Posted by Maryia Sakharevich
10/31/10
Settlement patterns
"Slum", at its simplest, is a "heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and squalor". This definition encapsulates the essential characteristics of slums: high densities and low standards of housing (structure and services) and "squalor". The first two criteria are physical and spatial, while the third is social and behavioural. pg.8
Substantial centres in the developing world during the past 50 years: their business centres were not a historic centre (like in older European cities for example) so they have been purpose built, with access to airports and residential zones of more affluent. The shape of the city has been determined by minibuses and private cars. -pg22
City forms of the developing world can be divided into several types: (pg.22)
-colonial-style cities: well-built formal core, surrounded by large areas of informal settlements; many cities in Africa and South Asia follow this form; inner city area was protected by colonial powers from encroachment; resembles feudal European design of a walled city with poor beyond the walls.
-planned ethnic separation: extreme example of urban social segregation; system is similar for Palestinians working in Israel.
-Saucer: norm for some cities in Eastern Europe; a low-rise centre is surrounded by public housing apartment buildings, which become progressively higher towards the rim, linked to the centre with rapid transit.
-Multi-centres: many South Asian and Latin American cities follow this system; multi-centred and amorphous because have been built from the beginning around motorized transport and walking; high income areas surround the concrete canyons of business districts; large tracts of poor-quality low-income housing in older inner areas, in squatter zones on the fringe of fragile land; in some Asian cities there are no identifiable slum areas of more than a few blocks.
Slums can be broken into two major categories with 2 subcategories in each: (pg.80)
-declining areas ("old" city centre slums and "new" slum estates)
-progressive settlements (squatter settlements and semi-legal subdivisions)
Inner-city Slums: (pg.80) gave birth to the concept of slums: whereby central, prosperous residential areas of cities undergo deterioration as their original owners move out to newer and more fashionable residential areas. Since originally built for middle/high-income groups, areas are well serviced but over time dwellings are increasingly subdivided and level of overcrowding grows, strain on those services can reach breaking point.
Slum Estates: (pg.81) structures are relatively new and not in private ownership; ex. include public housing estates and housing built by industry or to house industrial workers. Also embrace tied workers' housing that was built by employers for use of their work force during the period of their employment; suffer greatly b/c of lack of any occupant involvement in maintenance thus leading to rapid deterioration.
Squatter settlements: (pg.83) one of the most important components of slum housing stock; squatters: people who occupy land without the explicit permission of the owner; thus these settlements are established by illegally building houses on a piece of land; includes houses on pavements and rooftops; called self-built or spontaneous settlements. Generally found in developing countries.
Illegal settlements and subdivisions: (pg.83)widespread on fringes of cities; this is where land has been subdivided, resold, rented by its legal owner to people to build their houses upon it. Illegal owing to several factors such as lack of building permits and planning, low standard of services/infrastructure, etc.
Recent slums are newer and unconsolidated; expressed in poorer, less permanent materials (ex. used corrugated metal sheets, straightened oil drums, plastic sheets, cardboard cartons, etc) esp. where residents are unsure of how long they'll be able/allowed to stay. (pg.84)
Land Tenure
Populations living in irregular urban settlements are all confronted with the same set of interrelated problems: they have limited access to basic services and they have no security of tenure. Some forms of residential tenure arrangement can guarantee a reasonably good level of security. Recognition by the community itself and by the neighbourhood is often more important than recognition by public authorities for ensuring secure tenure. (pg 6)
Squatter settlements are more exposed to forced evictions, esp. those located on private land in prime urban areas that are therefore subject to high market pressures, and those that occupy hazardous or dangerous sites; the poorest communities are esp. vulnerable to external pressures. (pg.6)
Four main factors contribute to protection of household from forced eviction: (pg.7)
-length of occupation (older settlements have better level of legitimacy)
-size of settlement (small are more vulnerable)
-level of cohesion of community organization
-support from third sector organizations
There is a "diversity to rights to land and the existence of a wide range of options, from full ownership to less exclusive forms of possession and use. There is a possible coexistence in one place of forms of tenure that give access to different rights and a continuum between forms of tenure." (pg.8)
"Security of tenure describes an agreement between an individual or group to land and residential property which is governed and regulated by administrative framework. ...The tenure can be affected in a variety of ways, depending on constitutional and legal framework, social norms, cultural values and... individual preference. ... A person can be said to have secure tenure when they are protected from involuntary removal from their land or residence... " (pg 8)
Shanghai and Lilong Housing
Qian Guan, Lilong Housing, A Traditional Settlement Form (M.Arch Thesis, School of Architecture McGill University, 1996).
Street networks in Shanghai: (chapter 2)
-streets 6.6-8m wide, 35-45m intervals
-doesn't follow traditional Chinese pattern (streets running S, N, E, W); has streets facing these directions but they are never straight and thus street pattern is crooked
-no grid system; organic street pattern resulted in blocks varying in sized and shapes
Lilong Housing (chapter 2)
- during the open trade period (1852-1949) Shanghai's population increasing rate reached 902%
-most people were engaged in commercial or business activities, thus prosperity was expressed by vast array of shops and recreation, thus street facade became reserved for commercial activities
-in order to accommodate for growing population and the need for a living environment, lilong housing was created (temporary wooden shacks; later after many years became brick or brick-concrete mixed structures). Was integrated into urban street blocks in which shops occupied the street frontage and the housing took the enclosed space
-thus two types of urban spaces were created: outer belt-shaped space (commercial streets, traffic circulation; open and dynamic) and the inner block-type space (rows of low-rise housing; separated from the first, enclosed and safe)
