Passinho and Pacification

As I listened to a Youtube video of a Passinho battle, with it’s rough and heavy funke soundtrack, something perfectly appropriate happened. A middle-aged acquaintance remarked sarcastically from the other Continue reading →

City Changer

For this post, I wanted to quickly share a very interesting initiative from UN Habitat: I encourage you to take a look! There are some quite interesting posts and projects on Continue reading →

Notes of Caution

This week I wish to repost Gautam Bhan and Arindam Jana’s commentary from the Economic and Political Weekly, cautioning us about the way in which the Indian slum census is Continue reading →

When moving forward means going backwards: deteriorating sanitation in Tajikistan

[Photos above; Top left: bathroom space where toilets used to be in an apartment in Farkhor. Top right: current pit latrines used] A couple of weeks ago I had the Continue reading →

Knowing the Favela

The current paradigm of ‘favela integration’ in Rio de Janeiro requires that the favelas themselves become an object of knowledge. That is, favelas cariocas must be constructed as knowable before Continue reading →

Trash for Light

Talking about initiatives worth following, I would add the Light Recicla program to the list. In this program, a provider of electricity in Rio de Janeiro – called Light – Continue reading →

URBAN POLICY FOR DUMMIES

Post by Marines Pocaterra The urban policy has been so neglected in many countries, that it has become a mockery of urban planning. Sometimes based on rigid zoning restrictions that Continue reading →

Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Gurgaon is Haryana’s largest city and is located 30 kilometers south of Delhi. Over the past 25 years the city has grown to become an icon of ‘urban India’. Most Continue reading →

Bringing solutions to flying toilets

The other day, as I was having breakfast I discovered a very interesting story on Peepoople, a company that has been working on bringing solutions to flying toilets in Kenya’s Continue reading →

Pacification and 24 Hour Surveillance in Rocinha

The favela pacification process is well under way in Rio’s favelas–the process of reclaiming territory once run by drug gangs such as The Comando Vermelho, Terceiro Comando, and Amigos dos Continue reading →

URBAN STRADDLING :: The urbanization of Ciudad Juarez + El Paso

See Part 1- Introduction As the urbanization of sister cities, such as El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, is extremely interesting – starting with their singular origin to their development as Continue reading →

Medellin’s transformation :: a book

I wanted to share a very interesting link to a book edited by Gerard Martin on the transformation of Medellin. The book is in spanish, but it is quite graphic Continue reading →

In the moment of mass hawker evictions in Mumbai, a few thoughts.

Last week the city of Mumbai successfully evicted 4500 hawkers from its streets. The streets looked cleaner, pedestrians seemed happier, and residents rejoiced. “A special squad has been formed to Continue reading →

the OTHER

Dear Readers, As the FAVELissues team will be taking a break for the holidays, I wanted to leave you with a pretty funny- yes, mocking- but quite illustrative video on Continue reading →

Vertical slums

Leaving behind last year’s adventures in the slums and cities of Latin America (LAC) I recently started new adventures in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA). First stop Tbilisi, in Continue reading →

Urban development and social inclusion. The CAF award

Post by Silvia Soonets [Proyectos Arqui 5] on Caracas This week the CAF announced the results of the second international competition of Urban Development and Social Inclusion. I’m proud and Continue reading →

Eco-Villages: Few thoughts

With increasing pressure on countries for reducing carbon emissions and building for climate resilience new practices and models of development are seen emerging. One of them, is the idea of ‘eco-villages’. Bringing Continue reading →

“Philly Painting”- Favela Painting

For this quick post and video on “Favela Painting” in Philly, I  do not want to comment yet but want to invite others to do so. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO (if Continue reading →

Inspiring talks 1: The Power of Informal Economy

I was in Singapore a couple of months ago attending the World Cities Summit (will definitely make a post on it) and – as usual – I was surprised by Continue reading →

FAVELissues :: break

It is time for a quick break for our writers- we’ll be back with our regular posting schedule come August 5th. For now, I will leave you with 2 image Continue reading →