Analysis of Informal Settlement and Its Impact on Urban Land Management in Gondar City, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Currently, informal settlements are phenomena existing in many parts of the world featured by multidimensional social, economic and environmental problems. An informal settlement. As a notable trend of the 20th c, an informal settlement has been constantly growing of at the expense of rural districts. The problem is particularly high in developing countries including Ethiopia. The purpose of this study was to analyze the informal settlement and its impact on urban land management in Gondar city. The study employed mixed research approach with a descriptive research design to conduct the study focusing on two informal settlements (Sanqelayit and Genfokuch) that were selected and included in the study using purposive sampling technique. Sample size of the study included 94 residents, 2 housing development officials, 4 kebele leaders and 16 participants in focus group discussion (FGD). Data were collected using household survey questionnaire, interview and FGD. The quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics using frequency count, percentage and mean using SPSS. The qualitative data were thematically analyzed. Findings show that houses in the informal settlement in the study areas were made of mud, built on land area less than 100 m2 with soil floor and having no ceiling, bedrooms, kitchen, toilets and showers. The informal settlements had no infrastructure, road, electricity, schools, health centers and market places and featured with low level of security. Demographic, socio economic, legal and managerial factors were contributing for the flourishing of informal settlements in Gondar city. The urban land of city was not economically utilized, not properly managed, urban land management officials are not free from negligence and abuse of responsibility. Unplanned housing, shortage of housing land, over crowdedness, managerial cost, duplication of managerial efforts, sanitation problem, environmental deterioration, improper city development, inadequacy of infrastructure, insufficient service area, violation of legal codes and tackling development projects were all have their own influence on urban land management. With the beta value of -.417 and -.379 shortage of housing land and managerial cost respectively were found the highest in impacting the urban land management while insufficient service area and duplication of managerial efforts with the beta value of .007 and -.023 respectively were found the lowest in impacting the urban land management in Gondar city. Since, the problem is a highly complex in nature, there is a need for the government to strategically intervene and provide a solution through the participation of all the stakeholders including the residents.