Relocation of Central City Slums: A Theory of Planned Behavior Perspective

Abstract

The prevalence of slums in large cities has been a cause of concern for policy makers. People living in slums face deprivation on several fronts and slum themselves can be seen as dwelling arrangement which are inadequate and unfit for human habitation. Several attempts have been made through a series of programs like VAMBAY and BSUP (in India) to rehabilitate slum-dwellers by moving them into houses that conform to the minimum acceptable living standards (as defined by their respective societies).

However, there have been many reported incidences when slum-dwellers refused to move into the houses built for them. The problem is more pronounced in case of relocation of slums. Though there in no official statistics available on it; the number of vacant houses all over India could be quite a large number. Such problems in relocation has been reported from other countries as well.

Such wastage of resources beats the very objective of any rehabilitation program and raises serious concerns for policy makers as well as urban planners. Why should someone refuse to take a house with more than 90 percent subsidy? Is the inconvenience of relocating away from central city compensated adequately through ownership of a livable house? These are the key questions that have been explored in the proposed study.

Field survey in slums was the most challenging part of this study since most people from outside world are not welcome and certain risks were involved in facing such situations. relocation has been a very sensitive issue and most people interviewed were either evasive or aggressive while discussing it. The field-survey is over now and an updated version of this study would soon be uploaded probably as a separate paper soon.

One interesting aspect of the study is its inter-disciplinary nature. The problem is poor acceptance of slum-relocation program in terms of urban development, under which slum-dwellers use their own cost-benefit perceptions in order to assess the net economic value of the program. This problem is studied in Theory of Planned Behavior Framework and it focuses on the possible role of bad or good governance on the acceptability of any such relocation program.

Keywords: theory of planned behavior, attitude, subjective norms, self-efficacy, collective-efficacy, slums. urban governance, slum-relocation, group behaviour

JEL Classification: A14, D19, D79, I38