I am not sure how I feel about the "press" slums have been getting lately. Through a variety of reasons (books, films, 'starchitects' showing interest, etc) slums and the discussion of them have become, so to speak, trendy.
The result of this is two-fold. Yes, these communities are getting more attention, but in my view it is not necessarily the helpful kind. Slums are getting romanticized, and the real problems that exist in and around them get glazed over. But I suppose any awareness is good awareness? Still not sure.
The second (and this is slightly more selfish) reason is that I have been interested in these types of communities for years. How the residents create homes from scrap and other people's throw-aways. How the necessity of design reveals the most functional and down to its basic elements. How the towns are laid out, and (especially) how they grow. The differences in the towns based of where they are, what kind of climate they are in and what kind of topography. (Laura showed me a project she and some other students did when she was in uni in Columbia, researching the informal settlements on the mountainsides. They truly are fascinating.) I am not saying they should be recreated elsewhere as middle-class developments or whatnot, because they shouldn't, waaaay to many inherent problems. But I think there is something to be gleaned from these places. Just what, I am not yet sure, which is why I really want to study them.
And now that studying these communities is the thing to be doing, it might seem like I am just following the trend, and not studying them based on my own volition. Like I said, a bit selfish, but I think valid none-the-less.
and apparently I am not the only one to be having these thoughts. From my friend Ryan's blog:
http://architecture.myninjaplease.com/?p=4439
(he says it all a lot more eloquently than I can)
