Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World

344 Pages·2004·16.278 MB·English

by  Robert Neuwirth

SIHADOW
CITIIES
Page Intentionally Left Blank
SIHADOW
C I T I E S
A BILLION SQUATTERS,
A NEW URBAN WORLD
ROSIERT N'IEUWIRTH
~ ~ ~~o~~~~n~~;up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2005 by Routledge
Published 2016 by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Copyright © 2005 by Robert Neuwirth
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informabusiness
10 9 8 7 6 54 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be printed or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or any other information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Neuwirth, Robert.
Shadow cities : a billion squatters, a new urban world I Robert Neuwirth.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-93319-6 (hardback : alk. paper)
1.Squatter settlements. 2. Urban poor—Housing. I.Title.
HD7287.95.N48 2004
307.3'36—dc22
2004011849
ISBN: 978-0-203-93624-5 (eISBN)
FOR SQUATTERS EVERYWHERE
v
Page Intentionally Left Blank
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue: Crossing the Tin Roof Boundary Line 1
Time Present
1. Rio de Janeiro: City without Titles 2 5
2. Nairobi: The Squatter Control 67
3. Mumbai: Squatter Class Structure 1 01
4. Istanbul: The Promise of Squatter Self-Government 143
Time Past
5. The 21st Century Medieval City 17 7
6. Squatters in New York 205
Issues on the Way Forward
7. The Habitat Fantasy 241
8. Are Squatters Criminals? 2 51
9. Proper Squatters, Improper Property 2 81
Time Future
10. The Cities of Tomorrow 309
Acknowledgments 317
Sources 321
Index 329
vii
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Prologue
Crossing the Tin Roof
Boundary Line
Let the wall crumble on which another wall is not growing.
-Cesar Vallejo
T ema said it with a sigh. He spoke softly, with great fatigue, as if
he was confiding something inexpressible, something sad,
something he feared an outsider might never understand. I made
him repeat the words: "Ai, Robert, o terceiro mundo e urn jogo de
video." "The third world is a video game."
It was around midnight. We were sitting in Beer Pizza, a restau-
rant halfway up the Estrada da Gavea, the main drag of the illegal
neighborhood called Rocinha, the largest squatter community in
Rio de Janeiro. The neighborhood was boogying. There was a con-
vivial crowd at the outdoor tables of the pizzeria, and a guitarist had