Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World

by Robert Neuwirth

In the middle of the night they quickly build houses and seize land before the police destroy their fragile homes. They're squatters--families that risk the wrath of governments and property owners by building dwellings on land they don't own--and they represent one out of every ten people on the planet.

Investigative journalist Robert Neuwirth lived among squatter communities from Rio to Bombay to Nairobi to Istanbul to give us an impassioned, inside view of squatter life and a glimpse into the urban future. He met people in Nairobi who built homes with their bare hands, Turkish families who plot land invasions, and children in Rio whose parents justify outfoxing the authorities as the only path to a better life. And he shows us that in cities like Rio, squatter settlements have become decent places to live for formerly landless people. Tracing the notion of private property from the enclosure movement in Europe to the settlement of the U.S., Neuwirth shows how squatting rights may actually be seen as more "natural" than the current laws practiced in the U.S.

In almost every country of the developing world, the most active builders are squatters, creating complex local economies with high rises, shopping strips, banks, and self-government. As they invent new social structures, Neuwirth argues, squatters are at the forefront of the worldwide movement to develop new visions of what constitutes property and community.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Urban Planning, Economics, Urban, Urbanism, Cities

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whoever paid alleged reporter Robert Neuwirth a bunch of money to go live in squatter communities and write a book about it must have been pretty disappointed when he came back with this: a poorly written, barely researched, meandering, incomplete view of a few different squatter communities. It's less like his living in slums was meant to be research for this book, and more like he conned someone out of some money and planned himself a four-stop Third World vacation, with the book as a mere afterthought. A side effect of this is that he spends three quarters of his life in the slums in what you'd call ritzier-than-average squatter communities like Rocinha, a safe, comparatively-well-developed beachfront community in Rio de Janeiro. From his perch there, he's able to do some cursory summary of nastier slums like Jacarezinho, but overall you realize that Rocinha fits his agenda much better (seems to be basically hey, slums aren't so bad, and they're better than anything the government could come up with) than the gloomy, dirty Jacarezinho does, so he spends much more time and space on Rocinha.

It's not just organization and bias and laziness that's the problem here, though; the writing itself is terrible, as I'm starting to find is so often the case with otherwise-lauded nonfiction books. There are embarrassing typos on almost every page (e.g. stuff like "The first problems was what to do about the hole."). Even worse, there's some obnoxious, high-school-level philosophizing, e.g.:

"The dark continent. I never wanted to use the cliché. After all, what does it really mean? Is Africa dark the way Europe was dark during the Dark Ages: dark to knowledge? Is it dark as Joseph Conrad implies in his novel Heart of Darkness: a place that exposes the darkest parts of human nature? Is it dark because of the skin color of the people who live there? Any way you parse it, the phrase is objectionable."

So...why mention it, then? The quoted paragraph is a non sequitur, unrelated to what it follows or what it precedes. Bewildering.

However, I will say that I don't regret reading this whole book, although really as a piece of writing and research it was offensively bad. My original intent was to learn something about how these communities work, and Neuwirth does a decent job of explaining that during the first half of the book. Some examples of the more interesting bits of the book:

- In the 1880's, an American named George Streeter had his new boat run aground on a sandbar in Lake Michigan, right alongside the Chicago shoreline. Rather than do whatever it is you or I would do, he brought in some people to dump rocks and sand in the river, creating 180 acres of new land which he then promptly claimed as his own. He held out for a while, but was eventually evicted and thrown in jail. That land is apparently some of the most expensive property in Chicago now.

- In the impoverished Nairobi slum of Kibera, you can get rich off of building mud huts and renting them out. There's no maintenance cost on a mud hut, so being a landlord involves no work. There is also one millionaire in Kibera, who's got his hands in everything about the slum, meaning that "in these areas of town, you cannot drink a soda or a beer that the squatter millionaire has not made money on. You cannot eat anything made from corn or wheat--including the ugali and chapatis that are the basic starch of the diet in Kenya--without contributing to his wealth."

- Only one person from Rio's favelas has become a political figure in Brazil; she had a short career as the acting governor of Rio, lost the election, and moved to Brasilia to work under the president. Interestingly, though, she's lost the support she had from the favelas, largely because she no longer lives in one.

The book's full of interesting facts like those, which is what saves it from being a 1 star fiasco. Recommended only if you have a specific interest in squatter communities.

