Sriram Ramgopal – Slums in India

The definition of “slum” varies from country to country. In India, each state has its own definition of slum. The National Definition of ‘Slum areas’ was set by the Slum Areas Improvement and Clearance act of 1956.1 It defines them as places where buildings:
– are in any respect unfit for human habitation;
– are by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement and design of such buildings, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation, light, sanitation facilities or any combination of these factors which are detrimental to safety, health and morals.

The Census of India defines a slum as “a compact area of at least 300 in population or about 60-70 households of poorly built, congested tenements in an unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.”

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Claire Provost – UN Stresses Positives of Urban Growth with New Tool to Track City Prosperity

guardian.co.uk. September, 5,  2012. Cities should be seen as drivers of economic growth and human development, says report published at World Urban Forum. A new index to measure and track the prosperity of cities has been unveiled by UN-Habitat, the UN human settlements programme, in a bid to encourage a more upbeat view of the world’s rapid urbanisation.

Cities should be seen as drivers of economic growth and human development, according to the agency’s flagship State of the World’s Cities report, published on Wednesday at the sixth World Urban Forum (WUF) in Naples, Italy.
“A fresh future is taking shape, with urban areas around the world becoming not just the dominant form of habitat for humankind, but also the engine-rooms of human development as a whole,” said the report, which called on city planners, particularly in developing countries, to see urbanisation in a positive light. In 2010 the agency announced that, for the first time, more people live in cities than in rural areas.
“Cities have been perceived as the ‘engines’ of national economies and there is no reason to depart from that view,” said the report, pointing to numerous examples, from the US to Kenya, where urban areas contribute disproportionately to national wealth.           

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John Hopkins – Social Housing In South Africa

psdas.gov.hk. Review of South Africa’s Housing Policy – Historical Background
The formulation of South Africa’s Housing Policy commenced prior to the democratic
elections in 1994, with the formation of the National Housing Forum. This forum was a
multi-party non-governmental negotiating body comprising 19 members from
business, the community, government and development organisations. At these
negotiations a number of intricate legal and institutional interventions were researched
and developed. The Government of National Unity in 1994 made use of these
negotiations and investigations when it formulated South Africa’s National Housing
Policy.

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