Tags: Urban growth, Slum policies, Urban planning, Modeling and simulation, Trends and prediction, Developing Countries, Yaoundé

This paper provides an improved methodology for analyzing the dynamics of slums in Developing Countries (DC). In particular, it demonstrates how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Cellular Automata (CA) can be integrated to model, simulate, predict and dynamically visualize the growth of slums, and thus will improve future planning practices in DC. The paper first examines factors that contribute to the existence and spread of informal settlements (IS). It then assesses past and current slum policies to conclude that they are failing to contain the rapid expansion of slums. It is argued that weaknesses of these policies include on the one hand, planning instruments that are often rigid, inappropriate and outdated, inherited from former colonial powers. On the other hand, urban planners often overlook future spatial extension of slum areas.

Prospective Slum Policies.pdf