Urban Planning for City Leaders - Cities Alliance

How to address informalitySuccessful new schemes are demand-led.Until the mid-1990s, many upgrading schemeswere developed in locations far from jobs toreduce land costs and so overlooking settlers’priorities. Cost recovery calculations that ignorethe economic reality of low-income groupsmay lead to infrastructure standards whichare too expensive. 114 In such cases, intendedbeneficiaries may be inclined to sell or rent andreturn to informal settlements. Effective siteand services schemes would benefit from skilledmunicipal personnel to run demand-led designsin close partnership with affected communities.Provide access to areas ofopportunityAccessibility is essential for anticipatoryschemes. Laying out a grid of major arterialroads and well-designed streets that arecontinuous and connected to the existingcity network creates economic opportunity,and is central in the integration of informalsettlements in the city’s urban fabric. Spacingmajor arteries one kilometre from each otherwill ensure that future public transit is withina 10-minute walk radius of any single citylocation. Arteries’ widths of between 20 and 30metres can accommodate car traffic, dedicatedbus lanes, bike lanes and pedestrian paths. 115Mixed land use policies shorten the distanceto jobs. Transport to employment centres,either formal or informal, may be costly andcan impose a heavy toll on households gettingminimum wages. Adopting mixed-used zoningstandards will tend to bring together jobs andservices and thus reduce the need to commute.Industrial policy in Delhi in India allows 73different types of household industries, whichneed permits to operate. Businesses benefitfrom the availability of labour in informal areasand residents benefit from local jobs. 116New housing scheme in Uberlandia, Brazil© UN-Habitat/Alessandro Scotti101