A large population of the world lives in unplanned urban areas where slums settlement receives little to no planning and management. In spite of advancements in urban infrastructure, jobs, sanitation, etc., slums management is the world’s most rapidly increasing form of human settlement problems, especially in developing countries. Karachi is the capital city of Sindh province and largest city of Pakistan, where in recent years urban issues such as insufficient basic facilities have coupled with environmental problems that are seriously impacting the public life. Currently, concerns regarding urban ecological environment are the most noticeable warning signs confronted by a slum dweller. Contaminated drinking water, untreated sewage waste, and zero solid waste management is a public health issue. In this article, we highlighted a number of key environmental problems together with their potential solutions about slum settlements in Karachi, Pakistan; although there is a lack of holistic public policy including social, economic and environmental challenges.

Slums is identified as an area of unplanned human habitation which can be found nearly in every country. Approximately one-third of the world’s inhabitants live in slums. Ooi defines a slum where peoples live in area that is deficient in one or more of the following conditions: having access to potable water, access to hygiene, residential security, stabile accommodations, or adequate living space for inhabitants. Main causes of slum include the rapid rural-to-urban movement, no financial resources, job availability, government financial crisis, hopelessness, redundancy, poverty, unexpected market fluctuations, poor development, political affairs, natural calamity and community divergence. Worldwide, nearly one billion people live in inadequate shelter, mostly in developing countries. The shortage of safe and affordable housing is because of poor construction skills, insecure land tenure and limited access to financial mechanisms. Peoples with low income build their houses incrementally through informal funding but these structures are vulnerable to disasters . Slums (informal settlements) often occupy peri-urban locations that are situated outside the city centre are unique feature of the cities especially in the developing countries. Around one billion peoples (one in seven people) live in self-built homes (slum), and by 2050 this number will reach to 3 billion . Slum dwellers face distinct challenges such as insecure land tenure and unsafe housing public services such as electricity grids or sanitation infrastructure, moreover, close living quarters, increases their risk of getting infectious diseases .