Contemporary Challenges in LIDC and EDC Cities

Worked Example: Calculating Population Density

Imagine a rapidly growing squatter settlement has a population of 850,000 people living in an area of 1.7 km². Calculate the population density.

Step 1: Identify the values from the question.

• Total Population = $850{,}000$
• Land Area = $1.7\text{ km}^2$

Step 2: Substitute the values into the density formula.

• $\text{Population Density} = \frac{850{,}000}{1.7}$

Step 3: Calculate the final answer with units.

• $\text{Population Density} = 500{,}000\text{ people/km}^2$

The Informal Economy and Inequality

You can look up at a 27-storey private skyscraper like the Antilia house in Mumbai, but walk a few streets away and you will find families living in one-room shacks. This extreme social inequality is a major economic challenge in rapidly growing cities.

Because formal jobs are scarce (Lagos had a 19% formal unemployment rate in 2014), most migrants are forced to work in the informal sector. In Lagos, about 60% of the workforce performs unregulated jobs like street vending or waste picking, often earning less than $1.25 a day. While this provides a survival income, informal jobs lack legal contracts, sick pay, or health and safety protections.

The informal economy also creates an economic challenge for the city government. Because informal workers do not pay taxes, the government collects a very low tax base. This means there are insufficient funds to invest in much-needed infrastructure like roads, schools, and sewers, leading to a further reliance on informal, unregulated services.

Health, Sanitation, and Waste Disposal

Where does the rubbish go when a city's population increases by half a million people every year without a proper waste collection system? In LIDC and EDC cities, poor sanitation and waste disposal are severe environmental and social challenges.

In Makoko (Lagos), communal toilets are shared by an average of 15 households, with raw sewage dropping straight into the lagoon below. In Mumbai, an estimated 800 million litres of untreated sewage enter the sea daily, and residents may share just one toilet per 500 to 1,450 people. Furthermore, waste collection is highly inadequate; Lagos produces up to 13,000 tonnes of waste daily, but only 40% is officially collected.

This lack of clean water and open sewage leads to frequent outbreaks of water-borne disease. In Mumbai, contaminated drinking water causes 4,000 daily cases of diseases like diphtheria, typhoid, and cholera. Stagnant water in Lagos provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes, making malaria endemic. Together, these health hazards drastically lower life expectancy, which is under 60 years in Mumbai's slums compared to the city average of 71.

Worked Example: Calculating Waste Growth

If a city's daily waste production increased from 2,500 tonnes in 1990 to 8,500 tonnes today, calculate the percentage increase in waste.

Step 1: Identify the old and new values.

• Old Value = $2{,}500\text{ tonnes}$
• New Value = $8{,}500\text{ tonnes}$

Step 2: Substitute into the formula.

• $\text{Percentage Change} = \frac{8{,}500 - 2{,}500}{2{,}500} \times 100$

Step 3: Calculate the numerator (the difference).

• $8{,}500 - 2{,}500 = 6{,}000$

Step 4: Divide and multiply by 100 to find the percentage.

• $\frac{6{,}000}{2{,}500} \times 100 = 240\%$

Impacts on Daily Life and Management Strategies

Understanding how these factors interact explains why improving a squatter settlement is never as simple as just building new houses. All of these social, economic, and environmental factors severely limit a resident's quality of life.

While a person's standard of living might slightly increase if they secure an informal job, their overall well-being suffers heavily. Frequent illness from poor sanitation prevents residents from working, lack of education (less than 10% attend primary school in Makoko) traps families in poverty, and extreme air pollution damages physical health.

To tackle these challenges, cities use different management strategies. Top-down strategies are large-scale, expensive government plans, such as the "Vision Mumbai" slum redevelopment project or the Lagos Rail Mass Transit system. In contrast, bottom-up strategies are community-led and sustainable, such as the "Wecyclers" in Lagos who use bicycles to collect waste, or WaterAid projects providing communal taps.