MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

Duration: March 2022

Session: Week 2
Number of Hours: 2 hours
Objective: To learn the basic of human settlements and its effects to socio economic systems.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

• House – a building in which people, especially a single family, live; may also serve as living
quarters for one or more families
• Shelter – something beneath, behind or within which a person is protected from adverse
weather conditions; a structure that provides privacy and protection from danger; differ in
shapes, sizes, type and materials
• Housing unit – a house, apartment, suite of rooms or a single room, occupied or intended
for occupancy as separate living quarters; also include mobile home, trailer, group of
rooms, or single room. Separate living quarters are classified as a place where the
occupants do not live and eat with any other person in the structure.
• Homes – a place where one lives in security and happiness; a dwelling place together with
the family or social unit that occupies it; act as anchors of human life as a place where
people live and function as part of economic, political and social systems; may be
permanent or temporary, located in one place or transported from place to place, are
owned or rented, or are in planned communities or squatter settlements.
• Settlement – a permanent or temporary community in which people live; ranges in size
from a small number of dwellings grouped together to the largest cities with surrounding
urbanized areas

1.1 What is the meaning of shelter?

Shelter includes more than a roof over one’s head. The term shelter refers not only to a
dwelling but also involves a range of other supporting facilities that, together with a house,
are necessary for a healthy living environment. This covers water and energy supplies,
sanitation, drainage and access to transport networks. These in turn provide access to
schools, health services, shops and markets and to employment opportunities.

1.2 What is development?

 Earlier concepts of development usually focused mainly on economic growth – on the
assumption that the creation of material wealth would inevitably lead to the benefit of all.
However, decades of such an approach accompanied by unprecedented population
growth, and unanticipated economic upheavals like the oil crisis and the ongoing
international debt crisis, left the poorest third of the world’s population in even worse shape
than they were earlier.
At the end of the 1980’s, a new human dimension to development emerged which
recognizes that physical development does not guarantee that more socially just and
environmentally conscious societies will emerge. The first Human Development Report
published by the United Nations Development Program defined human development as “a
process of enlarging people’s choices”. This approach puts people’s needs and aspirations
first and uses economic growth as only one of the means to that end.

1.3 What are components of housing?

Components of housing are factors that determine the affectivity of housing provision in
the community. Usually if one of these factors is not present housing provision
isimpossible.

Land -Essential for access to employment, infrastructure and social services. Land price is
a major factor in determining the use of land for housing
The provision of land for housing is complicated by the fact that land has many uses
other than for shelter and access. In most developing countries, a strong preference exists
for saving in physical assets - usually land. Because securities and other investments are
unattractive, due to high tax imposed on them as well as the inflation that tends to erode
the value of money when deposited to saving institutions. Some owners hoard land which
restricts its supply for development and therefore raise land prices which detriment to the
poor.

Services - in the form of roads, water and supply, sewerage, drainage and other utilities.
These services turn raw land into land suitable for housing development. The capital cost of
modern urban services is high because it is complete. Variation of cost of services is the
result mainly of the topography and size of cities. Both capital and operating cost may rise
with the increase in the size of urban area.
Density of development also has varying effects on capital and operating cost. A higher
density increases capital cost as in transportation or lower them as in water supply. In
contrast density does not seem to affect operating cost against capital cost for most
services.

The availability of facilities and level of services provide direct concern in the lives of the
people. Although essential water sanitary facilities can be shared, evidence exists to
suggest that individual water supply and particularly private toilets are more valued by the
families than larger rooms or stronger walls. Quality of service is important as quantity. The
choice for the level of service is to accommodate the preferences and willingness to pay by
the urban households.

Transport- ability for search for finding employment and other earning opportunities.

Many acceptable housing projects have failed because they were badly located. More
importantly is the ability to search for and find employment and other income earning
opportunities, to the extent that they exist in the community.

Since the issue of housing location involves the entire urban area and not merely few sites,
the severity of the transport situation of the poor id determined primarily by the city size. In
small cities walking can afford for the acceptable solution. If the poor live in the periphery of
the city and must travel in long distance, they may not be able to afford daily work trips
unless they find an employment in the intermediate location.

Construction Cost - Housing cost allocated to construction varies considerably in cost of

materials, labor, construction techniques, size of structure and other housing components.

