The formation of our behaviours, identity and principles all start at home. Homes vary from one person to another, yet it is the place where most of us first learn about love, care and support.
'The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household,'.
This was the first search that appeared as I looked for the definition of 'home'. I'm sure many of you have noticed, from my previous posts, that I have a habit of looking up definitions. Mainly because it provides a simple understanding and therefore, a good starting point to delving into any topic.
In this case, something about the definition above didn't seem quite right. The use of the word 'permanently' should be taken lightly, merely because we all know a friend or family who has moved across the country or countries for work and thus, convenience, or for a better lifestyle.
Employment. Commerce. Modernisation. Together these build a driving force - one that lures people into cities. Around half of the current 7.8 billion global population live in cities and this expected to rise to two-thirds by 2050. This drift, or should I say rush, of people into cities refers to the term urbanisation.
It is easy to recognise that this will allow for a country's economic development and improved communication between many. But there's two sides to this big picture. Some of us may have acknowledged the adverse impacts of urbanisation immediately, whilst some of us may fail to recognise it all together. This goes back to the concept of our home and how many of us are fortunate enough not to be exposed directly to these effects.
Urbanisation comes with several consequences such as great pressure on city's resources and increased noise and air pollution. But the one I'm most interested in is the development of slums.
The term 'slum' first came to use in the 1820s to describe areas within London with poor quality houses and insanitary conditions. Towards the end of the 19th century, there appeared a shift in this definition as it specifically referred to a street occupied by the lower class. Today, the term defines homes that have inadequate access to water, electricity and toilets. It is also strongly associated with developing countries. But why?
Between 1950 and 2000, the population living in urban areas in developing countries increased from 18% to 40%. This 22% rise is not going to stop here. In the next decade, it is expected for that 40% to go up to 56%. And lets not forget that already 1 in 3 urban residents within these countries live in slums. Now that is a lot of numbers, but I hope it has made some sort of sense as to why the word 'slum' is set side by side with developing countries.
Larger cities and rising number of informal settlements. How do the two work as a pair?
With the cost of living being incredibly high and the population constantly growing in these cities, it becomes increasingly difficult to find affordable housing. This leaves countless people turning to what seems like their only solution to owning a home. Slums. Unfortunately, their difficulties don't stop here. As a result of not owning a formal address, their chance of gaining employment diminishes. So, they become involved in black markets - illegal trade - and this puts these workers at a risk of being exploited. From this short explanation, you can already notice how one's life is changed by living in informal settlements and how easy it can be for them to be trapped in the poverty cycle.
Using a reference photograph including two boys from the slums in Kenya, I produced the graphite drawing above. This drawing is a product of several concepts. One being, children growing up in slums are susceptible to dropping out from school as they are exposed to several illnesses and lack resources to complete to their homework. They also tend to leave their education to work, so that their family can get hold of necessities such as food. For example, in India, many young girls help their relatives with domestic work and then, sent to work as domestic help in middle-class households. This understanding of how the poverty cycle is sustained by captivating more and more children is what motivated me to focus on illustrating children.
One of the world's largest slums includes Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, which occupies approximately 700,000 people and only a quarter of students attend formal schools. So that is 525,000 students not receiving the education that they deserve! This further encouraged me to focus this drawing on Kenya.
You may have also noticed how I have merged an informal settlement into the portraits. Despite being someone who enjoys creating contrast in my artwork, I felt that for this drawing it was important to bring a more subtle transition from landscape to portraiture. This relates to my beginning idea of our home influencing our behaviours and experiences. So, ultimately, I felt that I couldn't separate the two in my drawing.
Now, some of you may be reading this and thinking what can I do? And to be honest, I am not 100% sure; I am still at an early stage of researching this immense issue. Yet, I can already understand how fortunate I am to have a home with water and electricity. One that I'll not be expected to put back together as a result of a flood or earthquake.
Lastly, a request to those who are looking for a future job in urban/city planning, engineering, architecture... (the list goes on!) - get the community involved! Not only will this get the community working together but provide the residents with an opportunity to decide what they want for the settlements that they will be living in! Click the links at the bottom of this post to hear about great examples of this concept!
Hopefully, having read this you are now burning to read more about urbanisation and its impacts on low income families or you may already know a lot on this topic... in that case, let me know in the comments any book/article/documentary recommendations you have for me!
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