Slum Definitions in Urban India: Implications for the Measurement of Health Inequalities

Abstract

Half the population of low- and middle-income countries will live in urban areas by 2030, and poverty and inequality in these contexts is rising. Slum dwelling is one way in which to conceptualize and characterize urban deprivation but there are many definitions of what constitutes a slum. This paper presents four different slum definitions used in India alone, demonstrating that assessments of both the distribution and extent of urban deprivation depends on the way in which it is characterized, as does slum dwelling’s association with common child health indicators. Using data from India’s National Family and Health Survey from 2005–2006, two indictors of slum dwelling embedded in the survey and two constructed from the household questionnaire are compared using descriptive statistics and linear regression models of height- and weight-for-age z-scores. The results highlight a tension between international and local slum definitions, and underscore the importance of improving empirical representations of the dynamism of slum and city residents.

Capturing the Diversity of Deprived Areas with Image-Based Features: The Case of Mumbai

“…Slums, and deprived areas in general, are "more heterogeneous than is often assumed" [38] (p. 60). UN-Habitat [41] analyzed the vast diversity of slum types for 30 cities in the Global South and North.…”

“…However, the real extent of deprived areas might be concealed by such statistics as they exclude several types of deprived areas (e.g., pavement dwellers and resettlement colonies) [36,38]. Administrative boundaries of wards have also often changed, and, furthermore, the average deprivation per ward (e.g., via a deprivation index [6]) may mask slum areas.…”

“…Notified and non-notified slums differ in the level of service provision, as for notified slums the local government has the obligation of basic service provision and upgrading [37]. Because of this, in India, often a large proportion of deprived areas are excluded from basic service provision and upgrading as they lack notification (e.g., pavement dwellers), or city governments have simply stopped notification processes [38].…”

Spatial patterns of deprivation in cities of the global south in very high resolution imagery

“…Notified and nonnotified slums differ in the level of service provision, as for notified slums the local government has the obligation of basic service provision and upgrading (Chandrasekhar & Montgomery, 2011). Because of this, in India, often a large proportion of deprived areas are excluded from basic service provision and upgrading as they lack notification (e.g., pavement dwellers), or city governments have simply stopped notification processes (Nolan, 2015).…”

“…However, the real extent of deprived areas might be concealed by such statistics as they exclude several types of deprived areas (e.g., pavement dwellers and resettlement colonies) (Nolan, 2015; Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, 2013). Administrative boundaries of wards have also often changed, and, furthermore, the average deprivation per ward (e.g., via a deprivation index (Baud et al, 2009)) may mask slum areas.…”