10. Sustainable Slums Communities

The rapid urbanization of the last century caused more slum formations resulting in numerous adverse effects. Slums are, unfortunately, becoming a real threat to the world and specifically developing countries. With the increasing inequality and the unfair distribution of resources, slums continue to grow at an uncontrollable rate. The most visible expression of urban poverty in developing cities is the rapid growth of informal settlements and slum areas. With nearly one billion people alive today, one in every six human beings are slum dwellers, and that number is likely to double in the next thirty years. Concerns for the rapid growth of slums and the deteriorating living conditions of slum dwellers are seen as a major challenges facing humanity. Urban inequality has a direct impact on all aspects of human development, including health, nutrition, gender equality, employment opportunity, and education. Slum dwellers suffer from deteriorated environmental living conditions and health care as well as a high level of illiteracy causing a negative impact on their personal well-being as well as on the national level particularly on the country’s economy. This chapter touches on the complexities of sustainable slum development specially dealing with slum dwellers in a trial to enhance their capacities and potential. Teaching them new skills through a “Learn to Earn Model,” will help them generate income and turn the slum into a catalyst for the economy rather than a burden on it. Another alarming problem facing all countries and specially developing countries is uncontrollable waste accumulation. Moreover, the management of this waste remains, for the most part, both inefficient and inadequate causing numerous adverse environmental, social, and economic impacts. Zero-waste strategies, as will be discussed in Chapters 11 and 12, dictate that waste has to move from a linear system to being more cyclical one. The objective of this chapter is to provide a sustainable solution for the problem of slums while at the same time solving the problem of waste accumulation using zero-waste strategy.