Proportion of urban population

living in slums households

SDG Target 11.1

Safe and affordable housing

SDG Indicator 11.1.1

Sustainable cities and Proportion of urban population living in slums
11
communities , Informal settlements or inadequate housing

-BY Muskan Kumari

 CONTEN
T
1. Introduction

2. Goals, Target and Indicator

3. Interconnection with other SDGs

4. Concept of slums

5. Challenges

6. Comments and limitations

7. Management and measurement

8. Latest global data

@reallygreatsite
9. Strategies and opportunities
 Introduction
The Business Standard describes Dharavi as one of
the world’s largest slums located in Mumbai and is a
home to more than a million people. The research
organisation Lonely Planet estimates that 60 per cent
of Mumbai’s population lives in slums, and the largest
slum is Dharavi. These slums lacks provisions for
sanitation, drains, safe drinking water, roads or other
basic services. The absence of such basic provisions
had hazardous consequences during the recent Covid-
19 pandemic and previously destructive 1896 plague.
An estimated 600,000 to 1 million people live crammed
in Dharavi – a roughly five-square-kilometre maze of
narrow lanes, ramshackle buildings, shanties and open
sewers.
 Dharavi, infamous as one of the world's largest slums, is located in the
heart of India's financial capital - Mumbai. A city within a city, it is
one unending stretch of narrow dirty lanes, open sewers and cramped huts.
While the land (area of 535 acres) is owned by the government, the houses
are maintained by individuals.” -Business Standard

The United Nations Habitat and Global Urban Observatory noted

that the realization of the right to adequate housing for all requires
consistent efforts at all levels and ensuring proper integration of
legal, policy and planning frameworks and knowing and recognition
of all spaces including urban slums, informal settlements and areas
facing inadequate housing challenges.
 Goals,Target and indicator

Today, the importance of urbanization for attainment of collective and

inclusive sustainable development features prominently in the post 2015
development agenda by endorsement of a goal on cities (Goal 11) – “make
cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. The
world’s cities occupy just 3 per cent of the Earth’s land, but account for 60-80
per cent of energy consumption and 75 per cent of carbon emissions.
Therefore the targets under SDG 11 are of utmost importance. Target 11.1
says ‘Safe and affordable housing’ which the UN defines as, “By 2030, ensure
access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services
and upgrade slums.” In order to measure this target’s progress, the metric
prescribed by the UN is Indicator 11.1.1 ‘Urban population living in slums.’ To
further elaborate it means the ‘proportion of the urban population living in
slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing.
Interconnection with
others SDGs

This target is closely related to the

alleviation of poverty and achieving
sustainable urbanization without
disturbing natural ecosystems i.e.,
the target SDGs 9, 10 and 12 which
are ‘Industry, Innovation and
Infrastructure’, ‘Reduced
Inequalities’, and ‘Responsible
Consumption and Production’
respectively and SDG 6, 13, 14 and
15 Water and Sanitation, Climate
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Action, Life Below Water and Life on
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Quality of life and Management of Natural Resources in Cities
There is a strong link between the quality of life in cities and how cities
manage the natural resources available to them. The urbanization puts
pressure on the environment and basic services, infrastructure, jobs, land,
and housing, particularly for the nearly 1 billion urban poor who live in
informal settlements says United Nations Environment Program. Due to
high concentration of people, infrastructures, housing and economic
activities, cities are particularly vulnerable to climate change and natural
disasters. Building urban resilience is crucial to avoid human, social and
economic losses while improving the urban sustainability and to protect
the environment and mitigate disaster risk and climate change.
 SLUMS
An expert group meeting was convened in 2002 by UN-
1. Lack of access to improved water services,
2. Lack of access to improved sanitation facilities,
Habitat, the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and
3. Lack of sufficient living area,
the Cities Alliance to agree on the operational definition
4. Lack of housing durability and,
for slums to be used for measuring the indicator of MDG
5. Lack of security of tenure. By extension, the term
7 Target 7.D. The agreed definition classified a ‘slum
‘slum dweller’ refers to a person living in a household
household’ as one in which the inhabitants suffer one or
that lacks any of the above attributes.
more of the following ‘household deprivations’:
 These five components–all derived from the adequate
housing’s definition have been used ever since for
reporting and tracking of the MDGs, as the primary or
secondary data measured to determine the number of
slum dwellers living in developing countries. They were
also the basis to establish the successful achievement of
MDG Target 7.D.
Access toFor
improved water services:
each component, the experts agreed with the following sub-definitions:
A household is considered to have access to improved drinking water if it has sufficient amount of water (20 litres/person/day) for
family use, at an affordable price (less than 10% of the total household income) and available to household members
without being subject to extreme effort (less than one hour
a day for the minimum sufficient quantity), especially to women and children. An improved drinking water source
is a facility that is protected from outside contamination, in particular from faecal matters’ contamination. Improved
drinking water sources include: piped water into dwelling, plot or yard; public tap/stand pipe serving no more than 5 households; protected spring;
rainwater collection; bottled water (if secondary source is also improved);
bore hole/ tube well;and, protected dug well.
Access to improved sanitation: A household is considered

