A comparative study of squatter settlements development strategies: the case study of Morogoro, Moshi and Arusha Municipal councils
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Date
1990
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
This study of housing policy in Tanzania care at the squatter settlements problem. These settlements, which form one of the salient features in most of the third world urban centres given that they are unplanned, they develop haphazardly. Such a process makes them to be looked upon by the town planners as eye sores. For this matter, they are often subjected to harsh laws as they experience in different countries has shown. In other countries, the demolishing of the squatter settlements including burning them to the ground have been the order of the day. In Tanzania, the government has tried different strategies in its attempt to deal with the squatter settlement problem. But these strategies have not been very successful. At these settlements seems to have been left to develop on their own. This study sees the squatters as a capitalist creation, and has viewed the entire government attempt to solve the squatter settlement problem as a carefully tailored approach which is geared towards maintaining the status quo. Such approaches are bound to fail since they do not address the problem from its grass root level. For us, the root cause of the problem lies in the production relations. In the study therefore, it is argued that it is not an accident that the squatter settlements are found in our urban centres, rather, they are a creation of the underlying social economic formation. That is to say, the squatter settlements should be deemed as an inherent part of the capitalist urban crisis whose solution lies in radical transformation of the capitalist system which has given rise to them. In Tanzania, in spite of the fact that since 1967 the national policy was geared towards the construction of a socialist society through self-reliance, there is no radical transformation of the social system (and the laws) which has taken place so far. Indeed we can say, since 1967 two simultaneous and contradictory tendencies have emerged. On the hand the party has been busy trying to create socialist production relations and on the other hand there are the neo-colonialists who are trying to perpetuate the capitalist production relations which we inherited from the colonialists. Under these considerations, the study looks at the squatter development strategies in three different municipalities namely Moshi, Arusha and Morogoro. The objective is to try to locate the place of the squatter settlements in the urban setting of the above given sort of a social economic formation and then try to compare notes on the strategies which are used by different urban authorities to develop these settlements. In the end the study discovers that there are a lot of good lessons to learn from different urban authorities that have at least managed to alleviate the squatter settlements problems though not to eradicate them completely. Finally the study ends up with recommendations which we think if put into consideration can greatly help to solve the squatter settlement problem in the country.
Description
Available in print form, EAF collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library (THS EAF HV4312.3.T3)
Keywords
Squatters, Housing, Tanzania
Citation
Munisi, Eden A. W. (1990) A comparative study of squatter settlements development strategies: the case study of Morogoro, Moshi and Arusha Municipal councils,Masters dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam.