Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Slum shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Slum offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Slum at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Slum? Wrong! If the Slum is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Slum then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Slum? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Slum and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Slum wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Slum then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Slum site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Slum, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Slum, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
,
India. About 2.6 million people live in slum designated areas across Delhi. Slums in Delhi, India.
The United Nations agency
UN-HABITAT defines a slum as
a heavily populated urban area characterised by substandard housing and squalor. The term traditionally referred to housing areas that were once respectable but which deteriorated as the original dwellers moved on to newer and better parts of the city, but has come to include the vast informal settlements found in cities in the developing world. UN-HABITAT 2007 Press Release on its report, "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003". The word comes from "back slum," meaning back room and later "back alley."
Although their characteristics vary between geographic regions, they are usually inhabited by the very poor or socially disadvantaged. Slum buildings vary from simple shacks to permanent and well-maintained structures. Most slums lack clean water, electricity, sanitation and other basic services UN-HABITAT 2007 Press Release on its report, "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003".
Slums may be distinguished from ghettos in that
ghetto refers to a neighborhood based on shared
ethnicity. Other terms which are sometimes used interchangeably with slum include
favela and shanty town.
Characteristics
, Ireland circa 1901.
The characteristics associated with slums vary from context to context. Slums are usually characterized by
urban blight and by high rates of
poverty and unemployment. They are commonly seen as "breeding grounds" for social problems such as
crime,
drug addiction, alcoholism, high rates of mental illness, and
suicide. In many poor countries they exhibit high rates of disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care. A UN Expert Group has created an operational definition of a slum as an area that combines to various extents the following characteristics: inadequate access to safe water; inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure; poor structural quality of housing; overcrowding; and insecure residential status. UN-HABITAT 2007 Press Release on its report, "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003". To these one might add the low socioeconomic status of its residentsMeasure Evaluation / NIPORT (2006)Slums of urban Bangladesh: mapping and census, 2005. Centre for Urban Studies / Measure Evaluation / National Institute of Population Research and Training. Accessed 9 June 2007 .
In many slums, especially in poor countries, many live in very narrow alleys that do not allow vehicles (like ambulances and firefighter) to pass. The lack of services such as routine waste collection allows rubbish to accumulate in huge quantities. The lack of infrastructure is caused by the informal nature of settlement and no planning for the poor by government officials. Additionally, informal settlements often face the brunt of natural and man-made disasters, such as landslides, as well as earthquakes and tropical storms. Many slum dwellers employ themselves in the
informal economy. This can include street vending, drug dealing, domestic work, and prostitution. In some slums people even recycle trash of different kinds (from household garbage to electronics) for a living - selling either the odd usable goods or stripping broken goods for parts or raw materials.
Growth and countermeasures
]Recent years have seen a dramatic growth in the number of slums as urban populations have increased in the Third World. According to a 2006
UN-HABITAT report, 327 million people live in slums in Commonwealth of Nations countries - almost one in six Commonwealth citizens. In a quarter of Commonwealth countries (11 African, 2 Asian and 1 Pacific), more than two out of three urban dwellers live in slums and many of these countries are urbanising rapidly.Comhabitat: Briefing paper produced for the Commonwealth Civil Society Consultation, Marlborough House, London, Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Many governments around the world have attempted to solve the problems of slums by clearing away old decrepit housing and replacing it with modern housing with much better sanitation. The displacement of slums is aided by the fact that many are squatter settlements whose property rights are not recognized by the state. This process is especially common in the Third World. Slum clearance often takes the form of
eminent domain and
urban renewal projects, and often the former residents are not welcome in the renewed housing. Moreover new projects are often on the semi-rural peripheries of cities far from opportunities for generating livlihoods as well as schools, clinics etc. At times this has resulted in large movements of inner city slum dwellers militantly opposing relocation to formal housing on the outskirts of cities. See, for example, Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban, South Africa.
In some countries, leaders have addressed this situation by rescuing rural property rights to support traditional sustainable agriculture, however this solution has met with open hostility from capitalists and corporations. It also tends to be relatively unpopular with the slum communities themselves, as it involves moving out of the city back into the countryside, a reverse of the rural-urban migration that originally brought many of them into the city.