The proportion of housing cost varies as a result of differences in cost of materials, labor,
construction techniques, size of the structure and cost of other housing component. Cost
per square meter is the useful general measurements in estimating the cost differences.
The larger the dwelling the larger the cost will be. The construction industry is known that it
had a wide range of materials and labor for many different combinations. The ability to
adapt to local conditions is both the characteristic and necessity for many building
techniques in developing countries. Processes had been mechanized in some advanced
 countries, other low income housing projects often substitute self-help for construction labor
in housing industry.

Financial Resources –Investment involves purchase of land construction of associated

physical and social service.

Investment in urban housing involves purchase of land, construction of dwellings and

provision of physical and social services. Financing of housing is facilitated by system that
efficiently arranges for funds to be supplied from surplus economic agents like Pag-ibig
fund (HDMF). House construction is usually aided by long term credit in any available
private or public financing agency. Since housing is a durable good, it yields value as year
goes by. Dwellings are subject to fluctuation of value apart from wear and tear of the
physical structure, changes in the surrounding neighborhood and public services can
upraise or devalue a house.

1.1 Organic Development of Settlements: Vernacular Architecture

WHY WE BUILD
Housing as permanent shelter for human habitation is necessary to everyone. Over
many thousands of years, human societies have tackled the basic problem of providing shelter
in a wide variety of ways, adapting to the natural environment and making use of the materials
it provides for the construction (and adaptation) of sheltered space.

Dwellings. The simplest and most obvious dwellings were built by assembling blocks – of
dried mud, clay bricks or stone – leaving holes so as to get in and out, and let light in and
smoke out. In some parts of the world the availability of materials led people to follow different
systems: they built by making a skeleton of wood and cover it with animal skin, cloth, mud and
straw. Among the examples of such dwellings are:
1. Tepee – a tent of the North American Indians, made usually from animal skins laid on a
conical frame of long poles; has a flap door and opening at the top for ventilation
2. Yurt – a circular tent-like dwelling of the Mongolian nomads, consisting of a cylindrical
wall of poles in a lattice arrangement with a conical roof of poles covered by animal skins
 3. Hogan – a Navajo Indian dwelling constructed usually of earth and logs, and covered
with mud and sod
4. Trullo – a circular stone shelter in Southern Italy roofed with conical constructions of
corbelled dry masonry; usually whitewashed and painted with figures or symbols
5. Igloo – an Eskimo house, usually built of blocks of hard snow or ice in the shape of a
dome

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXTS that influenced vernacular housing

1. CLIMATE
TROPICAL CLIMATE – the traditional model house provides shelter from the extremes of
heat, dust and rain while modifying outside conditions to provide thermal comfort inside.
• Warm-humid climates usually have two seasons with very little difference between
night and day temperatures. Comfort is provided mainly by:
a. protecting the inside of the building from direct solar radiation with a thick, insulated
overhanging roof
b. ensuring constant stream of ventilation to encourage cooling by evaporation of
perspiration
c. single-banked house forms
d. steep roofs that allow high volumes of air to circulate freely inside
• Hot-dry climates are characterized by lack of rainfall and large difference between
night and day temperatures. Careful storage of crops is given priority over other shelter
needs. Thermal comfort is achieved through:
a. thick walls and flat roofs with high thermal capacity providing a reservoir to absorb
the excessive heat of the day and return this during the cool night.
b. tall courtyard provides cool shade. During the day, as the air heats up in the
courtyard, it rises and draws hot air out of the rooms facing the courtyard
c. openings on the outside are minimal to avoid glare, dust and solar heat gain
d. wind towers reaching up to cooler, less dusty layers of air as they pass overhead.
This air is directed down to damp basements or wet charcoal to provide cool humid
air in the courtyard.
e. enclosed gardens to provide shade and humidity
• Composite climates are a mixture of hot-dry and hot-humid. Comfort is provided by
combining some of the traditional methods described above. Examples include:
 a. Dubai – some houses have two wind tower/room combinations, one built of cloth
and bamboo with low thermal capacity, and the other of earth blocks with high
thermal capacity. The choice of the room to occupy depends on the season.
b. Lahore – houses have verandahs, multiple openings on the upper floors, in addition
to the thick-walled courtyards with their wind towers
• Tropical upland climates have large diurnal temperature differences, at least one rainy
season, and continuous, but slow air movement. Housing objectives include:
a. modify the extremes of night and day temperatures
b. keep out glare and dust (small openings)
c. pitched or flat roof (depending on rainfall)
d. crop storage is a priority

2. TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS. Traditional houses are constructed of materials found in

the immediate vicinity, using techniques developed over previous generations. These are
influenced by:
• Soil type. The largest particles, stones, are the most durable of building materials but
require cutting and are difficult to transport. The smallest particles are those of clay. It
can be molded into shape while binding sands and gravel together. Intermediate sizes
in ascending order are silt, sand and gravel.
• Vegetation within carrying distance. Building materials were chosen in relation to
their accessibility and availability within the vicinity. Consistent use of the materials
developed particular building techniques that may be attributed to the locality.

