A Case Study on Residents' Participation in Development Activities of the Slums and Squatter Settlements in Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of residents' participation, especially in resident-centered process, in improvement and development activities of slums and squatter settlements in Pakistan, with reference to its case in Karachi and Islamabad.

Most developing countries including Pakistan faced heavy and rapid urban population growth in and after the nineteen fifties. Slums and squatter settlements received low-income groups and expanded in urban areas of developing countries because their governments and urban governmental authorities had not enough capacity and capability to provide several types of public service including housing. Many projects for urban development as well as improvement of the slums and squatter settlements were conducted by the governments and the authorities, but few brought about fruitful results. The residents' participation in the development activities is an answer to effectively improving the living environment of the slums and squatter settlements.

A case study of Orangi, a squatter settlement in Karachi, Pakistan, shows some aspects in process of forming residents' participation, for example asking leaders in the local area to be a social organizer to support the establishment and management of small residents' groups. In Islamabad, several residents' organizations were established in squatter settlements to help form and encourage participatory development activities, mainly improving the living environment. It is hypothesized that keys are sustainment of motivation to participate in a development program and careful consideration of social structures for well-organized residents' participation in the development activities of the slums and squatter settlements.