**2. Urban informality and neo-liberal policies in Masvingo**

The growth of informal activities in cities of the global South is associated with a lot of problems, most of which are to do with the management and delivery of services. In most cases the informal settlements are found in areas where city services do not reach, as a result most informal settlements are living with minimum or no services. This neglect is usually a result of neo-liberal urbanisation policies pursued by cities especially in the global South. There is a general obsession for clean cities that appeal to international standards and as a result urban informality is regarded as urban filthy, which needs to be eradicated, [5, 6]. Most cities are therefore trying by all means to portray cities without urban informality because of these neo-liberal urbanisation processes. These neo-liberal urbanisation policies are therefore responsible for marginalisation of informal settlements in the delivery of services in cities of the global South. Contemporary cities have developed to be highly diverse and this call for rethinking in the way cities does their business. The urbanisation of poverty in many cities calls for new ways of managing cities because cities can no longer afford to do business as usual, [2, 7, 8]. Cities of today cannot afford to develop without urban informality, hence there is need to integrate urban informality in the delivery of services and the development of the city for sustainable cities. Urban societies in most cities of the global South are however managed by rigid regulatory frameworks that take very long to reform in order to accommodate new land uses that are coming up due to urbanisation of poverty. Urban informality is a reality in contemporary cities, which therefore requires a paradigm shift in the way cities are managed in order to create sustainable and liveable cities. Creation of safe and liveable spaces in informal settlement is a critical component for sustainable housing and the general city sustainability. There is need to provide quality housing to people in the informal settlements, where their living conditions are improved socially, economically and environmentally. Neo-liberal urbanisation

*Towards Sustainable Housing: Waste Management in Informal Settlements in Masvingo... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98746*

policies therefore do not suit cities of the global South, which have high prevalence of poverty. Most of these neo-liberal urbanisation policies are adopted from cities which do not have the experience of urban informality hence they do not provide for urban informality, [9, 10]. For example Zimbabwe has borrowed the engineering type of planning from the British type of planning and this planning approach does not tolerate any unplanned activities such as urban informality, [9]. However urban informal settlements are growing despite efforts worldwide to reduce by half people living in slums. By 2018 people living in slums had increased to 24% and these settlements are lacking critical services such as water, sanitation waste management that will allow them access to safe and livable spaces, [3]. The lack of such important services does not auger well with sustainable housing as it force people in informal settlements live in hostile environments.

#### **2.1 Impacts of neo-liberal policies on waste collection in informal settlements**

In the city of Masvingo informal settlements have been without was waste management services and this has created unsafe living conditions. They have been excluded from receiving such services and their areas are characteristically unhygienic and filthy. Waste has been thrown away indiscriminately in informal settlements thereby creating spaces that are prone to disease out breaks. Waste is dumped everywhere including road sides, open spaces and river banks. The **Table 1** below shows frequency of waste collection in informal settlements in various slum areas in Masvingo city.

The growth of informal settlements in cities of the global South requires a paradigm shift in the way cities are managed. There is need for inclusion of informal settlement in the city wide service delivery systems for inclusive cities and sustainable housing. The growth of informal settlements has however not been complimented with reforms in the regulatory framework, which had remained rigid and unaccommodative to urban informality in the delivery of services. Informal settlements have remained outside city's service delivery systems and this exclusion is not good for inclusive and sustainable cities. Informal settlements have therefore remained illegal settlements, which do not warrant access to services. As a result service provision in most areas occupied by informal settlements is non-existent. These people have therefore never been afforded their right to the city especially their right to receive city services for safe and liveable spaces. Informal settlements have in most cases been found on margins of the city where city services rarely reach, [11]. Informal settlements are commonly found in ecologically deteriorating spaces, [12].

One of the issues that the cities of the global South have been trying to grapple with is the rapid urbanisation and the failure by the formal sector to respond to the problems that are associated with this rapid urbanisation especially issues to do with creation of employment and provision of shelter. Cities of the global South have been failing to address issues associated with urbanisation of poverty especially in


#### **Table 1.** *Waste collection frequency in informal areas.*

the housing sector where people in informal settlements have been experiencing exclusion and living in bad environments, which threaten their lives, [13]. This exclusion is mainly due to their planning systems that have failed to respond to the changing urbanity that calls for inclusion and adaptive planning that suit existing environments in cities. Urban informality is a reality in cities of today, which call for their inclusion in the city's service delivery systems, [5, 8]. The urban poor and their ways of living have always been left out of the city provisioning systems and this is a denial of their right to the city. According to Lefebvre [14] every city inhabitant has the right to receive city services that will allow them access to safe and liveable spaces.
