TITLE:
Legibility of Small-Scale Industrial Sector in Promoting Social-Economic Development of Informal Settlements: Case of Mlalakuwa in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam
AUTHORS:
Jacob Lutta, Yves Schoonjans, Aldo Lupala
KEYWORDS:
Urbanization, Collective Spaces, Informal Settlements, Social-Economic, Growth, Tanzania
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.9 No.4,
November
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: Small-scale industries constitute essential elements
in accelerating the flourishing of the economy in towns. Cities in global south
countries are witnessing an expansion to an unprecedented scale. The growth of
cities is accompanied by the emerging of small-scale industrial activities like
handcraft industry, car repair workshops, sewing, furniture making, which act
as economic pivots for urban proliferation. They represent an important factor
for the provision of employment to a large number of people living in urban
centres. The investigation was done through a case study of small-scale
industrial activities running at informal settlements to provide a better
understanding of the roles of small-scale industries that promote community
quality of lives at Mlalakuwa informal settlements. This paper aims at
providing an understanding of the diversity of small-scale industrial
sectors as a potential tool for the development
of collective spaces usage at Mlalakuwa informal settlement. Small-scale
industrial activities are well known in informal areas in the city of Dar es
Salaam because they provide opportunities for boosting local social-economic
activities and improving the community’s livelihoods. The results
show that more than 50% of the residents engaged with small-scale industries to
sustain their daily lives. Whereby 70% of the settlement growth development at
Mlalakuwa is the result of small-scale industrial activities. There has been a
good opportunity for the authorities to have an integrated revenue collection
between formal and informal economic sources if SSI activities will be
positively considered one of the economic hubs for the betterment of the city’s
development.