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Models for understanding social problems in slums.

Article Excerpt
INTRODUCTION

Historically, human settlements started around lakes, river banks and at places with adequate fresh water resources. This fact coupled with the search for better opportunities and the instinct for survival cause migration of human beings and other living organisms. Proximity of raw materials and other available productive resources in the region and uneven as well as skewed distribution of industries have destabilized the population settlement patterns. This is one of the main factors initiating the rural and urban divide. The continuous movement of humans into urban areas from villages and relatively less developed smaller towns has been instrumental in the process of urbanization.

Industrialization has added a new dimension to human migration and settlement. Large scale production has resulted in the centralization of industrial units. The spatially non-uniform economic development prevalent in most countries of the world has created extra pressure on some selected places that are having relatively higher economic activities, since these few places are capable of providing better job prospects and means for living to the people.

Inadequate income and overall poverty of a stratum of the workforce results in the creation of slums in some parts of cities of the world. The extra burden on the basic amenities of the crowded cities, particularly around the low income areas cause environmental pollution. The increased population density, polluted environment, poverty and social evils are considered to be the breeding ground for criminal activities and spread of various epidemics as well as diseases.

Excessive concentration of human beings has resulted in the evolution of a new social order in mega-cities of the world and as a consequence a typical materialistic culture has emerged among the residents through learning experiences. This new culture is characterized in nature to be super-individualistic in which it becomes quite difficult for people to trust one another, because of the general belief in the slogan of "survival of the fittest."

The current definition of the term slum in Oxford Dictionary is "street of dirty, crowded houses" or "street of houses built closely together." This definition seems to be inadequate for modeling purposes.

In the next section the definition of "slum" is expanded. Reasons for the creation of slums as well as the existing situation of slums are described. Social, economic and other aspects culminating in deprivation are modeled. Later, the causes for various types of epidemics are discussed. The descriptive model for HIV/AIDS is presented and later a constructed mathematical model is critically analyzed. The incidence of malaria and its related problems particularly for low income groups, are discussed. Various aspects are picked for discussion and recommendations for improving the conditions of slums as well as strategies for the overall welfare of residents are suggested.

SLUMS AND THEIR EXISTENCE

On the basis of observational attributes a slum can be defined as follows:

A slum is a heavily congested and often poorly built temporary human settlement, mostly with no security of tenure and prone to antisocial activities, which is characterized by a shortage of safe drinking water, inadequate power supply, lack of proper sanitation and scarce medical and social facilities.

Quantitatively, human density per square meter in slums is much higher than the recommended standards. The settlements are mostly erected using plastic sheets, mud walls, tin sheets or cardboards which often leak during rains and are very risky in case of fire.

These settlements are also destroyed by local authorities or land owners at frequent intervals. The narrow and winding paths of slums provide a favorable environment for criminal and antisocial activities because the area becomes almost inaccessible to security forces. Chasing and capturing criminals in slums is difficult, as they have better knowledge of the escape routes and hideouts.

Utilities are mostly non-existent and there are often pools of stagnant dirty fluids along with rubbish dumps. The drainage system is open and poorly maintained and that often mixes with drinking water due to leakages in pipes. This exposes the residents of slums to various ailments and diseases.

Causes of slums

Unemployment and/or poor remuneration for the employed can be one of the main compelling factors to take shelter in slums. Slums often come into existence in the vicinity of the places and organizations providing employment opportunities to the lower strata of the workforce. This saves vital man-hours as well as the transportation cost from the settlement to the place of work. In this manner, the residents of the slums divert some of their...