Final Draft

Lopez 1

Magali Lopez

October 29, 2011

Ms. Drambarean

Section 4 (A-B)

Slums

Imagine having no space, feeling the need to drink clean water but drinking sewage disposal water and never being able to be clean. A squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people. Slums are crowded locations that lack good resources to meet human needs, are unsanitary, and do not have enough space for a comfortable lifestyles. One way slums are utterly inhabitable is the fact that there is not enough good resources to meet human needs.

Resources for humans to meet there needs are limited in slums. "About 2 billion of them [people who live in cities] will live in slums, primarily in Africa and Asia, lacking access to clean drinking water and working toilet, surrounded by desperation and crime." (Eaves, Elisabeth. Two Billion Slum Dwellers). 5 billion people live in cities and an estimated amount of 2 billion live in slums in Africa and Asia. This people are not healthy or safe in their home. People who live in slums do not have enough resources but also they are unsanitary.

Slums are very unsanitary. "There are public toilets and water taps, but sanitation is poor with open sewers along the alleyways." (Blythe, Nils. Mumbai's slum life poses world problem). Since the sewage water has no where to go but

Lopez 2

alleyways, there is no sanitation. Slums are very unsanitary, yet they also are very crowded.

Slums do not have enough space for a persons comfortable lifestyle. "But in the developing world, 'slums' are often crowded, illegal settlements. Squatters or slum lords put up shacks on land that no one else wants to develop: floor plains, toxic waste dumps, steel hillsides." (Fink, Sheri. Cities of the Poor I: Life in the Slums (Kenya)). Slums are just put together with no estimation of the space needed to make everyone comfortable. This is what makes slums very horrible and affect people negatively.

Concluding, many people are negatively affected by slums. Slums are crowded locations that lack good resources to meet human needs, are unsanitary, and do not have enough space for a comfortable lifestyle. Slums do not have enough good resources, due to open sewage they are unsanitary and they are to crowded for comfort. Not many people have cheap homes, so they turn to slums were everything is inexpensive but not worth it.