Abstract Peripheral squatter settlements may play a negative or a positive role in the urbanization of developing countries. Squatter settlements in Cagayan de Oro, an intermediate-sized city in the southern Philippines, reveal that the role such settlements play depends largely on their age and location relative to urban jobs and amenities. Other significant socioeconomic variables are related to the age of the settlement. Older squatter settlements have the best locations, they are more productive, and they have closer ties to the city. Although most squatter inmigrants are from rural origins, assimilation into smaller cities, such as Cagayan de Oro, apparently is not as difficult as assimilation into primate cities. Most peripheral urban squatter settlements have the potential to play a positive and productive role in cities. Factors such as age of settlement and location should be evaluated carefully before governments decide to evict or relocate squatter populations. Show
Journal Information The Annals of the American Association of Geographers is one of the world’s foremost geography journals. It has been published since 1911 and currently has an Impact Factor of 2.799, ranking 8th out of 79 geography journals worldwide. The Annals contains original, timely, and innovative articles that advance knowledge in all facets of the discipline. Articles are divided into four major areas: Geographic Methods; Human Geography; Nature and Society; and Physical Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. There are Editors responsible for each these themes. The Annals is published six times a year (January, March, May, July, September and November). One issue per year is a dedicated Special Issue drawing a diversity of papers from across the discipline under a single theme. Following tradition, the annual Presidential Address is published in Annals; Memorials for former AAG Presidents and exceptionally distinguished geographers are also published. Publisher Information Building on two centuries' experience, Taylor & Francis has grown rapidlyover the last two decades to become a leading international academic publisher.The Group publishes over 800 journals and over 1,800 new books each year, coveringa wide variety of subject areas and incorporating the journal imprints of Routledge,Carfax, Spon Press, Psychology Press, Martin Dunitz, and Taylor & Francis.Taylor & Francis is fully committed to the publication and dissemination of scholarly information of the highest quality, and today this remains the primary goal. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Lagos squatter settlementsWhat are squatter settlements?In Lagos, the lack of housing and rapid rate of urbanisation has forced millions of people to build their own homes. These are typically on land they do not own. However, in Lagos, some homes have been built on water. Squatter settlements are any collection of buildings where the people have no legal rights to the land they are built upon. The people are living there illegally and do not own the land. They provide housing for many of the world’s poorest people and offer basic shelter. Homes in squatter settlements are typically constructed from scrap material including wood, plastic sheeting and corrugated metal when they are first built. Over time more sophisticated materials can be used to improve the quality of housing. Squatter settlements are not only found in Lagos. They are located in all cities in low-income countries and newly emerging countries all around the world. They can also be called informal settlements, shantytowns, favelas, barrios or slums. Where are squatter settlements found in Lagos?There are 13 squatter settlements in Lagos, These are:
The map below shows the location of a number of squatter settlements in Lagos. Squatter settlements are found all over Lagos. They are typically found in areas where more wealthy people do not want to live. This includes marshland and land close to industry. What are the problems of living in a squatter settlement?Population density is very high in squatter settlements in Lagos. This is because of the lack of available land to build on. The area known to outsiders as Makoko is actually six distinct “villages” spread across land and water: Oko Agbon, Adogbo, Migbewhe, Yanshiwhe, Sogunro and Apollo. The first four are the floating communities, known as “Makoko on water”; the rest are based on land. In these floating communities, homes are built on stilts on the edge of the Lagos Lagoon. It is estimated that a quarter of a million people live in Makoko.  Makoko Squatter Settlement The homes are built from materials such as wood and metal sheets. They do not have basic facilities or sanitation. Most of the residents of Makoko work in the informal economy or make a living by fishing. Should Makoko be demolished or improved?Even though it has many problems the people in Makoko are very proud and protective of their homes. After all, it is their home. Residents have already taken steps to improve services crisscrossing the lagoon bed are pipes, paid for and laid by enterprising residents to bring in clean water – for a modest fee – from boreholes in neighbouring Sogunro. Makoko Floating School, designed by architect Kunlé Adeyemi, has become the community’s most popular and famous building. Makoko Floating School. Photograph: Andrew Esiebo for the Guardian Doctors Without Borders opened a floating clinic in January 2011; although very popular when it launched, it stayed open less than a year. Today Makoko continues to be served by a network of informal, unregistered clinics that attend to basic ailments. There are also a number of traditional birth attendants who deliver Makoko’s babies in an atmosphere of high levels of maternal mortality. However, the authorities want to demolish it to help improve the image of the city. Though residents have nowhere else to live. In recent years the authorities have demolished areas of squatter settlements, like the one in 2012. Badia, a swampland settlement on the edge of the city’s Apapa Port, was one of the worst-hit targets. More than 15,000 people have lost their homes. Wider ReadingCities Series – Lagos Week – The Guardian Inside Makoko: danger and ingenuity in the world’s biggest floating slum Where are squatter settlements typically located?Squatter settlements, widespread in urban Africa, Latin America, and South and Southeast Asia, are a characteristic feature of contemporary urbanization.
Why are squatter settlements found in developing cities?An unprecedented rate of urbanization and increasing poverty has resulted in uncontrolled proliferation of squatter settlements and slums. Informal settlements result in undesirable urbanization driven less by economic growth and more by rural-urban migration of the poor.
Where are squatter settlements located in megacities?Squatter settlements are usually located on the peripheries of megacities in developing countries. Population growth from rural-to-urban migration is a common underlying cause in the formation of squatter settlements.
What is an example of a squatter settlement?In Bhopal, India , and Mexico City, for example, squatter settlements were built next to deadly industrial sites. In such cities as Rio de Janiero, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia; Guatemala City, Guatemala; and Caracas, Venezuela, they are perched on landslide-prone hills.
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