The Return of the Slum: Does Language Matter?

Abstract

The 'cities without slums' initiative has resuscitated an old and dangerous term from the habitat vocabulary. Use of the word 'slum' will recreate many of the myths about poor people that years of careful research have discredited. The UN has employed the word in order to publicize the seriousness of urban problems and to improve its ability to attract funding with which to tackle the issue. But in using such an emotive word the UN risks opening a Pandora's box. The campaign implies that cities can actually rid themselves of slums, an idea that is wholly unachievable. The word is also dangerous because it confuses the physical problem of poor quality housing with the characteristics of the people living there. The UN knows that earlier research has rehabilitated most 'slum dwellers' but ignores the danger of conjuring up all of the old images. In the process, the campaign also offers an oblique invitation to governments to look for instant solutions to insoluble problems. Demagogic governments have always shown a willingness to demolish slums despite the fact that experience has shown that policy to be ineffective. I fear that the new campaign will encourage more to employ this foolish policy. Words need to be employed carefully. Copyright (c) 2007 The Author. Journal Compilation(c) 2007 Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Bourdieu viene a la ciudad: pertinencia, principios, aplicaciones

“…28 Para críticas eficaces de la retórica urbana de "ciudades creativas", "barrios marginales", "villas" y "renacimiento", "patrimonio" y "diversidad", y (anti) gueto, y etiquetas parecidas para distritos desposeídos y menospreciados, ver respectivamente Peck (2005), Gilbert (2007), Barnes et al (2006), Modan (2007) y Boyd (2008, y Wacquant, Slater y Pereira (2014).…”

Nezadostno število in neustrezna kakovost stanovanj v Gani

“…United Nations Human Settlements Programme, v nadaljevanju: UN-HABITAT) o izboljšanju stanovanjskih razmer v Gani potrjuje, da gre pri stanovanjih neustrezne kakovosti za tista v slumih, saj je bilo v njem med drugim zapisano, da »[č]eprav je stanovanje osnovna življenjska potreba, več kot polovica prebivalstva Gane živi v ,skromnih hišah, v katerih ni dostopa do ustreznih sanitarij, vode in ogrevanja, ki bi zadostili njihovim dnevnim fizičnim potrebam'« (UN-HABITAT, 2010: 4). Podobno kot v mnogih drugih državah po svetu (Gilbert, 2007) se ta razlaga običajno uporablja kot uradni vzrok za prisilno izselitev ali razselitev ljudi, ki živijo v teh neustreznih bivališčih. Tako kot prejšnje vlade je tudi zdajšnja ganska vlada že izvršila številne prisilne izselitve (ganski urbanistični inštitut, 2010).…”

Land registration and landownership security

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