Working for a World Free of Poverty and Slums

This dissertation research intends to document §methods for measuring and analyzing urban poverty in §developing Cities by using Nairobi as my primary §case. Through recoding and aggregating Census data, §I propose to construct a composite material poverty §index using principal components analysis. Next, I §will build a 2SLS (two stage least square §regression) model to identify the most significant §determinants of material poverty. Finally, a cross-§sectional regression analysis will be undertaken to §examine the effect of living in a slum and §residential segregation of slums from non-slums on §local child mortality rate. The findings will have a §three-fold implication for anti-poverty or anti-slum §practices. First, a composite material poverty index §has a distinctively empirical utility for the direct §measurement of the living conditions of the urban §poor and slum dwellers. Second, lower population §density significantly decreases material poverty , §which lends some support to anti-slum strategies §aiming to de-densify the slum areas. Lastly, de-§segregating slum dwellers from non-slum dwellers is §effective at least from a health perspective.