URBANISATION AND THE QUALITY OF HOUSING: A CASE STUDY OF LUGANVILLE TOWN, VANUATU LIAH JOHN KALTOI URBANISATION AND THE QUALITY OF HOUSING: A CASE STUDY OF LUGANVILLE TOWN, VANUATU by Liah John Kaltoi A Supervised Research Project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Copyright © 2015 by Liah John Kaltoi School of Social Sciences Faculty of Arts, Law and Education The University of the South Pacific Suva, Fiji December 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The completion of this Supervised Research Project is possible through the assistance and support of many individuals, to whom I am indebted greatly, so I wish to extend my sincere gratitude. First and foremost, I wish to give glory to the Lord and thank God, for through him I drew strength to complete this Project. I sincerely thank my supervisor, Dr. Bruce Yeates for his continuous help, patience, and tolerance in going through the drafts amidst his busy schedules. His advice and guidance throughout the writing process had contributed massively to the development of the chapters and the improvement of the overall project. I wish to thank the Government of Vanuatu, for the sponsorship, making it possible for me to travel to Vanuatu for the data collection; and for the living allowances here in Suva whilst completing the project. I have nothing to offer you back except my deepest gratitude and that I will do my best in sharing whatever I have achieved for the development of our country and our people. During the fieldwork, two students of the University of the South Pacific, Watson Valele and Julie Iavro, as Research Assistants, had been very helpful in assisting me to administer the surveys in the areas studied. I thank them for their invaluable time taken off studies and accompanying me to the research sites. I believe they have learnt from the process of conducting a research that will take them to further heights of conducting their own in their careers. The residents of Pepsi Area, Sarakata and Mango Station as respondents to the questionnaires had been very helpful in making the survey a success. I thank them for their invaluable responses, their views, ideas and concerns. The officials were also of great assistance in providing relevant information and documents. Therefore, I wish to thank them sincerely: The former Lord Mayor of Luganville, Trevor Banga Moliva; the Senior Physical Planner of the Government of Vanuatu, Jeffery Kaitip; The former Town Planner of Luganville, Shem Iauko; Senior Officer at the Surveys Section of Department of Lands in Luganville, Philip Koroka; Officer at the National Statistics Office, Erima Kalmet; and officers at the National Housing Corporation Head office in Vila. Finally, I wish to thank my families back at home; friends and colleagues here in Suva and elsewhere for their constant payers and words of encouragement. For most of them, their house was my home and their company, tolerance, understanding, care, laughter and smile had always been a source of inspiration, strength, joy, comfort and peace especially in time of stress, defeat and crisis. Last but not the least, to the most important people in my life: I thank my late parents and all my children for everything. To all of you, thank you tumas. i ABSTRACT Housing as a basic urban service is a significant issue pertaining to urbanisation in developing countries. It is problematic in developing countries compared to developed countries as the urbanization rate is higher; and the level of capacity and availability of resources to manage urban growth is less exhibited in developing countries. The supervised research project investigates this relationship by focusing on the trend of urbanization into Luganville town, in Vanuatu and the quality of housing provision. The research has revealed that urbanization into Luganville is increasing tremendously, and this has had an adverse impact on the quality of housing in existence. Three major adverse impacts on the quality of housing in Luganville have been identified. One is the level of income of the urban residents that determines the type of housing they can afford. Secondly, the security of land tenure is vital as to ensure provision of basic urban services such as water, electricity and solid waste collection on registered parcels of land. Illegal settlements on green spaces and other marked off areas in Luganville are denied these basic urban services. Lastly, demand for housing due to rapid urbanisation, has not been keeping pace with supply. The government is not providing public houses or flats for migrants, particularly low income earners. There are no incentives to private institutions to provide housing for the public. The demand for housing particularly affordable houses for the urban residents is expected to rise with the current trend of urbanisation. The provision of