The Global Urbanist

News and analysis of cities around the world

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Another shack fire broke out in Cape Town's townships last month, killing one woman and affecting 1,500 residents. Andrew Fleming reports on the City's response and the attitude of residents, and reviews some recent initiatives that may alleviate the problem of shack fires in the short and long terms.

A hundred-year-old street market in Bangalore was demolished in the dead of night last month. How much history and local colour is lost by enforcing the law now after so many years?

There is no better time to witness the shortsightedness of governments than around elections. With municipal elections just around the corner in Mumbai, a whole raft of new promises are being made to certain slum dwellers...

From the Archives

Has our focus on housing distracted us?

Slum neighbourhoods are teeming with industry and commerce, yet the policy sphere still tends to treat them as residential spaces alone. What are the consequences of this misconception, and is it time to invoke a right to space, not just of housing?

Keeping track of urban poverty in India

The Indian government agencies responsible for managing the country's urban slums talk of ICT and GIS technology to help them keep track of slum communities, yet they should also reach out to NGOs.

Manila to relocate 500,000 residents

The Philippine government is planning to demolish 104,000 homes across Manila. Everyone involved knows that this is a bad idea, yet we have no international framework to stop them going ahead.

Most Discussed

  1. How do residents rebuild after a shack fire?
  2. What do we destroy when we demolish illegal areas?
  3. How do we reconcile the planner's perceptions with the slum dwellers' reality?
  4. Has our focus on housing distracted us?
  5. Another round of unabashed populism in Mumbai

Related Topics

Community organisation
Cycling in the Caribbean: how stakeholders can clash over the same agenda
Health and aging
Thinking positively about housing for World AIDS Day
Poverty and inequality
Urban poverty alleviation in India: softening the rural-urban divide
Gender
Urban prosperity doesn't automatically mean gender equality

Hot Cities

London
How to make global urban governance powerful?
Mumbai
Urban poverty alleviation in India: softening the rural-urban divide
Cape Town
How do residents rebuild after a shack fire?
Bangalore
What do we destroy when we demolish illegal areas?

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About

The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.

Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.

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