22 Informal Settlements

Informal settlements – are residential areas where

1) inhabitants have no security of tenure vis-à-vis the land or dwellings they inhabit, with modalities ranging from squatting to informal rental housing,

2) the neighbourhoods usually lack, or are cut off from, basic services and city infrastructure and

3) the housing may not comply with current planning and building regulations and is often situated in geographically and environmentally hazardous areas.

In addition, informal settlements can be a form of real estate speculation for all income levels of urban residents, affluent and poor. Slums are the most deprived and excluded form of informal settlements characterized by poverty and large agglomerations of dilapidated housing often located in the most hazardous urban land.

In addition to tenure insecurity, slum dwellers lack formal supply of basic infrastructure and services, public space and green areas, and are constantly exposed to eviction, disease and violence.

Socio-spatial exclusion – refers to the processes that contribute to the geographic marginalization of individuals and groups because of where they live and who they are.

It is characterized by their inability to access or effectively use a whole range of facilities and resources which improve well-being and position people to take advantage of available opportunities.

Particular groups and individuals often suffer a disproportionate ‘disadvantage’ because of their identity, which is physically represented in urban contexts by the presence of informal settlements.

Environmental justice – refers to the dynamic relationship between poverty, ecosystem services and pollution that sees vulnerable and poor urban dwellers suffer disproportionately from environmental impacts.

Environmental justice aims at curbing abuses of power in relation to natural resources and calls for the legal and social empowerment of the poor and new approaches to sustainability to secure future generations’ quality of life.