Urban Poverty and the Plausible Solutions for the Problems - Essay Example

Urban Poverty Introduction The following work is aimed at giving a realistic idea about the urban poverty, analyze them and provide the plausible solutions for the problems posed in these areas. The work also aims to discuss the different solutions that were provided in the past to solve poverty in urban areas. Finally, the report details about the possible solutions given by several critics that could be implemented in near future. According to Power and Houghton (2007), interlinking of surrounding neighborhoods with city centre would be ideal for a country like Britain to solve urban poverty issues. A detailed explanation of the reasons which resulted in formation of several neighborhoods around several cities of Britain is given by them. They have also explained on how the neighborhoods gradually turned out to be poverty ridden areas in the period 1981 to 1998. Some of their proposed solutions are detailed below. (Power & Houghton 2007) Several projects and ‘pilot’ plans were proposed by the government for the renewal of neighborhood and with their success, it has propelled several local authorities of each city to follow the same procedure. Power and Houghton (2007) suggest that the local authorities need to solve the immediate short term problems first than look at the long term problems. This is because, nationwide projects, generally tend to neglect these smaller problems but according to author’s view, they usually pose big threats to life in cities. The other common problem that is being reported by the author is the local crime incidents that happen in the cities that affect the day to day life of the residents. Any city that is clean and that follows the rules will flourish. So, the authors are of the opinion that police personnel are to envisage every doubtful street that could casus crime incidents and ensure strict adherence to rules and regulations by the residents. On the other hand, the author also warns that enforcing of rules by any kind of office personnel is a tough job and even more tough to consistently apply it. But, if applied, it would help the poor and people with low wage incomes to sustain their living. An example of such action was done in the late 1990’s in the city of Manchester. Reports suggest that it helped the city to greatly pull most of its so called waste lands back to business boundaries. The author concludes the analysis with this example to show that neighborhood management helps people to be safer and to improve their way of living. (Power & Houghton 2007) The picture presented by (Perlman et al 1998) on urban poverty is altogether different to what the previous author described. According to their report, the urban solution has become thrice larger in the past three decades. They propose that the quantitative explosion of the population in the past 30 years has led to a salient decrease in the quality of the life that portion of people live around in the world, especially in the urban areas. As an example to the above statement, the population of the poor in urban areas in US has increased from 44 million to 115 million in the period 20 years. (Perlman et al 1998) So, with above theory as proof, the solution provided to resolve the situation can be separated into several parts. Firstly, the blaming game needs to be stopped. Everyone knows the reasons for poverty among people, whichever the environment is. So, people have to look at the solution from here on in order to move positively. The report suggests that the urban cities are to be seen as solution centres rather than only as problematic areas. Hence in 1993, The World Bank along with US Agency for International development and UNCHS has developed a programme as a solution to the needs of urban areas. According to them, the low income people have to contribute to the programme to sustain mutual development. With a ten year research in several urban cities, the authors have provided a set of solution to the incisive battle against saving environmental issues and urban poverty. They propose that the small initiatives that are taken by local authorities like service programs, micro-aids etc. should all be made as collaborative effort and the greener environment agenda should be coupled with this poverty issue. They believe that this would bring out a successful result in solving both the extreme problems. (Perlman et al 1998) Some of their other solutions include, maintaining a repeatable life cycle among people so as to regenerate resources; smaller solutions need to be scaled to solve bigger issues; both the society and politicians should involve and act together in order to see the proceedings to go any further. (Perlman et al 1998) According to Perez and Perez (2008), the solutions that are provided for urban poverty have not given any such expected results. Recent reports suggest that there is constant increase in squatter population in several countries and the problems they pose are becoming huge every day. A perfect example of the development of urban city being dependent