[Octo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. How freaking cool must Neuwirth be to talk to! Lived in 4 different "slums" on 4 different continents - rio, mumbai, nairobi, and istanbul. Met countless characters. Avoided being killed, kidnapped, and robbed. What great stories he must have! How did he do it?

Unfortunately, it looks like you'll have to wait until you catch up with the author in your local watering hole a few drinks deep to find out as he seems quite reluctant to tell us that bit. Though his chapters skip from here, to there, to everywhere, we never really find out about the logistics of his trip. Who set him up with these places to stay, and how much did he pay them? Perhaps he avoids this subject because it would not only erode his credibility but also make his holier than though attitude seem a complete farce. I'm just saying...

Onwards.

The first 4 chapters of this book are worth reading, but the rest is pretty much garbage. I know that people who live in squatter communities are real people with real feelings and desires, you don't need to tell me this. Anyone that has ever had any contact with poor people anywhere is well aware of the facts that Neuwirth beats us over the head with in this book. People want to improve their lot in life - yeah, I get it. So get to the interesting part.

The interesting part is how these people, with almost nothing to their name, get by. The first four chapters tell of life in each of 4 squatter communities as experienced by the author. While interesting, the reader (maybe it is to be expected) is left still quite distant to each of the communities described. As much as I want to know what it is like to live in a favela in Rio, I still haven't got a clue after reading the chapter on it. And that's why I read it to begin with. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know he tells us about the laborers, the drug dealers, the pseudo police force, the family man, the waitress, and even the druggies. But to really KNOW a place, you have to live there. The author DID live there, but fails to describe HOW he lived there and how he fit into the community. To me, without this, the reader is left just about 1/2 way.

All the above said, Shadow Cities is still worth a read (just skip the last few chapters). I had no idea of the sheer magnitude of the 'squatters' worldwide (1/7 total world population or so) or in certain cities (mumbai has more squatters than legal residents). It does manage to show that everyday life can be, well, everyday life even in squatter communities and presents reasonable if preachy suggestions regarding the future of squatter communities.

So, here's the deal...
Rent the book from your local liberry, read the first 4 (maybe also read the chapter about squatting in America - particularly if you are from the twin cities, haven't heard the story behind streeterville in chicago, or are from nyc), and wait till you run into Neuwirth in a bar. Buy him a double whiskey on the rocks, and you might get to hear what you actually want to.

[S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a truth universally acknowledged that a squatter settlement in possession of self-built houses must be in want of title deeds.

And just as Austen describes in Pride and Prejudice, it's not an easy quest... not the least smooth. And probably, sometimes isn't the right thing to want. If you read De Soto, or take a glimpse at WBG programs, you'd know how it's a mischievous step. Rather give them he security and amnesty not property ! (that's just a long story short about 4 case studies)...

This was a light one compared to the huge "census" like inventories. For once a book truly captures the spirit / genius loci of squatter settlements. And there are many things we can learn and discuss with them not in a romanticising way, toujours est il that they're not having the best life conditions out there !

The squatters are ready.
Are we?

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to read alongside "Planet of Slums" by Mike Davis. Neuwirth's firsthand reportage makes up for Davis's constant, hail-like barrage of facts and footnotes. And vice versa.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

First chapters interesting, the rest actually seems like filler. It is also somewhat unclear why he chose the slums that he did - were they safer, more developed, older?

[Jerome · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has argued that in the 21st Century the paradigm for the relationship between the State and life in the "state of exception" is the Camp. The concentration camp, the internment camp, the refugee camp all fulfill the mode of living for those who are excluded from the omnipresent State, from which one can never be fully excluded. It is unfortunate that no one has done a book length study of the camp, since this would give some much needed flesh + blood to Agamben's abstract arguments. It was in the context of searching for something along these lines that I came across Shadow Cities. The way we in the United States conceive of the squat & squatting have many political similarities to Agamben's Camp. Those who the State selects for interment to the Camp are those marked as exceptional, due to race, religion, ideology, or socioeconomic status. The Camp calls to mind agents of the state rounding up and physically relocating individuals into a central location where the State is able to maintain greater controls over the inhabitants of the camp. The squatter calls to mind someone who -- do to race, religion, ideology, or socioeconomic status -- is in some significant way excluded from the mechanics of the capitalist system. They are unable to partake of the exchange of one's labor for the right to a decent quality of life, and are excluded from the system. But like the State, one can never be fully excluded from the omnipresent system of Capitalism. Hence the squatter must survive off of the "waste" end of production cycle, inhabiting vacant buildings, living off of refuse. There are even strange situations where the Camp and the squat become indistinguishable, such as the current situation where convicted sex offenders in Miami are denied the right to live in residential zones, forced to squat/camp under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

