africafiles.org – In November 2010, UN-Habitat (the United Nations Human Settlements Programme) published a pertinent report on the state of African cities. The report confirmed that Africa is the fastest urbanizing continent in the world and that by 2030 “Africa’s collective population will become 50 percent urban” (UN-Habitat, 2010:1).

Apart from multi-storeyed buildings, traffic jams and street beggars, one of the central “faces” of Africa’s rapid urbanization in most if not all of its large cities is “non-standard, poor-quality housing units” (Kasarda and Crenshaw, 1991:479) which the UN calls “urban slums”. According to UN-Habitat (2010:4), Africa currently has a slum population of 199.5 million people and this represents “61.7 per cent of its urban population” (UN-Habitat, 2010:4).
As the scale of urbanization increases, the task of providing appropriate and affordable housing to the urban poor has  persisted as one of the most intractable problems facing developing countries. In the wake of an unprecedented pace of urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa and a corresponding increase in urban poverty, how have African governments been handling this problem? What are the challenges they face and what are the chances of these governments living up to the ideal of having “cities without slums”?

Read more: http://www.africafiles.org/article.asp?ID=24844

www.designboom.com. August, 15, 2013. ‘Let’s talk about garbage’ by polish firm UGO architecture and design is focused around the biggest slum in asia dharavi, which is home to over 1 million inhabitants. The selling of the slum’s land requires a solution for the relocation of this unique community. Located only ten minutes from the centre of the metropolis, its financial district and the famous bollywood, the land (and people living there) has been put up for sale by the city authorities, it is worth over 2.3 billion dollars. The slum generates profits worth 500 million dollars, it supplies the whole of mumbai with necessary products and goods.

The substitute accommodation offered by the local authorities does not meet the needs of the self-sustained community. The replacement flats are based on westernized models of housing and ignore the cultural and social needs of the people. they do not allow them to run craftsman’s workshops and other businesses from their homes. ‘Let’s talk about garbage’ is a solution for the occupants of dharavi, one that adapts a completely different attitude towards space and privacy within the typical apartment typology. The economically constructed housing block allows its inhabitants to shape and modify the functions within. People become the architects of their own home, as families are able to decide the number of rooms, their arrangement and the materials used.

Read and see more: http://www.designboom.com/lets-talk-about-garbage/

Architect and planner Eric Kigada, B & A Studios talks about: the history of how Nairobi developed; historic underfunding in its infrastructure as its population grew; how slums develop; the renting out of slum dwellings; why the City Council does not see slums; slum landlords as a powerful political lobby; and the growth of tenement areas.

trust.org. August, 12, 2013. Architects and community leaders are combining forces to lead the way in creating many types of innovative housing in developing nations as part of an open-source collaboration.
In 2011 the non-profit design company Architecture for Humanity, which finds architectural solutions to humanitarian crises, merged its Open Architecture Network with Worldchanging, a website featuring green solutions to improve inadequate housing.

The outcome of the merger was a unique online repository making sustainable design ideas freely available to communities in need.
The website can be accessed from anywhere in the world and allows people to see projects progress in real time from design to construction.

“Countries in need deserve good design, no matter what their income,” says Karl Johnson, a representative for Architecture for Humanity.
“Architects are armed with the tools to solve sophisticated problems,” he adds, and architectural ideas to solve common challenges in low-income countries can be shared globally.

Read more: http://www.trust.org/Open-Source

www.channelstv.com.  August 12, 2013. The Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fasola, in a counter response to allegations made by Amnesty International has refuted claims that his administration is displacing some residents by pulling down their buildings.
A report by the organisation stated that an estimated 9,000 residents of Badia East lost their homes or livelihoods. However senior officials in the Lagos state government had claimed that the area was a rubbish dump.

According to Oluwatosin Popoola who is Amnesty International’s Nigeria researcher, “The effects of February’s forced eviction have been devastating for the Badia East community where dozens are still sleeping out in the open or under a nearby bridge exposed to rain, mosquitoes and at risk of physical attack”.
However, Governor Fashola countered Amnesty’s allegation that the government’s plan is to solve problems and ensure better living for residents. “That is why I have committed to build 1,008 flats in Badiya, to take people out of living on the refuse heap.”

Read more: http://www.channelstv.com/fashola-replies-amnesty-international

Amandla.org. August, 12, 2013
As demonstrated in these pages the housing crisis is complex and multi-layered and cannot be separated from the wider social malaise facing South Africa. The causes of this crisis include policy confusion, market-based mechanisms for service provision, and the conception of ‘word-class cities’ as the ultimate goal of urban planners.

It should be noted that the housing crisis is not unique to South Africa. A similar phenomenon can be found across the developing world, from Brazil to India. Millions are flocking to the growing megacities in search of a better future as neoliberal policies force peasants off their land to make way for new mining projects and small-scale farmers are forced to compete with large-scale agribusiness from the EU or the US.

The cost of the neoliberal vision of the ‘world-class city’ is the emergence of new human dumping grounds in South Africa, termed ‘temporary relocation areas’ (TRAs). The most infamous of these is Blikkiesdorp, in Delft, Cape Town. Many of those evicted due to gentrification in such neighbourhoods as Woodstock, or because of decisions to ‘clean up’ the city for tourists for the 2010 World Cup, are dumped into these areas, supposedly for a short period. But, as any Blikkiesdorp resident will tell you, nobody seems to be moving out of these areas and into brand new RDP houses.

Read more: http://www.amandla.org.za/the-housing-crisis