Critics argue that slum clearances tend to ignore the social problems that cause slums and simply redistribute poverty to less valuable real estate. Where communities have been moved out of slum areas to newer housing, social cohesion may be lost. If the original community is moved back into newer housing after it has been built in the same location, residents of the new housing face the same problems of poverty and powerlessness.
Income disparity
, Mexico.According to the UNDP 1997 Human Development Report, Asian Analysis 1998 by Asean Focus Group, Professor Michael LeighDirector Institute of East Asian Studies University Malaysia, Sarawak. and the 2004
United Nations Human Development (UNHDP) report, Speech at the Meeting between DAPSY National and Perak State Leaders In Teluk Intan by Lim Guan Eng, If the 2004
Petronas profits of RM 35.6 billion (US$9.89 billion) were distributed to the poor, Malaysia would not have wealth distribution problems. Malaysia has the highest income disparity between the rich and poor in Southeast Asia, greater than that of
Philippines,
Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. The UNHDP Report shows that the richest 10% in Malaysia control 38.4% of the economic income as compared to the poorest 10% who control only 1.7%.
Kuala Lumpur as the capital of Malaysia has an increasing number of squatters,http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Apec/pdf/97fe_012.pdfhttp://aplikasi.kpkt.gov.my/akhbar.nsf/8521d968204e8b454825697400224ca6/ddc8bbe48f9dc13748256f09000864f4?OpenDocument shanty towns and
slums, and is also seeing an increase in criminal acts such as
snatch theft, Students slashed in robbery, Kuala Lumpur, August 1, 2006, Phang Kar Wei, 23, was repeatedly assaulted and slashed three times on his hands and neck by two men on a motorcycle at 8.45pm in Taman Melati, some 2 km from Wangsa Maju. robberies, and rape.
Slums versus ghettos
Many times people use the term
ghetto when they are actually referring to a slum.
To qualify as a ghetto, an area must contain certain aspects:
- There must be a majority of one group of people over the rest of a population in an area.
- This majority group must be a racial, ethnic or religious group that is a minority compared to the major population.
- This group must have been discriminated against, when it comes to housing, in the past and possibly currently.
A ghetto is not based on the population’s social-economic level, amount of crime or amount of unemployment.A person who lives in a ghetto chooses not to leave the ghetto because of past discrimination and/or is unable to leave because of current discrimination.The first ghetto was a Jewish ghetto located in
Venice, Italy.In the United States, census tracts are used to determine if an area is a ghetto.
By contrast, identification of an areas as a slum is not based on the race, ethnicity or religion of the people in the area.
References
See also
Literature
- Mike Davis (scholar):Planet of Slums London, New York 2006 ISBN 1-84467-022-8
- Elisabeth Blum / Peter Neitzke: FavelaMetropolis. Berichte und Projekte aus Rio de Janeiro und Sao Paulo, Birkhäuser Basel, Boston, Berlin 2004 ISBN 3-7643-7063-7
- Floris Fabrizio Puppets or people? A sociological analisys of Korogocho slum, Pauline Publication Africa, Nairobi 2007.
- Floris Fabrizio ECCESSI DI CITTÀ: Baraccopoli, campi profughi, città psichedeliche, Paoline, Milano, ISBN 88-315-3318-3
External links
- Every third person will be a slum dweller within 30 years, UN agency warns; John Vidal; The Guardian; October 4, 2003.
- Mute Magazine Vol 2#3, Naked Cities - Struggle in the Global Slums
- Slums of Mumbai
, India. About 2.6 million people live in slum designated areas across Delhi. Slums in Delhi, India.
The United Nations agency
UN-HABITAT defines a slum as
a heavily populated urban area characterised by substandard housing and squalor. The term traditionally referred to housing areas that were once respectable but which deteriorated as the original dwellers moved on to newer and better parts of the city, but has come to include the vast informal settlements found in cities in the developing world. UN-HABITAT 2007 Press Release on its report, "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003". The word comes from "back slum," meaning back room and later "back alley."
