Urban Housing and its Predicament: Slums - a Neglected Haven

Abstract

The rapid growth of slums in the developing world appears to have three root causes which,in addition to the underlying problems of poverty, must be addressed through appropriate policies: the ‘pull’ towards the city, the ‘push’ away from rural areas and the increase in population size. When combined with inadequate city infrastructure for coping with such an influx, including “the inability of the urban poor to access affordable land for housing”. Slums represent multiple human deprivations in urban settlements and majority of urban poor seems to reside in the slums and squatter settlements.