Historically, governments have implemented slum upgrading projects and programmes of varying scale and scope. Despite the wealth of experience and knowledge, the growth of slums and the multiplication of informal settlements are only getting worse, particularly in parts of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
The UN-Habitat publication Streets as Tools for Urban Transformation in Slums: A Street-Led Approach to Citywide Slum Upgrading advocates for a shift from piecemeal project-based upgrading to a programme-scale approach. It promotes an approach to slum upgrading that does not consider slums as islands of poverty and informality, but as deprived neighbourhoods that are an integral part of the overall city system which are spatially segregated and disconnected due to an absence of streets and open spaces. Taking advantage of streets as the natural conduits that connect slums with the city, the report suggests a fundamental shift towards the opening of streets as the driving force for citywide slum upgrading.
