Conditions and perceptions of the urban poor

Abstract

The world is undergoing biggest wave of urban growth in history. In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population resides in towns and cities. By 2030 this figure will be almost 5 billion and most of the urban growth will be concentrated in Africa and Asia. While mega cities have already witnessed the growth and captured public attention, this recent urban growth is take place in smaller towns and cities, which have less resource to respond to the magnitude of the growth. Due to rapid urbanization, the urban poverty is becoming a significant area of intervention. In order to gain a deeper, locally specific understanding of urban poverty, it is very essential to ask the local poor people to give their own perceptions of what it is like to be poor. The perceptions of the urban poor have to be identified in order to know their problems. The intention is to gain an understanding and insights into the lives of the urban poor through their eyes. When people define their poverty, their experiences of poverty are varied and complex. This paper therefore makes a humble attempt to study about the conditions, perceptions and coping strategies of the urban poor. The present research work is based mainly on primary data.