A home in the city

More than 900 million people currently live in urban slums and the number is growing as rapid urbanization continues in the developing world. A Home in the City urges countries to strengthen their focus on the growing urban crisis and improving the lives of slum dwellers. Proposed are specific investments and policy changes required at local and national levels to create a vibrant, equitable and productive urban environment. It underscores the need for close strategic partnerships between local authorities and organizations of the urban poor for slum upgrading and improved urban management. From adopting citywide strategies and establishing adequate and affordable infrastructure and services, to building effective public transport and constructing low-income housing, it offers valuable methods to prevent future slum formation and to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

Foreword	p. iii
Task force members	p. x
Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvi
Abbreviations	p. xix
Millennium Development Goals	p. xx
Executive summary	p. 1
1 The dimensions of the problem	p. 10
The urban population of the world is growing	p. 11
More than 900 million people live in slums	p. 12
Urban poverty is severe, pervasive, and largely unacknowledged	p. 13
Slum dwellers are excluded from urban life in many ways	p. 14
Urban poverty is often underestimated	p. 15
The benefits of the urban economy reach beyond city boundaries	p. 16
The urban context is critical to meeting all of the Goals	p. 18
Specific actions must be taken to meet target 11	p. 18
2 Recognizing the urban poor as active agents of development	p. 22
Federations of the urban poor are making a difference	p. 22
Community-led work in slums draws on a variety of mechanisms	p. 23
Actions by federations are setting precedents and changing standards	p. 29
Many criticisms of community-driven processes are unfounded	p. 31
Nongovernmental organizations, governments, and international agencies can support organizations representing the urban poor	p. 31
Conclusion	p. 33
3 Reaching the target through improved governance	p. 35
Countries around the world are adopting good urban governance practices	p. 36
People have the "right to the city"	p. 38
Planning for development can prevent slums from developing	p. 42
Local strategies for improving slum dwellers' lives can address all the Goals	p. 46
4 Supporting and enacting local pro-poor policies	p. 48
Land regulation and transparency in private land transactions are critical to ensuring secure tenure	p. 48
Cities can provide adequate, affordable infrastructure and services to the poor	p. 52
Community contracts are a good way to involve slum dwellers in improvement projects and raise their income	p. 55
Improving public transportation can expand options for the urban poor	p. 57
Health services need to reach poor urban dwellers	p. 59
Building codes and regulations need to meet the needs of the urban poor	p. 62
Policymakers need to provide alternatives to prevent new slums from forming	p. 65
Cities need to create regulatory and policy environments that encourage private sector participation	p. 67
Organizations and community groups need to be empowered to participate meaningfully in planning	p. 76
5 Mobilizing resources and investments	p. 77
Most of the funding for improved housing will come from local sources	p. 77
Land needs to be made available to the urban poor	p. 89
Professionals and civil servants need to be trained to improve the lives of slum dwellers	p. 93
6 Empowering local action	p. 97
Networks of people committed to improving the lives of slum dwellers need to be developed and strengthened	p. 97
International initiatives for local poverty reduction strategies are needed	p. 101
Creating a worldwide partnership of "Millennium Cities" could advance the urban agenda	p. 104
7 Monitoring progress toward target 11	p. 109
UN-HABITAT is responsible for monitoring progress	p. 110
The Monitoring of Urban Inequities Program was created to provide institutional infrastructure for monitoring progress	p. 111
Monitoring security of tenure is difficult	p. 113
Progress is being made in improving the data needed to monitor target 11	p. 114
An enhanced global monitoring mechanism is needed	p. 114
The urban poor represent an untapped resource for monitoring progress	p. 115
Recommendations	p. 116
8 Investing in the target to improve the lives of slum dwellers	p. 117
Meeting the target is feasible	p. 118
Current estimates were used to estimate the investment required to meet target 11	p. 120
A variety of factors affect investment costs for slum upgrading	p. 121
The target needs to be translated into operational terms	p. 122
Process is as important as technical solutions	p. 123
Interventions must be well defined	p. 124
Slum upgrading would cost about $42 a year per beneficiary	p. 127
