Problems of Urban Growth in

LEDCs

What is the meaning of URBAN GROWTH?

This is the expansion of towns and cities – the increase of the size of a built up area.

(Remember this is not the growth of cities and it is not population growth)

Where is it?

Sao Paulo is a city located on Brazil's south-east coast. It is Brazil's largest city with a population of approximately 25 million.

The population of Sao Paulo has grown for a number of reasons.

• Natural Increase is one reason for its growth (this is when the birth rate is higher than the death rate).

• The population has also grown as the result of urbanisation. The has been caused by rural to urban migration. Millions of people have migrated from Brazil's rural areas to Sao Paulo. In Sao Paulo 65% of urban growth is a result of migration. This is caused by a variety of push and pull factors.

• Mechanisation of farms and shortage of alternative jobs results in high unemployment

• Flooding of land from projects such as the Caatinga with little compensation.

• High Infant Mortality due to lack of clean water, electricity, sewage & medical care

• Housing in rural areas even poorer than cities also poorer services

• Drought meaning crops failed

• Advertising campaigns were run in rural areas in the 1950’s & 1960’s to attract workers to the city

• More schools and other services in the city

• Better housing and a chance of obtaining a job

• Successful migrants encourage people to join them

• Inadequate housing and services – 40% live in shanty towns or favelas which lack basic amenities such as sanitation, sewerage, water and electricity. These services are not capable of maintaining a basic standard of living.

• Shortage of affordable formal housing• Shanty (favela's) are found on inappropriate land e.g. land that could to prone

to landslips as they are on steep slopes or on land that is badly polluted by neighbouring industry. Shelters are made of wood and hence could burn down.

• Collapsing Infrastructure – Government can’t cope with the increases in population as don’t have the money to invest in maintaining the existing facilities let alone improve them.

• Increasing levels of pollution – air, land and water pollution as the country tries to industrialise and legislation to improve the environment is often non existent also small industries often pollute these are informal and set up in peoples homes.

• Increase volumes of traffic• Lack of employment means people are looking for other ways to earn money

many will work in the informal sector e.g. porters, shoe shiners this is employment for half the city’s work force

• The rapid growth of Sao Paulo's population has led to a severe shortage of housing. Millions of people have been forced to construct their own homes from scrap materials such as wood, corrugated iron and metals. These areas of temporary accommodation are known as favelas in Brazil.

• The conditions associated with favelas are very poor. Often families have to share one tap, there is no sewerage provision, disease is common and many people are unemployed.

Inadequate housing and services – live in shanty towns or favela’s which lack basic amenities such as sanitation, sewerage, water and electricity. These services are not capable of maintaining a basic standard of living.

Shelters are often made of scraps of wood and can easily burn down. They may also be located near industrial sites that badly pollute the land.

Sao Paulo’s Traffic Congestion is notorious. With all the increase in migrants per year this is only going to get worse.

The amount of traffic will not only affect peoples ability to move around the city but will also affect air quality. Brazil’s car users do at least use alternative fuels to try to combat the problem.

By looking at the Hoyt Model both MEDC and LEDCs have their CBD’s in the centre however this is where the similarity ends. In MEDC’s the poorer housing tends to be in the inner city and the zone of transition. Favelas are located on the edge of most major Brazilian cities. They are located here for a number of reasons.

• Firstly, this is the only available land to build on within the city limits.

• Secondly, industry is located on the edge of the cities. Many people need jobs therefore they locate close to factories. Some of these settlements may be 40 or 50 km from the city centre (on the edge of the city), along main roads and up very steep hillsides.

Shanty towns are often built on land that no one else can use. Often this is very steep land as it is very difficult to build formal housing here. This land is prone to landslips when it rains and many people can be killed

In cities in both MEDCs and LEDCs there is a CBD usually near the centre of the city. The poorer part of the MEDC city is the inner city and the zone of transition, which are close to the CBD. In an LEDC city the poorest people live in shanty towns (favela’s). Many of these are on the outskirts of the city but others are found near transport routes or where there are unfavourable physical sites such as steep slopes.

SLUM CLEARANCEget rid of them by using bull dozers. This approach was soon found to not work as people were too poor to rent anywhere else and the government could not house the large numbers arriving from the rural areas to the city. THIS IS NOW SEEN AS NOT A SOLUTION

SITE & SERVICE SCHEMESThese are schemes where the government will provide a site (a small concrete building) and basic amenities such as water and sewerage. The migrant will be given rights of ownership and then expected to complete the work at his or her expense. This is often done as a cooperative between groups of migrants. In other situations the authorities will just provide the plot (land) and building materials and the migrants will construct their own homes

These schemes are also called SELF HELP SCHEMES

The government puts in basic services such as clean water & sewerage and provides building materials, such as breezeblocks. The families then get together & help build the homes (Some being trained as plumbers, some electricians) Hence the buildings are relatively cheap, hygienic & gives the migrants a sense of control over their future it also creates good community spirit.

REHABILITATIONAn alternative scheme as the residents of an existing shanty town are given materials to improve their shelters and also encouraged to set up community schemes to improve education and medical services. Residents may be given rights of ownership and local authorities may provide electricity, water and sewage disposalOne example in FAVELA MONTE AZUL

HOUSING DEVELOPMENTSLarge areas of shanty towns were cleared, tower blocks were then built in their place often on very steep land to house the shanty town residents. One example is the CINGAPURA HOUSING project. This has not been seen as a success

The Cingapura project is a low-cost housing initiative in São Paulo, Brazil. It is designed to try and move the poor population from favelas (shanty towns), where one quarter of people in São Paulo now live, into more permanent structures. These structures are often called 'Superblocks'.They were intended to have a supply of electricity, a good water supply and sewer pipes. On top of this, residential security guards were to be employed to reduce crimes which were/are rife throughout the favelas in Brazil. Much of the work was to be done by the residents of the favelas themselves, the project being dubbed a 'self help' project. The existing favelas were to be cleared and building materials provided for the builders for free. One of the major difficulties in building on the sites of the favelas was the large slopes on which they are built. This difficult terrain was the only reason the owners of the land did not use it. Levelling the land was very expensive and eventually proved too expensive, only a tenth of the proposed apartments were completed.Those that were built were not very successful, as many of the families from the favelas found that the new apartments were too much of a change of environment. They did not like the fact they couldn't extend on their new apartments, and many attempted to bring their livestock into the flats. Only 14 of the 140,000 projected apartments were actually built.

THINK ABOUT ALL THE PREVIOUS SLIDES

SLUM CLEARANCESELF HELP / SITE & SERVICEREHABILITATIONHOUSING DEVELOPMENTS

NOW THINK OF THE DISADVANTAGES – THINK ALSO OF THE EFFECT IT WILL HAVE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE.