Lagos: Squatter settlements To define ‘squatter settlement’ To link problems to consequences

Lagos 1) What country is Lagos in? 2) What is the capital of that country? 3) What do HiC and LiC stand for? 4) How many people live in Lagos? 5) Define economic and social opportunities 6) Is Lagos in a HiC or LiC? 7) Identify 3 ways Lagos has improved due to urban growth 8) How many new migrants come to Lagos each week?

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GCSE Question: Use the image to describe the problems of living in squatter settlements (8)

To be successful..... 1) Name and locate a case study 2) Use the image to identify all problems 3) Explain why it is a problem 4) Use key geog words to improve your answer.

Model the answer There are many social and economic problems of living in squatter settlements. I have studied Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. From the image I can see the houses are poorly constructed from basic materials such as rocks, plastic and sheets of tin metal. They also have no solid foundations. 75% of slum houses only have one room. This is a problem as strong winds, poor weather or natural disasters such as earthquakes could easily cause them to collapse, injuring or killing the inhabitants. I can also see on the image that the housing density of this slum is very high. 250,000 live in Makoko’s 2 sq km . This means that fire or disease can spread very quickly through a large area. Only 11% have access to proper sanitation or clean water, so diseases such as cholera will be rife and lack of social investment in healthcare means that thousands could die in a short time. There is a severe lack of basic infrastructure on the image, such as no electricity supply or road network. Economically this places the residents at a disadvantage as 50% work in the informal sector and need to travel large distances to get to the CBD to work everyday. Lack of paved roads would make this difficult, especially during the rainy season where dirt tracks would turn to impassable mud. The final problem I can identify from the image is a lack of personal space due to high density housing, large families and cramped living conditions. This is a social problem as residents may be emotionally affected by their perceived inability to escape the shanty town conditions, leading to depression and anxiety.

DIRT Purple pen a new and improved answer to the question, drawing on the model answer I have demonstrated.