Janine Di Giovanni – The Problem With Cities

No comments yet

thedailybeast.com. June 24, 2013.
If the protests in Brazil are about any one thing, it’s the agony of urban poverty. And it’s not just Brazil. Janine di Giovanni on the looming crisis facing global cities.
Brazil is on fire, with hundreds of thousands of people hitting the streets to vent their anger and rage at corruption, the high cost of living, and proposed hikes in bus fares. Protests in Istanbul are still raging after nearly a month. Even Stockholm was raging in the recent weeks.

Welcome to the first truly urban century. It’s not going to be pretty. Reasons for these protests are nearly impossible to define, even on a superficial level, but one through line is clear—these are cases of city dwellers being plain fed up.

In Brazil, bus fares and corruption were only superficial catalysts for the rage in the streets. The underlying cause is an urban nation that is split neatly between the haves and have-nots. In economic lingo, Brazil is one of the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China—a block of nations with rapidly advancing economies. But while the wealthy flaunt their excessive lifestyles in Rio and São Paulo, life in the favelas,or shantytowns, is murderously hard.

The favelas, founded by soldiers with nowhere else to go, have been around for hundreds of years. By the 1970s, as urbanization became a lifeline for impoverished Brazilians looking for work, they became breeding grounds for violent gangs, drug dealers, and dirty politics. The most realistic portrayal of life in the favela was Fernando Meirelles’s extraordinarily graphic and disturbing 2002 film City of God. In it, Meirelles exposes the horrors of poverty—all while golden riches lay a few miles away.

"The number of people living in urban areas will increase ever rapidly. Urbanization – the demographic transition from rural to urban – is associated with shifts from an agriculture-based economy to mass industry, technology and services. For the first time ever, the majority of the world’s population lives in a city, and this proportion continues to grow. A hundred years ago, 2 out of every 10 people lived in an urban area. By 1990, less than 40% of the global population lived in a city, but as of 2010, more than half of all people live in an urban area. By 2030, 6 out of every 10 people will be living in a city, and by 2050, this number will have increased to 7 out of 10 people. Currently, around half of all urban dwellers live in cities with between 100.000 – 500.000 people, and fewer than 10% of urban dwellers live in mega cities (defined by UN HABITAT as a city with a population of more than 10 million)."
– Quote: World Health Organization

Support

Rozenberg Quarterly does not receive subsidies or grants of any kind, which is why your financial support in maintaining, expanding and keeping the site running is always welcome. You may donate any amount you wish and all donations go toward maintaining and expanding this website.

10 euro donation:
20 euro donation:
Or donate any amount you like:
Or:
ABN AMRO Bank
Rozenberg Publishers
IBAN NL65 ABNA 0566 4783 23
BIC ABNANL2A
reference: Rozenberg Quarterly

If you have any questions or would like more information, please see our About page or contact us: info@rozenbergquarterly.com

Janine Di Giovanni – The Problem With Cities

You May Also Like

Redesigning Cities Could Solve Our Biggest Problems. But We're Hardly Talking About Them.

Jordan Heller ~ One Of America’s Poorest Cities Has A Radical Plan To Remake Itself

Rebecca Dalzell ~ A City To Grow Into

Anna Kučírková ~ Millions Face The Life-Threatening Dangers Of Poor Sanitation

Susan Parnell ~ Urban Planet

Maeve McClenaghan ~ A Hundred Homeless People Have Died Since October But No-One Is Asking Why

Comments

Affordable Housing Forum

Recent AHF articles

Random AHF articles – refresh page to renew

Search this site

About

Support

Like us on Facebook

Archives