Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning Tufts University
This study explores how different types of informal settlements in the coastal megacity of Karachi experience varying levels of access to water and sanitation infrastructure, and how this affects their quality of life (measured in terms of health, income, education, and satisfaction). A majority of Karachi’s residents, numbering over ten million, live in informal settlements, where civic services are often scarce and unreliable. This study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining literature review, structured interviews, and household surveys in five settlements, to examine the factors that create disparities in water and sanitation access among informal settlements. We develop a typology of informal settlements based on their water and sanitation access. Our findings show that ad-hoc laws play a key role in determining the availability of services in different settlements, while the age of a settlement is not a consistent predictor of access. Finally, we identify the city’s most vulnerable areas and reveal the complex institutional, political, and socioeconomic factors that shape the state of water and sanitation access in informal settlements.
