Shadow Cities

I just finished reading Shadow Cities by Robert Neuwirth in trying to understand the current mass urbanization trends. I discovered his activities while wallowing through TED talks.

Publishers Weekly Review:

In this superbly probing book, investigative reporter Neuwirth relates the struggles and successes of some of the world's most resourceful poor people, among the one billion urban squatters in countries like Brazil, India, Kenya and Turkey. Having lived alongside them in these four countries and thus gained firsthand knowledge of their daily lives, Neuwirth is able to dismantle many common preconceptions about the so-called slums in which they live. The vast, bustling favela of Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, for example, has distinct neighborhoods, apartments for rent, dance parties in the street and local entrepreneurs, as well as drug lords and gangs. In Nairobi's Kibera, many squatters have white-collar jobs, yet lack the income to rent more than a simple mud hut. Clarifying local legal considerations and housing policy city by city, Neuwirth closely attends to the characters, historical particularities and human potential of the squatter communities he encounters. In his concluding chapters, he pulls back to address the U.N.'s role in ameliorating squatters' problems and polarizing notions of property ownership, among other issues. Pointing out that many major cities were founded on squatter-style neighborhoods, Neuwirth treats readers to some fascinating historical case studies in London and New York. Compelling, thought-provoking and written with laconic grace, Neuwirth's study is essential reading for anyone interested in global urban affairs.

Takeaways

• Currently, 70 million people a year are migrating to the cities from rural areas, and there is simply no way enough housing can be built to accommodate these people. The bulk of this is occurring in developing countries.
  
• Squatting (illegally building and residing on land) was and is the basis for many cities of the developed and developing world, including Shanghai, San Francisco, New York, and Sacramento.
• Shanty towns are stereotypically seen as hotbeds for crime and disease, but many times the squatter communities are just as safe, if not safer than the neighboring legal towns.
• Some squatter towns are more developed than others (Istanbul > Rio de Janeiro > Mumbai > Nairobi). Squatters, alleviated from fear of eviction will build their houses and develop their neighborhoods. One of the reasons why Istanbul's squatter settlements are further developed is because of an old law that requires due legal process to remove houses built overnight (and still standing in the morning). Communities in Istanbul are also given autonomy and power of self governance once they reach a certain population.
• There are economic activities in shanty towns both legal (restaurants, DPE, factories, cable TV, even renting apartments) and illegal (drugs trafficking and manufacturing). In some cities (Rio), companies (including McDonalds) from the legal neighborhoods have opened in the shanty towns to attract more customers.
• Crime and disease are issues in many squatter settlements, but so is corruption. One of the reasons why Kibera, the largest shanty town of Nairobi, does not develop is that in order to do anything (i.e. upgrade house), bribes have to be paid to many bureaucrats and "elders."
• Squatter colonies are and have been historically in conflict with developers and speculators. Since squatters typically don't have enough income for proper houses and office buildings, they are not the target for developers, yet in many occasions the land they occupy are valuable. Squatters constitute a large voting bloc in many cities, but their political powers have not been fruitful in the face of corruption and grand standing.
• Title deeds and property may not be the answer for many of the squatters. What they need are "security, stability, protection, and control" over their futures, and they will start building.

I'm not entirely sure what this all means for BMW. Many squatter communities are too narrow for cars, and most of them can't afford even the cheapest cars. But if world development trends hold, someday even the poorest people of the world will be able to afford cars (hopefully not gasoline by that point) and the people who grew up in or still live in squatter communities will matter. When will that be?