The document discusses the rise of slums in urban areas due to increasing urbanization and inequality. Some of the key causes of slums mentioned include colonialism which denied land ownership rights, racism/apartheid policies that forced people of color into segregated areas, and globalization resulting in many unskilled migrant workers. The living conditions in slums are characterized as lacking basic services with overcrowded and insecure housing often situated in hazardous areas. The growth of slums is projected to continue as more people migrate to cities in search of opportunities.

1. Planet of SlumsBy: Fatima Martinez

2. UrbanizationFor the first time in history, the urban population of the earth will outnumber the rural.The price of this new urban order, will be increasing inequality within and between cities of different sizes and economic specializations.The UN researchers report that there is little or no planning to accommodate these people or provide them with services.

3. Causes for SlumsColonialismColonial rule, denied the native populations the right to own land and permanent residence. Could not work in the cities permanently, only as temporary workersRacism/ApartheidPeople of color were evicted from ‘white areas’, forcing them to live in segregated parts of the cities.GlobalizationThe movement of people across the globe in search of work and a better life. Many of them unskilled workers.

4. Living Conditions in SlumsInhabited by the very poor or socially disadvantagedMany of this slums lack clean water, electricity, sanitation and other basic servicesOvercrowdedInsecure residential statusThese informal settlements often face the brunt of natural and man-made disasters, such as landslides, as well as earthquakes and tropical storms. Fires are often a serious problem.Many of these slum-dwellers also employ themselves in the ‘informal’ economy, such as street vending, drug dealing, domestic work, and prostitution.

5. Slum Ecology‘Slums begin with bad geology.’Many of them conform to a belt of dangerous, unstable soil contamination.Their settlers are the pioneers of swamps, floodplains, volcano slopes, unstable hillsides, chemical dumps, railroad sidings and desert fringes.Many of these slums suffer from ‘garbage dump syndrome’: a concentration of toxic industrial activities such as metal plating, dyeing, battery recycling, chemical manufacture etc.40% of total mortality, moreover, is attributed to infections and parasitic diseases arising from water contamination and horrible sanitation.

6. Slums FutureThe countryside will for a short period still contain the majority of the world’s poor, but that doubtful title will pass to urban slums by 2035.At least half of the coming Third World urban population explosion will be credited to the account of informal communities.