Barriers and complications...
There are no end of barriers to implementing a development program successfully.
Consider this example; in every developing country in the world, urban migration and lack of adequate, decent housing go hand in hand. Slums rise quickly, even efficiently. Filled to the brim with both the poorest of the poor, as well as those seemingly “middle-class”, if there is such a thing in developing nations, caught in the poverty cycle, slums are one of the worst conditions in which humans can live. Stomach viruses, so easily curable, kill in astonishing numbers. Disease finds a stranglehold ruthlessly in these areas, taking lives long before a response can be made, Poorly constructed, slum housing is decimated at the slightest hint of flooding, only to return, out of necessity, once the waters recede.
Is this, however, a situation that can, or even needs to be, fixed?
Here are some of the barriers. Replace some slum dwellings with housing. Nothing fancy, at most 20 feet by 12 feet, enough to house a family of between 2 to 6 people. That necessarily cuts down the number of people living per square meter. That equates to destroying 4 or 5 homes, and therefore displacing 4 or 5 families, in order to make way for 1 home. Problem.
Make an apartment block. Often slums are on prime real estate, by the water. The moment the apartment is built, the government confiscates the property, kicks out the rest of the slum dwellers, and there go even more houses. Problem.
In some countries, Bangladesh included, slums are organized. Residents have running water, electricity, in some places even cable television, thanks to the lack of control over wiring and grids. Why then would people want to relocate to a house or apartment, where they would be required to pay money they can’t afford, for services they already get for free? Problem.
The situation is not all dire, merely complicated.
Consider this example; in every developing country in the world, urban migration and lack of adequate, decent housing go hand in hand. Slums rise quickly, even efficiently. Filled to the brim with both the poorest of the poor, as well as those seemingly “middle-class”, if there is such a thing in developing nations, caught in the poverty cycle, slums are one of the worst conditions in which humans can live. Stomach viruses, so easily curable, kill in astonishing numbers. Disease finds a stranglehold ruthlessly in these areas, taking lives long before a response can be made, Poorly constructed, slum housing is decimated at the slightest hint of flooding, only to return, out of necessity, once the waters recede.
Is this, however, a situation that can, or even needs to be, fixed?
Here are some of the barriers. Replace some slum dwellings with housing. Nothing fancy, at most 20 feet by 12 feet, enough to house a family of between 2 to 6 people. That necessarily cuts down the number of people living per square meter. That equates to destroying 4 or 5 homes, and therefore displacing 4 or 5 families, in order to make way for 1 home. Problem.
Make an apartment block. Often slums are on prime real estate, by the water. The moment the apartment is built, the government confiscates the property, kicks out the rest of the slum dwellers, and there go even more houses. Problem.
In some countries, Bangladesh included, slums are organized. Residents have running water, electricity, in some places even cable television, thanks to the lack of control over wiring and grids. Why then would people want to relocate to a house or apartment, where they would be required to pay money they can’t afford, for services they already get for free? Problem.
The situation is not all dire, merely complicated.
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