Urban Governance and Slum Issues in Kollam Corporation (Kerala State): A Case Study from an Indian state

Developing countries like India presently suffer from the enormous growth of urbanization. The urbanized areas are usually associated with the issue of slum. Rapid rate of urbanization resulting from rural-urban migration is a major contributing factor to slum development in developing countries. Due to the unsustainable planning and management, immigrants tend to congregate and seek accommodation from less desirable areas of the city. This paper assesses the socio-economic and environmental characteristics of slums in selected suburbs in Kollam District, Kerala. The paper also assesses the environmental impacts of the approaches in dealing with slums. Slums are manifested by poor physical and environmental features such as poor housing conditions, poor road conditions and networks, poor drainage facilities, and environmental pollution.