Vulnerability Assessment of Squatter Settlement in Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City, Nepal

Squatter settlement is uncontrolled and unplanned settlement consisting of dwelling built on land that is not owned. Squatters are the most vulnerable groups being very poor. This paper assessed the extent of socio-economic characteristics, causes of being squatters, vulnerability and their adaptation strategies of Sundarbazar area in Butwal. The descriptive analytical methodology was employed to generate data from both primary and secondary data sources. Out of 339 households, 113 households were selected through a systematic random sampling procedure. Field observation, focus group discussion and personal interviews were also applied to collect primary data. The squatter settlement in the study area has inadequate accommodation, poor access of safe water, sanitation, unmanaged waste disposal system and polluted environment. Poor economic condition, unemployment, and natural disaster along with availability of free land are the major cause of being squatters in this region. Furthermore, risk of health hazard, unemployment, and income uncertainty are the vulnerability of squatter people in the study area. It is concluded that poverty reduction in both rural and urban area can solve this problem but providing income generation opportunities, basic service facilities are major concern at present. In the developing countries like Nepal, squatter settlement is less known in literature and curriculum of formal education. Thus, it requires to aware new generation through school education system and the higher level for better urban planning and management in the future.

Squatter Settlement: Costs and Contributing Factors in Jimma Town, Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia

Urbanization and urban growth are considered as a modern way of life which manifests economic growth and development in many countries. On the other hand, it yields a number of evils, especially unplanned (squatter) settlement. The study conducted on the area of squatter settlement in Jimma town is aimed to explore the socioeconomic factors contributing for squatter settlement and its effect on social, economic and institutional conditions of settler and development of the town. The study was guided by qualitative research approach and employed cross-sectional and phenomenological design in which primary data required for the analysis was collected through key informant interview, focus group discussion, non-participant observation as well as secondary data from document and analyzed by thematic analysis. The findings of this study revealed that, the root cause identified for squatter settlement is shortage of residential house and its consequential high price of house rent, the need of holding large plot of land and inefficient land administration system. Other findings indicated that squatter settlement incur costs on both the government and the squatter. Squatter settlement creates fear and dearth of confidence on the land they hold illegally, poor infrastructure due to lack of government interventions and low social service delivery, and social distress within the community. The study also found out that squatting displaces the host ex-farmers from their farmland and leads to consequent poverty and livelihood disasters. It is recommended that, political will in accessing residential land and financial commitment of the government is required. Active participation of the public and abiding legal procedures in accessing residential land is vital.

Examining the Effect of Squatter Settlements in the Evolution of Spatial Fragmentation in the Housing Market of the City of Buenos Aires by Using Geographical Weighted Regression

The spatial fragmentation in the housing market and the growth of squatter settlements are characteristic for the metropolitan areas in developing countries. Over the years, in large cities, these phenomena have been promoting an increase in the spatial concentration of poverty. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between the squatter settlement growth and spatial fragmentation in the housing market of Buenos Aires. By performing a spatiotemporal analysis using geographically weighted regression in the house prices for the years 2001, 2010, and 2018, the results showed that while squatter settlements had a strong negative effect on house prices, the affected areas shifted over time. Our findings indicate that it is not the growth of the squatter settlement that causes spatial fragmentation, but rather the widening income disparities and further segregation of low-income households. However, squatter settlements determined the spatial demarcation of fragmented housing market by attracting low-income households to surrounding low house price areas.

Future past I am a coolie-al…and I reside as an invisible island inside the ocean: Tidalectics, transoceanic crossings, coolitude and a Tamil identity

The politics of Tamil working-class identity in Malaysia continue to be articulated in subaltern terms, employing term such as ‘coolie’, which is elsewhere an archaic usage from colonial days. Yet the power of the coolie narrative appears salient, and the coolie odyssey is far from over. Drawing upon the author’s longitudinal work with a Tamil squatter settlement in the heart of the city of Kuala Lumpur in the Malay Archipelago, this paper moves from third to first and then second narrative to capture the broad range of ruptures and transformations of Tamil sensibilities, a ‘coolitude’ that grew a pattern of life which emerged from a journey that began on the sea. In this article, the author envisions the ‘black ocean’ as an invisible island; shaped by colonial and imperial histories, racial capitalism and ocean crossings. These transoceanic crossings carried the weight of Tamil histories, rooted in the seas as an invisible island—as both the rupture of an identity and a translation from western namings and discourses. What remains is the ‘island’, rooted in the seas as a colonial wound of history, a tidalectic between transoceanic migration, personhood and language. This community is more than just its resilience, its assertions of power, its affair with identity and belonging, and its response to deep social inequalities in its homeland. It is also a space of a poetics of resoluteness to recover an identity that is not fractured, not alienated from place and transoceanic crossings. This paper attempts a retelling of a hidden hyphen that held the labourer and the personhood apart, but also together. It navigates through the concept of tidalectics first postulated by Barbadian poet and historian Kamau Braithwaite (2003) in conjunction with Valentine Daniel’s (2008) The Coolie and Khal Torabully’s (1992) Coolitude. The paper seeks to understand more deeply the performativity of the hyphen as an invisible island inside the ocean.

Permukiman Liar (Squatter Settlement) Di Jalur Kereta Api Kota Semarang

AbstraCtSquatter settlement is increasingly spreading in various urban corners of Indonesia, including in Semarang Metropolitan City. The reality of existing squatter settlements invaded vacant land, unpreserved and lacked (no) supervision from landowners, eventually forming slum enclaves, one of which was on the railway line in Semarang City. Railways should not be allowed to be used as residential areas. The squatter settlement is inhabited by people on low incomes (economically incapable). Research methods are conducted in a qualitative scriptive way, through empirical observation, interactively, with inductive methods. The approach of the room system is carried out to interpret circum citizen activity related to the request or zoning.Meanwhile, theoretical studies were conducted to help identify and analyze in this study. This research illustrates that squatter settlement occurs in addition to the retardation and poverty experienced by citizens, also due to the inability of the government and its apparatus in terms of supervision (Uncontrolled). Therefore, space arrangement is required (including planning, coaching, implementation, supervision and control).Keywords: squatter settlement, railway AbstrakSquatter settlement makin merebak di berbagai sudut perkotaan di Indonesia, termasuk di Kota Semarang Metropolitan. Realita yang ada squatter settlement merebak menginvasi lahan-lahan kosong, tidak terpelihara dan kurang (tidak ada) pengawasan dari pemilik lahan, akhirnya membentuk enclave-enclave kumuh, salah satunya di jalur kereta api di Kota Semarang. Jalur kereta api semestinya tidak diperkenankan untuk dijadikan sebagai kawasan permukiman. Squatter settlement tersebut dihuni oleh orang-orang yang berpenghasilan rendah (tidak mampu secara ekonomi). Metode Penelitian dilakukan secara diskriptif kualitatif, melalui observasi empirik, interaktif, dengan metoda induktif. Pendekatan sistem keruangan dilakukan untuk menginterpretasikan circum aktivitas warga kaitannya dengan permintakatan atau zoningnya. Sedangkan kajian teoritis dilakukan untuk membantu mengidentifikasi dan menganalisis dalam penelitian ini. Penelitian ini menggambarkan bahwa squatter settlement terjadi selain masih adanya keterbelakangan dan kemiskinan yang dialami oleh warga, juga dikarenakan ketidakmampuan pemerintah dan aparatnya dalam dalam hal pengawasan (Uncontrolled). Karenanya, diperlukan adanya penataan ruang (meliputi perencanaan, pembinaan, pelaksanaan, pengawasan dan pengendalian).Kata Kunci: squatter settlement, jalur kereta api