Although their characteristics vary between geographic regions, they are usually inhabited by the very poor or socially disadvantaged. Slum buildings vary from simple shacks to permanent and well-maintained structures. Most slums lack clean water, electricity, sanitation and other basic services UN-HABITAT 2007 Press Release on its report, "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003".
Slums may be distinguished from ghettos in that
ghetto refers to a neighborhood based on shared
ethnicity. Other terms which are sometimes used interchangeably with slum include
favela and shanty town.
Characteristics
,
Ireland circa 1901.
The characteristics associated with slums vary from context to context. Slums are usually characterized by urban blight and by high rates of poverty and unemployment. They are commonly seen as "breeding grounds" for social problems such as crime,
drug addiction, alcoholism, high rates of
mental illness, and
suicide. In many poor countries they exhibit high rates of
disease due to unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of basic health care. A UN Expert Group has created an operational definition of a slum as an area that combines to various extents the following characteristics: inadequate access to safe water; inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure; poor structural quality of housing; overcrowding; and insecure residential status. UN-HABITAT 2007 Press Release on its report, "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003". To these one might add the low socioeconomic status of its residentsMeasure Evaluation / NIPORT (2006)Slums of urban Bangladesh: mapping and census, 2005. Centre for Urban Studies / Measure Evaluation / National Institute of Population Research and Training. Accessed 9 June 2007 .
In many slums, especially in poor countries, many live in very narrow alleys that do not allow vehicles (like ambulances and
firefighter) to pass. The lack of services such as routine waste collection allows rubbish to accumulate in huge quantities. The lack of infrastructure is caused by the informal nature of settlement and no planning for the poor by government officials. Additionally, informal settlements often face the brunt of natural and man-made disasters, such as landslides, as well as earthquakes and tropical storms. Many slum dwellers employ themselves in the informal economy. This can include street vending, drug dealing, domestic work, and prostitution. In some slums people even recycle trash of different kinds (from household garbage to electronics) for a living - selling either the odd usable goods or stripping broken goods for parts or raw materials.
Growth and countermeasures
]Recent years have seen a dramatic growth in the number of slums as urban populations have increased in the Third World. According to a 2006
UN-HABITAT report, 327 million people live in slums in Commonwealth of Nations countries - almost one in six Commonwealth citizens. In a quarter of Commonwealth countries (11 African, 2 Asian and 1 Pacific), more than two out of three urban dwellers live in slums and many of these countries are urbanising rapidly.Comhabitat: Briefing paper produced for the Commonwealth Civil Society Consultation, Marlborough House, London, Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Many governments around the world have attempted to solve the problems of slums by clearing away old decrepit housing and replacing it with modern housing with much better sanitation. The displacement of slums is aided by the fact that many are squatter settlements whose property rights are not recognized by the state. This process is especially common in the Third World. Slum clearance often takes the form of eminent domain and urban renewal projects, and often the former residents are not welcome in the renewed housing. Moreover new projects are often on the semi-rural peripheries of cities far from opportunities for generating livlihoods as well as schools, clinics etc. At times this has resulted in large movements of inner city slum dwellers militantly opposing relocation to formal housing on the outskirts of cities. See, for example,
Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban,
South Africa.
In some countries, leaders have addressed this situation by rescuing rural property rights to support traditional sustainable agriculture, however this solution has met with open hostility from capitalists and corporations. It also tends to be relatively unpopular with the slum communities themselves, as it involves moving out of the city back into the countryside, a reverse of the rural-urban migration that originally brought many of them into the city.
Critics argue that slum clearances tend to ignore the social problems that cause slums and simply redistribute poverty to less valuable real estate. Where communities have been moved out of slum areas to newer housing, social cohesion may be lost. If the original community is moved back into newer housing after it has been built in the same location, residents of the new housing face the same problems of poverty and powerlessness.
Income disparity
, Mexico.According to the UNDP 1997 Human Development Report, Asian Analysis 1998 by Asean Focus Group, Professor Michael LeighDirector Institute of East Asian Studies University Malaysia, Sarawak. and the 2004
United Nations Human Development (UNHDP) report, Speech at the Meeting between DAPSY National and Perak State Leaders In Teluk Intan by Lim Guan Eng, If the 2004
Petronas profits of RM 35.6 billion (US$9.89 billion) were distributed to the poor, Malaysia would not have wealth distribution problems.