The title Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World, suggests that the conditions of squatting which we tend to think about in the United States have now spread to the rest of the world, thanks to globalization. But this in not the case. In fact, early on the author defines squatting as simply dwelling on land to which one does not have a title of ownership. By defining squatting this broadly, the idea of the squatter as one excluded from the State and Capital no longer an accurate one. In fact, most of the individuals we meet in the author's account are deeply connected to legitimizing their claims to land and finding ways to profit from it. It is partly because most of the times and places the author calls attention to have not reached the kind of totality of ownership which accompanies post-industrialization and information economies that what we see these "squatters" doing is essentially what people have done throughout history: abandon their farms, go to the city, find a modestly desirable plot of land along the outskirts and take up residence in the hope that no one else will force them off, from which they can begin taking part in the economic life of the city, eventual become recognized as legitimate citizens (if not by the Law, then at least by others in the city).

In writing a book on squatting, Robert Neuwirth is more than qualified for the task, having lived in squatter neighborhoods in four cities on three continents: Rio, Nairobi, Mumbai, and Istanbul. These accounts are quite fascinating, and his examination of "squatting" in the middle ages only reinforces the point I made above: what he calls squatting is merely doing what has been done by humans since the building of the first cities. Some reviewers here and on Amazon have claimed that the first four chapters are the only one's worth reading, and that Neuwirth is weak on analysis. Well, he actually gives a fairly radical (albeit short) analysis in chapter 9, starting with Malcolm X and Aristotle, weighing various theories on property from Hobbes to Rousseau, Smith to Marx, and culminating in Proudhon ("property is theft"), even citing Bierce's Devil's Dictionary, "some have the right to prevent others from living." But the author isn't really interested in sounding a clarion against the evils of property; he is primarily interested in the sociology of the global phenomenon of squatting. As it stands, Shadow Cities offers a rich picture of how certain segments of the poor around the world continue to exist, and there is a lot within that one could use to supplement their own critique.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Squatter settlements are getting to be one of my obsessions...photogrpahs in particular...their chaos is absolutely stunning. I'm not gawking or staring safely in front of the computer...they really are amazing. (And yes, the huge difference between them and the community I call home can leave me feeling grateful, but not as often as you might think.)

Now, I prefer this book to City of Slums by Mike Davis (but you should still read it) due to the author's hands-on approach. He lived in the favelas around Rio (Rocinha, to be specific). He lived in a settlement around Mumbai, one in Turkey, and one in Kenya.

I didn't care much for the chapters that dealt with the medieval city structure and the squatter settlements of early America (as in USA). I wanted to know more about Dhivali, Kibera, Rocinha, and Sultanbeyli. This is where the book shines and I wanted to know more about these places. Sorry, if I wanted to know the other stuff...I'd research it myself, find a different book.

I want more information on this world. I am obsessed.

So, in many cases its a philosophical difference: private property v. right to inhabit. They laugh at our private property battles. Maybe they are right--I just don't want you bugging me or my stuff when I am there, after I go and don't come back...well...why can't someone else live there, right? Am I taking my stuff with me when I die anyway?

The settlements in Brazil (I'd live there) and Turkey (yeah, here too) are rich, well developed communities. They have stores, ammenities, TV, electric, water, bus service...just get slummy falling down shacks out of your mind for good. Mumbai seems vibrant and alive, but there are varying degrees of stability here. Some live in 2 story structures crammed on to sidewalks (you have to see a photo) and others have well developed apartments and homes. Kenya...ok, I do not possess the strength. I've had the American life for far too long. I couldn't live without running water or an indoor toilet amidst burning garbage and unsafe conditions. (I hope I never have to.) I am a big giant wuss compared to the residents of the Kibera settlement.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's some interesting info in this book but this guy's conclusions are so far off that there's no way I can give it a good review. I'm not someone who blames the poor for society's ills and I'm all for living in simple shelters without paying taxes or rent, contributing as little as possible to "the economy." My problem with this is that it tries to create the impression that there's nothing wrong with urban sprawl. Rather than explain what's wrong with so many people being pressured to leave rural areas in search of employment he focuses on what he considers commendable about the communities they've created. He tries using things like electricity, owning televisions, upgrading from earthen walls to concrete, and starting profitable black-market businesses to show how industrious these people are, which he doesn't seem to understand isn't inherently a good thing. He also contradicts himself constantly. He tries to show that slums are safe and not any more likely to spread disease than legal communities, then he describes how common it is to see gun-toting teenagers and people inundated in garbage and sewage. He does make some good points like the fact that people are more likely to take good care of things if they're not afraid of being evicted, and when communities can't rely on police to protect them they tend to come together and do a better job maintaining order themselves. None of this really justifies this type of development though. The topic of what property is and how people should arrange themselves on this planet is a good one. Unfortunately, this guy's missing the bigger picture.

