main challenges faced by these cities in LIC/NEE

• Squatter settlements


  Unplanned and unregulated housing (informal settlements) with little sanitary facilities, freshwater or reliable energy supply
• Other names for informal settlements

  • Favelas in Brazil
  • Shanty towns in the West Indies and Canada
  • Bustees on the Indian subcontinent
  • Skid row in the USA
  • Townships in South Africa
• In developing countries, about a quarter of urban inhabitants (1.6 billion) live in these impoverished squatter settlements and by 2030 the UN estimates that 1 in 4 people on the planet will live in some form of informal settlement
• Mega-slums


  Very large, overcrowded areas usually within megacities
• Mega-slums


  • Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya (population 1.5 million)
  • Neza in Mexico City, Mexico (population 1.1 million)
  • Dharavi in Mumbai, India (population 1 million)
  • Orangi Town in Karachi, Pakistan (population 2.4 million)
  • Khayelitsha in Cape Town, South Africa (population 400,000)
• Challenges of urban growth

  • Dealing with the amount of waste produced as the city grows
  • Air pollution from burning fossil fuels, factories and car exhausts
  • Sewage and toxic chemical pollution of waterways
  • Congestion on poorly managed/planned road systems
  • Lack of public transport
  • Lack of qualified doctors, teachers etc.
  • High levels of unemployment and crime
  • Informal employment and child exploitation
• These unregulated housing present serious risks such as fire, flooding and landslides