Factsheet
Housing
Once urbanisation really took off, people arrived from rural areas, made shacks wherever they could, often in areas prone to flooding or subject to other forms of pollution that no-one else wanted, using whatever materials were around. They lacked paved roads and fresh water or any of the other main services, like schools and health care.
It is in the outer shanty towns that you find most of problems. The poor housing, lack of fresh water and sanitation, no electricity and unmade up roads are obvious problems. Why did they occur? The people arrived faster than the city could cope – and in the early days, many cities were unwilling to try too hard.
Jobs.
The migrants from rural areas thought that they would be much better off in the city, where there were lots of well-paid jobs – or so they believed.
However, while there were jobs for the trained and educated, these rural people lacked the skills to make them employable in any of the available roles.
So they are often left trying scratch a living from the informal economy (jobs that do not appear on government statistics and are often very hard and can be dangerous as there is no legal protection) as street vendors and cleaners or working in sweatshops down to picking up rubbish to recycle from the city tips.
Some could not make enough feed their families and so turned to crime, pick-pocketing in the CBD or prostitution or dealing drugs.
Hence crime was a big problem in some of the shanty towns.
Transport
There are few made-up roads in this area so public transport has to manage with narrow, muddy rutted roads.
Once the buses are on their way into the city, the roads are crammed with every sort of vehicle wanting to get into the centre - congestion and polluted air are commonplace.
What is a shanty town?
Shantytowns (also called slums, squatter settlements camps, favelas), are settlements (usually illegal or at best unauthorized) of poor who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials—often plywood, corrugated metal, and sheets of plastic. Shanty towns, which are usually built on the periphery (edge) of cities, often do not have proper sanitation, electricity, or telephone services
Advantages of growth
Even the informal sector in many shanties pays more money than being a farmer in the rural areas and is seen as better than the life of a landless peasant farmer.
Growth of urban areas eases the pressure on the rural area so there are more jobs available and fewer people to feed.
Disadvantages of growth
The high expectations of life in urban areas are not fulfilled.
They do not usually have the skills needed to carry out the well-paid jobs in the cities.
Therefore they do not have enough money to buy a home or to go back to the rural area.
Poor quality housing & living conditions see above).
The rivers running through the city are polluted with sewage and waste.
Agricultural production in rural areas might decrease as so many of the young adults have moved away.
The results of rapid urbanisation
1.Inadequate housing and services. 40% live in shanty towns or favelas .
2. The shanty town services are non-existent or incapable of maintaining a basic standard of living. The lack of basic services like a clean water supply, rubbish collection and sewerage disposal mean that the risks of disease are very high. In storms sewers block and flood.
3. Shortage of affordable formal housing.
4. The shanty town is likely to be found on inappropriate land. Maybe it is prone to flooding or is very steeply sloping, increasing the chances of a landslip. It could be on a piece of land that has been badly polluted by a neighbouring industry. The shelters made of wood and high population densities increase the risk of fire.
5. Because the growth is so rapid, the government does not have enough money to maintain the existing facilities, let alone improve them.
6. Increasing levels of pollution. Pollution of air, land and water is a major problem. Air pollution is second only to Los Angeles. Laws to protect the environment are either non-existent or rarely enforced. The back street workshops of the informal economy add to the problem
7. Increased volume of traffic on poorly maintained roads.
8. The informal economy employs over half the city’s workforce. This is partly due to these people lacking education but partly to the lack of jobs. Less tax for the government to spend on improvements.