Informal on Top of Formal
Portraits from Above – Hong Kong’s Informal
Rooftop Communities
by Rufina Wu and Stefan Canham (2009) is one of
the very few books that give a detailed description of the architecture of
slums. Wu and Canham made an inventory of communities on five rooftops in
Kowloon. They give a short history of every household and then depict the home
in an isometric sketch and some photos. These three elements form a puzzle and
it will take some time for the reader to fit the pieces together. This process of
assembling imagery and text is very powerful and gives a deep insight in ultimately
personal architecture.
Living on a
Garbage Dump
Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum
by Katherine Boo (2012) is
a breathtaking account of life in a slum on a garbage dump. Boo did years of
participatory research in these communities. Besides the moving stories about
informal life and how it clashes with the little present authorities, the book
is unique in the way it turns the hutments themselves into characters. And yes,
the enigmatic title has to do with architecture.
Architecture of Slums
The Perfect Slum (2016)
by Sytse de Maat, the author of this blog. Centerpiece of the book is a study
on slums where vernacular architecture and tradition meet the planned city. Through
thorough analysis of slums it becomes clear that traditional ways of building lead
to a specific architecture when transferred to today’s very dense city. It thus
gives insight in how cities can exist and how sustainability issues emerge.
Inside Megacity Slums
Shadow Cities a Billion Squatters, a New Urban World by Robert Neuwirth (2005) can be seen as an essay opposing the depiction
of slums as no-go areas by mainstream media. Like Katherine Boo (above), Neuwirth
did many months of participatory research by actually living in the slums of
Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi, Mumbai and Istanbul. His analysis is thoroughly
anchored in what happens on the ground and from there allows one to see the
bigger picture. Prejudices and misconceptions go out of the window on every
page. Instead, Neuwirth unveils an urban world that earns more credits than it
receives.
Dharavi
Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s Largest Slum
by Kalpana Sharma (2000) is a
classic when it comes to reading about Dharavi. Like Robert Neuwirth (above),
Sharma gives a detailed and well-founded account of life in Dharavi and thus
challenges the common notion of slums. Written as a coherent collection of
stories the book is comprehensive and consequently allows seeing the bigger picture.
Pavement
Dwelling
Apna Street by Julian Crandall Hollick (2011) is an account of both pavement dwelling and women empowerment. Besides
stories about pavement dwellers and how they suffer under the destructive
policies of the authorities, this book contains the history of SPARC, Mahila
Malan and the National Slum Dwellers’ Federation. It is the story of a small
group of migrants to the city who first had no say at all and then
found ways of organizing themselves into a coalition that even today transforms
the lives of millions of people across the world.
Nonformal as the Dominant Mode of Urbanization
Metropolis Nonformal by Christian Werthmann and Jessica Bridger (2015) looks at the potentials of slums. It
recognizes the scale of the phenomenon by stating that the nonformal will be
the dominant mode of urban growth in the coming decades. The book consists of short
texts explaining a range of initiatives and presenting the diversity of
responses to the nonformal metropolis. The genesis of the book comes from the
diverse group of people gathered at the Metropolis Nonformal symposia 2011 and
2013 at the Technical University in Munich, curated by Werthmann. Twentyfive
leading thinkers contributed to the symposia. Bridger then translated the
spoken word into a cohesive book. The book therefore is not the odd collection
of papers but a clear and highly readable account of the state of the art.
Slum as Global Phenomenon
Planet of Slums by Mike Davis (2006) is an enquiry into the global phenomenon of slum.
Besides being comprehensive in the sense that it covers all aspects and causes
of slum forming, the author seems rather opinionated as not a single slum
improvement project in the world receives positive recognition. Moreover, there
is no end to the list of who are to blame. Simply said, Planet of Slums considers urban informal settlement a victim of
capitalism and a phenomenon we should get rid of as soon as possible.
Surprisingly, Mike Davis does not give a hint on how to do that.
Bibliography
Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Life, Death and
Hope in a Mumbai Slum. London: Portobello.
Davis, Mike. 2006. Planet of Slums. London: Verso.
Hollick, Julian Crandall. 2011. Apna Street. Pune: Ameya
Prakashan.
De Maat, Sytse. 2016. The Perfect Slum - On the Symbiosis of People
and Building. Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing.
Neuwirth, Robert. 2005. Shadow Cities a Billion Squatters, a New
Urban World. New York: Routledge.
Sharma, Kalpana. 2000. Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s
Largest Slum. New Delhi; New York: Penguin Books.
Werthmann, Christian, and Jessica Bridger. 2015. Metropolis Nonformal.
First edition. Novato, CA: Applied Research + Design Publishing c/o Oro
Editions.
Wu, Rufina, and Stefan Canham, eds. 2009. Portraits from above: Hong Kong’s Informal Rooftop Communities. Hong Kong: MCCM Creations.
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