Urban renewal: 8 solutions to develop informal settlement

What is urban renewal of informal settlement ?

Informal settlement is one of the major problems that faces any government in the world because of poverty and economic decline. The concentration of country economic activities in centers of cities causes population shift of low income labor to cities and to create these settlements on government owned land. Several related businesses thrive in this situation like informal land developers, property developers and management, and property brokers. Informal settlement creates various problems in absence of laws. Building on public land halts authorities development plans, creates derelict areas and buildings damaging environment. Informal sewage and water systems destruct soil and decrease its physical property for construction as well as create dirty water beds. Destructed soil become unsuitable for agriculture and needs high funds to repair. Social problems like crime and drug dealing and others are an obstacle to developing public policy for local economic development. Informal settlement increases public spending for development and financial damage for low income labor because of their funding of illegal construction on public land. Here I introduce 8 effective ways for urban renewal of informal settlement that needs political and economical intervention and development.

Socio- economic and political solutions

• Preparing a development plan for the area focusing comprising of several phases for a time limit parallel with the available funds, policy making procedure. Considering all available resources from skilled labor, natural resources, and labor income. The plan to rebuild the regional development plan based on what the informal settlement could provide in terms of developing other developed areas. The prepared plan to include various agricultural, sports, commercial, public facilities, and infrastructure components that are mainly funded and to be built by local residence with the authorities management, monitoring and supervision.

• A detailed assessment of the possibility of labor force contribution to other sectors of the city commercial and industrial zones. Based on that to develop a transport construction plan of cheap means of transit to those areas or at least to transport connections to them.

Commercial development construction

• Developing the industrial parts of the plan in the first phase to attract all workers, skilled labor, professionals in the settlement. Revenue and profit coming from the production cycle of this phase is a good source of funding for other infrastructure development aligned with the development plan of this settlement.

• Encouraging building small commercial buildings within the development plan on lands already developed by the informal settlement inhabitants. These building to be built on specific government owned plots and funded by the inhabitants. The commercial units of these buildings to be rented to the participants in the construction and funding for free for a time frame equivalent to the money spent on construction by individuals.

• Building low cost sports centers for the popular sports in the settlement to attract talented youth. The sport center management to arrange occasional and scheduled visits by relevant clubs in the region. Management people with the clubs management and coaches to attract talented youth and facilitate signing contracts to develop these youth financially and socially. Encouraging youth to practice sports reduces crime and bad social behavior as sports lifts spirit and develops social characters. Authorities that watch on the contract agreements to keep specific amount for the sports center for developing and funding other relevant facilities.

• Renovation of specific amount of buildings of the settlement aligned with the development plan to encourage developing music talents singer’s and musician’s. Painter’s and sculpturers to use some of these spaces to produce paintings and sculpture and to develop talented people and to increase social cohesion. These products and music activities to be displayed in occasional local and regional exhibitions. The relevant spaces used by artists to be rented to them after specific time limit.

• Announcing and encouraging informal settlement inhabitants to work in construction charity campaign to build low cost housing 2-3 story within the development plan of the settlement on government owned land. Government to complete a construction plan of two phases , first phase the structure to be built by government and the second phase the internal units construction to be the responsibility by a specific household of the volunteers to complete gradually from personal funds. Units to be rented to relevant household for free equivalent to the construction of the second phase on official rent agreement. After this time frame the units to be rented on low rents to households.

• The development plan of this settlement to include designated areas for planting nurseries ( check my book review of a book centralized on urban space development ). Related plots to be vacated or demolished and cleaned up for this purpose. Products of these nurseries to be sold for developing the landscape areas in the development and for city inhabitants or municipalities. These nurseries to be managed and run by inhabitants of the settlement to develop people skills and to rehabilitate derelict settlement lands.   

For further details on what is an informal settlement read my book review on the same subject Here.