Slums and Their Relationship With Urban Waters: Current Context and Considerations

Elisa Marques Barbosa Chaves, and Silvia Carpenedo

Porto Alegre City Hall Municipal Department of Housing, Brazil

Abstract: The demographic explosion of the last decades has brought an accelerated growth of the cities. This growth made master plans fail and shanty towns inhabited by the excluded have sprung up in the cities, due to the high price of planned cities. Other factor that leads to a demand for these slums is their accessibility. However, in general, these places have other liens intended for public facilities, squares, parks and others. The permanent preservation areas on the banks of watercourses and hillsides should be the object of study in order to enable their land regularization, since they are directly related to micro and macro drainage. Another factor that should be taken into consideration is the universalization of basic sanitation. It should be preceded by an “Urban Feasibility Study” and an environmental study under the risk of encouraging the occupation of inadequate lands without a solution to vulnerability and risk, which can lead to unpredictable consequences, including the loss of human lives.

Key words: shanty towns, slums, urban waters