UN-HABITAT, “The Challenge of Slums”
The United Nations established a Program on Human Settlements in the 1970s, widely known as
“Habitat,” to focus on the distinctive challenges of urban growth, inequality, and poverty in cities
around the world. The first UN Conference on Human Settlements was held in Vancouver in
1976. As part of the United Nations Millennium Declaration that established goals of promoting
peace, environmental sustainability, and poverty reduction, UN-Habitat was charged with
preparing a comprehensive report on the urban aspects of these goals. The resulting Habitat
report focused on the “urbanization of poverty,” highlighting how almost one third of the world’s
urban population lives in predominantly poor, informal “slum” settlements.
Questions
1. What is one thing you found most unexpected or suprising in this report?
2. Recall the assigned readings from the Phillips text that considered how different disciplines
approach topics like urban slums; can you identify examples in this report where different
disciplines would focus on different questions or solutions?
3. Unlike an essay written by a single, named author, this chapter is part of a report produced by
staff members working for a large, complex organization. Reports like these usually emerge
after long discussions, disagreements, and negotiations on what to include and how to present the
material. The results often include many mixed messages. Can you identify areas where the
report seems to give conflicting analysis or advice?
4. The Habitat report concludes that “National approaches to slums, and to informal settlements
in particular, have generally shifted from negative policies such as forced eviction, benign
neglect and involuntary resettlement, to more positive policies such as self-help and in situ
upgrading, enabling, and rights-based policies. Informal settlements, where most of the urban
poor in developing countries live, are increasingly seen by public decision-makers as places of
opportunity, as ‘slums of hope’ rather than ‘slums of despair.’ While forced evictions and
resettlement still occur in some cities, hardly any governments today still openly advocate such
repressive policies today.”
Unfortunately, while there may be a reluctance to “openly advocate” repression, it’s still a major
problem. Estimates from the most recent “Global Survey on Forced Evictions” produced by the
human rights organization Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) document 835
cases of implemented or threatened forced evictions in cities around the world; implemented
forced evictions affected 1,590,168 people in 2007-2008.
Why do forced evictions continue?
5. A world of widening inequality is also a world of increasing interconnection, travel, and
tourism. One result is the emergence of “slum tours” and “poverty tourism” -- also dubbed
“poorism.” See the image on the next page. Discuss.
Source: http://www.realitytoursandtravel.com/tours/slum-tours/, reproduced here pursuant to Sections 29 (“Fair dealing for the purpose of
research, private study, education, parody, or satire”) and 30.04 (“work available through Internet”) provisions of Canada Bill C-11.