Leuven and Brussels, Belgium, 23-26 May 2001
COPING WITH INFORMALITY AND ILLEGALITY
IN HUMAN SETTLEMENTS IN DEVELOPING CITIES
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ESF/N-AERUS International Workshop Leuven and Brussels, Belgium, 23-26 May 2001
COPING WITH INFORMALITY AND ILLEGALITY
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Katharine Coit
- Download the draft paper in *.rtf format
- Download the draft paper in *.pdf format
Informality and illegality are generally considered to be the characteristics of low-income settlements, both caused by and beneficial to the poor. The appropriation of land, the illegal subdivisions, the shacks built with inappropriate material on unserviced land etc. are means by which the poor get cheap shelter. There is, however, another side to the question. Informal and illegal actions are not reserved for the poor alone but can also be used by those with the means to exploit the poor. Where there are no laws, no regulations, the land owner, the developer, the slumlord, the usurer make their own. Being in a monopolistic position often they can and often do exploit those needing housing or other services thus prolonging or perpetuating their poverty. The informality or illegality of their position make it very unlikely that the exploited obtain justice from an established legal system. When you have no legal title to a house and plot of land even though you have paid for them to whom can you turn when you find out the land is flood prone? When your house is wiped out by a landslide, or is found to be on a toxic waste dump what recourse have you? When the rent you pay for 5 square meters in a slum is the same the rich pay for 15 comfortable square meters, when the water you buy by the bucket costs seven time the piped water in the "legal " neighborhoods, when you buy electricity from your neighbor for twice the price he pays for his electricity who will defend you?
This type of unequal exchange can be "informal" or 'illegal" depending on the laws and regulations of the country but it often is exploitative. To illustrate this aspect of informality and illegality my paper will use a sociological study made in a slum in Saigon of very poor families. Their poverty and their indebtedness will be analyzed in relation to the manner they are exploited by those furnishing them with informal or illegal shelter, services and credit. It will conclude with possible ways of counteracting this exploitation.
N-AERUS: Network-Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South
http://www.naerus.net