The document summarizes urbanization in less economically developed countries (LEDCs) and its consequences. It describes that over 1 billion people live in urban slums, with the highest concentration in Asia where 60% of the world's slums are located. In the slums of Manila, Philippines, over 40% of the urban population live in dense, unsanitary conditions. The document profiles three families living in difficult circumstances in Tondo, one of the poorest and most overcrowded slum areas of Manila, and discusses the problems faced by slum communities including inadequate and unsafe housing, lack of basic services, and insecure land tenure.

1. Rearrange the words to define the two key terms

4. About one billion people live in ‘slums’ The highest concentration is found in Asia – 60% of world slums in Asia Manila population– 10 million 44.1% of urban population live in slums Tondo – poorest and most underdeveloped region in the Philippines Built upon a (now closed) landfill site called Smokey Mountain

5. Most densely populated global city - 41,014 people/km² Tondo has approximately 80 000 people/km²

6. Many houses in Manila constructed along the Pasig River Manila is a natural flood basin and floods frequently

8. Chairman Tom was born and brought up in Tondo, and runs a community of about 4,000 slum dwellers there. He has six children, and according to Tom "everyday is a struggle". He sells water for a living and he also makes US$40 a month from renting out property that he built on government land. "What I did is illegal," says Chairman Tom. "But I have to help my people because 90% of them are much worse off than me".

9. Jemma, a single mother, lives alongside the bridge in Tondo. She and her four children live in a tiny room with no water, no electricity and no sanitation. Jemma washes clothes to make a living. None of her children go to school and her 14-year-old daughter is already working. "I sometimes get angry with myself because I cannot provide for my children," says Jemma, who starts to weep.

10. Estella and her husband Cricencio are an elderly couple who moved to Tondo slum from the countryside 20 years ago. They have seven children and they live at the end of an alleyway. "I have spent many sleepless nights worrying about the threat of fires," says Estella. Her husband Cricencio has another major worry. "The land that we live on is owned privately. We have no contract, no rights, nothing," he laments.

11. Fire is a major risk in such densely populated shanty settlements January 2004 – 2500 homes were destroyed in Tondo