Archive for Slums
February 4, 2010 · Filed under Density, Economics, Investment, Slums, Social Justice, Urbanization
“Urbanization is a vital phase of development, and if managed well, it can be a key driver of long-term economic growth in a country,” said World Bank president Robert Zoellick as his agency announced its ten-year urban development strategy. This appraisal strikes me as aloof, given the out-of-control urbanization patterns in the global south that are causing what Mike Davis famously termed a “planet of slums.” Asia’s urban population will reach 2.6 billion by 2030, according to the UN. By then Africa’s cities will more than double in size to 740 million people and Latin America’s cities will have to meet the needs of 600 million. How, given these astonishing realities, do we curb the growth of the world’s informal settlements, now one billion residents strong? What can governments do to mitigate the “push effects” of economic despair in agrarian regions that force too many people willy-nilly into cities?
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Popularity: 16% [?]
July 30, 2009 · Filed under Density, Diversity, Ecosystems, Families, Housing, Revitalization, Slums
Dharavi, at the heart of Mumbai megalopolis, recently became the iconic symbol of slums in Asia and in the world through its intrinsic permanence, multiplicity, dynamism, density and scale. Partially caused from the emergent glamour of informality and feticisation of poverty, and its strategic location in the modernisation of the city, Dharavi emerged as the last frontier of oppositional practices confronting neo-liberal mega-projects of urban redevelopment and thus symbol of a contested urbanism.
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Popularity: 53% [?]
March 2, 2009 · Filed under Diversity, EcoCities, Grassroots, Slums
The world’s slums are overcrowded, unhealthy - and increasingly seen as resourceful communities that can offer lessons to modern cities.
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Popularity: 22% [?]
February 21, 2009 · Filed under Slums, Social Justice, Suburbs
The poor are fleeing our cities, but life is not always greener, even when affordable housing comes with a two-car garage.
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Popularity: 16% [?]
February 21, 2009 · Filed under Creative Cities, Emergence, Slums
In many ways, Dharavi is the ultimate user-generated city. Each of its 80-plus neighborhoods has been incrementally developed by generations of residents updating their shelters and businesses according to needs and means. As Ramesh Misra, a lawyer and lifelong resident, puts it: “We have always improved Dharavi by ourselves. All we want is permission and support to keep doing it. Is that asking for too much?”
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Popularity: 19% [?]
