Urban History Assignment 2: Class Paper

Slum Clearance

By Patricia Ocampo (699132)

Slums have existed and continue to exist due to varying circumstances within cities and their hinterlands. Why and how slums are formed are just as important as how and why they’re eradicated. This paper will explore slum formation and eradication within different scales and contexts, these being the favelas of Rio, the jhuggis of Delhi and the suburban slums of Melbourne during the 1930s.

So what are slums? Slums are formally defined based on physical and legal characteristics of settlements rather than their perceived nature (e.g. crime ridden, rundown). They can be characterised as settlements with an amalgamation of dilapidated housing, overcrowding, inadequate access to infrastructure and insecure residential status (UN-HABITAT, 2003, p. 7-8; Davis, 2006, p. 21).

It was only several decades ago that Melbourne, which is deemed the most liveable city in the world (EIU, 2014, p. 1) abolished its slums. This was made possible by certain key figures. The Great Depression prompted masses of people to move to Melbourne in search for work (Department of Human Services (DHS), 2013). Many resided on the fringe of the CBD in suburbs such as Collingwood, Fitzroy and North Melbourne, where low-paid employment was concentrated (Vince, 1999, p. 14, Culture Victoria, 2014). However Melbourne’s infrastructure was unable to cope and slums began to flourish (Department of Human Services, 2013). The stark reality of these slums were brought to the public’s attention by Fredrick Oswald Barnett, an accountant and active Methodist who campaigned for housing reforms and ultimately drove the slum-abolition movement of the 1930s (Russell, 1979; Downes, n.d). More importantly, Barnett brought the slums to the attention of then Premier of Victoria, Albert Dunstan who then appointed a committee (which included Barnett) in 1936 to investigate slums across Melbourne (DHS, 2013; Russell, 1979; Downes, n.d.). The Housing Commission of Victoria was then set up two years later (in 1938) with Barnett appointed as vice-chairman (Russell, 1979; Downes, n.d). These were the people and events which have shaped Victoria’s public housing, from the rise and the eradication of slums to the development of affordable housing units. Present day Australia is deemed slum-free (Ritter, 2010) but that is not to say that there are no signs of deprivation or social exclusion within the country today, it is that these problems within the Australian context are of a different scale compared to that of other countries, where slums can surprisingly become springboards out of poverty.

Figure 1. Portrait photograph of Frederick Oswald Barnett (DHS, 2013)

Figure 2. Carlton. Wash-house and bath-room, 48 Palmerston Street. (Barnett, 1935)

The slums of Rio, otherwise known as favelas have similar origin stories to North America’s Great Migration, whereby rural populations escaping oppression from slavery or racial laws sought new lives in urban centres (Glaeser, 2011). Today rural-urban migration continues and is increasingly contributing to rapid urbanisation, which helps remove people out of poverty (World Bank, 2013; Glaeser, 2011). In the last 20 years 620 million people have exited poverty (Dobbs, Manyka and Woetzel, 2015) and this may not have been possible without urbanisation. Although not all cases of rural-urban migration result in the formation of informal settlements, the cases where they do emerge can portray slums as both symbols of opportunity and failure of governments to provide for their rural citizens and urban poor. The move from rural to urban can be seen as a rational economic choice based on current or likely future benefits (Paccione, 2009) of gaining access to services and finding employment, whether it be through formal or informal markets. However unlike the 20^th century slums of Melbourne, the slums of developing nations continue to be ignored and left out of planning policies. The pursuit of urban development in conjunction with maximising private profit and social control, over the inclusion of all urban populations continues to prevail.

Figure 3. The favela’s of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Marchi, n.d.)

Figure 4. Yamuna settlements before (left) demolition and after (right) (Bharchua, n.d.)

During the 19^th century there was Haussmann and the redevelopment of Paris. Now in the 21^st century there’s class conflicts over urban space. Hundreds of thousands and even millions of poor people are forcibly evicted from both legal and informal settlements every year in developing countries (Davis, 2006, p. 98).  Countless of Rio’s favelas are set to be demolished ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games. Thousands of families have been moved to make way for roads and sporting developments since the announcement (Gibson and Watts, 2013). Although residents are offered a choice between financial compensation and resettlement to a new home, these solutions are often not enough as it undermines the value of the community that has formed in these favelas (Vinnitskaya, 2012). Similar cases are found in Delhi’s slums or jhuggi found along the banks of Yamuna River, Yamuna Pushta. Here slum clearances have begun since 2004 for the redevelopment of the river as a tourist attraction (Davis, 2006, p. 100). Other reasons include the environmental degradation by the Yamuna slum dwellers (Bharucha, 2006). Residents have been relocated 20 kilometres away from the urban centre to a new slum, a shift which was found to decrease their average income by approximately 50% (Soni as cited in Davis, 2006, p. 100). Slum clearance in these contexts seem to only magnify the issues of uneven access and socioeconomic inequities. It seems that the favelas and jhuggis might need their own Oswald Barnett to inspire their leaders and spur city officials to reform their policies and plans to include informal settlements. But of course unlike 1930s Melbourne, the slums of Rio and Delhi are far greater in scale. 

I agree that urban growth is a great way to reduce rural poverty and that living in urban slums may be better than rural slums. However the situation can also be seen as only bridging the physical gap (i.e. the distance) between those living in poverty and those who aren’t instead of effectively closing the socioeconomic gap. Cities may not be better off than rural areas if urbanisation is not managed well by governments who prioritise modern development and profits and control over the welfare of their citizens. The urban poor still need better access to services and infrastructure, an issue which developed countries have had more success with than developing nations that are still yet to tackle the issue.

Words: 913

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