EDITORIAL

Slum Cities: Cities Within Cities

J. T. Trevors & M. H. Saier Jr.

Published online: 11 October 2006# Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2006

Human population growth generates one of the mostfrightening problems facing mankind. Millions ofpeople migrate from the countryside to large citiesevery year, in search of employment and a betterstandard of living. Many of these migrants are poorlyeducated with no professional skills. They become apool of cheap labor. In most countries, there is little tono legislation to protect them from occupationalhealth and safety hazards. They are exploited as la-borers with minimal remuneration. The outcome maybe disruption of family ties, drug addiction and dis-illusionment. Hopes become illusory, and immensehuman suffering, both physical and psychological,results. An increased probability of death is the mostserious consequence of migration. Very few migrantsrealize their dream.

The 2001 census in India reported the population ofGreater Mumbai (formerly Bombay) as 11,914,398million people. The slum population was reported to be5,823,510 people, nearly 50% of the total. The level ofpoverty suffered by these inhabitants is only equalled

by the injustice and discrimination they must endure. Asimilar situation exists in many other cities. Even in thedeveloped countries, slum cities can be found as acomponent of virtually every major city.

The experiences of millions of people trying toexist in a crowded land area without adequate infra-structure is a tale of two cities, with one inside theother. Most unfortunately, we are not observing atrend towards solutions of this problem. How caninfrastructure provide comprehensive healthcare orbirth control services? How can infectious diseases beeffectively combatted when each apartment houses adozen unregistered people? How can we providethese people with water, food, waste disposal andpollution control? Are transportation services ade-quate to even allow these people to maintain a job? Isjustice available to these people, or must they live in adog-eat-dog world? Do land ownership policies forcethem out of homes and create mass misery? Do thesepeople have educational opportunities? These arequestions that face every slum city worldwide.Perhaps infrastructure is of greatest importance. Onlywhen it is adequate can improvements be forthcoming.How long can these slum cities continue to growbefore the infrastructure of an entire city collapses?

The counter argument is that cheap laborers willresult in economic growth, and at least some humanlives will improve. It’s a roulette game at best withthe odds against every migrant. Economic growth isfinite, depending on the resources available. It has

Water Air Soil Pollut (2008) 192:1–2DOI 10.1007/s11270-006-9239-2

J. T. Trevors (*)Department of Environmental Biology,University of Guelph,Rm 3220 Bovey Building,Guelph, ON, Canada, N1G 2W1e-mail: jtrevors@uoguelph.ca

M. H. Saier Jr.Division of Biological Sciences, University of California,San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

limits that are controlled by the laws of nature (e.g.,thermodynamics) not by human-created rules. Naturallaws cannot be broken because they are absolute.Societal rules can be broken because they are arbi-trary. They often disregard the protection of a largebut underrepresented segment of society.

Unfortunately, the natural laws are unforgiving.Entropy keeps increasing, ultmately leading to chaosas numbers of inhabitants increase. Heat is generatedas a waste product of many human-created and natu-ral phenomena. When non-renewable energy reservesare gone, they cannot be reintroduced. If urbangrowth is economically beneficial, why do slumsand their inhabitants continue to increase? If they arebeneficial, whom do they benefit?

The answers are simple. There are already toomany people in megacities, and many women world-wide do not have the freedom or opportunity to limittheir own fertility. Young mothers do not want towatch their children suffer and die; if their childrenlive, they want to see them living under fair, non-repressive, economically comfortable conditions.However, this ideal is seldom realized. Humans areexploited for the economic gain of others.

To solve the slum city crisis, people must be ableto control their own fertility. The current 6.5 billionpeople on the planet is too many by all educatedestimates. We are way beyond our planet’s carryingcapacity. An increasing human population onlyworsens the burden on our common biosphere. Giventhe current rate of species extinction, expected toincrease dramatically due to global warming, weknow that we are not and cannot sustain the lives ofourselves and the other species on Earth. SomethingMUST give. A pandemic with the current humanpopulation will be very different from the pandemicsof the past. It will involve far more suffering, affect-ing far greater numbers of people.

To expect organizations such as the United Nationsand the World Health Organization to deliver infra-structure to slums proves a nearly impossible chal-lenge, even in the best of times. Such a prospect willbecome an insurmountable challenge once a disasterhas occurred. Countries must control their populationgrowth and realize that economic sustainabilitydepends upon population stabilization. It is obviousthat the more wealthy, developed countries mustprovide the means to achieve this all important goal.

2 Water Air Soil Pollut (2008) 192:1–2