Informal Settlements
Towards a Right to Space
Kerwin Datu reflects on the implications of treating the world's diverse mixed-use slums as residential only enclaves.
The Global Urbanist
Occupy D.C.'s Urban Design Model
Evelio Contreras and Philip Kennicott film the Occupy movement transforming MacPherson Square into an urban hub, in one of Washington's central nodal points.
The Washington Post
N.Y. Exhibition Celebrates Collaborative Design
A new exhibition curated by the Cooper-Hewitt in New York illustrates how the design community is trying to reshape itself as more collaborative than 'pedagogic or paternalistic.'
The Atlantic
Regularizing Informal Settlement in Latin America
Informal settlements - unregulated, makeshift housing - create substantial safety and health risks in Latin American countries. While clearing of settlements is not a solution, letting them be is not an option. Gregory K. Ingram suggests that regularizing programs combined with upgrading assistance can be effective means of improving conditions.
The Challenges of Legitimizing Informal Settlements
Informal settlements like slums and favelas have been perplexing governments in Latin America for decades. A new report looks at two of the ways governments are addressing these areas, and the challenges that remain.
Citiwire
India's Slum Population Nears 100 Million
The population of India's slums is expected to rise close to 100 million in 2011.
Tiny Green Bubble
Brazilians Reinterpret Their Living Spaces
In this paper, Gustavo Rivera Jr. (Ph. D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago) evaluates the economic and sociocultural impact of recently developed public housing estates within the favelas of Belo Horizonte.
The Urban Reinventors Online Urban Journal
World's Most Expensive City: Luanda?
Luanda, Angola has brushed past Tokyo and London to be the world's most expensive city, and slums cover much of the city's prime real estate.
The Globe and Mail
Saving and Improving Slums
This article from the Harvard Design Magazine looks at slums in Latin America and discusses the important role they play in their cities. Preserving the positive qualities of these communities is increasingly preferred over slum clearance.
Harvard Design Magazine





















