Growing Vulnerability Crisis “Will Slums Ever Reduce or Improve?”: A Case from India

Abstract

The 21st century is expected to witness not only sustained population growth but also more urbanization. Within a generation, it has been estimated that the majority of the developing world’s population will live in urban areas, and that the number of urban residents in developing countries will double, increasing by over two billion inhabitants (World Bank (2000). India is no exception. Some 50% of the population, or around 600 million people, may be residents in urban areas by 2020. These figures suggest that we need to know more about the process of urban development and its effect on urban residents’ lives, especially the impact of urbanization on poverty and slums.