2.0 INRODUCTION Having set the aims, objectives and research questions in the first chapter, this chapter zooms in to review literature available on the subject of land tenure regularization and its effect on housing investment from different parts of the world with specific reference to cities. The emphasis of this chapter is to analyse the link between land tenure regularization and housing investment in informal settlements. Also, the focus is on securing land rights in informal settlements, since it is widely believed that regularization of informal settlement rights leads to (increased) access to formal finance which subsequently encourages housing investment (Chome and McCall, 2005). The chapter starts with contextual definition of key terms, and then followed by global documentation on the impact of tenure regularization in informal settlement, focusing on the experiences of some selected countries. Since the aim of the research is to investigate the effect of land tenure regularization on informal housing investment and that both the Zambian Local Authorities and the government have intention to regularize informal settlements, lessons learnt from the case study countries will be noted, after which the chapter will be concluded in section 2.6 by way of a summary. 2.1 CONTEXTUAL DEFINITIONS 2.1.1 INFORMAL SETTLEMENT Many synonyms have been used in literature to refer to informal settlements. These include spontaneous, irregular, unplanned, marginal and squatter settlements. Some literatures have used the terms slums and informal settlements interchangeably (UNHSP, 2003). While a clear definition for informal settlements is still difficult to find (ibid), some organisations have given descriptions of informal settlements.... ... middle of paper ... ... revision of tax rates and many more. In order to secure land tenure for the urban informal settlers, different countries have introduced licenses or Certificates in different names. However they all have the same objectives. For instance, in Zambia residents are issued with a 30-year Occupancy Licences while the area undergoes through the process of upgrading. These can be later replaced by certificates of title, which carry the same effect as if the landowner were obtaining a direct lease of the land from the state (UN-Habitat, 2012). In Botswana, Certificate of Use is issued to informal dwellers so as to encourage them on further housing investment (Durand-Lasserve, 2006). In Brazil, Concession of the Real Right to Use is issued to residents. The validity period of these licences varies between 30 and 50 year periods but subject to renew (Van der Molen, 2002).
With increasing housing prices, it is not bearable to indigenous residents. The author reiterates that many residents of gentrifying neighborhoods fear the possibility of being displaced and are unsettled by the feeling of being pushed out. The issue of displacement in gentrifying areas is one of the biggest issues implied in this chapter. This relates a lot to my research because of the fact one of the main concerns mentioned in my research is figuring out what occurs to residents who are displaced from their homes because they are not able to afford their rent? There must be a certain mechanism that tap the wealth created by gentrification for the benefit of indigenous and poorer residents who may wish to one day live in a neighborhood.
Shantytowns are defined as urban slums “perched on hillside outskirts of most cities” (Sanabria, 2007, p.25) in Latin America. Common characteristics of shantytowns include run-down buildings, poor infrastructure, lack of space, high population, risk of disease, low education level, and a great lack of job opportunities (pp.24-6). These ghettos are home to the poor and socially-outcast, especially first and second generation migrants from rural areas (pp.24-5).
The Americans of African and European Ancestry did not have a very good relationship during the Civil war. They were a major cause of the Civil War. But, did they fix or rebuild that relationship after the war from the years 1865 to 1900? My opinion would be no. I do not believe that the Americans of African and European ancestry successfully rebuilt their relationship right after the Civil war. Even though slavery was finally slowly getting abolished, there was still much discrimination against the African Americans. The Jim Crow laws and the black codes discriminated against black people. The Ku Klux Klan in particular discriminated against black people. Even though the United States government tried to put laws into the Constitution to protect black people, the African Americans were discriminated in every aspect of life from housing, working, educating, and even going to public restrooms!
The Asian-Americans settlement patterns were shaped by many decades of economic and social development in the United States. Since the Asian-American group is so large, it is often discussed in different ethnic subgroups. These various ethnic groups have many faced different struggles upon settling in America. Some of these struggles include significant racial discrimination in the workplace, low wages, and harassment, and violence. Despite the differences, most of these immigrants were drawn to America for better career and educational opportunities. Nevertheless, these immigrants have made numerous sacrifices, such as leaving their homeland in order to provide the best support for themselves and their family. The differences in settlement patterns over time can be seen through the ethnic groups: Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, and Japanese
“Understanding people who are homeless also plays a very important role – as many poor people who are being provided homes through government schemes are renting their homes to others and they are going back to their previous dwellings (slums/huts). The solution to slums is not to evict people, or to eradicate the dwellings, but to create conditions so that people can improve their own dwellings, with the assistance of the community. One of the best ways to do that is by giving slum-dwellers security of tenure, so they know they are protected against arbitrary, unfair, or illegal eviction. If people know that, even if they only make a couple of hundred dollars a year, which many people do, they'll spend money improving their house that they wouldn't otherwise do if they were afraid of being evicted. If governments acted in partnership with people in this way, many good things could
What was life like in the Southern Colonies? Why did the colonists stay in the South? What opportunities were there for them? These can all be answered by looking at the religion and economic status of the Southern Colonies. Add more to the introduction- General details on religion and economics.
