Harnessing socio-cultural practices of shanty dwellers for inclusive urban development in Sri Lanka: evidence from Wattala

Abstract

The fast urbanization in Sri Lanka has aggravated social-spatial disparities, and especially among the shanty population, who continue to be disadvantaged in the formal urban planning process despite their socio-cultural input to the urban life. The paper explores how the socio-cultural life of shanty residents in Wattala can be utilized to harness inclusivity in urbanization and help in achieving sustainable development goal 11 (SDG 11): Sustainable Cities and Communities. A mixed research design was chosen, involving quantitative survey data from 150 respondents and qualitative data to be collected through focus groups and interviews with key informants, policy makers, urban planners, and community representatives. Participation and exclusion patterns, as well as community resilience, were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis and thematic interpretation. The results show that social cohesiveness is high in informal settlements, with 69 percent of the residents ready to engage in community-based sustainability projects. The paper also singles out fundamental infrastructural issues, such as a lack of clean water, sanitation, and electricity, that are closely linked to informational and institutional obstacles. Informal settlements have high levels of mutual support, adaptive coping, and collective agency despite these limitations, which can be utilized in participatory urban governance. The paper proposes that, to attain inclusive urban sustainability, infrastructural investment alone is insufficient; there should also be awareness-raising, educational empowerment, and behaviour change among policymakers and communities.