[Frederick Gault · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good discussion about the dynamics of slums and how they evolve into respectable cities over time.

[Bagumbas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this years ago and found it fascinating!

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dated at this point but very well researched and kudos to the author for really living in these places while he got to know the people and the surroundings.

[j j · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the research point of view, the book should be rated five stars. But for some reason the prose seems a bit dry and I had to compel myself to finish it.

[Ostap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlikely defense of spontaneous order and philippic against government intervention from a left-wing journalist with fascinating examples from squatter communities across the globe.
Looking forward to reading his book on shadow economy and black market.

[Frank Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, the background research is pretty sketchy, the writing can be poor and disorganized at times, and the entire thesis of the book, if it has one, is difficult to discern. Still, the book is a worthwhile read because what is going on in these slums is truly astounding, and the residents' stories shine through.

The book centers around the time the author spent living in slums (or "squatter communities" as he insists they be called, because of the negative connotations of the word slum) in Rio de Janiero, Nairobi, Mumbai, and Istanbul. Each city has very distinctive slum cultures, due to legal and economic niceties, though some similarities do emerge.

Rio has its favelas that trace their history back over a century, constructed with concrete among complex gang hierarchies in the surrounding hills. Nairobi's poor civil government and lax property rights gives it ubiquitous and unbelievably poor mud huts. Mumbai's Dharavi slum is almost a city in itself, with nearly a million people and every kind of industry imaginable. Istanbul is inundated with "gecekondu" (literaly "overnights"), structures built in one day because of a legal loophole that makes an occupied structure semi-legitimate.

What's most impressive in the book, however, is the emergent order among the slum residents. In Rio's favelas the slum dwellers create the equivalent of homeowner's associations, with elected officials who sponsor recreation, pave streets, enforce building codes, and even solicit retail investment, all without any legal authority.

After being impressed with the residents' resourcefulness, the author is forced to admit that the gradual upgrading of the slums through the residents' own efforts probably represents these cities' best chance for prosperity, even though his socialist leanings still lead him to hold out hope for some kind of government solution. In the final paragraph, his confusion in the face of the obvious evidence leads him to make a rousing peroration calling for more focus groups to discuss the squatters' political future. But perhaps the best thing that can happen to these slums is to be left alone by the governments that so often try to sabotage them.

[Katie Sargent · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Shadow Cities Robert Neuwirth talks about five squatter cities that he lived in for a time. He explains how they work and what kind of people he found when he went there, and he tells us in such a way that he draws you into their story. Neuwirth also talks about squatter cities from the past and how we should think about them as we go into the future.


What most struck me was how the people that Neuwirth met in the different cities he stayed in for the most part wanted to be there. To them it was not simply out of necessity, although it was that, but because they enjoyed freedoms that they felt would not otherwise be afforded them if they were “legal.” People in these squatter cities worked hard for what they had and, except for a few exceptions, were uninvolved in illegal activities, aside from where they lived.


“For Armstrong, Southland wasn’t constrained by its material conditions. Instead, the human spirit radiated out from the metal walls and garbage heaps to offer something no legal neighborhood could: freedom.” (5)

“This place is very addictive...it’s a simple life, but nobody is restricting you, nobody is controlling what you do. Once you have stayed here, you cannot go back.” (5)

“If they are creating their own homes and improving them over time, then isn’t there something good - at least potentially - about a community without water and sanitation and sewers?” (13)

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's pretty clear that the subject of this book is getting more critical as time passes, and this is a pretty good book on "informal housing" if you want a nice, compact summary of the issue. He relies heavily on four contemporary examples for their variety of experience: Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Nairobi and Mumbai. He takes time to deviate into examples from other times and locales, but the book orbits around these four examples to tie everything together - pretty effectively, I feel.

That said, he is a reporter. When I read longer works written by reporters I tend to get irritated by their overuse of a "shock style" common to shorter newspaper articles. In a 2-3 page format it is stylish, but after 300 pages you wish they would stop ending every few paragraphs with dramatic-sounding statements.