quality housing with adequate basic urban services is an ideal solution to housing problem in Luganville. To achieve that, it requires the efforts of the government, the residents and the housing stakeholders at large. It is important for all the different stakeholders in housing to work together collaboratively to come up with possible solutions. Development is more meaningful, beneficial and sound positive if affordable, quality housing with adequate facilities and basic urban services are available to urban residents. Therefore, there is need for adoption of proper urban planning, policies and management strategies. This project paper is a support for providing necessary contributions to future housing provisions emerging due to rapid urbanisation and may help in framing sound housing policy and strategies and a sustainable urban development. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement i Abstract ii List of Appendices v List of Tables v List of Maps vi List of Figures vi List of Photographs vi Abbreviation vii-viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1-6 1.1: Background 1 1.2: Reasons for the Study 3 1.3: Objectives of the Study 4 1.4: Research Questions 4 1.5: Significance of the Study 5 1.6: Sources of Data and Methodology 5 1.7: Organization of thesis 6 CHAPTER TWO: URBANISATION AND HOUSING: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 7-25 2.1: Introduction 7 2.2: Conceptual Framework and Literature Review 8 2.2.1: Concept of Underdevelopment 8 2.2.2: Urban Development History 8 2.2.3: Physical Planning in Urban Development 12 2.2.4: Urban Service Delivery 14 2.2.5: Urban governance 16 2.2.6: Millennium Development Goals 17 2.2.7: Reviews of similar case studies 19 2.3: Conclusion 24 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 26-33 3.1: Introduction 26 3.2: Research Methodology 27 3.3: Research Design 28 3.4: Research Area 30 3.5: Research Limitations 33 3.6: Conclusion 33 iii CHAPTER FOUR: VANUATU AND LUGANVILLE: A BACKGROUND 34-46 4.1: Introduction 34 4.2: Geography 35 4.3: History 37 4.4: Demography 38 4.5: Economy 40 4.6: Urban Government 41 4.7: Urban Land and Basic Services 42 4.7.1: Urban Housing 44 4.8: Conclusion 45 CHAPTER FIVE: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION: HOUSING IN LUGANVILLE 47-67 5.1: Introduction 47 5.2: Growth of households in Luganville 47 5.3: Socio-Economic Status 48 5.3.1: Employment 48 5.3.2: Health 49 5.3.3: Education 50 5.3.4: Women 52 5.4: Living Conditions 53 5.4.1: Toilet Facilities 55 5.5: Land 55 5.5.1: Land Availability 56 5.5.2: Land Tenure 56 5.5.3: Land Use Pattern 57 5.6: Housing Pattern 58 5.6.1: Demand and Supply 62 5.7: Basic Urban Services 62 5.7.1: Water Supply 62 5.7.2: Electricity 63 5.7.3: Sanitation 64 5.7.4: Solid Waste Disposal 65 5.8: Conclusion 65 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 68-72 6.1 Conclusion 68 6.2 Recommendation 71 iv BIBLIOGRAPHY 73-80 APPENDICES 81 - 91 Appendix A: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 81 Appendix B: Official Survey Questionnaire 82-86 Appendix C: Household Survey Questionnaire 87-90 Appendix D: List of Official Respondents 91 LIST OF TABLE Table 1.1: Urban Population trends for less Developed Regions 1 Table 1.2: Urban service deprivations in selected Pacific Island Countries 2 Table 3.1: Population, households and density in the Study Areas 32 Table 4.1: Number of households and population by sex in the three areas of study in Luganville 39 Table 4.2: Number of private households in urban areas in Vanuatu: 1999-2009 44 Table 5.1: Number of private households in Luganville: 1999-2009 48 Table 5.2: Composition of females and males in households of the three settlements studied 52 Table 5.3: Family shared households in settlements 54 Table 5.4: Types of toilets used in the three settlements in Luganville 55 Table 5.5: Land area distribution pattern in the three settlements in Luganville 56 Table 5.6: Sources of water supply in the three settlements studied 63 Table 5.7: Methods of solid waste disposal in households of the three settlements Studied 65 v LIST OF MAPS Map 3.1: Map of Santo Island 31 Map 3.2: Map of Luganville 32 Map 4.1: Vanuatu in the South Pacific Map 35 Map 4.2: Map of Vanuatu 36 Map 5.1: Land use pattern in Luganville 59 Map 5.2: Land use pattern in Luganville/Zoning Map 60 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 5.1: Percentage showing reasons of migration into Luganville by Research participants 48 Figure 5.2: Priority illnesses in occurrence in the last three months of research participants 50 Figure 5.3: Level of Education attained by research participants 51 Figure 5.4: House construction materials (Wall of house) in the three settlements Studied 58 Figure 5.5: Access to electricity in the three settlements studied 64 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS Photo