Policies for dealing with slums in the holy city of Karbala as an aspect of the development relationship between humans and the environment

Abstract

Slums are considered as population agglomerations appeared in the absence of planning, and an encroachment on the law and on public and private property, which made them poor in terms of housing units, services, communications, and transportation network, as well the spread of epidemics, high levels of environmental pollution, and social and economic problems. Hence the research problem is that the accelerated urban growth, political conditions, and weakness of housing policies, not to mention the focus of development efforts in specific areas, leading to the low-income and immigrants to build unplanned and illegal residential areas, as this was a reason for restricting development ambitions in there. The research was based on the assumption that the absence of development policies that take into account the development relationship between humans and the environment is a reason for the spread of slums in the study area. Therefore, the slums issue was discussed in terms of concept, causes, and characteristics, as well as the policies and strategies of dealing with them in order to develop in the theoretical framework. As for the field study, it dealt with the location of slums within the basic plan of the city, the reasons for their emergence, and the physical, environmental, economic and social characteristics, and whether there are strategies made by the relevant authorities to deal with slums or not, and then put forward the planning thought represented by the appropriate strategies to develop these areas. The study reached a conclusion stated the insufficiency of the relevant regulatory and management authorities, and the overlooking of many violations, with the absence of a clear development strategy focusing on the developmental relationship between humans and the environment, which led to the widening of this problem. So, the treatment and development process for slums in the study area recommended a long-term process that must be accessed in an announced, phased manner that takes into account the non-negative impact on society, as it affects a large segment of the population as it should focus on achieving the developmental relationship between humans and the environment through setting balanced developmental policies, due to the overlapping and complexity of the slums problems in the study area.