to have access to improved sanitation if an excreta

disposal system, either in the form of a private toilet or a

public toilet shared with a reasonable number of people, is

available to household members. Such improved sanitation

facilities, therefore, hygienically separates human waste

from human contact. Improved facilities include: flush/

pour-flush toilets or latrines connected to a sewer, septic

tank or pit; ventilated improved pit latrine; pit latrine with

a slab or covers the pit entirely; and, composting toilets/

latrines.
Sufficient living area /overcrowding: A dwelling unit
provides sufficient living area for the household members
if not more than three people share the same habitable
room.8 Additional indicators of overcrowding have been
proposed: area-level indicators such as average in-house
living area per person or the number of households per
area. Additionally, housing-unit level indicators such as
the number of persons per bed or the number of under-
five children per room may also be viable. However, the
number of persons per room has been shown to correlate
with adverse health risks and is more commonly collected
through household surveys.9 UN-Habitat believes that
the definition as it stands does not reflect the practical
experience of overcrowding and as noted below, is Presentation Design

proposing an alternative.
Structural quality/durability of dwellings: A house is
considered as ‘durable’ if it is built on a non-hazardous
location and has a permanent and adequate structure
able to protect its inhabitants from the extremes of
climatic conditions such as rain, heat, cold, and humidity.
The following criteria are used to determine the structural
quality/durability of dwellings: permanency of structure
(permanent building material for the walls, roof and floor;
compliance with building codes; the dwelling is not in
a dilapidated state; the dwelling is not in need of major
repair); and location of house (a location is considered
non-hazardous if: the dwelling is not located on or near
toxic waste; the dwelling is not located in a flood plain; the
dwelling is not located on a steep slope; the dwelling is not
located in a dangerous right of way: rail , highway, airport,
power lines).
 security of tenure :
Secure tenure is the right of all
individuals and groups to effective protection by the
State
against forced evictions. Security of tenure is understood
as a set of relationships with respect to housing and land,

established through statutory or customary law or

informal
or hybrid arrangements, that enables one to live in one’s
home with security, peace and dignity (A/HRC/25/54).
Regardless of the type of tenure, all persons with security

of tenure have a legal status against arbitrary unlawful

eviction, harassment and other threats. People have
secure tenure when: there is evidence of documentation
that can be used as proof of secure tenure status;
Challenges to achieve SDGs in india
Cities in India face diverse challenges which are slowing down the pace of achievement of the
SDGs, particularly SDG 11. The majority of these challenges are structural and need interventions
from the state governments. Some of the major challenges to India are as follows:

1. Limited efforts to localize SDGs.

2. Weak Governance Structure of Indian Cities.
3. Multiplicity of Governance Structure.
4. Weak Financial Condition of urban local bodies.
5. Lack of robust and timely data at a granular level.
6. Being home to 14 out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world underlines the need for
effective measures to check this.
7. Growing number of urban unemployment is another key issue.
8. Climate change impacts vulnerability.
9. Integrated and spatially distributed urbanization with emphasis on small and medium towns
and cities, with linkages with rural areas is lacking.
In India, the commitment toward the SDGs is reflected in the
importance given to inclusivity in the agenda of national
development. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)
is mapping its programmatic interventions like the Smart City
Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation
(AMRUT), Clean India Mission (SBM Urban), Housing for All
(Urban), and National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), etc. with
SDG 11. These programs, if achieved successfully, would help
Indian cities to achieve SDG 11.
India has recognized that the SDG framework is essential for
addressing the challenges of sustainable development, which is
only possible through collaborative actions and building
consensus among different stakeholders like NITI AAYOG at the
central level, state government & urban local bodies at a local
Challenges to achieve SDGs in global level
Cities are hubs for ideas, commerce, culture, science, productivity, social
development and much more. At their best, cities have enabled people to
advance socially and economically. With the number of people living within
cities projected to rise to 5 billion people by 2030, it’s important that
efficient urban planning and management practices are in place to deal with
the challenges brought by urbanization.

Many challenges exist to maintaining cities in a way that continues to create

jobs and prosperity without straining land and resources. Common urban
challenges include congestion, lack of funds to provide basic services, a
shortage of adequate housing, declining infrastructure and rising air
pollution within cities.

Rapid urbanization challenges, such as the safe removal and management of

solid waste within cities, can be overcome in ways that allow them to
 As with all indicators, there are a number of potential challenges and limitations. Some of these

• Difficulties to agree universally on some definitions and characteristics when referring t

housing conditions, often due to political or economic considerations.

