The Emergence of Pacific Urban Villages: Urbanization Trends in the Pacific Islands

The future of the Pacific islands will be increasingly determined by urbanization, especially the ongoing growth of urban villages. As the rate of urbanization has accelerated in recent years, new village-like settlements such as informal and squatter communities have increased. The largest numbers of these settlements are in the Melanesian Pacific capitals-Honiara, Port Moresby, Port Vila, and Suva-and smaller towns of the Federated States of Micronesia. In Port Moresby, 50% of the population lives in some type of urban village. This publication argues that there is a need for a quantum shift in how development agencies, practitioners, and researchers perceive and address the needs of those urban residents who live in some form of urban village, often in hardship and poverty.