Squatter Settlement

The meaning of squatter settlement varies widely from country to country. In general, it is recognized as[Page 459] a residential area in an urban locality inhabited by the very poor who have no access to tenured land of their own and who therefore squat on vacant land that is either privately or publicly owned. The following terms are also used interchangeably with the term squatter settlements: informal settlements, shack settlements, low-income settlements, semipermanent settlements, shantytowns, spontaneous settlements, unauthorized settlements, unplanned settlements, and uncontrolled settlements.

Squatter settlements are dense settlements comprising communities housed in self-constructed shelters under conditions of informal or traditional land tenure. They are common features of developing countries and typically are 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, by degradation of the local ecosystem, and by severe social problems.

Informal settlements occur when the current land administration and planning fail to address the needs of the whole community. At a global scale, squatter settlements are a significant problem, especially in parts of the world housing the global poor.

Squatter settlements tend to be viewed by governments, local authorities, and even academics as aberrations on the urban landscape. However, in 2003 an estimated 85% of urban residents in the developing world occupied property illegally.

Geographers have documented and drawn attention to the highly differentiated character of squatter settlements around the world. Geographers have also noted that despite the high level of variability among squatter settlements, these settlement types are found on marginal land around rapidly growing cities and usually in the developing world. Notably, geographers and others have shown how squatter settlements tend to be located on hazardous, marginal, unstable, sloping, or allegedly worthless stretches of urban land. The marginal character of land on which squatter settlements develop augments the cycle of poverty within which inhabitants are trapped. This process sometimes is referred to as spatial entrapment.

The concentration of poverty, and with it a shared alienation from urban resources and infrastructure, can also create a sense of community in squatter settlements that sometimes can lead to political mobilization, unrest, instability, and (in extreme cases) violence. An examination of studies by geographers tends to draw attention to the physical, social, and legal character of these settlement types.