The urban areas in Sri Lanka are defined as localities serviced by Municipal Councils and
Urban Councils.1 The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) estimates that the share
of the urban household population in Sri Lanka is more than 15 per cent2
of the total
population and is growing at around 3 per cent per year while Sri Lanka?s population is
growing at around 1 per cent per year. The Sri Lankan government?s current development
plan3
envisages an increase in the population living in urban areas and states the necessity
to have sustainable urban development, minimise poverty in cities and improve the urban
poor?s access to basic facilities.
Most of the Sri Lanka?s urban poor live in slum and shanty settlements termed under-served
settlements (USSs). There are currently 1614 such settlements within the municipal limits of
Colombo, accounting for approximately 50 per cent of Colombo?s population. USSs within
Colombo have a concentration of residential units built on state or private land not owned by
the residents. While these residential areas have the common features of very high
population density (approximately 820 persons per hectare,4
or four times the average of the
city of Colombo) and congested housing (with each block averaging 1.5 perches), it is the
chronic condition of the services and infrastructure available to the residents that give USSs
their name (DFID et al. 2002).