This Presentation based on Urbanization, Slums Growth, and Challenge of Low-Income Habitat

• World population is expected to cross 10 billion by 2050
• By 2030, nearly 60% of the world’s population will be urban, and nearly ½ will comprise the urban poor living in poor habitats and in slums
• Urban growth rates are highest in the developing world, absorbing an average of 5 million new urban residents/month Responsible for 95% of the world’s urban population growth
• Factors contributing to urban migration are: greater economic growth, rising income levels, employment opportunities, immigrant workers, the occupational shift from agriculture to manufacturing and services, changing attitudes towards consumption and lifestyle, changing family culture, and shrinking household size

• Almost half of the World lives on less than $ 2.50 a day, and one in four people around the globe is below $ 10 a day.
• Worldwide, some 830 million people live in urban slums, and by 2020 it is estimated that the world slum population will cross 1 bn (one out of seven people on the globe)
• Every second person on the globe lives in urban areas. Expected to reach more than three out of four (70%) by 2050
• Slum dwellers grew from 777mn to 830mn during 2000-2010, may be much more
• Positive factor: 227 million moved out of slums; doubling MDG goals
• The world needs 4,000 houses an hour to keep up with demand (UN-Habitat)
The challenge of this population and urbanization explosion:
‒ The percentage of people without access to decent, stable housing is rising.
‒ Adequate housing is vital to the health of the world’s economies, communities, and populations.
If we are to succeed in our fight against poverty, we must support the expansion of housing both as policy as well as practice for Socio-Economic Empowerment.

Urbanization:
• World Urbanization in 2010 – 51%, and by 2030 – 61%
• Cities in developing countries are expected to absorb 95 percent of urban population growth in the next two decades, increasing the slum population by nearly 500 million between now and 2020.
Slums:
• One billion-plus people live in slums. That’s one out of seven of us. Unless urgent action is taken, 1.4 billion people will live in slums by 2020
• Cities account for some 70 percent of global GDP and city slums are often economically vibrant; around 85 percent of all new employment opportunities around the world occur in the informal economy (Case of Dharavi, the Mumbai Slum)

• Region represents more than 1/4th of Worlds Population and ½ of the poor on the planet
• Asia-Pacific, including China, represents ½ of the world’s Population
• Region is still among the lowest in terms of Mortgage Finance
The average Mortgage Debt to GDP Ratio is 3.3
• The region is faced with a massive housing shortage
‒ India alone faces an urban housing shortage of 18 mn, down from 27 million in the 1990s.
• Nearly the entire urban shortage is in the low-income category
• Persons per room density:
‒ India/Pakistan 3.5
‒ EU 1.1
‒ USA 0.5

• Asia-Pacific represents:
• 1/4th of the world’s population, including China nearly half of the world population
• Nearly ½ of the World’s Poor
• Awareness: Housing has become a popular political slogan.
• “Housing for all”;
• “Slum Free Cities”
• “Maang Raha hai har Insaan-Roti, Kapra, aur Makan” (Every human demands food, clothing and shelter); etc.
• Delivery: In a few countries it is SOME, but in most there is NONE
• Each country in the region has its own geo-socio-economic parameters, while all face a common issue of “shelterless poor”

• Increased urbanization, population growth, depletion of stock
• Changing size of persons per household (a cultural phenomenon)
• Cities growing in circles around inner circles, rather than developing new cities and satellite towns
• The Low-Income Segment prefers to live close to the place of work
• Failure to redefine city limits with progressive Master Plans ( urban/rural rezoning)
• Land prices force the poor into suburbs/illegal habitats having no civic amenities, transport, or utilities, while Slums in inner circles of cities provide all these amenities-leading to slum growth.
• Failure or absence of an integrated housing and urban development function.