Malaysia has the highest income disparity between the rich and poor in
Southeast Asia, greater than that of
Philippines, Thailand,
Singapore,
Vietnam and
Indonesia. The UNHDP Report shows that the richest 10% in Malaysia control 38.4% of the economic income as compared to the poorest 10% who control only 1.7%. Kuala Lumpur as the capital of Malaysia has an increasing number of
squatters,http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Apec/pdf/97fe_012.pdfhttp://aplikasi.kpkt.gov.my/akhbar.nsf/8521d968204e8b454825697400224ca6/ddc8bbe48f9dc13748256f09000864f4?OpenDocument
shanty towns and slums, and is also seeing an increase in criminal acts such as
snatch theft, Students slashed in robbery, Kuala Lumpur, August 1, 2006, Phang Kar Wei, 23, was repeatedly assaulted and slashed three times on his hands and neck by two men on a motorcycle at 8.45pm in Taman Melati, some 2 km from Wangsa Maju.
robberies, and
rape.
Slums versus ghettos
Many times people use the term
ghetto when they are actually referring to a slum.
To qualify as a ghetto, an area must contain certain aspects:
- There must be a majority of one group of people over the rest of a population in an area.
- This majority group must be a racial, ethnic or religious group that is a minority compared to the major population.
- This group must have been discriminated against, when it comes to housing, in the past and possibly currently.
A ghetto is not based on the population’s social-economic level, amount of crime or amount of unemployment.A person who lives in a ghetto chooses not to leave the ghetto because of past discrimination and/or is unable to leave because of current discrimination.The first ghetto was a Jewish ghetto located in Venice, Italy.In the United States, census tracts are used to determine if an area is a ghetto.
By contrast, identification of an areas as a slum is not based on the race, ethnicity or religion of the people in the area.
References
See also
Literature
- Mike Davis (scholar):Planet of Slums London, New York 2006 ISBN 1-84467-022-8
- Elisabeth Blum / Peter Neitzke: FavelaMetropolis. Berichte und Projekte aus Rio de Janeiro und Sao Paulo, Birkhäuser Basel, Boston, Berlin 2004 ISBN 3-7643-7063-7
- Floris Fabrizio Puppets or people? A sociological analisys of Korogocho slum, Pauline Publication Africa, Nairobi 2007.
- Floris Fabrizio ECCESSI DI CITTÀ: Baraccopoli, campi profughi, città psichedeliche, Paoline, Milano, ISBN 88-315-3318-3
External links
- Every third person will be a slum dweller within 30 years, UN agency warns; John Vidal; The Guardian; October 4, 2003.
- Mute Magazine Vol 2#3, Naked Cities - Struggle in the Global Slums
- Slums of Mumbai
Slum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security.
Dharavi Slum
Asia's largest slum, Dharavi, lies on prime property right in the middle of India's financial capital, Mumbai (Bombay). It is home to more than a million people.
Soul Action: Slum Survivor...
Welcome to the Slum Survivor pages! Here you'll find everything you need to set up and run your own Slum Survivor fundraising events. The 2008 Weekend!
Soul Action: Slum Survivor
Slum Survivor is a great way to both raise awareness of extreme poverty around the world and raise money to help make a difference to the lives of some of the poorest.
slum definition of slum in the Free Online Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia article about slum. Information about slum in the Columbia Encyclopedia, Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, computing dictionary.
Monkeyslum
Stop-Loss Win a Nintendo Wii to celebrate the release of Stop-Loss on DVD
Monkeyslum
Emma Watson: Johnny Borrell
Destination Guides - Dharavi slum tour - India - Wanderlust Travel ...
Has sightseeing gone too far? ... Wanderlust is the UK's leading travel magazine for independent-minded and adventurous travellers looking for world class information and advice ...
Slum Music
Slum Music from the most comprehensive global news network and archive on the internet. International News and analysis on current events, movies, cinema, filmfestivals, hiphop ...
Slum Talent
Slum Talent From WN Network ... Bette blasts Britney, Christina News24 Entertainer Bette Midler, center, gestures as she poses with dancers during a news conference at the Caesars ...
