[squatter settlements]

What is it?)
= areas of housing, usually located on the peripheries(=edge) of megacities, where residents
do not have the legal right to occupy the land they live on

Characteristics)
- encompass low-quality housing
- occupied by the poor
- lack of most or all of the basic urban services (infrastructural, welfare, and
community services)
- lack the basic municipal services (water supply, sanitation, waste collection, or
infrastructure)
- exposed to diseases, crimes, and natural disasters

[Favelas of Brazil]

How is it made?)
- Population growth in megacities and rural-to-urban migration.
- When affordable housing demands and unemployment rates are high in cities
Social issue)
- High levels of poverty
- Lack of clean water, sanitation, and healthcare.
- High crime rate (violence, drug trafficking, gang activity, and police brutality)
- Limited access to education
- Discrimination and marginalization

Economic issue)
- Unemployment and underemployment
- Limited access to credit and financial services
- Lack of infrastructure and basic services

Environmental issue)
- Poor sanitation and waste management
- Deforestation and loss of biodiversity
- Climate change impacts

Strategies)
- Integrate existing favelas into the fabric of the city through improvement in
infrastructure and level of services
- Prevent future land invasions
- Provide more low-cost housing opportunities
- Similar to above, provides goals and targets for meeting the housing needs of a
select population in the lowest income brackets and the emerging middle class over
a period of 16 years.