Signal 1: Tackling the rapid growth of the Urban Slum
In many cities here and around the world a significant and growing portion of the population live in slums, and without practical restructuring efforts, more than half of all urban residents will reside in slums by 2050.
A city can generally be divided into two types of spaces, accesses and places. The relationship between accesses and places often determines neighborhoods’ abilities to provide for their residents. Currently, most slum improvement projects rely on in situ operations (smaller local community projects within the slums). This is still considered the best way of approaching slum improvement, but analysis of urban spaces like slums have always proved to be cumbersome because of the lack of available data. Open Reblock is a software that provides invaluable topological maps that are able to breakdown neighborhoods into accesses and places. Through this type of spatial analysis, scientists are able to advise in situ operations in improving a neighborhood’s access to urban services and other opportunities.
The improvement of accessibility to all parts of a city is vital for its economic and social well being. Softwares that provide quick analysis of these areas are essential in accelerating planning projects and tackling growing urban social inequalities.
