enumerations at the national level in Namibia: the Community Land Information Programme (CLIP)

Environment and Urbanization ◽

10.1177/0956247811435891 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 67-75 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Anna Muller ◽

Edith Mbanga

Keyword(s):

Land Tenure ◽

Informal Settlement ◽

National Level ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

National Government ◽

Second Phase ◽

Development Initiatives ◽

Local Ngo

This paper describes how the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia developed the capacity to undertake enumerations and mapping of informal settlements and, with support from the national government and a local NGO, developed the Community Land Information Programme. Through this initiative, the federation has profiled and mapped all of the informal settlements in Namibia, covering more than 500,000 people without secure land tenure and setting a significant precedent in terms of the ability of the federation to work at scale. For each settlement, a profile was developed by the residents that stimulated discussions of their priorities and also discussions with government. In the second phase, the residents of informal settlements were supported to undertake more detailed enumerations and mapping to identify development priorities and provide the information needed for development initiatives. The paper describes how this was done in a case study of an informal settlement in Swakopmund municipality and ends with a discussion of what has been learned, especially with regard to keeping the process rooted in the concerns and priorities of the residents of each settlement.

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Steering Energy Transitions through Landscape Governance: Case of Mathare Informal Settlement, Nairobi, Kenya

Land ◽

10.3390/land9060206 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 206

Author(s):

Peris Njoroge ◽

Amollo Ambole ◽

Daniel Githira ◽

George Outa

Keyword(s):

Informal Settlement ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Clean Energy ◽

Community Members ◽

Landscape Governance ◽

Energy Demands ◽

Poor Households ◽

Political Dimensions ◽

Multi Stakeholder

Poor households in urban informal settlements face a big challenge in accessing clean energy for cooking, heating, and lighting. We use Kenya’s Mathare informal settlement as a landscape site to better understand how cross-sector collaboration can enhance access to sustainable energy in informal settlements. We also demonstrate that academics are well-placed in facilitating multi-stakeholder engagements between community members, experts, and policy actors. This is pursued by drawing on the results of two energy research projects (CoDEC and AfriCLP). We employ a landscape governance framework to re-conceptualise the findings from the CoDEC and AfriCLP projects. Specifically, we use the ecological, socio-cultural, and political dimensions of landscape governance to discuss the relationships between energy demands and other landscape issues in the case study. In conclusion, the paper recommends landscape governance as a promising approach for integrating energy issues with other competing landscape interests, while also encouraging cross-sector collaboration.

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Spatial Video Health Risk Mapping in Informal Settlements: Correcting GPS Error

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16010033 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 33 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Andrew Curtis ◽

Sandra Bempah ◽

Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar ◽

Dania Mofleh ◽

Lorriane Odhiambo

Keyword(s):

Global Positioning System ◽

Informal Settlement ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Risk Mapping ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Health Concern ◽

Original Video ◽

Global Positioning ◽

Spatial Video ◽

Coordinate Error

Informal settlements pose a continuing health concern. While spatial methodologies have proven to be valuable tools to support health interventions, several factors limit their widespread use in these challenging environments. One such technology, spatial video, has been used for fine-scale contextualized mapping. In this paper, we address one of the limitations of the technique: the global positioning system (GPS) coordinate error. More specifically, we show how spatial video coordinate streams can be corrected and synced back to the original video to facilitate risk mapping. Past spatial video collections for the Mathare informal settlement of Kenya are used as an illustration as these data had been previously discarded because of excessive GPS error. This paper will describe the bespoke software that makes these corrections possible, and then will go on to investigate patterns in the coordinate error.

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Placemaking in Informal Settlements: The Case of France Colony, Islamabad, Pakistan

Urban Science ◽

10.3390/urbansci5020049 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 49

Author(s):

Ramisa Shafqat ◽

Dora Marinova ◽

Shahed Khan

Keyword(s):

Social Economic ◽

Informal Settlement ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Comprehensive Understanding ◽

Rural Migrants ◽

Systematic Analysis ◽

Alternative Perspective ◽

Spatial Attributes ◽

Life Values

This paper provides an alternative perspective on urban informal settlements by analysing them as places of rural remnants, reservoirs of regional cultural heritage, and spaces entailing traditional sustainable elements that are brought to the urban realm by rural migrants. These socio-cultural and spatial attributes of a settlement converge under the notion of a “place.” Placemaking analysis is thus contended to be appropriate for comprehensive understanding of an informal settlement. The selected case study of France Colony, Islamabad, employs the placemaking methodology framework to investigate sustainability values and practices from the day-to-day living of its inhabitants. Data collected through on-site interviews during transect walks in France Colony are then translated into four maps as a spatio-cultural documentation of the sustainable elements found in the informal settlement. The four maps relate to form and users, activities and amenities, image and characteristics, and access and linkages. This systematic analysis assisted in categorising the sustainability characteristics of the informal settlements according to the three pillars (social, economic, and environmental) of sustainability. The findings show that the organic placemaking, originating from everyday life, values, behaviour, and lifestyle of the informal dwellers, allows for a strong and vibrant resilient community to emerge.

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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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Infrastructural insurgency: Constructing situated data at Brazil’s urban periphery

plaNext - Next Generation Planning ◽

10.24306/plnxt/75 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kristine Stiphany

Keyword(s):

Collective Action ◽

Informal Settlement ◽

Informal Settlements ◽

Global South ◽

Sao Paulo ◽

Comparative Case Study ◽

Urban Periphery ◽

The Future ◽

Over Time

This paper focuses on how insurgencies are continually recast in parallel to State-led redevelopment or ‘upgrading’. It brings attention to communities that shape and are reshaped by inclusion of data in processes through which citizens participate in city-making. Drawing on a comparative case study of intensively upgraded informal settlements in São Paulo, Brazil, findings show that data-based insurgencies have been forged from prior collective action. The resultant co-created or situated data challenge the State’s legitimacy as sole arbiter of informal settlement representation and infrastructure transformation in cities. In this context, the term infrastructural insurgency is proposed as a way that socio-material agencies iterate over time and in space, and to stimulate discourse about the future of upgrading. It reflects on which interactions between data and redevelopment can inform planning in post-redevelopment conditions across global south.

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