The theory and reality of urban slums: Pathways-out-of-poverty or cul-de-sacs?

Ivan Turok and Jackie Borel-Saladin
Additional contact information
Jackie Borel-Saladin: University of Cape Town, South Africa

Urban Studies, 2018, vol. 55, issue 4, 767-789

Abstract: This article explores two contrasting perspectives on the role of informal settlements in urban labour markets. One proposes that they help to lift households out of rural poverty and onto a path to prosperity through affordable access to urban opportunities. The other suggests that the debilitating conditions confine residents to enduring hardship and insecurity. South Africa is an important test case because of the extent of social and spatial inequalities, and the policy ambivalence towards shack settlements. Preliminary evidence indicates that employment rates are much closer to formal urban areas than to rural areas, but conditions of employment are noticeably worse. Other forms of data are required to assess the magnitude and timescale of economic progression for households.

Keywords: household trajectories; informal settlements; poverty dynamics; social mobility; urban labour markets; 家庭轨迹; é žæ­£å¼ å±…ä½ åŒº; è´«å›°çš„åŠ¨æ€ æœºåˆ¶; ç¤¾ä¼šæµ åŠ¨æ€§; 城市劳动力市场 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098016671109 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:55:y:2018:i:4:p:767-789

DOI: 10.1177/0042098016671109

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().