• Lack of appropriate tools at national and city levels to measure all components require
11.1.1, sometimes resulting in the underestimation of deteriorated housing un

Comment and limitations

• The complicated relation between security of tenure with land and property makes it a di
aspect to include in the different surveys, and thus, to measure and monitor

• Indicator 11.1.1 does not capture homelessness.

• Many countries still have limited capacities for data
collection, management and analysis, their update and monitoring. These are key to ens
Management and
Measurement
Quality of life and Management of Natural
Resources in Cities :

There is a strong link between the quality of life in

cities and how cities manage the natural resources
available to them. The urbanization puts pressure
on the environment and basic services,
infrastructure, jobs, land, and housing, particularly
for the nearly 1 billion urban poor who live in
informal settlements says United Nations
Environment Program. Due to high concentration of
people, infrastructures, housing and economic
activities, cities are particularly vulnerable to
climate change and natural disasters. Building
urban resilience is crucial to avoid human, social
and economic losses while improving the urban
Measurement
As per the 2030 Agenda, to guide the development of the
appropriate policies and programmes for ensuring the access
for all to adequate housing and the upgrading of slums, it is
necessary to identify and quantify the proportion of the
population that live in slums, informal settlements and those
living in inadequate housing. A slum household is defined as a
group of individuals living under the same roof lacking one or
more of the following conditions:

access to improved water (in sufficient amounts at an

affordable price)
access to improved sanitation (in the form of a private or
public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people)

sufficient living area (not more than three people sharing the
same room)
durable housing (permanent that protects against extreme
 Latest global data
As per the United Nations Habitat The proportion of the global
urban population living in slums decreased from 46% to 23%
(1990-2014), but because of internal population growth in slums
and rural-urban migration the absolute numbers of people living
in slums increased. Majority of people living in slums are found
in three major regions-Latin America and Caribbean (110
million), Sub-Saharan Africa (228 million) and East and South-
eastern Asia (589 million).
 Strategies and opportunitiess
Participatory Slum Upgrading Program

The United Nations Habitat and Global Urban Observatory suggests Participatory
Slum Upgrading Program (PSUP) as one of the best approaches that has been
identified in improving living standards of slum households and moving them out
of slum-like conditions. The approach requires wider stakeholder engagement
that places slum communities at the center of interventions to guarantee
sustainability and better results.

The United Nations stated that this approach is based on the recognition that
slum upgrading is an important strategy for improving living conditions of the
urban poor and contributing to the social, economic and environmental
sustainability of cities. It seeks to encourage an inclusive environment where all
stakeholders are empowered to participate in defining the future of their cities
and meeting the needs of their citizens, with a special focus on the
empowerment of communities of slum dwellers.
Legalizing and
Regularizing
Upgrading slums in urban areas is many things to
many people, but at its simplest it has come to
mean a package of basic services: clean water
supply and adequate sewage disposal to improve
the well-being of the community. But fundamental
is legalizing and ‘regularizing’ the properties in
situations of insecure or unclear tenure.
Package ofProvide a package of improvements in the form of
streets, footpaths and drainage.. Solid waste collection

Improvements
is frequently included with its positive impact on
health, along with street lights for security and night
activity. Electricity to homes is often initiated later –
and sometimes even before – by government or
private companies.
 But this physical improvement is only the
beginning

Health issues need to be addressed by

providing clinics and health education
programs, school facilities and teacher
training are needed to attack the lack of basic
education, and lastly programs are offered to
increase income earning opportunities and
the general economic health of a community.
Sense of Partnership
The slum upgrading becomes successful only when there is a
commitment by all: the city, the community, and the families. A sense of
partnership must be developed among them. And secondly upgrading
must meet a real need – people must want it and understand the value.
 Implementation
To implement, you need to get the institutional support,
devise incentive structure for agencies to work with the
poor, keep everyone informed and coordinate between
stakeholders, and define clearly the roles of the various
agencies. And to keep upgrading going, sustainability
concerns must be a priority in financing, institutions, and
regulations.
Conclusions
The SDG Target 11.1 aims to ensure access for all to
adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic
services and upgrade slums by 2030. Since 1990 to
2014 the proportion of slums reduced from 46% to
23%. But still there are some pockets in the world
where the proportion of population living in slums is
increasing because of overpopulation. The world
community has committed to upgrade and improve
the slums and the work is in progress and hopefully
we will achieve this target globally. This will help
secure slum dwellers rights and improved, healthy
and secure slum dwellers living conditions without
being displaced. The achievement of target will result
into with very high social, environmental and
economic benefits.
Kamala nehru college

Thanks

Muskan Kumari