Other than that complaint, he does not deviate much from his subject but provides good supplementary info. Seriously a good starting-point for anyone interested in the subject.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this book because of an economics paper I wrote on the gecekondu during college. Shadow Cities did not disappoint, providing intimate portrayals of squatter settlements in four cities across the world. I would have like more time on Istanbul, but I understand that Neuwirth's scope is intentionally international. The end of the book covers the history and future of mass urbanization and also sloppily discusses notions of property from famous political theorists and other scholars. In this last piece (following the author's on-the-ground reporting) that relies heavily on research, Shadow Cities loses steam. I really don't feel as though Neuwirth's argument was much assisted by the history of New York's slums. I would have been interested in more extensive commentary on HABITAT, however.

[Nadir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This proved to be a very compelling read. The author lived in squatter communities in Kenya, India, Brazil, and Turkey. By living with the squatters on a daily basis for months at a time he not only got a good look at how they live and how the authorities in their country's deal with them, he also gained insight into their decision-making process. He debunked many myths about squatter communities and showed how in many ways they are "better" in some ways for society at large than low-income housing (the gist is that the squatter has a greater interest in their home and community, having built it themselves). Given the world's population growth and its struggling economies, more cities face a future like Mumbai's where half the population are squatters.

[Fraser Kinnear · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating read; and in many ways counter-intuitive to what you might expect life in these squatter cities is like. While I don't think Neuwirth brings anything new to the table about how to improve the standard of living for the world's squatters, I feel that he does provide some fantastic context on what living in these places is actually like.

Incidentally, when he was living in Rio, Robert chose to stay in the favela (their term for squatter-area) called Rochina, which I visited while backpacking in Brazil.

[Jennpants · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been fascinated by literature on squatting for some time now...why it happens, where, how, etc. Most reading I've done, however, is strictly from an economic and/or and very removed point of view.

Robert Neuwirth actually squatted in the communities that he wrote about. While the book isn't as referenced as I would have liked (I like me some good footnotes), the human experience found in this book is worth a million economic explanations for the need to squat.

[Andy]

I read this book as part of a Sociology class (part of my college major) and I think it was the first time I read and really appreciated a sociological book. I now find that I read about a 50/50 split between fiction and nonfiction, where I used to never read nonfiction unless forced to in the classroom. This is a major eye-opener and in-depth look at the urban slums around the world, with a mix of history, economics, and gripping stories.

[Linnae · Rating 2 out of 5]

The chapters I read were interesting, but reading it felt a lot like perusing a textbook for fun. I probably oughta keep reading it, and I would probably learn from it, but there are so many other good books to read out there that I just can't see myself coming back to this one. Unless compelled to do so.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is possibly the worst grammar and writing style I've read so far. The author is so repetitive and obvious that you sit there wondering if he thinks that us as readers are mentally slow. Chapter eight should not even be there. My college writing teacher asked the class if she should teach this next year. Everyone's reply was a YES. I want to sell this book and get most of my money back.

[William Du Vrai · Rating 1 out of 5]

Left after this line on page 33: "The food came--an ample supply of grilled chicken, rice and beans, and french fries--and we ate with gusto."

Gusto? There's more taste on my ****.

I think what most amazed me about this book was the author's ability to take a fascinating subject and make it boring.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is an interesting picture of four slums around the world, unfortunately colored by the author's loss of perspective. He has gone local, and now considers the world outside the slums to be a "Stepford existence". It's all a little much.

[Bcrane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Very interesting read. It made me really want to explore some of these places around the world. The whole book is a very interesting discussion on how we make a community, bot historically and in the present day, outside the accepted authority. Very interesting read.

[Katy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Neuwirth offers a firsthand account of "squatter cities," but does little to explain the larger structural issues that lead these cities to exist in the first place. Overall, the book is poorly written and disappointing.

[Tana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Robert Neuwirth, and I think he is doing good work here, but the structure and lack of close editing in this book becomes a distraction. Still, he makes you think beyond the premise of the history and future of squatting...but, again, I just wish it were better organized and error-free.

[Jefferson Coombs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book as part of my property law class in law school. Still not sure how it applies to anything that was on the bar exam but whatever. It was an interesting read and reminded me a lot of Guatemala City.

[Claire]

Excellent. Very intriging descriptions of 4 different squatter cities. I'm having trouble doing much else than reading it. While it's great, it doesn't keep me up at night.