Squatting in the City of Tomorrow

In Shadow Cities, writer Rober Neuwirth attempts to understand the "squatting" phenomenon, prevalent in developing countries. He spent at least a month each LIVING in 4 of the world's largest slums: Rocinha (a favela in Rio de Janeiro), Kibera (in Nairobi), Sanjay Gandhi Nagar (in Mumbai), Sarigazi (in Instanbul). His graphic depiction of the living conditions along with his conversations with the locals in each area, makes for great reading. Some interesting tidbits:

• In Rio, the favelas can be safer than the "regular" neighborhoods. Inside the favelas, there is an unwritten code that the drug dealers & thieves leave the residents alone, so long as they do not call the cops. In the book, a Western tourist actually moved from a downtown hotel into a room in the favela, so he could feel safer.
• In Kibera, the lack of sewage and easy-to-access clean water is heartbreaking. Ironically, the UN-HABITAT (" ... to provide adequate shelter for all.") program is based in Nairobi itself. As the author points out, well-intentioned development plans are bound to fail if the "planners" do not spend time with and consult the intended recipients, i.e. the residents of Kibera. That in a nutshell is why the UN-HABITAT agency has been ineffective in Kibera and other places.
  
• In Turkey, if you manage to build a house in the middle of the night, and the police are unable to tear it down before daybreak, then you cannot be evicted without due process of law. The caveat is that the house should be of sound structure. The result is a cat and mouse game, between potential squatters and the authorities: the squatters are incredibly skilled at building sound structures in hours.
• 10 to 12 million people live in Mumbai, and 6 million residents are squatters.
  
• Note that in all these places, the term "squatter" does not necessarily imply makeshift structures. With the exception of Kibera, these places provide a range of homes. Mud hats, lack of sewage/toilets, and accessible clean water, does seem to plague Kibera though.
• The economy is mostly informal inside these areas: sales/property taxes are mostly ignored, electricity and water need to be paid for, if not from the people that illegaly "supply" them.
• The story of the "squatter millionnaire" resident of Kibera was entertaining. A rags-to-riches character who chose to remain inside the squatter area.

The book does not dodge any of the underlying structural questions, like the very notion of private land ownership. In Turkey, private ownership of land is a recent phenomenon, which probably explains the existence of the "overnight building" law I mentioned above. In all these communities, the non-existence of a "title" does not mean there are no thriving "real estate" markets. Quite the contrary, people buy/sell/rent/renovate these "squatter dwellings" all the time.

I loved this book and recommend it highly. And, of course the author has a blog!