Slum clearance

Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal redevelopment policy that aims at the demolition of informal, irregular, or low-income settlements, such as slums, tenements, and shanty towns, often justified by goals of infrastructure improvement, sanitation, transportation integration, or mitigation of hazard areas.

Although sometimes associated with the provision of public and affordable housing, historically, this practice has been intensely used in various national contexts, often focusing on social cleansing, real estate speculation, and the gentrification of central urban areas.

Such policies generate profound socioeconomic impacts, such as the disintegration of community networks, the displacement of residents from their sources of income, and the overburdening of public services in peripheral resettlement regions. Interventions are commonly marked by conflict and organized resistance, where social movements often demand in-situ urbanization instead of pure and simple removal. Recent cases in various world metropolises continue to illustrate these tensions, involving protests against violent evictions and complex negotiations surrounding the right to housing.

The alternative to clearance has been the upgrading of precarious settlements and land titling.