ABSTRACT
It is widely recognized that urbanization contributes to sustained economic growth and is critical to poverty reduction; yet, with the rise of urbanization, the number of the world’s slum dwellers has been increasing at an unprecedented rate. During the decade of 2000-2010, the number of slum dwellers grew by 6 million per year (Cities Alliance 2011). Global estimates suggest that about one-third of the world’s urban population (1.2 billion people) lives in slums and informal settlements where poverty is pervasive (United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) 2011).
