Related Literature Essay

In order to develop a thorough understanding and deeper insight into previous works and trends that is relevant to the subject, as well as to reach specific goals of the study, the researchers considered a number of references, both foreign and local. These references presented in this chapter were gathered through journals, magazines, books, and other reading materials. It is also includes related foreign and local literature and studies acquired through the internet, past thesis and case studies of the same field and discipline. This provides a background for the discussion to analyze the findings of the present investigations. Foreign Literature For the millions of poor in developing areas of the world, urban areas have always been a means for improving their quality of living and environment, besides getting better jobs and incomes. This, in contrast to deteriorating conditions in the rural areas has generated a considerable flow of migrants to cities. One of the dilemmas that they face and which persists for a long period is the question of an adequate house. The definition of Mason,O. S. & Fraser, C. , (1998)takes the environmental, socio economic and living conditions more into account. They describe informal settlements as: Dense settlements comprising communities housed inself-constructed shelters under conditions of informal or traditional land tenure. They are a common feature of developing countries and are typically the product of an urgent need for shelter by the urban poor. As such they are characterized by a dense proliferation of small, makeshift shelters built from diverse materials (such as plastic, tin sheeting and wooden planks), by degradation of the local ecosystem (for example, erosion and poor water quality and sanitation) and by severe social problems. United Nations Human Settlements Programme (2008) differentiate slum settlement to squatter settlement. The word slum traditionally describes a neighborhood of housing that was once in good condition but since deteriorated or been subdivided into a state of high crowding and rented out to low-income groups. A squatter settlement, on the other hand, is an area of poor quality housing built on illegally occupied land. A third kind of settlement is an irregular subdivision, in which he legal owner subdivides the land into sub-standard plots and sells or rents them out without following all relevant building bylaws. Fernandes, E. 2011) on his report, Informal Settlements are caused by low income, unrealistic urban planning, lack of serviced land, lack of social housing, and a dysfunctional legal system. The settlements develop over time and some have existed for decades, often becoming part of the regular development of the city, and therefore gaining rights, although usually lacking formal titles. Whether they are established on public or private land, they develop irregularly and often d o not have critical public services such as sanitation, resulting in health and environmental hazards.