1.2 Physical Configurations as Outcomes of Socio-Economic Systems

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS

These may be regarded as more important than climate or techniques and materials in their
effects on house form. It is the aspirations of the inhabitants – restricted by what is acceptable
– that has the most significance. Religion, family structures, work processes and individual
relationships are all expressed and symbolized by the house form. Socio-cultural influences fall
under these categories:
• Basic needs – breathing, eating, sleeping, cooking, playing and working – and how
these things are done will be expressed in the specific design of a society’s dwellings
 • Family organization – such as in some polygamous societies where the hut of the
husband is at the center of the compound or in others where he has no hut but is
obliged to visit the huts of his wives in turn.
• The position of women – the role/s played by women including reproductive,
productive and community management – can result in spatial gender separation,
gender-specific entrances and meeting places
• The need for privacy – the threshold between the public and private spaces – may be
used as a social defense mechanism in crowded societies or to denote permeability
• Social relations – how and where people meet: as individuals, as a family, as a clan or
village; how guests are received in the home – have associated architectural features
that are specific to each society

ECONOMY
In a traditional rural economy, agriculture predominated as the economic activity to which
others, including house building, had to take second place. Construction was carried out during
seasons with lowest agricultural activities, and it was a cooperative and convivial activity. Skills
were taught to each succeeding generation. If more specialized skill is brought from other
kinship groups, these will be paid for in kind.

1.3 Housing and Urbanization

The provision of shelter, and the steps taken by human societies to meet their housing needs,
has changed through thousands of years of human history. The biggest problem, however, are
the changes in methods of housing provision brought about by the increase in scale of housing
need. These are affected by factors such as urbanization, planning controls and changing
expectations.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SEVERITY OF HOUSING PROBLEMS IN THE CITY

(Philippines)
1. Size of the city in terms of population and area. The urban population growth has
particularly been rapid for Metro Manila. The city’s population in 1949 is 1.6 million out of
the Philippines’ total population of 19 million.
2. Income. The family’s capacity to pay is determined by the following factors:
 • Per capita income – total income / total population
• Income distribution
• Cost of housing
3. Rate of urban growth. Urban growth can be attributed largely to the massive rural-to-
urban migration of people. Urban growth manifests itself more clearly in the area of
housing. Slum and squatter areas typify the reaction of most migrants to the housing
problem. The terms “slum” and “squatter” connote poverty, congestion, filth, dilapidated
structures and inadequate basic services.
• Squatting is a legal term and is defined as the occupancy of public or private space
without the approval of the owner.
4. A slum is a social condition and is also a consequence of poverty. In this condition,
neighborhoods are beyond the margin of the law because housing does not bring about
structural quality and does not meet existing standards of ownership.
5. Government policies. These are the manner in which the government mobilizes
resources and applies them to the housing situation.

GOVERNMENT POLICY OPTIONS

1. CLEARANCE AND ERADICATION (1940s)
Scholars and policy makers viewed squatter areas as mainly a physical problem – an
urban evil characterized as unhealthy, ugly and dehumanizing, and thus, should be
eradicated and replaced with more healthy and comfortable housing units..

2. RESETTLEMENT AND RELOCATION (1960s – mid 1970s)

This solution is typified by such relocation programs to places like Sapang Palay in
Bulacan, Carmona in Cavite, San Pedro in Laguna and Tala Estate in Kalookan. Many
relocatees returned to Manila as squatters because of the distance to work and inadequate
basic amenities.

Self-help efforts that involve the residents help in solving the housing problem.
Squatters can be organized, cooperative and active in community affairs. They compensate
for the lack of amenities by mutually assisting each other in many traditional ways.

3. RURAL DEVELOPMENT. The problem of slums and squatters can be attributed to the
massive influx of migrants to the metropolis, pushed by the poor social and economic
conditions in the rural areas. Therefore, it should be viewed as a “structural” problem
involving poverty, unemployment, and social inequality.