Written evidence submitted by Jonathan
Wood
HOW TO
PREVENT NEW
SLUMS ARISING
The issue that I wish to bring to the committee's
attention is somewhat different from those set out in its Terms
of Reference but which I think is absolutely crucial to a sustainable
future for developing country cities (DCCs).
Current projections see slum populations increasing
by 40% by 2020 (from 1 to 1.4 billion). Even if
this projection proves to be unduly pessimistic, and there are
much enhanced interventions relating to the improvement of infrastructure
and secure tenure in existing slum areas, several hundred million
potential new slum dwellers will have to find somewhere to live.
The question is therefore quite simple—how can we prevent,
or at least, reduce, the incidence of new slums. To some extent
this will occur if existing slums are legitimised as this can
then facilitate a continual process of improvement, redevelopment
and hence population increase. But this is unlikely to be enough.
One of the reasons why poor households live where they do, and
tolerate sub-standard living conditions, is that they have little
or no alternative—there is nowhere else for them to go.
This will continue to be the case unless alternative, and better
serviced, locations are provided.
To my mind the only solution is to drastically
increase access to developable land. In cities, where land has
been available, small scale developers have been invaluable in
providing some access to lower income households, yet these developments
have often been illegitimised by an ineffectual planning system
and ignored by the authorities in terms of providing infrastructure.
Unless action is taken these areas will become slums of the future.
The bottom line is that unless steps are taken
to prevent the creation of future slums, efforts to address the
issue of existing slums will be no more than a partial solution.
This brings us to the wider issue of urban expansion
in DCCs. Recent research has shown that most DCCs are expanding
faster than their population and that many will double in size
over the next 20 years. Yet few cities are doing anything
to manage or plan for this growth (China is the main exception).
The result is increasingly dysfunctional suburban areas, chronic
traffic congestion and very long journeys to work.
What is surely needed is a concentrated programme
of research, innovative thinking and pilot projects. These could
include developing more effective (simpler) and flexible planning
systems, securing increased contributions from developers and
land owners for the provision of infrastructure and low income
housing (I can find no evidence that low income households end
up anywhere other than in slums without some government assistance),
interventionist approaches to re-structuring fast-growing urban
fringe areas, and building/safeguarding secondary road networks
(as one researcher has suggested).
In this context, I still find it inexplicable
that DFID's current research programme has no urban component.
Mind you in the research I carried out, I found very examples
of anyone (academics, consultants, national or city governments)
really trying to tackle these issues, perhaps because developed
countries never had to cope with scale of urbanisation now occurring,
simultaneously with the impetus to rapid physical expansion provided
by rising car ownership. few attempts to address the issue of
how to manage the physical expansion of DCCs in a more sustainable
manner."
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