Infrastructure investments, a core element of slum upgrading, play a role in improving the livelihoods of over 1 billion slum residents globally. Established planning practices often successfully deliver functional infrastructure but evidence shows that their contribution to improved livelihoods often either is absent or declines sharply after some time. To explain this limited effectiveness, this article identifies the missing link between infrastructure delivery and livelihood improvements as lying in the appropriation process, that is, the uptake and embedding of infrastructures into the daily practices of residents. Recent insights from sociotechnical transitions studies help to conceptualise appropriation. The authors use Munyaka informal settlement in Eldoret town, Kenya as a case to investigate the mechanisms of new infrastructure uptake. Findings indicate that appropriation is a social process that proceeds in three steps: reception, domestication and institutionalisation. This process is driven by the need to maintain or adjust residents’ livelihood practices relative to prevailing socioeconomic and spatiotemporal conditions. The study concludes that appropriation is a significant process that planners should try to anticipate. Prevalent approaches to participation have to be modified accordingly. This is essential for planning to improve livelihoods in slums.

中文翻译：

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有效的非正规住区升级所缺失的环节：拨款塑造新基础设施的成果

基础设施投资是贫民窟改造的核心要素，在改善全球超过10亿贫民窟居民的生计方面发挥着重要作用。既定的规划实践通常成功地提供了功能性基础设施，但有证据表明，它们对改善生计的贡献通常要么不存在，要么在一段时间后急剧下降。为了解释这种有限的有效性，本文指出基础设施交付和民生改善之间缺失的环节在于拨款过程，即基础设施的吸收和嵌入到居民的日常实践中。社会技术转型研究的最新见解有助于概念化拨款。作者以肯尼亚埃尔多雷特镇的 Munyaka 非正式住区为例，调查新基础设施的采用机制。研究结果表明，挪用是一个社会过程，分三个步骤进行：接受、驯化和制度化。这一过程的驱动因素是需要根据当前的社会经济和时空条件维持或调整居民的生计实践。该研究的结论是，拨款是规划者应该努力预见的一个重要过程。普遍的参与方式必须做出相应的修改。这对于改善贫民窟生计的规划至关重要。