on the surrounding squatters is in Venezuela. They are called as barrios, a place were poor working people of the place get to stay. The barrios began to get into more of a community based are and all the people were only dependant on the land they were occupying. So, any solution that could be proposed by the government would involve destroying the barrios, which would never be accepted by the inhabitants. (Perez & Perez 2008) A possible solution suggested by Perez and Perez (2008) is to legalize the land they are occupying so as to get both their technical and personal help to improve the area. Also, the organizations that are working on improvement should personally get in touch with those living there and get to learn their characteristics in order to proceed further. Understanding the demographical development of their area to identify is mandatory to identify new solutions. Their structure can only be explored by understanding their networks, both physically and socially. A deep rooted analysis of their needs and the site is required for development. The authors conclude their analysis for improvement with a report on the usage of GIS tools for building case studies upon which solutions can be worked out. Both in developing and developed countries, the usage of GIS can lead to positive results and implementation. They provide accurate demographic data, which by other means is impossible to achieve. Their book gives a detailed analysis of this tool in collecting data and as a consequence, plans for the development of the poor. (Perez & Perez 2008) Masik et al (1997) provide a gender analysis of the solutions provided for the poverty development and stress on the importance of their work. They suggest that a gender based analysis of urban poverty is important because men and women suffer and recover to it in different ways. So, their view is to urge the governments proposing solution for poverty to include a gender based analysis into the solution. This would also enable women to get their share of provisions. There have been several improvements made in urban anti-poverty policies and most of them have made significant changes in the past two decades. But then, as the report suggests, there has been a constant discrimination among genders whilst implementing the policies. In the recent years, there have been several steps taken to reduce such discrimination between men and women. Since majority of recovery plans are based on housing plans, it is important to provide the woman of slums, a way for income generation. But, as days have progressed, the motive of improvement has changed into a combination of housing and income based improvement. (Masik et al 1997) Also, another issue related with income generation and development is employment. Much importance is given in providing employment opportunities for the inhabitants. As mentioned by the authors, some of the approaches taken for infrastructure and employment development by several NGO’s include, use of low cost technologies in infrastructure development; improvement in health and education sector. On a final note, the authors conclude on the future direction that needs to be taken for development. Additional research has to be done in incorporating gender based issues in action plans aimed for urban poverty development. Apart from the research, the important thing is to implement the results of this research in practice. (Masik et al 1997) Conclusion The world population is growing at a rapid rate. And the increase is mostly in developing countries like India, where a stabilized policy is not been able to be established for reducing poverty. So, with the increase in population, people from rural areas, looking for life saving opportunities would increase. Report suggests that such migration rate has been increased by 2.67% in the period 2000-05, particularly in developing countries. There are facts showing that by 2020, almost 30% of the 3 billion urban populations will live in urban slums. (Practical Action 2008) So, a proper action plan is required and some of the action plans that are discussed above by various critics have to be implemented with immediate effect and under appropriate supervision. References Power, A. & Houghton, J. 2007. Jigsaw Cities: Big Places, Small Spaces. Bristol: Policy Press Perlman, J , Hopkins, E. & Jonsson, A. 1998. Urban solutions at the poverty/environment intersection. [Online] Available at: http://www.megacitiesproject.org/publications_pdf_mcp01 solutions.pdf [Accessed 04 Dec. 2009] Perez, R. & Perez, R. 2008. Analyzing Urban Poverty: GIS for the Developing World. [Online] Available at: http:www.gis.esri.com/esripress/shared/images/139/URBAN_ch01.pdf [Accessed 04 Dec. 2009] Practical Action. 2008. Urban Poverty. [Online] updated 03 Dec. 2009. Available at: http://practicalactionpublishing.org/shelter/urbanpoverty_background [Accessed 04 Dec. 2009] Masika, R., de Haan, A. & Baden, S. 1997. Urbanization and urban poverty: a gender analysis. BRIDGE, Report.No54. [Online] Available at: http://www.bridge.tds.ac.uk/reports/re54.pdf [Accessed 04 Dec. 2009] Read More