Imagine sweat dripping off your face, every muscle in your body is aching and begging you to stop, but you can’t your master will beat you if you do. This is the work of a slave during Colonial America. The life of a slave was a difficult one from being taken from your home country, to enduring long hours of painful work until thankfully, it was halted to a stop during the civil war.You’re in Africa with your family you are doing your daily duties when you and your village hear noise. There are men that appear to be coming your way. There is something over your head and you cannot see. It seems you’re being forced down to the bottom deck of a ship. You are able to see again but, you don’t see your family. What you do see, however, are people from your
Another type of problem with land use conflict centers on the local groups opposed to the project. These people, or NIMBYs, are generally underfunded, highly stressed, inexperienced in negotiation, and lacking political power. They want to participate meaningfully in the decision-making process about their LULU, but many find it difficult to obtain anything but an adversarial position in the process. Power, status, and wealth are the key attributes to gaining attention and consideration from the broader community. Unfortunately, most public NIMBYs are minorities, live in rural areas, live in the South, or have middle- to lower-class incomes (Morris, 1994). In their defense, though, NIMBYs can make harmful land uses difficult to site by creating gridlock on current standard operating procedures.
Maxwell, Simon. "Book Review Symposium." Development Policy Review 26.1 (2008): 113-128. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
23). He also comments on the UN's official definition of the slum, "characterized by overcrowding, poor or informal housing, inadequate access to safe water and sanitation, and insecurity of tenure." (Davis, 2006, 23). According to Davis, this definition is "restricted to the physical and legal characteristics of the settlement" (Davis, 2006, 23). Moreover, slums are diverse in different parts of the world. In Latin America and in some Asian cities, hand-me-down housing is common. In most of the Third World, hand-me-down housing is less common than tenements and purpose-built rental housing. In sub-Saharan Africa, older inner-city tenement housing is more or less
Beall, Joe. Basudeb, Khasnobis. Kanbur, Ravi. Urbanization and Development: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Oxford University Press, 2010.
Formal and Informal sector intersect when the subject relates opportunity costs enforcing the cost-benefit approach. Legalist perspective suggests that formalization is the mechanism to protect business and property rights, creating capital, raise productivity and attract investments. De Soto (2000) argues that the real estate value is worth of USD 9.3 trillion in the Third World countries that exceeds any kind of donation and loans from the developed world. We witness the unique “entrepreneurial ingenuity” that the poor created in the developing world. Although, it is a dead capital which cannot be used for economic development, unless treated properly. De Soto claims that the higher formalization, the more potential exists to accumulate wealth and decrease the poverty rate. The concept that he considers crucial generating capital flow is the “surplus value” created by the formalization and property rights. Assets’ economic potential must be fixed in order to initiate additional production. Assets must be integrated into one formal representational system; that is how the West succeeded in capitalist realm. In 1849, California, the Congress gradually integrated the informal property created by immigrants and miners . Thus, benefits from the company perspective of operating formally are as follows: limited liability not risking the whole property of the business/owner; enforceable commercial contracts, enabling business entities insure rights and obligations to be met; access to finance and market information, legalised and registered entities benefit from the trust of financial institutions; access to government incentives, including procurement tenders and export promotion policies; access to public infrastructure and services; ...
The previous unit pointed out that there are different concepts of what incorporates and gives rise to informality. AlSayyad (2003:23), defined urban informality as a sequence of informal socio-economic processes that shape the formal urban setting into informal urban environment that would cater for some people to be part of the formal urban setup (AlSayyad, 2003). As mentioned earlier, there are various reasons that pulls people to cities but the significant reason being socio-economic related; however, those urban promises are not always achieved since the cities can’t always cope with the influx of people who move there, thus resulting in urban poverty, homelessness and lead to urban informality. For the purpose of this exercise it will be useful to examine the urban informality in terms of activities/concepts that contribute/underlying to it and analyze each activity as below;
In Africa, one important feature of the urbanization process is that a lot of the growth is taking place in the industrial increase. Urbanization also finds expression in external expansion of the built-up area and the changing of prime agricultural lands into residential and industrial uses (Saundry, 2008). An alternate to the present expansion of the urban population across a wide area of the country in order to save crucial land for agriculture is to construct high-rise buildings and support commercial development in specific zones, which would depend on efficiency, and the right technology and resources (Hanson, 2011). In Africa, the urbanization processes are largely driven by market forces and government policies. This will lead to methods at the same time of change in incomes, land use, health and natural resources management including water, soil and forests and often reactive changes in local governments (The Economist, 2010). So this is saying that government development policies and budget divisions, in which urban residents are often favorites over rural areas and will tend to pull more people into the urban areas. I...
Slum removal programmes have come under considerable attack in recent years as it has become obvious that the removed population seldom relish their new accommodation. In the past, relocation has involved moving families to sites well outside the urban area, where many were unable to settle due to the lack of income-generating opportunities. Physical separation from jobs, schools and health clinics imposes economic burdens on the poor, many of whom reside on the urban periphery. Overcoming this physical separation often means devoting disproportionate shares of income to public transport fares and enduring long journeys. Besides shortening journeys and making social amenities more accessible, the connection between adequate transport solutions and the provision of public goods can promote more social interactions and when done properly, gives rise to urban form that is conducive to community building and ‘place making’(Global Human Settlements, 2...