Three self-help housing programs in Central America provide important lessons	p. 130
Estimates were developed for each component of assisted self-help housing in the Central American programs	p. 132
Global estimates were calculated on the basis of the Central American experience	p. 134
By 2020 some 570 million people will need alternative housing to avoid becoming slum dwellers	p. 139
Estimates of regional investments required to meet the Goals show that the greatest need is in Sub-Saharan Africa	p. 139
Notes	p. 144
References	p. 149
Boxes
1.1 Aggregate statistics conceal the problems of slum dwellers	p. 17
2.1 Federations of the urban poor are making a difference around the world	p. 24
3.1 National initiatives are supporting good urban governance in Thailand	p. 37
3.2 Participatory budgeting has transformed lives in Porto Alegre, Brazil	p. 38
3.3 The mayor of La Paz was able to root out much corruption	p. 39
3.4 South Africa's Homeless People's Federation is improving housing in townships and informal settlements	p. 40
3.5 What is "adequate shelter"?	p. 41
3.6 Federal legislation on urban policy in Brazil is bold	p. 42
4.1 Sao Paulo is making efforts to improve slums and integrate them into the city	p. 65
4.2 The Slum Networking Project (Parivartan) is improving the quality of life for slum dwellers in Gujurat, India	p. 70
4.3 Durban's vision for the future includes a policy on the informal economy	p. 74
4.4 Home-based enterprises are a significant source of income for the poor	p. 75
4.5 Supporting women microentrepreneurs and their associations is improving lives in Benin and Ethiopia	p. 76
5.1 Federations of the urban poor have amassed significant funds	p. 79
5.2 Macro financial crises touch the poor, and the poor respond innovatively: An example from Thailand	p. 83
5.3 The Urban Land Management Project is helping manage explosive growth outside Tirana, Albania	p. 85
5.4 An innovative facility in India is providing funding for locally developed projects on a large scale	p. 86
5.5 PRODEL has helped thousands of poor families in Nicaragua enlarge and improve their homes	p. 88
6.1 Shack/Slum Dwellers International is a network of people's organizations working to improve the lives of the urban poor	p. 98
6.2 United Cities and Local Governments helps cities develop and promote solutions to the challenges of urbanization	p. 100
6.3 The Cities Alliance is helping overcome the limitations of sectoral approaches to development	p. 102
8.1 Projects in Pakistan are upgrading slums without donor assistance	p. 129
Figures
1.1 Urban growth is projected to be highest in the least developed countries	p. 11
1.2 Urban population will surpass rural population in less developed regions	p. 11
1.3 Most urban slum dwellers are in Asia	p. 12
1.4 China and India have the greatest number of slum dwellers among the top 10 countries	p. 13
1.5 Higher income countries have the highest share of urban dwellers	p. 14
1.6 Slum prevalence is closely related to overall development trends	p. 18
Tables
1 Investment required to upgrade slums and provide alternatives to slums by 2020	p. 9
1.1 Tackling the Goals in the world's slums	p. 19
1.2 Challenges and actions required to achieve target 11	p. 20
4.1 Ratio of urban to rural fertility rates for nonpoor and poor women, by region	p. 61
8.1 Estimated investment required to upgrade slums and provide alternatives, 2005-20	p. 118
8.2 Possible interventions for achieving target 11	p. 126
8.3 Estimated per capita and total investment required to upgrade slums, by region, 2005-20	p. 128
8.4 Projected types of funding for upgrading slums, by region, 2005-20	p. 129
8.5 Projected sources of funding for upgrading slums, by region, 2005-20	p. 130
8.6 Cost of land and basic infrastructure in Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua	p. 133
8.7 Cost of low-income housing units in Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua	p. 133
8.8 Cost of land, services, and housing in Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua	p. 134
8.9 Average estimated investment required and source of funds for assisted self-help settlement in Central America	p. 135
8.10 Average investment required to build and maintain a primary classroom and a primary health clinic in selected regions	p. 137
8.11 Average estimated investment required for land, network and bulk infrastructure, housing, schools and health clinics, and community development, by region	p. 138
8.12 Current and projected number of slum dwellers, by region	p. 140
8.13 Estimated investments in providing alternatives to slum formation for 570 million people, 2005-20, by region (billions of dollars, except where otherwise indicated)	p. 141
8.14 Estimated annual investment required to provide alternatives to slum, by region and source of funding	p. 142
8.15 Total investment required to meet target 11, by source of funding	p. 143

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