Role of Urban Managers (Edexcel IGCSE Geography)

Urban managers

• People with particular interests in managing urban challenges are referred to as stakeholders 

  • Local planners and politicians who want change will help with any obstacles or opposition to regeneration/renewal

  • Partnerships between local councils and developers will be set up

  • Property developers are crucial to the design and funding of any project

  • Employers are included, as they will provide new work to change the economy and image of the area

• The groups and actions involved will vary according to each urban area

• Effective urban management relies on three things:

  • Vision

  • Capital

  • Good relationships between public and private enterprise

Stakeholders - level of involvement

• The choice of management option will depend on local stakeholders

  • National governments either support or oppose the choice

  • International stakeholders may become involved once the decision has been made

  • Charities/Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) will most likely help when management involves self-help or re-development

Local level

• Residents of squatter settlements will support any project that will improve their living conditions

• Nearby residents will be keen to have the squatter settlements removed

• Urban planner's vision will impact the squatter settlements

• City councils will have the most influence on choice and resource management

• Utility suppliers have to decide if services can be provided and at what cost

• Employers may not be happy to relocate squatter settlements as it affects the supply of cheap labour

• Landowners and developers will be keen to have sites away from the squatter settlements or to redevelop areas

National level

• Governments have a ‘cost’ consideration

  • There is not an endless pot of cash, especially in emerging cities

  • There is also a political ‘game' (what will gain the most votes)?

  • There are numerous policy decisions to be made and prioritised

• Many countries have home-grown charities set up to help people living in deprivation

• Small charities set up by foreigners but aimed at the improvement of squatter settlements in emerging cities, or aimed at improving deprived areas of developed cities 

International level

• International charities, e.g. OXFAM, Water Aid, CAFOD, MSF, Christian Aid, etc. help to improve basic amenities and infrastructure

  • They also help to address food, education, health and employment issues

• IGOs, e.g. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the WHO fund projects aimed at helping the poor – vital sources of funding for projects

• Corruption can be an issue, with funding not always going where it should, particularly with some governments whose track record is a little dubious

Management of slums

• One challenge common to many urban areas is informal settlements (slums)

• There are five management options:

  1. Bulldoze and clear away

  2. Clear away but relocate people

  3. Redevelop

  4. Improve using self-help or site-and-service schemes (self-help gives tools/training and low-cost loans to help people help themselves, and S&S schemes provide a new or cleared site with basic services for people to buy at low cost, with low-cost loans to buy materials to make their homes)

  5. Ignore them

Bulldoze and clear away

• Operation Murambatsvina (Move the Rubbish), also officially known as Operation Restore Order, was a large-scale Zimbabwean government campaign to forcibly clear informal settlement areas across the country

  • It affected at least 700,000 people directly through the loss of their homes or livelihood and indirectly around 2.4 million people

  • Robert Mugabe and his government claimed it was:

    • a crackdown on illegal housing and commercial activities

    • to reduce the risk of the spread of infectious disease 

• Critics saw it as a way of driving out anyone who opposed Mugabe's administration

Clear away but relocate people

• Occurring in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya

• In 2003, the Kenyan government and UN-Habitat created the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme or KENSUP

  • It aimed to improve the infrastructure and housing of 5.3 million dwellers in squatter settlements within Kenya

• The first step was to build modern high-rise flats and give the residents a chance to own an apartment in the new development

• The flagship of KENSUP in Kibera is several concrete buildings called “The Promised Land” by local residents

• The apartments inside are heavily subsidised and provide the formalised services that squatter settlements lack – like water, sanitation and electricity

Redevelop

• Wholesale clearance and redevelopment of squatter areas is a more drastic approach

• This involves simply evicting the squatters and rebuilding the site in a more formal and organised way

• This is proposed for Dharavi, Mumbai, India and is the approach taken in the UK for many old inner city slum housing areas

• The city authorities of Mumbai want to improve the quality of life of the people who live there

  • This includes the squatter settlement dwellers

• Current approaches across Mumbai are complete demolition of the informal settlements to be replaced by high-rise tower blocks for people to live in

Self-help or site-and-service schemes

• Self-help schemes give people in squatter settlements the tools and training to improve their homes

  • Low-interest loans are available to help pay for the upgrading

• Site-and-service schemes give people the chance to buy or rent a piece of land with basic services on a new or cleared site

  • Low-interest loans allow people to buy the materials for building their new homes

• In Rocinha, self-help schemes have improved the area from squatter settlements to low-quality housing where the majority of homes have basic services like electricity

  • There are now services in Rocinha including cafes and shops

  • Some people have been granted legal ownership of the land on which their houses are built

• 'The Favela Bairro Project' or 'Slum to Neighbourhood' project is a site-and-service scheme

• The local authority provides residents from favelas with brick houses to rent, these are built with:

  • electricity

  • running water

  • sanitation pipes installed

• Some people are allowed to buy these houses

• Services in these areas also include:

  • waste collection

  • schools

  • health centres

Ignore

• Some local authorities turn a blind eye to the squatter settlements and hope they go away

• Other authorities do not have the resources to commit to the redevelopment of the squatter settlements

• In some places, such as parts of Rocinha in Rio, many residents have slowly improved the stability, durability and quality of their homes by buying better quality materials and doing the work themselves

• In some parts, people have done this so well and built such a stable community that authorities are no longer required to provide assistance