The Challenges of Mega Cities

These problems have come about due to the massive increase in urbanization that has increased more than 100% since 1950 in developing countries.

This massive expansion of urban populations in developing countries has been urbanization without industrialization, meaning that the increases have been quick and uncontrolled resulting over urbanization. Essentially this means that there are a large proportion of people in mega cities in the developing world that live in shanty towns and slums where the infrastructure and local economy is unable to support the population. It is estimated that 25% of people in urban areas in the developing world live in absolute poverty.

Housing

The challenge of housing is a direct result of over urbanization. Over urbanization means
that there are to many people for the city to support, therefore people cannot find any employment in the formal sector, in some cases over urbanization is caused by over rural development (to many people for the country economies to support). Without any money these people have to find housing that is cheap or live on the street. The result is the creation of shantytowns where people construct housing out of scrap materials. These slums are generally located in the areas of a city that other people won’t live in. For example “The Promised Land” is a slum in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. This slum was built on a garbage dump and when this dump eventually collapsed

90 people where injures and 150 where killed when 100 houses collapsed. There are also major hygiene and health problems that arise from this informal housing because none of the houses in these slums have access to fresh water, sewage pipes or garbage disposal. This problem is amplified when a large proportion of mega cities are slums, like Peru’s capital Lima where 75% of the population life in shantytowns.

The reposes to the challenge of housing have come from a range of sources including the government, the local community and NGO’s (non government organizations that have the objective of improving living standards).

Government Initiatives

In regards to housing the government is generally involved in large scale upgrading programs that involve the improvement of already existing areas with an emphasis on installation of infrastructure such as electricity, sewers and water. This is portrayed by the Slum Upgrading Program in Mumbai, India (1990s). This program is a good example of when the government gives the people in the slum responsibility for their own environment. The government granted tenure rights to the slum dwellers in exchange for fees to cover the costs of infrastructure and services. This approach has been adopted in many other countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Zambia. Other examples of government’s initiatives include core housing projects and site-and service projects.

Self-help Projects

Self-help projects are initiatives that originate with the people who actually live in the slums. These projects seem to have the greatest effect to improve living conditions however limited resources restrict them. An example of a successful self-help project is the operation of a micro-credit system in Lagos, Nigeria. The system is based on a collateral of ones honor and reputation because the people have no possessions to name as collateral.

The micro-credit system involves handing out small loans to people so that they can establish some sort of economic enterprise that will improve their living standard and accommodation. The Rachel White idea is that the people gain a sustainable source of income and then they can begin to pay back their loan. Sometimes these systems can be supported by NGO’s.

Cooperation of NGO’s

NGOs typically support the many government-funded projects with the objective of improving people’s livelihoods. The Dinshaw Trust in Mumbai, India is one example of this. The trust had land in Mumbai that is divided up into 5×4m blocks for houses. This land was given to the residents of slums and is now owned by the community residents association.