Editing Slum (section)

===Poor infrastructure, social exclusion and economic stagnation===
[[Social exclusion]] and poor infrastructure forces the poor to adapt to conditions beyond his or her control. Poor families that cannot afford transportation, or those who simply lack any form of affordable public transportation, generally end up in squat settlements within walking distance or close enough to the place of their formal or informal employment.<ref name="lse" /> Ben Arimah cites this social exclusion and poor infrastructure as a cause for numerous slums in African cities.<ref name="barimslum">[http://www.oecd.org/dev/pgd/46837274.pdf "Slums as Expressions of Social Exclusion: Explaining the Prevalence of Slums in African Countries"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015175604/http://www.oecd.org/dev/pgd/46837274.pdf |date=2013-10-15}} Ben Arimah, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Nairobi, Kenya</ref> Poor quality, unpaved streets encourage slums; a 1% increase in paved all-season roads, claims Arimah, reduces slum incidence rate by about 0.35%. Affordable public transport and economic infrastructure empowers poor people to move and consider housing options other than their current slums.<ref>[http://www.irinnews.org/report/84803/africa-improved-infrastructure-key-to-slum-upgrading-un-official "Africa: Improved infrastructure key to slum upgrading – UN Official"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021025838/http://www.irinnews.org/report/84803/africa-improved-infrastructure-key-to-slum-upgrading-un-official |date=2013-10-21}} IRIN, United Nations News Service (June 11, 2009)</ref><ref>[http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/academic/fellowships/wheelwright/images/Slum%20Upgrading_Elisa%20Silva.pdf "Latin American Slum Upgrading Efforts"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021081502/http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/academic/fellowships/wheelwright/images/Slum%20Upgrading_Elisa%20Silva.pdf |date=2013-10-21}} Elisa Silva, Arthur Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship 2011, Harvard University</ref>

A growing economy that creates jobs at rate faster than population growth, offers people opportunities and incentive to relocate from poor slum to more developed neighborhoods. Economic stagnation, in contrast, creates uncertainties and risks for the poor, encouraging people to stay in the slums. Economic stagnation in a nation with a growing population reduces per capita disposal income in urban and rural areas, increasing urban and rural poverty. Rising rural poverty also encourages migration to urban areas. A poorly performing economy, in other words, increases poverty and rural-to-urban migration, thereby increasing slums.<ref>[http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=1156 "The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements" (2003)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111041647/http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=1156 |date=2014-01-11}}, United Nations Human Settlements Programme; {{ISBN|1-84407-037-9}}</ref><ref name="globalurban.org">[http://www.globalurban.org/GUDMag06Vol2Iss1/Kuiper%20&%20van%20der%20Ree.htm "Growing out of poverty: Urban job Creation and the Millennium Development Goals"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031182019/http://www.globalurban.org/GUDMag06Vol2Iss1/Kuiper%20%26%20van%20der%20Ree.htm |date=2019-10-31}} Marja Kuiper and Kees van der Ree, ''Global Urban Development Magazine'', Vol 2, Issue 1, March 2006</ref>